12D3

28-13-1 What I consider my best teams have my worst records so far (4-3), while the two teams I consider my worst have my best or tied for best records (5-1-1, 5-2). Go figure.

This is killing my teams. Its a rough week for me with Byes and injuries. With this injury I'm going to have to now start two players that are on Byes and just eat the point losses on what I consider my best team (only 4-3 though) D.Thomas injured Ingram injured A.Johnson injured Benson suspended Forte on Bye R.White on Bye Having to lean on Battle, Hardesty, J.Graham, Fitzgerald and Cam this week. Hopefully they have big weeks and pull me through.

6 money leagues. My wife is supportive and I got her a money league team last year and this year, which keeps her interested on Sundays. I have to say though, the more I have added through the years the less fun it has gotten. I'll probably scale it back to 2 leagues next year.

Thinking about the following trade: I offer Jamal Charles and Chad Ochocinco I get Hakeem Nicks and Jahvid Best My current team RB: Charles RB: Ingram WR: V.Jax WR: D.Jax WR/RB: Ocho Bench: F.Jax, LT, D.Thomas Trying to decide what to do.

See, all those RBs can far exceed their current draft value, and even if they turn out to be just average you have your WR studs holding it down. It seems like a sound strategy. I'm currently in the process of trying to form my team these ways.

Oops. Yeah, I meant to put Fitz on that list. I actually think he might finish atop all WRs this season. As for Wayne, I feel he is hurt by the uncertainty with Manning. Normally he would probably be up there.

So I have been getting top picks in my drafts and getting RBs like Foster, Peterson or Charles. Despite drafting these elite RBs, I'm starting to think that this year might be a good year to try to load up on elite WRs. It seems this year (and the past couple of years) that you are far more likely to see the RB situation be quite volatile while the WR seems like safer bet. I normally try to do draft solid RBs and use one in the flex. But that seems riskier this year than ever. Elite to me means the following players: A.Johnson C.Johnson R.White L.Fitzgerald H.Nicks G.Jennings V.Jax M.Wallace What is your thought on going WR focused in your team?

There are actually strategies formulated around getting your guys on the same bye week. Basically you just give up one loss and keep your team intact for every other week. Its not a bad strat and probably works out well if your team has talent like the one you listed. I'm still in the camp that I don't worry about bye weeks unless I am looking at two players I feel are already equal in my eyes.

I agree that the best value right now is probably the teir with Big Ben/Shaub/Ryan in the 5th/6th/7th rounds. However, if you miss out on them, I think Stafford could be a huge steal late. After that you have a lot of talented QBs, but none you would start each week. You could nab a Flacco/Bradford combo and probably swap them from week to week and get good production. It just depends on how safe you want to feel.

It seems to me that this year has a really high amount of possible breakout candidates. This is likely due to the shift toward the split RB duties most teams use now. In the past, a backup was usually far less talented than the starter and fully deserved the position. Every now and then you would see someone get the opportunity and have a great year. Looking at the list of the RB backups or RB2s, there seem to be a lot of names that I would not be surprised if they were huge impact players by seasons end. James Starks Ben Tate Montario Hardesty Delonte Carter Demarco Murray Isaac Redman Kendall Hunter Taiwan Jones Stevan Ridley Jamie Harper In some of these cases the players came into the league as highly touted talents who got injured and were relegated to backup status. In other cases they are just talented RBs who happen to have a well known/productive starter in front of them. But should an injury occur (or even in some cases just poor performance) it seems like all of these players have a chance to do really well based on what we have seen from them. James Starks - Grant coming off injury and shaky preseason, Starks in better shape and might take a good amount of carries when with Grant healthy Ben Tate - Foster banged up already, Ward not the talent that Tate is and he should see good time if Foster goes down Montario Hardesty - Hillis had heavy workload last season and may breakdown at some point, Hardesty was already a big talent last year before injury and is the current #2 on depth chart Delonte Carter - Addai a big injury risk, Carter is already challenging for the #2 spot since Brown isn't a very solid RB Demarco Murray - Great talent, if Felix can't keep a high level all season could get some good time Isaac Redman - Mendenhall is just an injury waiting to happen after the heavy load last season (350 curse), could flourish in the Steelers system Kendall Hunter - Gore is an injury risk and already having issues with the new coach, Would split with Dixon but could emerge as a solid option if Gore goes down Taiwan Jones - Showed some nice skills in the preseason, could end up being a better option than Bush if McFadden is hurt during the season Stevan Ridley - BJGE is doing well but if the opportunity comes up Ridley has more raw talent than NE's other RBs. Jamie Harper - Johnson looks like hes got his contract nearly sorted out, should there be any other issues Harper showed he has some potential and could break out. Several of these players are getting drafted late, so they may not be available during the year if their time comes. What RB backups are you targeting as a possible late round steal?

Hey guys, Been thinking hard about a trade that was offered to me. I give - Arian Foster I get - Steven Jackson and Antonio Gates This is in a 12 team standard scoring system. The rest of my starting lineup. RB - L.McCoy WR - M.Williams WR - V.Jackson WR/RB - C.Ochocinco TE - J.Graham I already have Graham, which could be a breakout, and Gates doesn't seem like hes in the best shape. The scenario I'm worried about if I pull the trigger on this trade is that Gates gets hurt and Foster goes into beast mode. I like Jackson, but not nearly as much as Foster. Just trying to decide what I should do in this situation

Arian Fosters ADP was improved once the preseason began. Once he blew up against Dallas people started drafting him much higher. Before the preseason he was available in later rounds. As for the Rams offense. Their offense last season was better, but not great. They had a lot of injuries and a rookie QB (who still did quite well). Going into THIS year, I think they will be much much better. This years Rams should have a pretty decent offense. I agree on Charles, with more carries he could rack up record breaking yards numbers.

I wanted to get everyones thoughts on the players they feel could improve far past their draft position. Not just 12th round sleepers that may be somewhat relevant, but even a 3rd or 2nd round pick that might end up top at their position. As with any fantasy year the important picks are usually players not fully expected to break out. Last year everyone was touting Beanie Wells and Anquan Boldin as breakout stars while Arian Foster and Mike Williams were going in the 8-10th rounds. Finding the players no one expects to break out can really make your year. Here are some players I'm looking at in the draft. Steven Jackson - Consistently above 1k yards no matter what. With a better offense than he has had in years, I think he could start racking up the touchdowns he has been lacking the past few years and put up some serious numbers. Since he is getting a bit older, I have seen him fall as far as 30th pick in a 12 team draft. Seems like he could be end up being a steal even in early portion of the 2nd round. Ryan Matthews - While splitting carries with Tolbert, there were more than a few times last year where Tolbert looked terrible. During that time Matthews was still coming back from injury and couldn't fully cash in on these poor performances. This year I see him taking over the share of the carries as he gets more comfortable during the season. If Tolbert starts to falter and Matthews starts to deliver there will be a hard shift towards Matthews. I think towards mid season this guy can become the beast we thought he would become last year. I see him going in rounds 6-8 currently. Could end up being a top end RB2 if he breaks out. Chad Ochocinco - Still an incredibly talented receiver, he will become part of an amazing offense that could lean on him as their big play receiver. While he is getting older I can see him having a huge season and look like the player he was a few seasons ago. Tom Brady is the best QB he has ever had, and he could make life much easier for Chad. Going in the later rounds right now he could be a steal.

I have seen a few strange player drops today. I have seen Malcom Floyd dropped, Mike Wallace dropped and Pierre Thomas dropped. All 3 of these players seem like ones you would hang onto, even if hurting a bit. Anyone else been seeing some strange "desperation" drops?

I wanted to open up a discussion about ranking the players who have the more favorable playoff matchups. I was looking at Turner and Rice who both have very good playoff matchups. Aaron Rodgers also has favorable matchups during week 15/16.