Taliaferro

[darin3]

Just look at the running back position point totals so far. It is an inconsistant wasteland, and in most large leagues there are absolute turds starting at RB every week - and with bye weeks upon us, a guy like Tali might be just as startable as anybody.

 

And I was mocked for following the "wait on RB" mantra. Starting guys like Fred Jackson, Ahmad Bradshaw, Darren Sproles and the like spread across several redraft leagues. Guys like that are outperforming RBs I simply "had to take" based on my draft position.

[rattsass]

And I was mocked for following the "wait on RB" mantra. Starting guys like Fred Jackson, Ahmad Bradshaw, Darren Sproles and the like spread across several redraft leagues. Guys like that are outperforming RBs I simply "had to take" based on my draft position.

 

Yeah, this season it really paid off - especiallyif you got the right RBs. It has been trending toward this kind of positional starvation for years, and if the first 3 weeks is any indication we can safely assume the RB position will be a clusterpluck for the forseeable future.

[darin3]

Yeah, this season it really paid off - especiallyif you got the right RBs. It has been trending toward this kind of positional starvation for years, and if the first 3 weeks is any indication we can safely assume the RB position will be a clusterpluck for the forseeable future.

 

 

I went into redrafts with a handful of "PPR RBs with upside" on my radar: Fred Jackson, Joique Bell (who was going earlier than I was really comfy with, for the most part), Woodhead, Thomas, Freeman, Sproles, MJD, Chris Johnson, Bradshaw (off the top of my head -- there may be a couple/few more). And I knew, given my draft plan, that I'd only need TWO of them to really "pop". Honestly, I set the weekly benchmark at 20 points. If two of those guys put up at least 20 points between them per week, I would be in line to win more than I lost, just based on projections for the rest of my team, which ended up being a stud or near-stud QB and TE, at least 2 stud or near-stud WRs and then 2 very good WRs (one in flex).

 

It's worked marginally well in one league, not so great in one (injuries to early-drafted RBs really the cause there) and is kicking astronomical arse in a third.

 

It's a calculated risk, as we all make to some degree in any draft, that pays off big if you have some luck (which is part of any fantasy football season).

[stevegrab]

And I was mocked for following the "wait on RB" mantra. Starting guys like Fred Jackson, Ahmad Bradshaw, Darren Sproles and the like spread across several redraft leagues. Guys like that are outperforming RBs I simply "had to take" based on my draft position.

 

Another owner and I are trying to figure out how we kept passing on Jackson (who went late) or even Sproles (first few rounds after our 5 keeper players). When I took Devonta Freeman I was told "too early", but I was looking for that guy who could take over and carry the load and be a keeper for a few years. Some old guy who isn't very good wasn't what I needed (so I thought). Have rarely had a good RB1 on my keeper team, and keep trying to find one.

 

Live and learn, should have kept Sproles instead of Rivers, especially since I got Cutler a few rounds into the draft and he's been my starter.

[CowboysDiehard]

Another owner and I are trying to figure out how we kept passing on Jackson (who went late) or even Sproles (first few rounds after our 5 keeper players). When I took Devonta Freeman I was told "too early", but I was looking for that guy who could take over and carry the load and be a keeper for a few years. Some old guy who isn't very good wasn't what I needed (so I thought). Have rarely had a good RB1 on my keeper team, and keep trying to find one.

 

Live and learn, should have kept Sproles instead of Rivers, especially since I got Cutler a few rounds into the draft and he's been my starter.

 

 

I've been struggling with the same thing in a two-keeper league. Drafted Freeman (dropped him), Sankey (dropped and re-acquired) and Andre Williams (dropped). Picked up Jeremy Hill and Blue off waivers. We'll see what happens. I went into the year keeping Cobb and Murray. Happy with Murray, but hold my breath ever time he goes down. So, yeah, in the same boat as you. Could have had some of those other guys who are producing now, to take some chances for the future....chances, it turns out, I didn't need to take.

Edited September 24, 2014 by CowboysDiehard

[darin3]

Another owner and I are trying to figure out how we kept passing on Jackson (who went late) or even Sproles (first few rounds after our 5 keeper players). When I took Devonta Freeman I was told "too early", but I was looking for that guy who could take over and carry the load and be a keeper for a few years. Some old guy who isn't very good wasn't what I needed (so I thought). Have rarely had a good RB1 on my keeper team, and keep trying to find one.

 

Live and learn, should have kept Sproles instead of Rivers, especially since I got Cutler a few rounds into the draft and he's been my starter.

 

 

Some (well, maybe most) on my "list" have not panned out... yet. I still think Freeman could be a nice PPR add at some point.

 

But like I said, I only really needed two of the 5ish RBs I drafted in each of these leagues to put up modest numbers on a regular basis to have the plan work.

 

I've been pretty fortunate... in the league where it's working best, F-Jax and Sproles have been money. If not one, then the other.

[rattsass]

I really feel like I have a mulligan at the position for the first 3 weeks - few are prospering, and I too am hinging hopes on someone emerging - don't know how your leagues are going but I am seeing lots of parity in mine, and scoring down overall. If you do end up with a gem or two at RB down the stretch you should be gold - that is what I am banking on as well.

[regguy]

The Huddle resources have Taliaferro having a monster week but have Pierce doing nothing. Is this a legitimate projection, or do the tools simply not update to show thar Pierce was a full participant in practice. I was planning to bench Tali this week in favor of using Zach Ertz as my superflex. (Not great options this week.). But if Tali really is looking at a big week, I might reconsider.

[BA Baracus]

I have been meaning to post in this thread...just not on the mobile device.

 

I have been a huge fan of Taliaferro since the Ravens drafted him. I've never really thought much of Pierce, and Tali has everything that I am looking for in a long term workhorse RB. He is a big guy with great lateral agility (elite 3-cone time). He can catch passes. While not blazing fast, he is fast enough. He had excellent production his last year in college, showing that he can carry the load. On film, he looks a lot like LeVeon Bell did last year. He is very patient, follows and sets up his blockers, and presses the gap at just the right instant. He appears to have great instincts as a runner in this regard. He hasn't really had any major failures in pass protection, so there is really no legitimate reason for the coaches to keep him off the field.

 

I think that it will realistically take some time for the coaching staff to give up on Pierce and this will be a muddled time share for a few weeks. I do believe that Tali is clearly the better player and that it is only a matter of time before he becomes the every down running back for the Ravens during the second half of the season.

 

I noticed that he is projected for some nice stats in the Start Bench Tool this week while Pierce is absent. I consider myself relatively over enthusiastic about Taliaferro, and this seems ambitious to me. Are you guys just speculating that Pierce is still benched due to injury?

Edited September 25, 2014 by BA Baracus

[flemingd]

The Huddle resources have Taliaferro having a monster week but have Pierce doing nothing. Is this a legitimate projection, or do the tools simply not update to show thar Pierce was a full participant in practice. I was planning to bench Tali this week in favor of using Zach Ertz as my superflex. (Not great options this week.). But if Tali really is looking at a big week, I might reconsider.

 

 

RUNNING BACK : Bernard Pierce was out last week with a thigh injury and in his place the rookie Lorenzo Taliaferro started the game He ran for 91 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries while Justin Forsett settled for 63 yards on 11 runs and four catches for only a net of two yards. The rookie is a load to bring down and he's bought himself playing time even when Pierce returns. Some question if Pierce should come back to a starting job after seeing Taliaferro. Flacco elected to throw a score to fullback Kyle Juszcyk for his first action of the year. Barring the return of Pierce, Taliaferro and Forsett will start again. Pierce seems close to returning so I will track and update as warranted. - See more at: http://www.thehuddle...h.QZ2kiBZW.dpuf

[regguy]

Thanks. I still don't understand what it means. Pierce practiced in full yesterday. The huddle's start bench tool came out this morning. Is the start bench projection taking into account Pierce playing or does it assume not?

[rattsass]

Pierce is practicing and expected to start, but we are still really playing a guessing game as to what each players role will be. How effective will Pierce be coming off injury? If he plods his way to a tough start one big play from Tali could inject him into the lineup for an extended period. You are simply throwing darts to start any of those guys this week - but in a flex role would seem safest.

[irish]

Pierce is practicing and expected to start, but we are still really playing a guessing game as to what each players role will be. How effective will Pierce be coming off injury? If he plods his way to a tough start one big play from Tali could inject him into the lineup for an extended period. You are simply throwing darts to start any of those guys this week - but in a flex role would seem safest.

 

 

Agreed but I think Tali-ho is the future and it's just a matter of how long we have to wait before he's RB1a for them. I'm hoping it's now versus later this season or next season.

[stevegrab]

Pierce is practicing and expected to start, but we are still really playing a guessing game as to what each players role will be. How effective will Pierce be coming off injury? If he plods his way to a tough start one big play from Tali could inject him into the lineup for an extended period. You are simply throwing darts to start any of those guys this week - but in a flex role would seem safest.

 

This makes sense and is the SOP for most injury situations. Guys coming back don't get much projected until later in the week, after the last practices and more is known. Guys who are banged up but not certain to play get projected for stats and modified later. And you guys do a good job of mentioning it in many of the player write-up as flemingd posted. Too often people just look at stat projections then have questions "well he is not supposed to play, why you projecting for him" or "he's supposed to be back, how come you're not projecting for him".

 

Thanks. I still don't understand what it means. Pierce practiced in full yesterday. The huddle's start bench tool came out this morning. Is the start bench projection taking into account Pierce playing or does it assume not?

 

Did you read the post before yours? And look at the projections for that game?

 

Pretty clear at this time they are NOT projecting for Pierce. They think Pierce may play, will follow that situation and update later.

 

Unless people have to set their line-ups before the first kickoff on Thursday you need to be patient and wait for the Friday updates to the projections.

[regguy]

Did you read the post before yours? And look at the projections for that game?

 

 

Yes, but this was a pretty interesting education for me in how the huddle's tools work, which, frankly is not all that intuitive, and I still don't think it's very clear at all. I appreciate the staff posting in this thread, but I think my point stands.

 

I'm a fantasy football novice, which is why I pay for the huddle's in-season tools. If I go to the Thursday start bench tool, which suggests it exists for purposes of trying to figure out who to play, it projects Tali as a 16 point (17 PPR) player this week, with the second highest confidence level. That's the Thursday (today's) projection. Nothing in the start bench tool says, "but look at yesterday's separate document about game and player projections, which was written before we knew Pierece practiced, to see that really we think this is just throwing darts." The start/bench tool came out later today and it shows Tali as a "great start". Does it really mean that? Obviously, this is all just guessing, but I guess I assume that the start/bench tools take the most up to date information into account.

 

Pierce practiced yesterday. If the staff really thinks this is throwing darts, then the start bench tool ought to say that for those of us who use it as a tool to make, well, start bench decisions.

 

Again, I appreciate the post here clarifying the situation and informing me that I can't look at the s/b documents in isolation.

Edited September 25, 2014 by regguy

[stevegrab]

regguy,

As a novice and I presume new to The Huddle let me just say, read the write-ups of players and don't just look at the simple things like start bench tool, player rankings and stats projections. There is a ton of useful info there, including as you see what they are thinking regarding players that are injured and could be out or returning. In time you'll learn more, become savvy and use the data you have to make more informed decisions. Don't just look at S/B tool and set your line-up.

 

I don't disagree that it isn't completely intuitive. And I recall that at one time the Weekly Game Predictions and Player Projections used to also be listed in Friday as "Updated" and had the updated games highlighted. But now it isn't there, and you have to remember to check back on Friday (not sure if there in the morning or evening). I usually do an intitial set on my line-up on Wednesday, then review more info for updated on Friday/Saturday to make my final selections.

[regguy]

Thanks -- good advice. I find the game predictions and player projections to be a bit of info overload for the moment, but I'm getting more accustomed to it.

[rajncajn]

Thanks -- good advice. I find the game predictions and player projections to be a bit of info overload for the moment, but I'm getting more accustomed to it.

 

 

I could never imagine myself saying that at any point in my history of a FF player.

Edited September 25, 2014 by rajncajn

[ShuckCreations]

Thanks -- good advice. I find the game predictions and player projections to be a bit of info overload for the moment, but I'm getting more accustomed to it.

 

 

Just wait until you start making your own FF spreadsheets. After the season is over I spend all year compiling stats and adding new formulas to make my own FF predictions. I'm kind of a nerd...

[keggerz]

Yes, but this was a pretty interesting education for me in how the huddle's tools work, which, frankly is not all that intuitive, and I still don't think it's very clear at all. I appreciate the staff posting in this thread, but I think my point stands.

 

I'm a fantasy football novice, which is why I pay for the huddle's in-season tools. If I go to the Thursday start bench tool, which suggests it exists for purposes of trying to figure out who to play, it projects Tali as a 16 point (17 PPR) player this week, with the second highest confidence level. That's the Thursday (today's) projection. Nothing in the start bench tool says, "but look at yesterday's separate document about game and player projections, which was written before we knew Pierece practiced, to see that really we think this is just throwing darts." The start/bench tool came out later today and it shows Tali as a "great start". Does it really mean that? Obviously, this is all just guessing, but I guess I assume that the start/bench tools take the most up to date information into account.

 

Pierce practiced yesterday. If the staff really thinks this is throwing darts, then the start bench tool ought to say that for those of us who use it as a tool to make, well, start bench decisions.

 

Again, I appreciate the post here clarifying the situation and informing me that I can't look at the s/b documents in isolation.

 

I'm not sure if you realize this or not but all of the projections on this site are done by a human. DMD does the offensive projections and I do the IDP ones...neither of us use algorithms to create those projections. I can't speak for DMD but what I can say from my POV is that it's hard as hel1 to do write-ups and projections early in the week. DMD has his offensive stuff out for I think Wednesday AM and at that point teams haven't even practiced yet...IDP projections come out on Thursday and I only have one day of practice reports to look at and what you don't realize is that some of those player's write-ups happened before the injury report came out. The Friday updates are huge and allow us to make much more informed tweaks to projections.

[DMD]

What he said.

[mfootballbiz]

do not being injures, then we could could more excellent games, thanks

[wpayers]

So as of Friday evening BAL has Bernard Pierce back healthy, along with Taliaferro and and Justin Forsett. On Roto I see OC Kubiak saying "We're going to keep a fresh guy on the field -- that's what we're going to do -- and if we feel like one guy has the hot hand, blah, blah."

 

What we have here is a failure to communicate (commit.) Classic RBBC until either the cream rises or the crap sinks.

 

My stake in this is I have Taliaferro and Asiata both occupying a spot on a short bench (6). I have to drop one by Sunday morning. I'm leaning to keeping Asiata because of his starting, albeit plodding, status. He is not sexy but he'll be there. But Taliaferro sure has the look of a stud if given the playing time.

 

Thoughts>>>drop Taliaferro or Asista?

[irish]

So as of Friday evening BAL has Bernard Pierce back healthy, along with Taliaferro and and Justin Forsett. On Roto I see OC Kubiak saying "We're going to keep a fresh guy on the field -- that's what we're going to do -- and if we feel like one guy has the hot hand, blah, blah."

 

What we have here is a failure to communicate (commit.) Classic RBBC until either the cream rises or the crap sinks.

 

My stake in this is I have Taliaferro and Asiata both occupying a spot on a short bench (6). I have to drop one by Sunday morning. I'm leaning to keeping Asiata because of his starting, albeit plodding, status. He is not sexy but he'll be there. But Taliaferro sure has the look of a stud if given the playing time.

 

Thoughts>>>drop Taliaferro or Asista?

 

 

With the starting job his, you have to keep asiata. I think Tali-ho is the better back but for this season he has the tougher road to consistent, meaningful time.

Edited September 27, 2014 by irish

[Big Country]

So as of Friday evening BAL has Bernard Pierce back healthy, along with Taliaferro and and Justin Forsett. On Roto I see OC Kubiak saying "We're going to keep a fresh guy on the field -- that's what we're going to do -- and if we feel like one guy has the hot hand, blah, blah."

 

What we have here is a failure to communicate (commit.) Classic RBBC until either the cream rises or the crap sinks.

 

My stake in this is I have Taliaferro and Asiata both occupying a spot on a short bench (6). I have to drop one by Sunday morning. I'm leaning to keeping Asiata because of his starting, albeit plodding, status. He is not sexy but he'll be there. But Taliaferro sure has the look of a stud if given the playing time.

 

Thoughts>>>drop Taliaferro or Asista?

 

 

Smooth segue into an advice post.... I'll give at a 7/10 on the smoothness scale, which means it earns a response rather than ridicule.

 

How short is a short bench, and who are your starters? Crummy starters, keep the plodder for a slightly safer option that you play match ups with. Have strong RBs, I swing for the fences on Tali banking on any potential share shifting more and more toward his favor as the season progresses.