Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

The rumor mill kicks into high gear in the NFL off-season, and one of the biggest items on the agenda this year was whether or not Blake Bortles would remain the starting quarterback of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Bortles has only played 4 full seasons in the NFL and enjoyed a very successful 2015 (4,428 yards, 35/18 TD/INT ratio), but his productivity dropped in 2016 and his role as a game manager in 2017 didn't (for the most part) allow for many big offensive opportunities to be channeled through the QB position. 

Jaguars are giving QB Blake Bortles a new three-year, $54 million deal, worth up to $66.5M with incentives, that includes $26.5M guaranteed, tying him to Jacksonville through the 2020 season, per source.

Jacksonville out of QB market.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 25, 2018

What we know: The Jaguars have extended Blake Bortles for a 3-year $54M contract and may look to draft some more developmental talent at the position this year (and who wouldn't, with their current backup being an underwhelming Chad Henne?), but Bortles will be the clear-cut starter.

With Allen Robinson likely being re-signed to a new long-term contract (or franchise tagged if the two camps can't reach a deal by March 6th), and building on the pieces that have already worked well (defense/secondary, Leonard Fournette), Bortles has been given one more chance to prove that he deserves to be under center in Jacksonville and could be their franchise quarterback. 

Looking forward: Bortles underwent surgery on his right (throwing hand) wrist back in January, hoping to fix an issue that had been affecting him for the whole 2017 season. While true that there were plenty of games in which Bortles was simply managing the team into victories, it's also clear that toward the end of the season the team needed to lean on the passing game more, and he showed up when needed - putting up 9 passing TDs over the all-important weeks 13-16.

He also had an impressive divisional playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a shootout, continuing to stay one step ahead of Roethlisberger and the Steelers' offense throughout the game. The Jaguars made it to the playoffs last season for the first time since 2007 and the combination of a healthy Bortles & Robinson in addition to their existing pieces should lead them right back into the thick of it.

Yes, the regular fantasy season has come to a conclusion for 2017 - but we're certainly not resting on our laurels with all of the exciting playoff football still ahead of us! Although postseason fantasy leagues can be set up in a variety of ways, my personal favorite is going with a single draft that accumulates points throughout the playoffs. In this case, the optimal strategy is to determine which teams you think will play the most games and draft accordingly.

I've had success in the past picking no more than 4 teams and trying to only collect players from those squads. Looking at the available teams this year, I would shy away from the Chiefs and Titans (since the winner will end up against the Patriots), and I don't think that the Bills, Falcons, Panthers, or Eagles will win their first games. That leaves us with the below teams:

AFC

New England (1)

Pittsburgh (2)

Jacksonville (3) Wild Card

NFC

Minnesota (2)

Los Angeles (3) Wild Card

New Orleans (4) Wild Card

So my suggestion is to choose 3 or 4 of these teams that you think have the best chance of making it to the Super Bowl (or, at the very least, of playing multiple games in the playoffs) and try to draft players from those teams exclusively. Stacking up players from a team that makes it to the Super Bowl is usually your ticket to some postseason fantasy winnings. It's possible that all of the wild card teams could lose in the 2nd round, but keep in mind that if you do end up picking players from a wild card team (New Orleans, for example), they will have the advantage of playing an additional game over the higher ranked teams with a bye in the first round.

You may rank the top playoff teams differently, but I would urge you to adopt a similar philosophy to the above in how to build your postseason fantasy team - you have to take a chance in order to land on top! Best of luck and we'll see you all next year for more fantasy insights, strategies, rankings, and podcasts.

Thanks for reading drinkfive.com this year! This week's installment of the rankings brings us to the end of the line. Week 17 is used in some fantasy leagues to determine the champion, so we're still here to help out in those circumstances. Good luck, all! Great plays this week include Blake Bortles, Giovani Bernard, Golden Tate, and George Kittle.