My take on the NFL Draft (version 8.0)
1 HOU Jadeveon Clowney DE (There has been more talk of a QB from them-I think they take Clowney or trade down but do not take a QB here)
2 STL (from WAS) Sammy Watkins WR (STL needs a WR here and a OL later in the first round or could trade down and take a OL with their lower pick)
3 JAX Blake Bortles QB (Looked great in pro day-CF QB perfect fit for Jags)
4 CLE Johnny Manziel QB (What better landing place for Johnny Football then the circus that is OAK)
5 OAK Khalil Mack OLB
6 ATL Greg Robinson OT (Much needed-or Khalil Mack OLB too)
7 TB Mike Evans WR
8 MIN Terry Bridgewater QB
9 BUF Jake Mathews OT (Fills a need)
10 DET Odell Beckham WR
11 TEN Darqueze Dennard CB
12 NYG Aaron Donald DT
13 STL Marqise Lee WR ( I expect the Rams to trade down here and get a S or WR later)
14 CHI Justin Gilbert CB
15 PIT Zack Martin OT (OT are going fast)
16 DAL Calvin Pryor FS
17 BAL Ha Ha Clinton-Dix FS
18 NYJ Eric Ebron TE (Geno Smith or Mike Vick needs help, Eric Decker works but a good TE is another plus)
19 MIA Taylor Lewan OT
20 ARI Derek Carr QB
21 GB Anthony Barr OLB (good teams get good players regardless of need)
22 PHI Kelvin Benjamin WR
23 KC Brandin Cooks WR
24 CIN Dee Ford DE (Fills big need)
25 SD Kony Ealy DE
26 CLE Bradley Roby CB
27 NO Morgan Moses OT (from UVA)
28 CAR Cyrus Kouandjio OT
29 NE Jace Amaro TE
30 SF Louis Nix NT (Patience pays off)
31 DEN C. J. Mosley OLB
32 SEA Austin Seferian-Jenkins TE
Fantasy Football Tips (2nd Edition): 230 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($12.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635151
Books from Extra Point Press:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-basketball-handbook-sam-hendricks/1107640391
Here is my first look at the 2014 RB Rankings from a fantasy football perspective.
1 Adrian Peterson-MIN (Older and brutal schedule but Norv Turner at OC)
2 Jamaal Charles-KC (Love this guy)
3 LeSean McCoy-PHI (opportunity with Chip Kelly offense but reduction in carries due to Darren Sproles?)
4 Matt Forte-CHI (PPR league for sure)
5 Marshawn Lynch-SEA (Avoiding some of the riskier upside RBs later for the tried and true but who may see a reduction this year)
6 LeVeon Bell-PIT (Can you say stud RB)
7 Eddie Lacy-GB
8 Demarco Murray-DAL
Ok now come some with question marks
9 C. J. Spiller-BUF (Fred Jackson is still around)
10 Doug Martin-TB (?? trust him)
11 Arian Foster-HOU (Another injury away from greatness or GOAT)
12 Zac Stacy-STL
Honorable Mention-Alfred Morris or Giovani Bernard
Fantasy Football Tips (2nd Edition): 230 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($12.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635151
Books from Extra Point Press:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-basketball-handbook-sam-hendricks/1107640391
How easy is it to schedule the NFL?
Well lets look at the problem areas…
The Vikings are playing at the University of MIN campus while their new stadium is built. This meant no home THUR or MON games or Sunday games when the Gophers were home.
SF has a new stadium but they have some agreement preventing home games on THUR and MON until next year because they are figuring out the traffic issues. They did have a waiver for Turkey day so…SF hosts SEA Thanksgiving.
There are concerts and Rugby matches to deconflict and baseball too.
-There are 3 London games
-Every team gets a Thursday game
Weird things
-CHI plays DAL the Thursday after Thanksgiving in which they both play too. So they get back to back Thursday games.
-OAK travels to NY, NE and London all in September
-SEA only has one primetime game and that is the kickoff game when they host GB
-CHI has the maximum allowed primetime games -5
Things the NFL hates to schedule
-3 straight road games
-a road game after a Monday night road game
SEA almost had both happen with the same 3 weeks if the second best schedule was used. Wow!
The TV schedule is changing a bit too. Now there is something called cross flexing. No it is not a new gym machine. It is when CBS lets Fox take one of their games (AFC teams playing each other) or FOX lets CBS take one other their NFC match ups. Why would they do that? Well if one of the other has a ton of great games the NFL realizes not everyone will see them. You can only switch between the one CBS and FOX channel unless you have the NFL ticket. So if FOX lets CBS have a great game then maybe more fans will see more good games. Thats the thinking at least.
CBS now gets 8 of the Thursday night games and hopefully with better match ups
The flexing that NBC does on Sunday night expanded so that it can start in week 5 but only can change (sorry flex) 2 games in those 6 weeks. It really is insurance for NBC in case a QB goes down and a team stinks it up.
Now you know...
Fantasy Football Tips (2nd Edition): 230 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($12.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635151
Books from Extra Point Press:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-basketball-handbook-sam-hendricks/1107640391
According to the strength of schedule calculator OAK has the toughest schedule then DEN and STL. I agree in some regards because now the AFC West has to play the NFC West-perhaps the toughest division in football (as opposed to last year when they played the NFC East who had a bad year to say the least). But do not trust the SOS too much. More later
The easiest schedule? IND, TEN, HOU and JAX. Hmmmm they are all in the AFC South. Thus the reason why the SOS is a misnomer. It is based on the previous seasons record. If the division does poorly as a group the past year then their 6 games the coming season against poor record teams will mean an easier looking schedule. I know IND was 11-5 but the other three were a combined 13-35. The division was 24-40 overall. Ugly!
Winners
-IND Face NFC East (PHI at IND) only face real challenges DAL and CLE on the road. Start with @DEN-it is all downhill from there. 12-4 and a bye in the first round.
-CAR Need all the help they can get after Cam's injury and losing all their WRs. Playing ATL and TB may not be as easy as it looks.
Tough road trips to GB and PHI could be pivotal. This is a sleeper team that looks like an easy schedule but watch them crumble.
-BAL Just 6 of 16 games are versus a playoff team from 2013.
Loser
-TB plays 3 straight road games in WK 3-5 at ATL, PIT and NO. They could easily be 2-4 heading into their bye week 7.
-CIN another team with a 3 game road streak WK 11-13 at NO, HOU and TB. They also get their bye early-week 4 (most teams want a mid year break). Perhaps even tougher is the road games vs NE and IND. 11-5 will be a nice trick this year.
-STL Toughest schedule in the league in my opinion. 3 road games week 8-10 at KC, SF and AZ. Playing SF and SEA twice does not help. Plus they play the AFC West with DEN, SD and KC…and OAK too.
-AZ Same comments as STL as they are a NFC West team and play the AFC West.
-DEN They play 12 teams that were .500 or better last year. Brutal schedule this year.
Honorable Mentions
-TEN and JAX-Both teams start with 3 of 4 road games. Often the first four games sets the tone for the entire season. I.e a poor start can derail the year-especially for teams that may be struggling.
-MIN Tough start for my Vikes-@STL, NE, @NO, ATL, @GB on a short week to THURS, then DET. And they are playing at the Univ of Min so I wish them luck in 2014. Could easily start 0-6 before figuring out who their starting QB will be for the rest of the season.
For the record NO may have a tough time this year too. The Jets look like a top 10 tough schedule but with the new talent and a little luck they could be playoff bound.
Fantasy Football Tips (2nd Edition): 230 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($12.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635151
Books from Extra Point Press:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-basketball-handbook-sam-hendricks/1107640391
I know it is too early, heck the 2014 NFL Draft has not even occurred although it should have Thursday. Arggggggg!
Here is my first take on the QBs and why. I still think due to the depth QB is perfect to wait on and be the last or next to last guy to take your first QB (like in round 8 or 9).
QB
1 Drew Brees-Many will tap Peyton Manning as the #1 after his record breaking year. I have problems with that. Usually those record stay for some time-i.e the guy does not repeat. See Bree and Brady before this. But I also think Denver is going to run more-not a lot more but more especially with the loss of Eric Decker. Emanuel Sanders will do well just not as good.
2 Peyton Manning-see the reasons above for why PM has a good year.
3 Aaron Rodgers-Many will forget he had an injury plagued year in 2013 and all of his great achievements before that. Having said that he is no sleeper. But GB may run more in 2014 too. But don't bet against Rodgers.
4 Tom Brady-He always finds a way.
5 Mathew Stafford-Calvin Johnson finally gets a decent #2 WR in Golden Tate. If Stafford can stay upright-a big if. Big things can happen in the Motor City
6 Andrew Luck-Whats not to like in the guy. He is such a good guy you can't help but root for him and if Trent Richardson shows up at all. The sky is the limit.
7 Matt Ryan-drops some with the loss of TG and Roddy Whites additional year of work.
8 Nick Foles-without DJax but the 2nd year in Chip Kellys system
9 RG3-With DJAX. Wow. Sleeper alert
10 Tony Romo-I love the guy. Sleeper
11 Cam Newton-Drops a ton here since he lost every WR he has ever thrown to as a Pro QB except for Greg Olsen.
12 Russell Wilson
Honorable Mention-Colin Kaepernick
Honestly I would be happy with any of these 13 in the first 10 rounds as my starting QB as long as I got quality RBs and WRs with my first 9 picks!
Fantasy Football Tips (2nd Edition): 230 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($12.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635151
Books from Extra Point Press:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-basketball-handbook-sam-hendricks/1107640391
The NFL schedule came out last night and there are some interesting games. I will look at the schedule in more detail over the coming weeks as well as get some preliminary Fantasy Football rankings before the NFL Draft.
Here is some of the significant dates for the 2014 Season
April-June 7 Team Practices, Minicamps and OTA's
May 2 -RFA Deadline
May 8-10 -NFL Draft
July-August-Training Camps
Aug 3 -Hall of Fame Game (BUF at NYG)
Aug 28 -Preseason ends
Sep 4 -GB goes to SEA in the 2014 Kickoff Game on at 8:30
Dec 28 -Regular Season Ends
Jan 3-4 -Playoffs Wild Card Weekend
Jan 10-11 -Divisional Playoffs
Jan 18 -Conference Playoffs
Jan 25 -Pro Bowl
Feb 1 -Super Bowl XLIX (6 p.m. ET, NBC)
Fantasy Football Tips (2nd Edition): 230 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($12.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635151
Books from Extra Point Press:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-basketball-handbook-sam-hendricks/1107640391
