Mick Ciallela540 posts

Welcome to the first installment in our positional matchup series! Each week we here at Fantrax will highlight some favorable and unfavorable matchups at each position to help you with those tough lineup decisions. Today we will start with tight ends. You will most likely start Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce every week, even in poor matchups. However, if you waited on a tight end in your draft, you may have two similar options to choose from. Let’s dig into the matchups to see where the advantages lie.FAVORABLE…

With fantasy football draft season in full swing, this is the ideal time to discuss some general draft prep to set you up for success. This isn’t an X’s and O’s type article, or one that highlights specific players you should or shouldn’t draft.There are years when it’s best to jump on top-tier running backs, and there are years to go “Zero RB.” There are pros and cons to these specific strategies and virtually every strategy in between.The problem is that even with all the draft prep in the world, you won’t know…

Over the course of the last couple of months, I’ve made a lot of statements that reflect my thoughts on the values of various players for the upcoming fantasy football season. Some of the statements I have made have been rather chalky and some have been a little bit bolder. When it comes to fantasy football, the truth is that fortune does favor the bold. Most leagues offer payouts to fewer than half of the teams, and most savvy fantasy owners have access to the same information. In order to succeed, you have to be willing to…

Last week, I discussed my strong preference for drafting a large number of running backs and wide receivers in a draft as opposed to other positions. This is because each year players emerge from seemingly out of nowhere and into fantasy relevance. Last season, Jordan Howard went largely undrafted in fantasy and wound up as a top-10 running back. The NFL is a “next man up” league, where injuries and poor performance force teams (and fantasy owners) to quickly seek out the next big thing. In this column, I will highlight some…

In a previous column highlighting wide receivers whom I consider to be overvalued based on their current Average Draft Position (ADP), I mentioned that only 11 wide receivers averaged at least 10 fantasy points per game last season. However, not all hope is lost. While there may be a relative lack of elite options, there are plenty of productive ones. A total of 35 wide receivers averaged at least eight points per contest last season, with another 13 averaging at least seven fantasy points per game. This is important because…

Tight ends are sort of like quarterbacks for fantasy purposes. You need to start only one tight end each week, and you likely won’t need to draft more than that. The difference is that tight ends are inherently riskier than quarterbacks. The odds of Rob Gronkowski playing in all 16 games in a given season are far less than those of Aaron Rodgers doing so. So if you feel the need to draft a backup tight end, I suppose I won't kill you for it. I would suggest drafting a single tight end and just picking up the best one…

With NFL passing numbers at an all-time high, more and more wide receivers are putting up quality fantasy numbers. Unfortunately, that does not mean that drafting wide receivers doesn’t come with a fair amount of risk. It is believed that drafting running backs early is a major potential pitfall for fantasy owners due to injury and productivity concerns. Tell that to anyone who drafted A.J. Green, DeAndre Hopkins, or Allen Robinson in the first round of fantasy drafts last year. Or anyone who drafted Brandon Marshall, Keenan…

Running backs are the most volatile fantasy commodity there is. Consider that Todd Gurley, who was the No. 1 overall pick last season, finished 19th in total fantasy points among running backs. Despite his wildly disappointing season, Gurley actually finished ahead of three other running backs drafted in the top-eight in 2016. What made Gurley’s situation unique was he played in all 16 games in 2016, whereas the other three (Adrian Peterson, Eddie Lacy, and Jamaal Charles) combined for just 11. Therein lies the point. The…

Running backs are the most volatile fantasy commodity there is. Consider that Todd Gurley, who was the No. 1 overall pick last season, finished 19th in total fantasy points among running backs. Despite his wildly disappointing season, Gurley actually finished ahead of three other running backs drafted in the top-eight in 2016. What made Gurley’s situation unique was he played in all 16 games in 2016, whereas the other three (Adrian Peterson, Eddie Lacy, and Jamaal Charles) combined for just 11. Therein lies the point. The…

Welcome to the first installment of my weekly "Overvalued and Undervalued" column. Each week, I will go position by position to help you find value and avoid some potential pitfalls as draft season approaches. For these articles, I will be using the average draft position (ADP) at fantasyfootballcalculator.com to get a baseline for where players are currently going in drafts. Please note that league format (including league size, scoring system, roster configuration, methods of acquiring players in-season, etc.) may…