Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

We're back to the fantasy football podcast again this week. This time, we take a spin around the NFC North. We start our trip in Green Bay, discussing all the fantasy awesomeness to be had there. Then we look at the Lions and try and figure out if they're better this year or not.

Listen to the Fantasy Football Podcast: 6/9/15, NFC North Spotlight

We looked at all of the key additions and departures to all the teams. The Vikings get Adrian Peterson back, which isn't technically an addition, but it will certainly make a difference! Finally, we finish off in our hometown and talk about the Bears. The new regime has tried to put their stamp on this team, but they're still handcuffed with the same old QB. Can they succeed?

Update: Dave and I did manage to decide on a bet. He'll be taking Eddie Lacy and I'll take Adrian Peterson for season long points. We're wagering pizza!

This week's podcast brings drinkfive.com contributor Mike Mocerino to the show. We're discussing the NFC/AFC North divisions and breaking down the fantasy outlook for each team. With week 3 of the preseason approaching, we'll see even more of the starters in each match-up - and some camp battles will be won or lost this week.. so pay attention! Success in upcoming drafts will require knowing just that much more than the next guy.

Can you guess the musical theme for this podcast? Contact us via email with your guess and we'll send a prize out to the first person to guess correctly. Cheers! Feel free to consult This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or ask us your lineup questions @drinkfive on Twitter. Best of luck going forward!

Listen to the Fantasy Finish Line, 8/21/2019: 2019 Preseason, NFC/AFC North

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Following the NFL during the offseason can be a long and tedious pursuit, interrupted by brief moments of excitement when your team signs someone. Now that most of the moves have been made, there’s little left to do but wait for training camp and preseason to start. With our downtime, we’re looking at each team, one division at a time, to look at the fantasy impact of each relevant player on each team and how their value has changed with the team’s changes. This time around, it’s the NFC North.

(Listen to the Fantasy Football Podcast: 6/9/15, NFC North Spotlight) 

Green Bay Packers:

Add/Re-sign –

Randall Cobb, (4 years for $40 mil)

Scott Tolzien, (1 year, $1.35 Mil)

Kyle Sebetic, Safety, from the Giants (their ONLY FA signing this offseason)

Ty Montgomery WR, (3^rd round draft pick)

Departures –

Jarrett Boykin, (Panthers)

Matt Flynn, (Patriots)

DuJuan Harris, (Vikings)

Brandon Bostick, (Vikings via waivers)

Issues:

The Packers never seem to add many, if any, impactful players through free agency. Nearly their entire roster is built on draft picks (I believe at one point last year, their only player they didn’t draft was Julius Peppers). The Pack had a trip to the Super Bowl already booked, but Russell Wilson had other plans for them.

Fantasy-wise, there isn’t a whole lot changing on the Packers. The only notable departure is Jarrett Boykin, who was only a WR3 of questionable weekly output last year. Expect Rodgers, Cobb and Nelson to all return to the top 10 of their positions (maybe top 15 for the WR’s, but Nelson and Cobb did finish 2^nd and 6^th last year, respectively). Look for Davante Adams to pick up the WR3 work, and I wouldn’t expect much production out of the TE position, as is tradition in Green Bay lately.

Eddie Lacy is once again a first round talent, and despite his slow start to last season, still finished 6^th overall for points, finding the end zone a satisfying 13 times. Last year, the top 4 fantasy players on the Packers were probably better than any 4 you could find on any other team. In standard scoring, Rodgers & Nelson finished 2^nd and Cobb and Lacy finished 6^th. That is reminiscent of the Broncos from the 2013. While that team did have a slight drop-off, they did not disappoint when it came time to tally up the points at the end of the year. I expect that Green Bay will be able to repeat their success of last year.

Detroit Lions:

Add/Re-sign –

Jeremy Ross WR, (re-sign)

Lance Moore WR, (signed to 1 year contract)

Ameer Abdullah RB, (2^nd round pick)

Haloti Ngata DT, (acquired in trade from Baltimore)

Departures –

Reggie Bush, (cut, now on SF)

Ndamukong Suh, (left as a FA, signed with Miami)

Issues:

The Lions made the playoffs last year, but were the victim of Dez Bryant and Tony Romo making ridiculous highlight reel plays (which they fell victim to the following week). It’s hard to say that they have made enough moves to help even improve their team, let alone pass the Packers for the division in 2015.

Matt Stafford will still be a solid QB1, Calvin Johnson will feel like a steal when he’s not the first WR off the board in your draft (he’s still WR1 talent) and Golden Tate should probably wind up starting every week. Tate had 99 catches last year, with Megatron (71 rec) missing only 3 games (though he was a decoy in a few he did play).

The RB situation is still sketchy, though removing Bush at least removes one of the more knee-jerk options that were available. Joique Bell, Theo Riddick (3^rd downs) and Ameer Abdullah will probably split most carries to start the season, with the stronger back, if one emerges, getting a larger percentage of the carries as the season goes on. This is going to change a lot, but with a pass first team like the Lions, I wouldn’t waste too high of a draft pick on one of their rotating RB’s. The one exception to this is if Bell keeps sliding into the doghouse. If so, go for Abdullah, but remember, temper your expectations on rookies!

Their TE’s Pettigrew, Ebron and Fauria can be fun, but none are THE guy, so stay away from them as every week starters. Their D/ST should still be strong, adding Ngata and losing Suh, but I prefer streaming D’s anyways, so don’t draft them high.

Minnesota Vikings

Add/Re-sign –

Matt Asiata RB, (re-sign 1 year)

Shaun Hill QB, (2 year 6.5 mil, #2 guy now)

Mike Wallace WR, (via trade with Miami)

Du Juan Harris RB, (FA via GB)

Brandon Bostick TE, (waiver via GB)

MyCole Pruitt (TE) and Stefon Diggs (WR) are their highest offensive (fantasy) draft picks, from the 5^th round

Departures –

Christian Ponder, (OAK)

Greg Jennings, (released, signed by Miami)

Issues:

The story of the Vikings early in 2015 is all about the return of Adrian Peterson. I know I wouldn’t want to line up opposite Purple Jesus after he’s been kept out of football for an entire year. He’s probably in the best shape and health of his life and will make an immediate impact on this team, greater than all of their signings combined.

Last year’s rookie QB, Teddy Bridgewater, will have a few more tools at his disposal and should take another step from last year. His rookie campaign was average – throwing more TD’s than INT’s does show promise going forward. Bridgewater won’t enter August as a QB 1 or 2, but could easily finish the year as a strong QB2, possibly approaching or exceeding the Andy Dalton Line.

AP is clearly the only RB to bother with on the team. I don’t even think I’d entertain a handcuff in this case, as superhumans don’t tend to get hurt like us mortals. Their WR core is much more of a toss-up. Between Mike Wallace, Charles Johnson, Jarius Wright, Cordarrelle Patterson and the field, I really have no good feel for who will emerge as the consistent WR on their team. It could wind up looking like the Seahawks where none of them are viable fantasy options, due to a conservative passing game and spreading the ball around when they do throw it. Kyle Rudolph at TE might end up being the best receiver on the team stats-wise.

Chicago Bears

Add/Re-sign –

John Fox, (head coach) and Ryan Pace, (GM)

Zach Miller TE, (1 year extension, played well in 2014 preseason, hurt in the preseason)

Jimmy Clausen QB, (1 year extension)

Jacquizz Rodgers RB, (1 year, from Atlanta)

Kevin White WR, (1^st round, 9^th overall)

Eddie Royal WR, (Reunited with Cutler)

Departures –

Mark Trestman (good riddance!)

Brandon Marshall (even gooder riddance!)

Issues:

The Bears have many issues they’re carrying over from 2014, but they will look like a different team in 2015. Any time a new regime takes control, they give everything a make-over, especially when the previous season was a disappointing (too light?) 5-11.

Jay Cutler has been on the team for 6 years now, and he still feels like he needs to somehow win over Chicago fans to feel comfortable. If it hasn’t happened by now, it’s not happening. Cutler is the best QB the Bears have the opportunity to start this year, and probably next year too, so just get used to it and hope he doesn’t lead the league in INT’s again. Fewer passes should help Cutler, as in 2015 he had his most pass attempts since he joined the Bears in 2009.

The Bears instantly addressed the departure of Brandon Marshall in the draft, picking Kevin White from West Virginia 9^th overall. He should be able to have a near immediate impact and could be going in redraft leagues as a WR3/WR4, but we’ll see how he fits in a few preseason games first. Alshon Jeffery immediately moves into a WR1/WR2 position, and Marquess Wilson has some fantasy value as well.

It remains to be seen if Martellus Bennett is going to throw more tantrums for whatever reason. If he settles down, he could be a TE1 in a league where the drop off after the first 5 or so TE’s is very steep. If not, Zach Miller might emerge as an option, since Cutler does seem to like throwing to the TE. Matt Forte will continue to carry the load for Chicago, and even though he felt overvalued last year, he finished 4^th overall for RB scoring. Is he the new Frank Gore (a guy who should be dropping off, but never does)?

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.

21 Completions

Joe Flacco completed 21 straight passes on Sunday, just a few shy of the single-game record and 4 short of the overall record (set last year by Ryan Tannehill). Flacco's final stats were 214 passing yards, 2 INT, Zero passing TD's, though he did rush for one. Flacco's team managed to win, despite his best efforts - the two picks came in the fourth quarter. This is a team that should have several receiving options doing well, but unfortunately, over 118 total attempts Flacco has only 774 yards.

8 Sacks

The Vikings sacked Cam Newton 8 times on their way to the most impressive road victory of the season thus far across the league. The Vikings DST is for real as well, putting up 26 points in Week 3 (which was still blown away by KC). The Vikings defense, when combined with an average offense at best, can take this team to the NFC championship. With wins over Green Bay and at Carolina, it looks like the road to the championship might just go through Minnesota.

6 Interceptions

14% of the 44 passes that Ryan Fitzpatrick threw on Sunday wound up in the hands of the Chiefs defenders. With that many turnovers, it's amazing that the Chiefs didn't score more points - though they did have two defensive TD's, on their way to 35 fantasy points (they had 8 over two weeks going into the game). Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, has a very tough road ahead of him - his next three games are vs Sea, @ Pit, and @ Ari.

28.98 Points

Stand up and take a bow if you started Trevor Siemian for your fantasy team. Nobody's standing? Maybe that's because he's only owned in 6% of Yahoo leagues. Sure to be this week's knee-jerk reactionary pickup, we mustn't slight Siemian's impressive 312 yards through the air and 4 TD's to go with zero turnovers. He's also not the only rookie (I guess he's technically not a rookie, anyways) in the top 5 this week. Dak Prescott and Carson Wentz both put up over 21 points and while they may be passed by Brees and Ryan tonight - they had impressive performances nonetheless.

30 Games

Odell Beckham Jr. became the fastest player to 200 receptions, completing the feat in only 30 games. He beat out his former college teammate, Jarvis Landry (33 games), putting up 7 receptions for 121 yards in a far too over-hyped matchup with Josh Norman. For his career, Beckham has 206 receptions, 25 TD's (though none this season) and 3035 yards receiving. He's keeping his great this season and is currently in the top 10 of both receptions and receiving yards for WR's.