Week 3 Reflections

I am sorry that I didn't post on time on Friday and didn't get my blog up until Sunday. If you missed that it is worth a read for sure. Let's get into this.

Howdy Fantasy Lovers, Fantasy Novices, and Fantasy Creatures! Welcome to Fantasy Football 101, where I, Kyle Bazin, will be sharing my opinions, experiences, and advice on Fantasy Football to you all.

Holy high scores this week! Joseph Randle had 20 points before the 2nd quarter. Devonta Freeman and AJ Green combined for almost 80 points! And more than 10 players had over 20 this week which is actually just stupid. Hopefully, you were fortunate enough to have some of these players.

It wasn't all butterflies and rainbows on Sunday, however. If you were fortunate enough to have Big Ben on your team for the first few weeks, you aren't as fortunate anymore. Ben should be out for at least 4-6 weeks. I will talk about replacements for him in a second. Also, hopefully, last minute inactive Demarco Murray didn't cause you too much trouble. Ryan Mathews looked great running in that offense against a stout Jets defense. Look for him to get a lot more touches even when Demarco returns.

Some of us are already looking at our draft boards and asking ourselves what we were thinking when we made that pick. That could be any of the following: Justin Forsett, Alfred Morris, Andre Ellington, Jeremy Hill, or Andrew Luck. Well, I know that everyone is pissed off at these players right now, but they may end up turning it around. Don't give up on them yet (besides the injury prone Ellington) because you will be kicking yourself into next week when they finally get back on track.

People to target for your week 4 waiver pickups:

If you have Big Ben like me, you need someone more than just a 1-week play with a good matchup. In deeper leagues, it may be tough pickings for you but a couple of guys I like are Derek Carr, Oakland and Tyrod Talyor, Buffalo. Both have done well but not great. Hopefully, the rest of your team is solid enough to make up for the slight reduction in points between them in Ben.

If you are looking for a sneaky FLEX play when we start to hit bye weeks, Lance Dunbar, Dallas is the RB with the most targets in the NFL through 3 weeks and you could do worse than his 11 points average.

At tight end, if he is still available you need to get Jordan Reed, Washington. I know I talked about him last week, but he is the number 1 target for Kirk Cousins and is a #1 TE when healthy. Also, Antonio Gates, San Diego is coming off suspension next week. How smart will you look when he comes back healthy and ready to prove himself again? He is worth the stash if you're not looking great at TE.

Thanks for reading everyone. Again these are all MY OPINIONS! Do not take them as a Bible scripture and do not use my word as the only word. It is OK to make opinions for yourself! I promise! Next blog, I will be writing about ways to make your league a little more fun and enjoyable and not just a Sunday activity. 

Stategize and Conquer

Howdy Fantasy Lovers, Fantasy Novices, and Fantasy Creatures! Welcome to Fantasy Football 101, where I, Kyle Bazin, will be sharing my opinions, experiences, and advice on Fantasy Football to you all.

Everyone understands that the fantasy draft is very important. However, many (especially in some of my leagues) take it as a sort of joke so they can make a joke out of drafting Brett Favre or Tim Tebow year after year. They waste a pick in the 14^th round where they could be taking the next C.J. Anderson or Jeremy Hill. I understand… It’s funny. We all love to laugh. But fantasy football is war. There is no surrender not even in the 14^th round. So while everyone is drafting backup kickers I am going to be taking someone like Ronnie Hillman (backup RB, Denver Broncos) because I know that he had a great training camp and that if C.J. Anderson (starting RB, Denver Broncos) got hurt then Ronnie would be looking real pretty in my FLEX spot. The point I am trying to make is don’t stoop down to the other players in your league to make a joke. While your league mate’s trip and fall, make sure you kick them on their way down.

Another important draft day strategy is one that is very obvious. Homer picks. Everyone knows every other league mates favorite team. So if you feel very strongly about Nelson Agholor (WR, Philadelphia Eagles) but there are two Eagles fans in your league, you will either have to reach for him or settle on another guy. Homers screw up the regularity of a draft because they always NEED to reach for their teams’ sleeper. Again where your friends get lazy, you get cute. Put on a dress and some makeup and take John Brown (WR, Arizona Cardinals) and be happy about it.

One of the best tips I can give anyone about drafting is to know how your league drafts. Stupidly this year, I took Aaron Rodgers (QB, Green Bay Packers) in a 10-team league. I forgot however, that everyone goes RB early in my draft and didn’t realize that I could have gotten Marshawn Lynch (RB, Seattle Seahawks) instead and then picked up Rodgers or Andrew Luck (QB, Indianapolis Colts) on the way back in the 2^nd round. If you know that one guy will always take a WR in the first round then use that to your advantage so you know how you will need to pick for the rounds to follow. Also knowing when the Defense/Tight End runs are going to happen is of the utmost importance. You do not want to be the last person to take a defense unless you constantly want to sit on the waiver wire hoping that a team on waivers plays either the Bucs, Jaguars, or Raiders.

Thanks for reading everyone. Again these are all MY OPINONS! Do not take them as a Bible scripture and do not use my word as the only word. It is OK to make opinions for yourself! I promise! My next blog will be some reflections on Week 3 and looking forward to Week 4!

Week 2 Reflections

Howdy Fantasy Lovers, Fantasy Novices, and Fantasy Creatures! Welcome to Fantasy Football 101, where I, Kyle Bazin, will be sharing my opinions, experiences, and advice on Fantasy Football to you all.

“Snap back to reality! Oh there goes gravity!” I’m standing up over here Eminem. The REAL Slim Shady has arrived. The only silly thing is that with football, what really is reality? There is never a for sure win or a guaranteed 10 points, Justin Forsett… Nothing is constant and that’s what keeps us coming back. Hopefully, all of you did well in your week 2 matchups as I did. At least I was right about my projections last week in my reflections blog. Tight ends are back to normal, as are the Tennessee Titans. However, the only thing that is consistent this year is that Gronk and Tom Brady’s favorite TV channel is Spike TV. Anyways let’s get into this.

Week 2 was interesting for sure with the Raiders, Jags, Bucs and Browns all winning on the same day for the first time in HISTORY! And with upsets come head scratching fantasy players that should’ve performed well that… well… they were just plain horrible. But don’t press the panic button yet. Listen up Rooks!

Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints were ready to not only beat the Bucs, but they were ready to stomp them into oblivion. The only fantasy “relevant” player in the whole game was Mark Ingram (and Vincent Jackson if you started him). Where in the world was Mike Evans everyone screamed for? Targeted just 4 times with no catches. Jameis doesn’t even wanna look at him! Give Jameis some time to work up a rapport with Evans. He has hardly worked with Jameis in any practice/game/training camp, so Jackson was getting all the volume and the connection with him. Give it a few more weeks.

Allen Robinson torched the Miami Dolphins supposed good defense (I could have told you they were over-hyped), but don’t let that fool you. The best fantasy player on this offense is T.J. Yeldon because once they figure out they just need to double Robinson, Bortles loses his safety net and they will run the ball.. A LOT!

Owners of Miami Dolphins players. It’s almost time to panic. The Dolphins looked just OK against the Jags and ‘Skins. They should’ve torched them with the offense they have put Tanny around. The only player trust-worthy is the kicker Andrew Franks and Jarvis “Juice” Landry.

Last week, I forgot to include a part where I talk about people that I like as waiver additions. So this will be the inaugural week of that and starting off on that list is:

Carson Palmer, QB Arizona Cardinals: If you do not have one of the top 5 QBs or you currently have a hurt QB (Brees, Romo, Stafford, Tannehill) this is definitely a guy that should be on your roster. He plays extremely well in this offense when healthy and is a must-add.

Jordan Reed, TE Washington Redskins and Eric Ebron, TE Detroit Lions: TE’s are mostly inconsistent but (at least for the first 2 weeks), these guys are exception to that rule. If you couldn’t get Eifert in week 1, these guys are other great options because they are getting looks in the red zone. Now Ebron is more touchdown dependent than Reed is (Reed has more targets over the first 2 games), but either is still a good add.

Matt Jones, RB Washington Redskins or James Starks, RB Green Bay Packers: These are a couple of guys that I wouldn’t be looking at unless you have Lacy or Alfred Morris. Jones will continue to see a share of carries with Morris and although he looks really good early they still have Morris as the starter. Starks is purely a backup for Lacy but if he can’t go on Monday what a plug-and-play this guy would be.

Thanks for reading everyone. Again these are all MY OPINIONS! Do not take them as a Bible scripture and do not use my word as the only word. It is OK to make opinions for yourself! I promise! Next blog, I will be writing about how strategy and tactics will help you in the long run even if it doesn’t help in week 1.

Fantasy Football 101

Howdy Fantasy Lovers, Fantasy Novices, and Fantasy Creatures! Welcome to Fantasy Football 101, where I, Kyle Bazin, will be sharing my opinions, experiences, and advice on Fantasy Football to you all.

Since this is the first entry in my new blog, I wanted to take this time to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my fantasy sports background. Firstly, as you all should know my name is Kyle Bazin and I am a junior in college. Now I know you're thinking, "this guy is just a kid, how much can he know about fantasy?" Well, I started playing fantasy football in 5th grade or 10 years ago. When I was in 5th grade, I was learning fantasy football through observation of my Dad's league "BRING IT BEE-ATCH!" During this season, one of the twelve league members had a problem to where he could not finish the rest of the season and actually decided to quit fantasy altogether to focus on other things. The league scrambled to find a replacement for this team because they couldn't have a team that was not being updated for the final 6 weeks of the season before the playoffs but it was also a team that was only 1-6 at the time. My dad asked the commissioner if he wouldn't mind me taking over the team since I knew a little about fantasy and it wouldn't throw everything off because this team was a cellar-dweller anyway. Well, I ended up taking over this atrocious team and it was no surprise that he was 1-6. I ended up making a few key pickups on the waiver wire and all of the sudden I was strapping some wins together. Over the rest of the season, I finished 5-1! Now I still didn't make the playoffs but it immediately got me hooked. The Spring semester of my 5th grade year, I even did a How-To project on How-To-Play Fantasy Football (I got a 100%!). Since then, I have played fantasy every year and in the 7th grade, I started my very own private 10-team league with close friends and family that I have been the commissioner of since its birth. Over the years, this league is still going strong fluctuating between 12 and 10 members and it also transformed into a money league with a league fee of $25 per member. I also helped start and commish a league at my college with a few of my buddies that is in its 2nd year and this year I finally joined the very first league I was in as a full-time paying member. I am very excited for a great 2015 of football but even more excited for a great 2015 of Fantasy Football!

So, if you still don't believe I am a reputable enough source for fantasy football advice/knowledge that is fine, but you should also know that I do not only give advice based off of my own opinions, but I strongly take into consideration the great minds of some of the men that get paid for fantasy sports.

Starting with my next entry for this blog, I will be reflecting on Week 1. I will be putting this next entry up later today. I will be trying to stick to a strict schedule of posting twice a week. Once on Tuesday and then another on Friday. Until then, I hope everyone has a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Week 1 Reflections

Howdy Fantasy Lovers, Fantasy Novices, and Fantasy Creatures! Welcome to Fantasy Football 101, where I, Kyle Bazin, will be sharing my opinions, experiences, and advice on Fantasy Football to you all.

How wonderful it is to have football back. Smell it up ladies and gents because it is going to be a great year! For everyone who had a rough week 1 (me), don’t worry about a thing. The year will get better I promise. We just have got to stay on top of things this year. There is no need for any distractions. Fantasy should be prioritized and no I do not care what your wife/boss/partner/kids say.

Also, I apologize to all of those who have already been affected by injuries. This week was chalk full of them and it is sad to see some really good players go down on the field. If you had anyone from C.J. Anderson, DeSean Jackson, Dez Bryant, or anyone else who fell to the ground in pain, I am sorry. Hopefully, those who were affected by those injuries were already on top of things and had someone like Ronnie Hillman or Terrance Williams.

With that, let’s get into this.

Didn’t Carlos Hyde look impressive…? Yes, he did. But for some reason, I am not sold on him yet. Minnesota looked really bad on the last game of the week, but also San Fran didn’t look good until the 2^nd half where they went up and they fed Hyde like a mad man. Just don’t proclaim him as the #1 RB in the NFL this year yet.

Attention everyone who had a Cincinnati player on their team. They played Oakland! Yes I was very high on Eifert going into the year at his ADP (Average Draft Position), but I couldn’t say that he is going to get 8 catches for over 90 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jeremy Hill and AJ Green will be the only consistent players on their team year long. I also feel this way about the Titans except I feel only Delanie Walker has the POTENTIAL to be consistent.

The last point for this week is that this is not the Year of the Tight Ends! It was truly impressive how five TE’s had over two touchdowns, but this will not be the norm. These TE’s (except Gronk) will fade back into oblivion like they always do and you’ll miss them, but you also realize that they have to go. Don’t cry beautiful. You look ugly when you cry. Let Gronk wipe your tears.

Thanks for reading everyone. Again these are all MY OPINIONS! Do not take them as a Bible scripture and do not use my word as the only word. It is OK to make opinions for yourself! I promise! Also in future reflections, I will comment on people you may want to target as waiver pickups. Next blog, I will be writing about how strategy and tactics will help you in the long run even if it doesn’t help in week 1.