Sunday, October 25, 2009

FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume II, Issue XLII

Welcome to our 57th edition of the FDH Fantasy Newsletter, as we continue to bring you weekly fantasy sports updates in addition to our usual content on FantasyDrafthelp.com. Our archive of past editions is available right here on The FantasyDrafthelp.com Blog and specific links to past editions are available on the front page of FantasyDrafthelp.com.

In this week's edition:

^ NFL Week 7 Preview
^ NFL Week 7 Best Waiver Wire Pickups

NFL Week 7 Preview

Here’s a few standard preface notes:

^ Notwithstanding the claims of any website to be your “home for Sunday morning injury report news,” nothing beats Google News – nothing. Entering a player name into this search engine trumps any other means of gathering information because it culls the data from an unbelievably wide variety of sources.

^ Especially earlier in the season, it’s always good to refer to a strong baseline of where players should have been drafted – and nothing beats FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2009.

^ Unless there are any injury questions, we never discuss “gimme” players. Such core players should be started week in and week out unless there is any question surrounding their playing status. Winning teams only need to worry about “playing the matchups” with one, two or (at the most, during bye weeks) three spots in the lineup. Some websites promise you a crystal ball for how to manage high-risk, high-reward juggling during the season. We don’t. We play the percentages. That approach may be boring, but it’s highly effective and much more intellectually honest in what we promise you.

^ By the way, here are your core players who should not be benched if healthy
QB: Brady, Brees, P Manning, McNabb, Rivers, Rodgers, Romo, Warner
RB: M Barber, R Brown, Forte, Gore, Grant, S Jackson, Jacobs, C Johnson, Jones-Drew, Peterson, Portis, Slaton, Tomlinson, Turner, Westbrook, D Williams
WR: Boldin, Bowe, Colston, Fitzgerald, Jennings, A Johnson, C Johnson, Houshmandzadeh, V Jackson, Marshall, Moss, Ochocinco, S Smith (Carolina), Wayne, R White
TE: Clark, Gates, Gonzalez, Witten

^ Here are the players added to that list since the start of the year:
RB: Benson
WR: Burleson, Driver, S Smith (NY Giants)
TE: Daniels, H Miller

^ And here are the players who were on our list, but have been removed from it:
RB: Lynch
WR: Owens, R Williams
^ Links for each game take you to the CBS Sports home page for each game, with stats, analyis and even video previews.

^ All times listed are EDT.

^ Of the non-gimme players we like this week, the stronger plays are the ones in all caps.

Sunday, Oct. 25
(Byes: Baltimore, Denver, Detroit, Jacksonville, Seattle, Tennessee)
Chicago at Cincinnati, 1 p.m. QB Cutler, TE Olsen, QB Palmer
Green Bay at Cleveland, 1 p.m. TE FINLEY, Browns marginal players all-out
San Francisco at Houston, 1 p.m. TE Davis, QB SCHAUB, WR Walter
San Diego at Kansas City, 1 p.m. Chargers marginal players all-out, RB L Johnson
Minnesota at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m. QB FAVRE, WR Rice, QB ROETHLISBERGER, WR Holmes, WR Ward, TE Miller
Indianapolis at St. Louis, 1 p.m. RB Addai, RB Brown, WR Garcon, Rams marginal players all-out
New England vs. Tampa Bay at London, 1 p.m. RB Maroney, WR WELKER, TE Winslow
Buffalo at Carolina, 4:05 p.m. RB Lynch, RB Jackson, WR Muhammad
N.Y. Jets at Oakland, 4:05 p.m. RB JONES (WR Cotchery is out), TE Zach Miller
Atlanta at Dallas, 4:15 p.m. QB Ryan, RB Choice
New Orleans at Miami, 4:15 p.m. (RB Bush and RB Thomas are fairly weak recommendations against this run defense), WR Henderson, WR Moore, TE Shockey, Dolphins marginal players all-out
Arizona at N.Y. Giants, 8:20 p.m. (WR Boldin is a fairly weak recommendation due to health), WR Breaston, QB Manning, WR Manningham
Monday, Oct. 26
Philadelphia at Washington, 8:30 p.m. WR Jackson, TE Celek, TE Cooley

NFL Week 7 Best Waiver Wire Pickups

NOTE: We only recommend plausible pickups; our threshold is 40% or less ownership in CBSSports.com leagues. As such, players may show up on our list multiple weeks if they fall below that percentage and if we still believe in their upside potential.

1 Matt Stover
2 Mike Wallace
3 Kevin Boss
4 Chad Henne
5 Benjarvis Green-Ellis

Saturday, October 17, 2009

FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume II, Issue XLI

Welcome to our 56th edition of the FDH Fantasy Newsletter, as we continue to bring you weekly fantasy sports updates in addition to our usual content on FantasyDrafthelp.com. Our archive of past editions is available right here on The FantasyDrafthelp.com Blog and specific links to past editions are available on the front page of FantasyDrafthelp.com.

In this week's edition:

^ NFL Week 6 Preview
^ NFL Week 6 Best Waiver Wire Pickups

NFL Week 6 Preview

Here’s a few standard preface notes:

^ Notwithstanding the claims of any website to be your “home for Sunday morning injury report news,” nothing beats Google News – nothing. Entering a player name into this search engine trumps any other means of gathering information because it culls the data from an unbelievably wide variety of sources.

^ Especially earlier in the season, it’s always good to refer to a strong baseline of where players should have been drafted – and nothing beats FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2009.

^ Unless there are any injury questions, we never discuss “gimme” players. Such core players should be started week in and week out unless there is any question surrounding their playing status. Winning teams only need to worry about “playing the matchups” with one, two or (at the most, during bye weeks) three spots in the lineup. Some websites promise you a crystal ball for how to manage high-risk, high-reward juggling during the season. We don’t. We play the percentages. That approach may be boring, but it’s highly effective and much more intellectually honest in what we promise you.

^ By the way, here are your core players who should not be benched if healthy
QB: Brady, Brees, P Manning, McNabb, Rivers, Rodgers, Romo, Warner
RB: M Barber, R Brown, Forte, Gore, Grant, S Jackson, Jacobs, C Johnson, Jones-Drew, Lynch, Peterson, Portis, Slaton, Tomlinson, Turner, Westbrook, D Williams
WR: Boldin, Bowe, Colston, Fitzgerald, Jennings, A Johnson, C Johnson, Houshmandzadeh, V Jackson, Marshall, Moss, Ochocinco, Owens, S Smith, Wayne, R White, R Williams
TE: Clark, Gates, Gonzalez, Witten

^ Links for each game take you to the CBS Sports home page for each game, with stats, analysis and even video previews.

^ Of the non-gimme players we like this week, the stronger plays are the ones in all caps.

Houston at Cincinnati: WR Walter, TE Daniels, RB BENSON, WR Caldwell
Detroit at Green Bay: RB Smith, WR DRIVER, TE Finley
St. Louis at Jacksonville: Rams all-out, WR Sims-Walker
Baltimore at Minnesota: QB Flacco, TE Heap, QB Favre, TE Shiancoe
New York Giants at New Orleans: QB E Manning, WR Smith, Saints all-out
Cleveland at Pittsburgh: Browns all-out, Steelers all-in (with Mendenhall at RB)
Carolina at Tampa Bay: RB Stewart, TE Winslow
Kansas City at Washington: RB Johnson, WR MOSS, TE Cooley
Philadelphia at Oakland: RB McCoy (in addition to RB Westbrook), TE Celek, Raiders all-out
Arizona at Seattle: RB Hightower, Seahawks all-in
Tennessee at New England: WR Britt, WR Welker
Buffalo at New York Jets: Bills all-out, WR Cotchery, WR EDWARDS, TE Keller
Chicago at Atlanta: QB Cutler, QB Ryan
Denver at San Diego: RB Moreno, Chargers all-out

NFL Week 6 Best Waiver Wire Pickups

NOTE: We only recommend plausible pickups; our threshold is 40% or less ownership in CBSSports.com leagues. As such, players may show up on our list multiple weeks if they fall below that percentage and if we still believe in their upside potential.

1 Chad Henne
2 Kelley Washington
3 Chansi Stuckey
4 Kenny Britt
5 Mike Wallace

Saturday, October 10, 2009

FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume II, Issue XL

Welcome to our 55th edition of the FDH Fantasy Newsletter, as we continue to bring you weekly fantasy sports updates in addition to our usual content on FantasyDrafthelp.com. Our archive of past editions is available right here on The FantasyDrafthelp.com Blog and specific links to past editions are available on the front page of FantasyDrafthelp.com.

In this week's edition:

^ NFL Week 5 Preview
^ NFL Week 5 Best Waiver Wire Pickups

NFL Week 5 Preview

Here’s a few standard preface notes:

^ Notwithstanding the claims of any website to be your “home for Sunday morning injury report news,” nothing beats Google News – nothing. Entering a player name into this search engine trumps any other means of gathering information because it culls the data from an unbelievably wide variety of sources.

^ Especially earlier in the season, it’s always good to refer to a strong baseline of where players should have been drafted – and nothing beats FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2009.

^ Unless there are any injury questions, we never discuss “gimme” players. Such core players should be started week in and week out unless there is any question surrounding their playing status. Winning teams only need to worry about “playing the matchups” with one, two or (at the most, during bye weeks) three spots in the lineup. Some websites promise you a crystal ball for how to manage high-risk, high-reward juggling during the season. We don’t. We play the percentages. That approach may be boring, but it’s highly effective and much more intellectually honest in what we promise you.

^ By the way, here are your core players who should not be benched if healthy
QB: Brady, Brees, P Manning, McNabb, Rivers, Rodgers, Romo, Warner
RB: M Barber, R Brown, Forte, Gore, Grant, S Jackson, Jacobs, C Johnson, Jones-Drew, Lynch, Peterson, Portis, Slaton, Tomlinson, Turner, Westbrook, D Williams
WR: Boldin, Bowe, Colston, Fitzgerald, Jennings, A Johnson, C Johnson, Houshmandzadeh, V Jackson, Marshall, Moss, Ochocinco, Owens, S Smith, Wayne, R White, R Williams
TE: Clark, Gates, Gonzalez, Witten

^ Links for each game take you to the CBS Sports home page for each game, with stats, analyis and even video previews.

^ All times listed are EDT.

^ Of the non-gimme players we like this week, the stronger plays are the ones in all caps.

Sunday, Oct. 11(Byes: Chicago, Green Bay, New Orleans, San Diego)
Cincinnati at Baltimore, 1 p.m. QB Palmer, QB Flacco, RB RICE, RB McGahee, TE Heap
Cleveland at Buffalo, 1 p.m. RB Harrison, QB Edwards, WR Evans
Washington at Carolina, 1 p.m. WR Moss, TE Cooley, Panthers all-out
Pittsburgh at Detroit, 1 p.m. Steelers all-in (with Mendenhall at RB), Lions all-out
Dallas at Kansas City, 1 p.m. RB Choice, WR Crayton, Chiefs all-out
Oakland at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m. RB Fargas, WR SMITH, WR Manningham, TE Boss
Tampa Bay at Philadelphia, 1 p.m. TE Winslow, RB McCoy, TE Celek
Minnesota at St. Louis, 1 p.m. QB Favre, WR Berrian, TE Shiancoe, Rams all-out (with RB Jackson as the closest to a take-out-of-your-lineup recommendation as we could ever give for a “gimme”)
Atlanta at San Francisco, 4:05 p.m. QB Ryan, RB Coffee, TE Davis
Houston at Arizona, 4:15 p.m. Texans all-in, RB Hightower
New England at Denver, 4:15 p.m. TE Watson, Broncos all-out
Jacksonville at Seattle, 4:15 p.m. WR SIMS-WALKER, RB J Jones, WR Burleson, TE Carlson
Indianapolis at Tennessee, 8:20 p.m. Colts all-in, RB White, WR Britt
Monday, Oct. 12
N.Y. Jets at Miami, 8:30 p.m. All-out on both sides

NFL Week 5 Best Waiver Wire Pickups

NOTE: We only recommend plausible pickups; our threshold is 40% or less ownership in CBSSports.com leagues. As such, players may show up on our list multiple weeks if they fall below that percentage and if we still believe in their upside potential.

1 Jermichael Finley
2 Kelley Washington
3 Derek Anderson
4 Kevin Faulk
5 Chansi Stuckey

Saturday, October 03, 2009

FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume II, Issue XXXIX

Welcome to our 54th edition of the FDH Fantasy Newsletter, as we continue to bring you weekly fantasy sports updates in addition to our usual content on FantasyDrafthelp.com. Our archive of past editions is available right here on The FantasyDrafthelp.com Blog and specific links to past editions are available on the front page of FantasyDrafthelp.com.

In this week's edition:

^ NFL Week 4 Preview
^ NFL Week 4 Best Waiver Wire Pickups

NFL Week 4 Preview

Here’s a few standard preface notes:

^ Notwithstanding the claims of any website to be your “home for Sunday morning injury report news,” nothing beats Google News – nothing. Entering a player name into this search engine trumps any other means of gathering information because it culls the data from an unbelievably wide variety of sources.

^ Especially earlier in the season, it’s always good to refer to a strong baseline of where players should have been drafted – and nothing beats FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2009.

^ Unless there are any injury questions, we never discuss “gimme” players. Such core players should be started week in and week out unless there is any question surrounding their playing status. Winning teams only need to worry about “playing the matchups” with one, two or (at the most, during bye weeks) three spots in the lineup. Some websites promise you a crystal ball for how to manage high-risk, high-reward juggling during the season. We don’t. We play the percentages. That approach may be boring, but it’s highly effective and much more intellectually honest in what we promise you.

^ By the way, here are your core players who should not be benched if healthy
QB: Brady, Brees, P Manning, McNabb, Rivers, Rodgers, Romo, Warner
RB: M Barber, R Brown, Forte, Gore, Grant, S Jackson, Jacobs, C Johnson, Jones-Drew, Lynch, Peterson, Portis, Slaton, Tomlinson, Turner, Westbrook, D Williams
WR: Boldin, Bowe, Colston, Fitzgerald, Jennings, A Johnson, C Johnson, Houshmandzadeh, V Jackson, Marshall, Moss, Ochocinco, Owens, S Smith, Wayne, R White, R Williams
TE: Clark, Gates, Gonzalez, Witten

^ Links for each game take you to the CBS Sports home page for each game, with stats, analyis and even video previews.

^ All times listed are EDT.

^ Of the non-gimme players we like this week, the stronger plays are the ones in all caps.

Sunday, Oct. 4
(Byes: Arizona, Atlanta, Carolina, Philadelphia)
Detroit at Chicago, 1 p.m. QB Cutler, all-out for marginal Lions
Cincinnati at Cleveland, 1 p.m. QB PALMER, RB Benson, WR Caldwell, all-out for marginal Browns
Oakland at Houston, 1 p.m. RB McFadden, WR WALTER, TE Daniels
Seattle at Indianapolis, 1 p.m. RB J Jones, WR Burleson, RB Addai, WR Garcon
Tennessee at Jacksonville, 1 p.m. All-out for the marginal players in this game
N.Y. Giants at Kansas City, 1 p.m. All-in for marginal Giants, QB Cassel (WR Bowe not a good play with his injury situation)
Baltimore at New England, 1 p.m. QB Flacco, RB Rice, RB McGahee, all-out for marginal Patriots
Tampa Bay at Washington, 1 p.m. TE Winslow, TE Cooley (RB Portis not a good play with his injury situation)
Buffalo at Miami, 4:05 p.m. QB EDWARDS, WR Evans, all-out for marginal Browns
N.Y. Jets at New Orleans, 4:05 p.m. QB Sanchez, WR, Cotchery, RB Bush, WR Henderson
Dallas at Denver, 4:15 p.m. RB Choice, all-out on marginal Broncos
St. Louis at San Francisco, 4:15 p.m. All-out on marginal Rams, RB Coffee (in place of RB Gore), TE Davis
San Diego at Pittsburgh, 8:20 p.m. All-out on marginal Chargers, QB Roethlisberger, WR Holmes, WR Ward, TE H Miller
Monday, Oct. 5
Green Bay at Minnesota, 8:30 p.m. WR Driver, QB Favre


NFL Week 4 Best Waiver Wire Pickups

NOTE: We only recommend plausible pickups; our threshold is 40% or less ownership in CBSSports.com leagues. As such, players may show up on our list multiple weeks if they fall below that percentage and if we still believe in their upside potential.

1 Kelly Washington
2 Sidney Rice
3 Indy D/ST
4 Derek Anderson
5 Mike Wallace