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Preseason Week 4 Fantasy Football News and Notes

September 2, 2015 By Draft Buddy Leave a Comment

No respect for Fred Jackson, at least from the Buffalo Bills front office. He was a surprise release this week and will have some fantasy impact when he inevitably lands on a RB-needy team.

No respect for Fred Jackson, at least from the Buffalo Bills front office. He was a surprise release this week and will have some fantasy impact when he inevitably lands on a RB-needy team.

The big news in our last update dealt with the Martavis Bryant suspension (appeal since denied) and bad vibes out of Washington for Robert Griffin III (inevitable benching since confirmed), and a handful of other smaller items.

We got through a big drafting weekend this past weekend, but the news didn’t stop as a few impactful things came to light, requiring another projections and rankings update this week. Lets get to it. News and notes first, and then the ranking changes.

Arizona Cardinals

Michael Floyd is working his way back from dislocated fingers that required surgery early in training camp. HC Bruce Arians is optimistic Floyd will be back Week 1. Floyd is a worthwhile risk as a WR5 on your team. It just might be difficult to justify starting him any given week.

Atlanta Falcons

Devonta Freeman returned to practice after missing multiple weeks with a hamstring injury. There is no clear indication which player will start or dominate carries – if anyone – between Freeman and Tevin Coleman. This situation looks like a mess.

Baltimore Ravens

Dennis Pitta placed on the PUP list. Only thing mildly surprising here is he wasn’t put straight on IR, the reports of his recovery are so grim.

Buffalo Bills

Released Fred Jackson. Fans can’t believe it, and fantasy players equally question the decision. There even appears to be some grumblings that not all of the Bills coaches were onside with this call by the GM. Regardless, FJax is out there ready for some other lucky team to pick him up. It will have some domino effect on that team, but keeping mind he is 34, it shouldn’t be a huge impact.

The Bills named Tyrod Taylor their starting QB as expected.

Carolina Panthers

The Panthers acquired WR Kevin Norwood from the Seattle Seahawks in a trade. Rookie Devin Funchess does not seem to be doing much to establish himself as the projected starter in the absence of Kelvin Benjamin. I don’t mind Funchess as a rather late, hope for the best upside pick, but this is mainly a stay away from situation.

Chicago Bears

Alshon Jeffery continues to miss practice with a “day-to-day” calf injury. No adjustment yet but it is getting a bit worrisome. The way Bears receivers are limping around, Martellus Bennett may top his 90 catches from last season … and then promptly ask for a big raise.

Cleveland Browns

Duke Johnson is sidelined with a concussion. The team may have issues with Isaiah Crowell, but they may have no choice but to get him there to play unless they sign someone else. It is always a possibility even at this late stage. Seems fantasy players are shying as far away from Browns backs as possible right now.

Detroit Lions

RB Joique Bell returned to practice after a long layoff (longer than fantasy players feel very comfortable with, this time of year) and now represents a bit of a value where he is getting drafted. Even with rookie Ameer Abdullah wowing people, Bell should be a regular contributor on a good offense as long as he can stay healthy.

Green Bay Packers

Randall Cobb is expected to play Week 1 even with his shoulder he injured in preseason.

Indianapolis Colts

Did you know T.Y. Hilton has a concussion? Its true, and he is in the league’s concussion protocol, but he is trending in the right direction with positive reports he’ll be ready Week 1. No alarm bells to sound but something to keep tabs on.

Jacksonville Jaguars

If you saw the comment from my recent draft recap, you know how I feel about this one. After a quiet few weeks with the idea TE Julius Thomas would be back for Week 1, now he requires surgery on his hand and will miss 3 games. If you are desperate for a TE to start the season, give Marcedes Lewis a go.

Kansas City Chiefs

TE Travis Kelce also went down with an ankle injury, but this one looks minor as reports indicate he could play if it was the regular season.

New England Patriots

Tom Brady decision expected end of this week. No sense commenting any further on this story until that happens.

New Orleans Saints

Brandon Coleman has apparently won the WR3 job for the Saints. I did draft him the other night, but WR3 on the Saints is still pretty far down the pecking order for catches, in recent years. Still, if Marques Colston is truly at the end of the line there is a nice opportunity for Coleman if he can take advantage.

New York Jets

TE Jace Amaro placed on IR. Was not going to be a fantasy factor anyway, but he has enough name recognition I thought I should mention it.

Oakland Raiders

In no surprise at all, the Raiders released RB Trent Richardson. That was a short ride.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers lost another kicker. Garrett Hartley was placed on IR. Between this and the suspensions, it is almost like the fantasy Gods are trying to tell us something about Pittsburgh.

Washington Redskins

Kirk Cousins is the Redskins starting QB. God help diehard ‘Skins fans.

Filed Under: Fantasy Football

Oakland Raiders Team Report

August 21, 2015 By Dave Leave a Comment

Coming at you! Oakland Raiders RB Latavius Murray is an obvious choice for a fantasy breakout candidate. Can he seize the opportunity and become a workhorse back?

Coming at you! Oakland Raiders RB Latavius Murray is an obvious choice for a fantasy breakout candidate. Can he seize the opportunity and become a workhorse back?

QB Derek Carr

Taken in the 2nd round of last year’s NFL Draft, Carr unexpectedly supplanted Matt Schaub in training camp to earn the starting role and played well enough to provide the Raiders with confidence that he is their long term answer at the quarterback position. Despite playing with wide receivers and tight ends that would rank amongst the worst depth charts at those positions in the league, Carr managed to throw for 3,270 yards with 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. However, much of that production came in garbage time (which certainly helped to inflate his touchdown pass total) and Carr managed to complete just 58.1% of his passes despite ranking near the bottom of the league in yards per attempt and yards per completion. While Carr has a strong arm, he will need to avoid the check down mentality that he displayed as a rookie as well as improve his accuracy if he is to emerge as a quality starter and decent fantasy option. Since we view some of the issues arising from his rookie season as the result of playing with inferior skill position players, Carr has the potential to emerge as a mid-tier QB2 in his second season due to the additions of Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree, as well as the return to health of Rod Streater.

RB Latavius Murray

Proving why the Raiders are the Raiders, they kept Murray nailed to the bench for the first 11 weeks of last season behind veteran journeymen Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren McFadden before unleashing him on the league for the final five games of the season. During that stretch, Murray ran for 370 yards and a pair of touchdowns while producing another 108 yards as a receiver. Possessed with outstanding athletic ability, the 2013 6th round pick is an obvious breakout candidate in 2015. At 6’2” and 223 pounds, Murray has the size to handle a workhorse role and given the competition he will face in training camp from Roy Helu and Trent Richardson, he could be in line for 300 touches. The only negatives with Murray are his uneven skills as a receiver as well as a Raiders offense that figures to rate in the bottom third of the league. Murray is a lower-tier RB2 with upside.

RB Roy Helu

After showing plenty of promise as a rookie 4th round pick in 2011, gaining 640 yards on the ground while catching 49 passes for 379 yards, Helu emerged as nothing more than a 3rd down, change of pace back during his final three years in Washington. In 2015, he joins a Raiders rushing attack that will feature Latavius Murray with Trent Richardson and Marcel Reece also competing for touches. An underrated receiver out of the backfield, Helu has caught 122 passes for 1,107 yards in his career excluding 2012 in which he only appeared in 3 games. However, despite having solid agility and better than average speed, Helu has just three receiving touchdowns during his career despite averaging 8.9 yards per reception. That makes him little more than Murray’s handcuff this season although we wouldn’t be surprised if the Raiders went with a committee approach if injury strikes down their starter.

RB Trent Richardson

Just two years after amassing 950 rushing yards, 367 receiving yards and scoring 12 touchdowns as a rookie despite playing much of the season with rib and knee injuries, Trent Richardson is well on his way to establishing himself as one of the biggest running back draft busts of his era. A total flop in Indianapolis after being traded from the Cleveland Browns to the Colts early in the 2013 season, Richardson had fallen behind Ahmad Bradshaw, Dan Herron and Zurlon Tipton before his days in Indy came to an end. Signed by the Raiders in the offseason, Richardson will battle Roy Helu, rookie undrafted free agent Michael Dyer and Marcel Reece for playing time behind Latavius Murray. Given his inability to gain yards on the ground (career yards per carry average of 3.3), lack of explosiveness and rumored weight issues in Indy, we aren’t banking on this reclamation project having a happy ending.

RB Marcel Reece

While Reece is a solid fullback and a capable fill in at running back (he has two 100 yards games to his career), the Raiders have chosen to only use him as a tailback when their hand has been forced. However, with Roy Helu and Trent Richardson joining him on the depth chart behind Latavius Murray, it is unlikely that Reece will see much time at tailback this season. And with Helu signed mainly for his receiving abilities out of the backfield, we don’t expect Reece will haul in many passes in 2015. His days as a late round flier in larger PPR leagues should be over.

WR Amari Cooper

With one of the worst group of wide receivers in the league last season, the Raiders were desperate for an upgrade at the position heading into 2015. Needing to address the position in order to give second year quarterback Derek Carr a better opportunity to succeed, and provide the offense with more playmaking ability, Oakland used the 4th overall selection in the draft to acquire Alabama product Amari Cooper. While Cooper lacks ideal size at 6’1” and 210 pounds, he has outstanding speed and displayed solid playmaking ability in college. In Oakland, he will be paired with Carr, who needs to attack the field vertically in order to progress as an NFL quarterback. However, with Cooper excelling on short and intermediate routes in college and Carr having shown a propensity for making those types of passes as a rookie, Cooper should receive a ton of targets and catch plenty of passes in 2015. The issue is whether he will be able to turn those receptions into big plays and how often he will be able to find the end zone on an Oakland offense that figures to finish in the bottom third in the league. Since Carr seems another year away from establishing himself as a true quality starter, a season with 900-1,000 yards and between five and seven touchdowns seems likely for Cooper making him a lower tier WR3 in his rookie season.

WR Michael Crabtree

After failing to live up to his promise after being taken by the 49ers with the 10th pick in the 2009 draft, Michael Crabtree joins the Raiders in 2015 where he is expected to start opposite rookie Amari Cooper. After catching 85 passes for 1,105 yards and nine touchdowns during the 2012 season, Crabtree suffered through an injury plagued 2013 before being relegated to a more secondary role last season, catching 68 of his 108 targets for 698 yards and four touchdowns. In Oakland, Crabtree has the potential to emerge as the team’s top receiving option depending on how quickly Cooper adapts to the pro game. While we don’t expect that to happen, reports out of the Raiders training camp indicate that Crabtree is rejuvenated and motivated to prove the 49ers were wrong to reduce his role leading to his exit from San Francisco. With conservative Derek Carr at quarterback and Crabtree showing little explosiveness last season averaging a career-low 10.3 yards per carry, it is difficult to predict a solid comeback season from Crabtree no matter how glowing the training camp reports are. We rate him as a lower tier WR4 although one of the more intriguing options in that tier.

WR Rod Streater

Poised to possibly emerge as the Raiders top receiving option last season after catching 60 passes for 888 yards and four touchdowns during his second year in the league, Streater suffered a foot fracture in Week 3 that ended his season. And the Raiders moved on, adding Amari Cooper with the 4th pick in this year’s draft and signing free agent Michael Crabtree. Their additions all but ensure that Streater will assume a role as a low volume, possession receiver this year in Oakland. Possessing decent size at 6’3” and 200 pounds but with middling speed, Streater could produce some decent stats in that role given the Raiders murky outlook at the tight end position. However, until he strings together a couple of solid games, Streater is waiver wire material entering 2015.

WR Andre Holmes

A former undrafted free agent, Holmes was slowly emerging as a decent receiving option for the Raiders, gaining 693 yards and four touchdowns on 47 receptions last season after catching 25 passes for 431 yards and a touchdown in 2013. However, his path to the starting lineup is blocked in 2015 by Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree. That leaves Holmes fighting with Rod Streater, Brice Butler and Kenbrell Thompkins for targets. Since Holmes has displayed solid playmaking ability during his stay in Oakland, we won’t be surprised if he wins the battle to emerge as the team’s backup. However, we still don’t like his fantasy prospects in 2015.

TE Mychal Rivera

On first glance, it appears that Rivera’s career is on the upswing. After catching 38 passes for 407 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie, he improved to 58 receptions for 534 yards and four touchdowns last season. However, a closer look reveals that, while Rivera may have posted marginally better production, he wasn’t really all that much better as a sophomore than he was as a rookie. First off, he failed to top 40 receiving yards in 12 games. Secondly, despite averaging a lowly 9.2 yards per reception, he managed to catch just 58% of his targets, a decline from his reception to target ratio of 63.3% in 2013. Finally, the Raiders added two players to the tight end depth chart in the offseason, blocking specialist Lee Smith and rookie 3rd round pick Clive Walford. With a reduced snap count likely, we don’t like Rivera’s fantasy prospects in 2015.

Also see: Oakland Raiders IDP Team Report · Denver Broncos Team Report

Filed Under: Fantasy Football

Training Camp Fantasy Football News and Notes

August 5, 2015 By Draft Buddy Leave a Comment

Confirmed: Houston Texans RB Arian Foster requires surgery on his injured groin and will therefore go on IR-designated to return. This is a big hit to the Texans and fantasy owners. Sophomore Alfred Blue is our best bet to soften the blow.

Confirmed: Houston Texans RB Arian Foster requires surgery on his injured groin and will therefore go on IR-designated to return. This is a big hit to the Texans and fantasy owners. Sophomore Alfred Blue is our best bet to soften the blow.

Screen Shot 2015-08-05 at 10.44.08 AMHere is a recap of key NFL news and notes from the last week impacting the fantasy football value of the players mentioned and their teammates. The big news is of course Arian Foster’s injury. I drafted him a week ago at the 12 spot in the $350 entry Footballguys Players Championship, so that really sucks!

Otherwise there are a number of key or interesting notes out of training camps prior to the first preseason games, many of which will factor in to our next projections and rankings update.

Free Agents of Interest

RB Chris Johnson
RB Pierre Thomas

Potential Roster Cuts

RB Trent Richardson, Raiders

Baltimore Ravens

Rookie WR Breshad Perriman is currently limited with a bruised knee. The more time he misses, the less likely he can make an immediate impact, although a couple rookies (Beckham, Bryant) did pretty well last season after sitting the first third of the season.

Buffalo Bills

The Bills QB situation is a muddled mess of low expectations regardless of who wins the starting job, but we need to know and the tea leaves suggest it is Matt Cassel right now based on experience.

Carolina Panthers

WR Stephen Hill was placed on IR, ending his comeback.

Chicago Bears

Kevin White is sidelined with a shin injury suffered during OTAs. He’s on the PUP (preseason version, no immediate panic necessary), but it isn’t looking good for him to be in the starting lineup anytime soon at this point. Eddie Royal gets a boost.

Cleveland Browns

RB Terrance West has a calf injury, while rookie Duke Johnson has a hamstring injury. The only one not complaining and perhaps due a bump up our rankings (?) is Isaiah Crowell.

Dallas Cowboys

A lot can change rather quickly, but the highly coveted starting RB job appears to be Joseph Randle’s to lose at this point. Darren McFadden is already dinged up.

Detroit Lions

RB Joique Bell is rehabbing from an Achilles’ and knee injury with no set timetable to return. This appears to be a little more serious than early drafts would indicate, as news of his health was pretty quiet. Heck, didn’t we see a “1,200 yard” prediction out of Bell just a few weeks ago? Rookie Ameer Abdullah has an opportunity for a larger role in the backfield and represents a good target for a later drafted RB.

Houston Texans

The news bigger than the sum of the rest of this entire update, Arian Foster suffered a groin injury. It is serious, requiring surgery which will put him on IR-designated to return (after Week 10), as reported by John McClain of the Houston Chronicle.

Behind him we prefer sophomore Alfred Blue, but they also have Jonathan Grimes, Chris Polk and are evaluating free agents including Pierre Thomas. Take a shot on Blue, but it could easily be a mess. Even if Foster can return, 10 weeks is a long time to hold a player on your roster (unless you have an open IR spot), so I wouldn’t even consider adding him in a draft unless the pick is really low.

No clarity on who has a leg up in this QB battle, Brian Hoyer or Ryan Mallett.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Allen Hurns is ahead of Marqise Lee on the depth chart, starting opposite Allen Robinson.

New York Giants

The team added WR James Jones, which is a bit curious since reports on Victor Cruz’ recovery are positive. Still, Jones might be worth an add in a 30-roster spot best-ball league.

New York Jets

Early indications are Geno Smith appears to be ahead of Ryan Fitzpatrick for the starting QB job.

Another rookie WR with an injury, this time Devin Smith has a punctured lung (ouch) and will miss 4-6 weeks.

Oakland Raiders

RB Trent Richardson is in danger of being released by the team. My guess is you are already way ahead of that potential transaction with respect to your fantasy team. Michael Dyer is a name to keep tabs on from the Raiders backfield.

A player intriguing me lately with positive reports out of camp and drastically lower ADP than his rookie teammate is Michael Crabtree.

Philadelphia Eagles

QB Sam Bradford is cleared for 11-on-11 drills with no restrictions.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Martavis Bryant is out 7-10 days for now with an elbow infection. His ADP has risen steadily in recent weeks, likely to the point of him being overvalued. This should slow that down for now.

Further putting the brakes on the Bryant hype train, QB Ben Roethlisberger stated recently Markus Wheaton will start in 2-WR sets opposite Antonio Brown. The fantasy pecking order could still easily be Brown, Bryant, Wheaton, but it gives one pause from being too bullish on Bryant. And maybe Wheaton is worth a late flier here or there.

San Diego Chargers

Rookie RB Melvin Gordon is apparently struggling with pass protection, which is no surprise from a rookie and will not help keep him on the field. Happy to have him in dynasty leagues but not that excited about using a 3rd round draft pick in redraft leagues to own him. More can go wrong than right.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The team named Doug Martin their starting tailback. This is what we expected to materialize from training camp. Hopefully it sticks, and the announcement will push his ADP up for those who have been asleep at the wheel up until now. I’ve been getting him as my third RB in drafts, most recently at the end of the 6th round in this best-ball league.

Filed Under: Fantasy Football

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