You Mocking Me? Practice Makes Perfect for Draft Day

Hey all you loyal followers!
We have launched a brand new website TopTeamFantasy in which we will be providing the same advice and analysis you have come to love, just from a bigger and better source!

The site is equipped with fourms (so you can all ask questions about your fantasy teams), as well as scoreboards, news and articles from our growing group of fantasy writers. We are hoping to continue serving you all from that new website!

Thanks!



By: Russell Shaffer

Let me start by saying your draft is not the end all, be all indicator of how your fantasy fortunes will fall. A good draft doesn’t automatically predict that you will win a championship any more than a lousy initial haul means you’ll be phoning it in by mid-season. Trust me, after 12 years of playing fantasy I’ve been on the plus and minus side of draft day results and I’ve both driven a virtual juggernaut into the ground and rode a giant dog all the way to a championship.

A lot of other things – including how well you comb the free agent list, your choosiness when using your waiver priority and the shrewdness of your trades – play just as big a part of your overall roster management as the draft itself.

Early Fantasy Baseball Rankings - SS

Hey all you loyal followers!
We have launched a brand new website TopTeamFantasy in which we will be providing the same advice and analysis you have come to love, just from a bigger and better source!

The site is equipped with fourms (so you can all ask questions about your fantasy teams), as well as scoreboards, news and articles from our growing group of fantasy writers. We are hoping to continue serving you all from that new website!

Thanks!



The top 25 fantasy baseball shortstops are presented here for standard 5×5 Rotisserie leagues (R/HR/RBI/AVG/SB and W/ERA/WHIP/K/SV). To better understand the difference between the SS options, the players are divided into tiers. For example, while Jose Reyes, Starlin Castro and Ben Zobrist are ranked 3 through 5, the drop off between Reyes and Castro is much less than between Castro and Zobrist. 1B and 2B rankings are also available for your viewing pleasure.

2012-13 Fantasy Basketball Center Preview

Here are my preseason rankings for centers in a standard 8-category rotisserie league. Point Guard (PG), Shooting Guard (SG), Small Forward (SF) and Power Forward (PF) previews are also available.

The 8 categories are: FG%, FT%, Points (PPG), Rebounds (RPG), Assists (APG), Steals (SPG), Blocks (BPG) and 3-pointers (3PT), NOT including turnovers. Player position eligibility for these rankings are based on ESPN's position eligibility, so they may be slightly different to the ones used in your league.

2012-13 Fantasy Basketball Power Forward Preview

Here are my pre-season rankings for power forwards in a standard 8-category rotisserie league. Point Guard (PG), Shooting Guard (SG) and Small Forward (SF) previews are also available.

The 8 categories are: FG%, FT%, Points (PPG), Rebounds (RPG), Assists (APG), Steals (SPG), Blocks (BPG) and 3-pointers (3PT), NOT including turnovers. Player position eligibility for these rankings are based on ESPN's position eligibility, so they may be slightly different to the ones used in your league.

2012-13 Fantasy Basketball Small Forward Preview

Here are my pre-season rankings for small forwards in a standard 8-category rotisserie league. Point Guard (PG) Rankings and Shooting Guard (SG) Rankings have also been released.

The 8 categories are: FG%, FT%, Points (PPG), Rebounds (RPG), Assists (APG), Steals (SPG), Blocks (BPG) and 3-pointers (3PT), NOT including turnovers. Player position eligibility for these rankings were based on ESPN's position eligibility, so they may be slightly different to the ones used in your league.

2012-13 Fantasy Basketball Shooting Guard Preview

Shooting Guard (SG) is likely the thinnest position in fantasy basketball. Last year, only 10 of the top 50 players (and 28 of the top 100 players) had shooting guard eligibility. As a result, drafting a shooting guard that you can count on is of utmost importance.

Here are my pre-season rankings for shooting guards in a standard 8-category rotisserie league. Point Guard (PG) rankings have also been released and are available here. 

The 8 categories are: FG%, FT%, Points (PPG), Rebounds (RPG), Assists (APG), Steals (SPG), Blocks (BPG) and 3-pointers (3PT), NOT including turnovers. Player position eligibility for these rankings were based on ESPN's position eligibility, so they may be slightly different to the ones used in your league.

2012-13 Fantasy Basketball Point Guard Preview

Point Guard (PG) is one of the most important positions in fantasy basketball. Seeing as the ball is in their hands a lot, a fantasy team's PGs are weak it's almost impossible to compete.

Here are my pre-season rankings for a standard 8-category rotisserie league. The 8 categories are: FG%, FT%, Points (PPG), Rebounds (RPG), Assists (APG), Steals (SPG), Blocks (BPG) and 3-pointers (3PT), NOT including turnovers.

Fantasy Football PPR Standouts

So far this season, I haven't written much about Point Per Reception (PPR) leagues. With PPR leagues continuing to increase in popularity, instead of doing full QB, RB, WR and TE rankings for PPR as well (rankings take a very long time) this article discusses some players whose values are significantly increased in PPR leagues.


Running Backs

Darren Sproles, NO - Sproles has always been much better in PPR than in standard leagues, however, he was never featured in an offense until last year in New Orleans. The Saints are great at giving their skill players the ball in space so expect another massive PPR season.

Darren Sproles, top 6 RB in PPR leagues

Hidden Gems: RBs Who Could Win Your League

Jammal Charles in 2009
Peyton Hillis in 2010
DeMarco Murray in 2011

All of these RBs were late rounders or undrafted in fantasy leagues that became fantasy stars and led many fantasy owners to their championships. It happens every year. In this column, I will list some sleeper RBs that could come out of the woodwork to have a significant role this year. Most of these guys will not be drafted in standard 10 team leagues but are good names to keep an eye on throughout the season.

Fantasy Football Pre-Season Buzz

We are now finished the 3rd week of pre-season games, so it's a good time to take a look back at some interesting story lines of the pre-season. Here are some of thoughts from pre-season action:
See my QB, RB, WR and TE rankings as well for a more detailed look at each player.

Peyton Manning looks awesome. Last night, he carved up the 49ers (the best defense in th NFL last year) going 10-12 for 122 yards and 2 TDs in just one quarter of action. He threw a lot of short/intermediate routes, but did take a couple of deep shots, one of which was a beautiful 38 yard pass to Lance Ball. It was a concern that his surgically repaired neck wouldn't be able to take hits, but he took a big one from linebacker Parys Haralson and jumped right back up. I am no longer worried about his injury risk and after finishing the preseason 30-42 (71%) for 343 passing yards, 2 TDs and 3 INT, he's my #7 QB.

2012 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings

Tier 1:

1. Arian Foster, HOU - Last year, on a per game basis, Arian Foster scored the most fantasy points of all RBs. Sure Ben Tate will get a large number of carries (10+ per game) but the Texans have become a run-first team and there are more than enough carries to go around. A bigger and more physical back than Rice and McCoy, Foster has the best chance to finish the year as fantasy's top RB.

2. Ray Rice, BAL - One of the most dynamic players in the league and arguably the best pass catching RB, Rice is a super safe pick who will rack up fantasy points even without finding the endzone.

3. Lesean McCoy, PHI - Like Rice, McCoy is a very dynamic player, both rushing and catching the ball. McCoy's receptions declined from 78 to 48 last year, but he exploded for a career high 20 TDs (previous high of 9). I expect his receptions to remain in the 40-50 range and the TDs to decline.

2012 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings

Tier 1:
1. Calvin Johnson, DET - Megatron is in a tier all to himself. Far and away the best WR in the league last year, Megatron has 96 catches for 1681 yards and 16 TDs. Detroit's improving offense should make it more difficult for defenses to focus completely on him.

2012 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings

Tier 1:
1. Jimmy Graham, NO - Only with 3 years of organized football under his belt, Graham is arguably the most athletic TE in the NFL. As Drew Brees' top option in the passing game his upside is astronomical. With his speed, size and jumping ability, Graham should continue to improve.
2. Rob Gronkowski, NE - Far and away the best TE in the NFL last year, was 6th among all position players in fantasy points, behind only Ray Rice, Lesean McCoy, Calvin Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew and Arian Foster. With Brandon Lloyd coming on board as well, there are too many weapons in NE for Gronk to duplicate those numbers. The yardage and TDs should both decline.

2012 Fantasy Football Quarterback Rankings

Standard league, 4 pts/TD

Tier 1:

1. Aaron Rodgers, GB

2. Tom Brady, NE

3. Drew Brees, NO

Aaron Rodgers was by far the best QB in the league last year, 4600yds with 45 TD to only 6 INT. Plus, he runs too. All three QBs in this tier are extremely accurate, have lots of weapons and rarely turn over the ball. All 1^st round picks.

2012 Fantasy Football Busts

For those of you that have followed me throughout the pre-season, you have probably heard me discuss most of these names at one point or another. However, here is a list of some of my busts this season, with my current rankings in brackets. Note: When I say bust, I mean a player that will perform worse than their draft day ADP. That player could still be useful in fantasy leagues, but .

See my QB, RB, WR and TE rankings as well for a more detailed look at each player. Also, check out my 2012 Fantasy Football Sleepers.

2012 Fantasy Football Sleepers

For those of you that have followed me throughout the pre-season, you have probably heard me discuss most of these names at one point or another. However, here is a list of some of my favorite sleepers, with my current rankings in brackets.
See my QB, RB, WR and TE rankings as well for a more detailed look at each player. Note that guys I've written about a lot like Fred Jackson, Percy Harvin, Titus Young won't be touched on in this article even though based on their ADP, are big sleepers of mine.

The Perfect Fantasy Football Draft

In a perfect world, my fantasy football team would consist of Aaron Rodgers at QB, Arian Foster and Ray Rice at RB, Calvin Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald at WR, Jimmy Graham at TE and Lesean McCoy at flex. In this same world, I drive a Lamborghini, live in a mansion and am dating Miss Universe. Seeing as none of those things are going to happen anytime soon (and my girlfriend might kill me when she reads this), I sought out to draft the perfect fantasy team based on Average Draft Position (ADP).

10 Commandments of Fantasy Football Drafting

Draft day is one of the most fun days of the year, but it can also be very stressful and overwhelming. In this column, I present the ten rules to live by to help your draft run as smoothly as possible, and give you the best chance to win your league.

But remember, fantasy leagues are supposed to be fun, so here's a clip of the popular fantasy football show "The League", a must watch for every fantasy football fan:

So without further ado.... the Ten Commandments of Fantasy Football Drafting!!