Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

Each week, there are hundreds if not thousands of news articles, opinion pieces, injury reports, and more written about the NFL. It's my hope to try and sort out some of these and bring to the top the most relevant and interesting headlines that you can use to set your weekly fantasy lineup with confidence. Want to send me questions/comments/suggestions? I can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

- Colin Kaepernick had a regular season fantasy high with 32 points in Week 12. That's Kaepernick, with a 'K'. Hard to believe after the guy was not even going to be a starter this year, but this is how it goes. Looks like Kaepernick will now be in the starting QB discussion from week to week. Shocker!

- Drew Brees is a fantastic QB. We all know that already, but he sits at #2 just below Aaron Rodgers and above Matt Ryan in standard scoring leagues this year. Yes, he plays better statistically at home.. but it seems like he's an every week start from here on out.

- Taylor Gabriel has been a surprise, putting up his 4th double-digit performance in as many weeks. The issue here is that they have mostly been big plays and he is still trailing in targets to other receivers on the team. Can we trust him going forward? Coin flip! Yeah, baby!

- LeSean McCoy had a dislocated thumb and there were many voices out there saying that he might not be a suggested start. Well, those voices be damned, McCoy has been a stud almost every outing and this past week was not any different. He also now has 3 matchups upcoming against teams that have not been great against the run this season (Oakland, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland).

- Brandin Cooks should have had points this past week. Right? Not in this reality.. while 9 other individual Saints players scored at least 5 points each.. Cooks had 0. Should we be worried about Cooks? I don't think so - the Rams had gameplanned to take away Cooks and they did.. but they also forgot to play football.

- Julio Jones was held to just 3 fantasy points in standard scoring leagues (for the 4th time this season, actually). Can this be attributed solely to the coverage that he received in those games, or is something else going on there?

- Rob Gronkowski was active and, in fact, looked ok for a bit - before injuring his back on an attempted diving catch. Unfortunately, he exited the game afterwards and was even seen gingerly going down a set of stairs. Ouch, Rob. Will he play next week? Fantasy owners want to know! Personally, I might wait a week even if he does start.. chest/lungs injury and back injury? Doesn't sound great for a receiver. By the way, Bennett has an ankle sprain and is not an option to start in his stead, should he not play.

- Thomas Rawls is taking over the backfield for the Seattle Seahawks.. but Seattle was just awful offensively. He should recover going forward if his track record last year is any indication.

 - Robert Griffin III has been cleared for contact.. how soon will he take over for McCown? How will this affect the Browns' offensive players for the rest of the season if he does make starts during the fantasy playoffs? Positively or negatively? A healthy Griffin should be a boost to the offense in general, if all goes right.

- Sammy Watkins is back and catching 60-yard passes. What's up! He is a much-needed component of the offense and will be producing fantasy points for owners during the playoffs. A good time for him to come back healthy? You're damn right! But is he a WR2 or a WR1 going forward? That's the question.

- Adrian Peterson is back sprinting - if he's available should you pick him up in a league? Duh!

- Jordan Matthews is a watch going forward.. if he's limited, he should not be considered a good play in this writer's opinion. 

Week 14 was the start of the fantasy football playoffs and some big things went down before, during and after all the games. In case you haven’t yet, make sure you check out all the crazy stats that Le’Veon Bell racked up on Sunday.

• -          Two NFC South receivers sat out. Sitting out isn’t usually the end of the world because you have a chance to get someone else in the lineup, but missing Julio Jones (turf toe) and Michael Thomas (foot) definitely had an effect on some team’s fantasy playoff outcome. Both guys are questionable to start in Week 15, so keep your eyes peeled to those injury reports.

• -          Two top flight RB’s went down very early in their game. Matt Forte exited the game early with a knee injury, paving the way for Bilal Powell to have a monster game that by all rights should have gone to Forte owners, but hey, “them’s the breaks”! Melvin Gordon was carted off the field with a hip injury and is currently anywhere between being just fine and inches from his deathbed. I suspect he’s more week-to-week and will not be a good bet for Week 15’s lineups. Forte plays on Saturday night, so at least you have plenty of time to plan for alternates if he does not play.

• -          Jeff Fisher was fired as the Rams head coach, just a few games shy of breaking the all-time loss record for head coaches. The Rams were abysmal this season, handing the 49ers their only victory, they left their #1 overall pick on the bench far longer than anyone thought reasonable and they just can’t seem to figure out this thing called “offense”.

• -          Ryan Tannehill exited Sunday’s game with a suspected ACL tear. While he seems to have escaped a full tear, he will not be playing any more games in the regular season. He’s out of the mix as a QB2 and this is a downgrade for Jarvis Landry and Devante Parker, who now have to catch passes from career-backup Matt Moore. I don’t see much of a change for Jay Ajayi who should have success against the Jets and Bills, provided that Moore is not awful.

• -          Aaron Rodgers hurt his calf on the third play of the game, apparently. He didn’t seem too affected by his injury, if so, because he ripped the Seahawks apart much like in the playoffs two years ago. Unlike two years ago, his team held the lead. Rodgers should be just fine going forward, but I suppose it always something you need to keep an eye on.

• -          Matt Stafford made it 8-4^th quarter comebacks on Sunday, but at the expense of his middle finger on his throwing hand. This is an injury he’s expected to play through, but just take note that this is similar to Derek Carr’s injury, and he hasn’t been the same since.

• -          Darren Sproles and fellow backfield mate Wendell Smallwood both exited the game on Sunday due to injury. Smallwood wound up going to the IR for the remainder of the season, but is a hold in dynasty formats. Sproles is in the concussion protocol and needs to get cleared. If he sits on Sunday, then Ryan Mathews is worth a look.

• -          Teams need to start focusing on their extra points more, particularly not getting them returned for 2. Arizona arguably lost the game on Sunday due to not making a single extra point in two attempts, one of them being returned the other way for 2 points. That’s a 4 point swing in a game where they lost by 3. In overtime. Yep, it’s been that kind of season for the Cardinals.

• -          Bryce Petty started and won a game! Granted it was against the hapless 49ers, but this is yet another young QB getting starts and wins before #1 overall pick Jared Goff can get his first. Goff has to go to Seattle this Thursday night, so I really think that RG3 has a better chance at a win this week.

• -          It might have been NBC trying to stir the pot, but the image of Ezekiel Elliott standing next to Tony Romo on the sidelines in the 4^th quarter of the Cowboys game really sticks with me. You know those guys were thinking “Why the hell am I not out there?” I have to say, I agree with them. Despite an 11-2 record, the Cowboys have no business thinking they will win games in December and January when they can only complete 1 out of 9 passes to Dez Bryant and are relying on Cole Beasley and Lance Dunbar for late game heroics. I’m all for keeping Dak Prescott in at QB, but you must keep his weapons around him (and keep them finely honed, not rusty). Of course, now it also seems like he can’t beat the Giants.

Welcome to Statistically (in)Significant, the place to find great stats that probably only matter at the water cooler (or bar). Each week I'll dig through the stats of the week gone by and deliver you some choice conversation starters.

11/11, 5 TD in the Red Zone

Thursday night's game provided us with tons of big numbers (thank you Gurley, Watkins, Hyde, Garcon) but the most impressive numbers that I saw are Jared Goff's red zone passing stats. Through three games, he's a perfect 11/11 passing in the red zone for 82 yards and 5 touchdowns. The Rams barely eeked out a win in San Francisco, but they're now 2-1 behind impressive performances from lots of young players, not to mention the head coach. Goff has already matched his TD total from last season,  but only in 3 games instead of 7. With just one pick on the year, he's looking like one of the most improved rookies from last year, and the Rams are in a good position in a very winnable division.

2 Pick Sixes...in 10 Years!

Aaron Rodgers threw only his second pick six of his career on Sunday (thanks, pro-football reference.com for confirming and being generally awesome). Now in his 10th year of being the starter in Green Bay, Rodgers has always been known for throwing very few interceptions. Let's just put this stat into perspective, shall we? In today's game of lots of passing, Jameis Winston has three to his name. Derek Carr has 4 and Blake Bortles already has 11. All of these guys started playing in 2014 or later, which was 5 years after Rodgers threw his first pick-six. Brees, Palmer, Rivers and Manning all lead the active players with more than 20 each in their career. Of course, the king of the pick six is Rodger's predecessor, who threw 31 in his career.

24 Players Scored More than 20 Points

This was a fantastic weekend for football, and it really felt like big fantasy points were back too. 24 players scored at least 20 points in standard scoring. Granted, there were some outliers like Marcedes Lewis and a bunch of QB's that are owned in less than 10% of Yahoo leagues. I'm talking about guys like Russell Wilson, Brandin Cooks, Jordan Howard and T.Y. Hilton, who were all drafted high and finally delivered with big points this season. This week's 58:30 TD:INT ratio also was a great way to get unstuck from the muck that was Weeks 1 & 2. Even Odell Beckham Jr. got going, and got weird. He could have even joined this group if he had 1 more yard.

3 Receiving Touchdowns

Marcedes Lewis, you know, the guy who's been on the Jaguars since George W. Bush was in Office, caught 3 touchdowns Sunday morning (afternoon?) in London. This equals his total since the 2014 season started and is now about 10% of his career total. These aren't metric touchdowns either, they count for 6 points no matter how many meters or yards the touchdown actually is. On the other side, the Ravens #1 expert consensus ranked D/ST did what can only be described as crapping the bed. They managed zero sacks, picks and fumbles on their way to a -4 point fantasy finish. Blake Bortles sends his regards.

2.2 Points Per Touch

Here at drinkfive.com, we think that considering a player's potential starts with just how many points they can score when they touch the ball. A good player approaches 1.0. A great player averages just over than for their career. This season, still young, has Chris Thompson up to 2.2 points per touch. He has 350 yards from scrimmage on 27 total touches with 4 touchdowns. He's also racking up the long plays this year, with a long run of 61 yards and a long reception of 74 yards. I don't expect Thompson's touches to go up astronomically, but he could see an increase to maybe 12 per game, from the 9 he's currently getting. At his pace, that's like him scoring another touchdown. Last week was the time to pick him up in most leagues, but still look to see if he's in yours!

Bonus stat:

61 Yards

I like to pick on kickers from time to time in this column. I also like to give them props, when appropriate (but not as much as I like picking on them). But I digress, congrats to rookie kicker Jake Elliott who kicked two field goals in the last minute of the game, one to tie and one to take the lead. They were from 46 to tie and an incredible 61 yards for the win. Bravo young man, you no longer need to buy drinks in Philly, as long as you don't miss next week.

In the majority of fantasy football leagues, Week 15 will determine who goes to the championship and who competes for crumbs. Go for the gold! Use our rankings as a guide to select waiver picks and choose who to start on your quest for the trophy. Listen to or watch the Fantasy Finish Line podcast to stay on top of the latest news and analysis - we broadcast live on YouTube weekly on Wednesdays at 9pm CT.

Top guys for this week? Aaron Rodgers, Derrick Henry, Davante Adams, and Travis Kelce. What else is new? :) 

Pay attention to these rankings throughout the season, as they will continue to evolve based on the latest injury updates, news, and player analysis. Have any specific lineup questions? Feel free to tweet us @drinkfive with any of your questions or comments!