Mike's Fantasy Football Team

My Buddy Mike asked me to write about his fantasy football team. Mike and I are in the A-Town Fantasy Football League. The League has 14 teams and is a PPR Flex league. We use standard scoring with 6 points for every touchdown. I will break Mike’s team down position by position and then give his season outlook. Mike drafted out of the 13th spot.


Quarterbacks: Eli Manning NYG. Mike selected Eli Manning in the 6th round with the 72nd overall pick. Eli was the 10th quarterback selected. Eli is coming off the best statistical season of his career with 27 Td’s and 4,000 Yds. The Giants struggled with their run game last year and were forced to throw more often than they would have liked. Manning has always fallen into a trend of having a good year then an off year. I would have liked to see Mike take a backup QB and play the better matchup some weeks. Overall Eli is a quality pick and hopefully he can break his inconsistencies and have a good year.

Running backs: Cedric Benson CIN, Jonathan Stewart CAR, Sammy Morris NE, Ryan Torian WAS. Mike took Benson in the second round with the 16th overall pick and Stewart in the 3rd with the 41st overall pick. I think Mike reached a little on Benson as ESPN has him ranked 76th overall in their current PPR rankings. Benson had an enormous season last year, but he also took a beating. He only played in 13 games and had a ton of carries. There is definitely a durability concern with Benson. Stewart had his best season as a pro last year partially due to the injury of DeAngelo Williams. Stewart comes into the season as the Panthers 1B running back behind Williams. He is a tough runner and could vault into the top 10 if Williams goes down again. Athlon Sports has Stewart 22nd overall which makes him a great value pick for Mike. However, neither Benson nor Stewart will catch a lot of passes which lowers their value in our point per reception league. After Benson and Stewart Mike is very thin at running back. They both have week 6 byes and with Mike’s backup running backs he is sure to lose that week. He needs to be very active on the waiver wire and trade front to boost his running back core.

Wide Receivers: Larry Fitzgerald ARIZ, Mike Wallace PIT, Chris Chambers KC, Arrelious Benn TAM, Mohamed Massaquoi CLE, Devin Thomas WAS. With this being a PPR league Mike decided to address the WR position in the first round. He took Arizona Cardinal stud Larry Fitzgerald with the 13th overall pick. I love Fitzgerald’s ability and accomplishments, but I think Mike made a mistake here. I am scared Fitz could be a bust this year and fall out of the top 10 WR’s. The Cardinals QB situation has gone from terrible to unimaginable. Hall of Famer Kurt Warner retired at the end of last season leaving the job to Matt Leinart and Derek Anderson. Leinart was the clear cut favorite until he couldn’t get the ball down the field and is now on the trade block. That leaves the job to journey man Anderson. Anderson has done nothing special and lacks the ability to get Fitz the ball consistently. I have a feeling this is a pick Mike will want back and wish he would have taken Randy Moss. Mike didn’t address his WR2 until the 7th round with Mike Wallace. This year will be Wallace’s coming out party and he should get into the top 25. Mike picked four more WR’s throughout the draft none of which should be more than bye week replacements. Mike’s WR production depends solely on Fitzgerald and dare do I say Derek Anderson!

Tight End: Dallas Clark IND, Jason Witten DAL. Mike took a rare approach here and took two top 5 TE’s. I can’t blame him though he got exceptional value on both of them. He took Clark in the 4th round 44 overall where ESPN has him 17th overall and Witten in the 5th round 69th overall where ESPN has him 58th overall. Instead of going with a less than stellar wide out in the 5th round Mike choose a stud TE in Witten to be his flex player. I fully expect both TE’s to play outstanding this year and rack up over 80 catches and close in on 1,000 yards receiving. Mike will have an undeniable advantage every week at tight end. Not many teams can say that about any position. This strategy could make Mike look like a genious or it could be the death of his team if one of them falls short of expectations. I would also like to note that Mike should explore trade opportunities for a WR using one of his TE’s as trade bate.

Kicker: Rob Bironas TEN. I have Bironas as my 6th rated kicker. He has a strong leg and should be Mike’s starter all year long.

Defense/ Special Teams: Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens are a little banged up on defense right now. However, they have a history of being a tough nosed defense and always making a few big plays. They should serve Mike adequately as his Defense and Special teams.



Overall I really like Mike’s starting lineup. Where I have major concern is his depth. He virtually has none and that will eventually cost him a spot in the playoffs. He is too vulnerable on his bye weeks. Also it’s hard to get excited on a team with so many question marks. Manning, Benson, Fitzgerald and even Witten scare me too much. Mike is going to be a nervous wreck each week as his team should compete in games, but if one guy goes down he is in deep trouble. With Mike’s current roster I think he will finish with anywhere from 5 to 8 wins most likely finishing at 6-7 and missing the playoffs. If his team stays 100% healthy which is very unlikely he has a respectable chance at making the playoffs.



Possible trade scenarios to help Mike would be:

Mike: Witten to Gill for Crabtree and Bernard Scott

Mike: Witten to Alex for Vincient Jackson and Justin Forsett

Mike: Clark to Garrett for Reggie Bush and Santana Moss

Mike: Clark and Chambers to Pat for Arian Foster and Chad OchoCinco

Mike,
Thanks for giving me a topic to write about.  Sorry about the negative vibes towards your team.  Hopefully you take my criticism and use it as fuel and kick my but when we play and prove me wrong.  I wish you the best of luck this season!