The Informer’s 2014 NFL Fantasy Football Preview Part V: The Fantasy Mailbag

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Ladies and gentle people of the world, it is officially fantasy football season. And since most of you will be having your annual fantasy football drafts in the coming weeks, now is the perfect time to break out Part V of The Informer’s 2014 NFL Fantasy Football Preview: The Fantasy Mailbag.

So without any further ado Mohamed Sanu, let’s roll this mailbag like “John Football” rolls twenty dollar bills.

“Informer what do you think of my team? Do you like it?”

This is a question The Informer sees all the time on the internet and his answer is always the same: “Do YOU like YOUR team?”

That is the thing people need to remember most when drafting a fantasy football roster –it is YOUR team. It is not ESPN’s, Yahoo’s or even The Informer’s team. So make sure YOU draft the guys YOU want to draft.

If YOU do not like Ray Rice because of the way he treats women, then DO NOT DRAFT HIM!!! Just because ESPN says that he should be a sixth round fantasy pick does not mean YOU have to take him there. The Informer promises, ESPN is not the boss of YOU.

Just last night The Informer was reminded that YOU have to draft based on what YOU want during his snake draft with the Tru School Sports crew. You see, during the draft The Informer made a semi-controversial move by selecting Robert Griffin III in the fifth round, just two rounds after he drafted Matthew Stafford.

Now The Informer knows what most of you are probably thinking after reading that sentence: “The Informer is a freaking moron . . . Why would anyone waste a fifth round pick on their backup quarterback? You could have had so many other good players. No wonder they call you the ‘Mis Informer’.”

To be fair, calling The Informer a moron is a valid observation. But in my defense, the reason The Informer decided to take RG3-13 in this spot is because there weren’t any other worthwhile fifth round players left on the board. And since this is MY fantasy football team, The Informer took the player HE wanted.

Sure The Informer could have listened to ESPN and drafted Jacksonville Jaguars running back Toby Gerhart in the fifth round, but instead of doing things the traditional way; The Informer gambled and took RG3-13 in the fifth before drafting Toby in the sixth round.

The gamble paid off. The Informer did what was best for HIS team, and ended up getting the best of both worlds.

Anyways, to answer the original question: if YOU drafted who YOU wanted and YOU like YOUR team then of course The Informer likes YOUR team.

(The Informer note – For those that don’t know, whenever someone says “Anyways” they are really telling you to shut the hell up because your story is stupid. So in this case, The Informer used anyways because the story he told about RG3-13 had absolutely nothing to do with the original question and he needed a way to tell himself to stop rambling and transition back to the article. I’m glad we were able to get that cleared up. Anyways . . .)

“Informer would you rather be in a Saved by the Bell fantasy where you are Zach Morris with Kelly, Jessie and Lisa; or a Boy Meets World fantasy where you play Topanga’s husband?”

Lessons to be learned here people: When you ask the Tweeterverse if they have any “fantasy” related questions always make sure to specify the “football” part.

“Informer what happens when ‘keeping it real’ goes wrong . . . Aka what happens when you make a mistake and your draft strategy goes to sh*t?”

Since everyone has different opinions on who should be picked where or how much so and so is worth in an auction draft, a person needs to be prepared for anything and everything on draft night. So even if you think you have a perfect draft strategy in place, you always need to be prepared to make changes on the fly.

The Informer knows that sounds simple, but honestly being prepared for multiple scenarios’ and multiple mistakes is the best way to end up with a fantasy football team you are happy with. And if you do make a mistake, you can’t let it throw you off your game. Trust The Informer, the worst thing you can do on draft day is compound one mistake into multiple mistakes.

In fact, The Informer can give you an example of how letting one mistake compound into multiple mistakes can easily ruin a perfectly good draft strategy.

Early this week The Informer took part in an auction draft for Tru School Sports. Now going into the draft The Informer’s strategy was to get one of the Top 4 running backs, Calvin Johnson and “The Sickness” A.J. Green, one of the Top 3 tight ends (Jimmy Graham, Julius Thomas or Rob Gronkowski) and then pick up Andrew Luck to be his starting quarterback while filling out his roster with bargain players and potential lottery tickets.

Seems likes a pretty solid draft strategy right?

Well . . . Things definitely did not go as expected.

Right off the bat The Informer’s plan was ruined when all of the top running backs ended up going for way more money than The Informer was willing to spend. Of course, since The Informer was pinching his pennies when it came to the lead backs, he ended up drafting a star-free backfield (mistake number one).

From there The Informer’s plan derailed faster than Ryan Leaf’s NFL career. What happened was The Informer tried to manipulate the auction by driving up the price for Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall (a strategic move to make your competitors spend extra money on guys you don’t even want). Only he pushed the price so high that the other guy decided to stop bidding which resulted in the All-Pro wide receiver ending up on team “Tebow taught me to BOLIEVE”.

Obviously drafting Marshall is not a terrible acquisition, but it did throw a curve ball into The Informer’s strategy because he had not planned on spending $40 on a third wide receiver (at the time The Informer already had Calvin and Demaryius Thomas).

Now even with the Marshall mistake surprise, The Informer had been able to overcome his early mistakes while keeping his original plan sort of on track. All that was left to do was for The Informer to bide his time and draft Luck.

Here is where “keeping it real” went wrong for The Informer.

You see, instead of learning from the Marshall mistake and waiting his turn to make sure he had enough money left to get Luck, The Informer kept it real by starting another bidding war over a player that he did not want –Cleveland Browns running back Ben Tate.

Once again, thanks to The Informer’s superb auctioning skills, he was successful in his attempts to drive up the price on Tate. And once again, because The Informer is a moron and pushed the price to high, he was successful in adding a guy to his roster that he did not want and at the time could not afford.

The end result was no Luck (who went for $6) for The Informer. To make it worse, he was stuck with an unproven running back for $22 and no money left to buy any quarterback that cost more than one George Washington (The Informer ended up with Ben Roethlisberger and Carson Palmer).

In other words, The Informer kept it real all right . . . Real dumb and it bit him in the arse.

“That is an easy fix Informer. Since you don’t want Marshal and you want Luck: Why don’t you just offer Marshall for Luck in a trade? Then all your problems are solved.”

Technically yes, trading one for the other would solve this issue. The problem is, Marshall went for $40, while Luck went for $6.

Do you see why The Informer has an issue with that? It just does not make sense to trade a $40 player for a $6 player. The value does not add up.

Sure The Informer would rather have Luck than either of his QBs, but in the end he paid premium price for Marshall and can’t trade him away for dollars on the cents even if it means no “Andrew the Giant” on team BOLIEVE.

(Is that the right expression: Dollars on the cents? Is it pennies on the dollar? Dimes for nickels? Two bits for a poke? Maybe we should just move on?)

“But Informer, your quarterbacks are Ben Roethlischeeseberger with French fries and Carson “Rosie” Palmer. Don’t you think Luck would provide major value to YOUR team? Remember, just because ESPN says Luck is $6 and Marshall is $40 dollars doesn’t mean YOU have to feel that way.”

That is very true. And it also brings me to my next point via Lawrence Taylor: “Don’t smoke crack.”

“Informer what are your favorite fantasy team names this season?”

In a very particular order . . .

10. Blimpie Subs & Salads

9. TBISP: Tebow-ner In Sweat Pants

8. Ain’t No Hassleback Girl

7. Ha Ha Clinton Dix

6. Bortles & James

5. Forte oz of Matty Ice

4. I BOLIEVE in one Nation Under “Tebow” or “Tebow” is not Dead (like the movie)

3. It’s all about the Kelvin Benjamins

2. I’m the Grumpy Old Troll . . . Who lives under the Teddy Bridgewater (The Informer watches way to much Dora the Explorer)

And my favorite fantasy team name for an unprecedented sixth straight year . . .

1. Somewhere over the Dwayne Bowe

“Informer who are the biggest sleepers/lottery-tickets a person can get late in drafts?”

The Informer loves this question and the correct answer is . . . Your guess is as good as mine.

I mean there are a number of rookies and second year players who The Informer thinks will be good this season, but until they get on the field and we actually see them do it –nobody really knows.

Does DeAndre Hopkins have the talent to be a Pro Bowler this year? Hell yes. Is he going to be able to overcome the fact that his quarterback is named Ryan Fitzpatrick? Ummm . . . Maybe?

Can Brandin Cooks become the new Darren Sproles in the New Orleans Saints offense? From everything The Informer has read they sure want him to do just that. The question is: Can he overcome the on-field transition that so many rookie wide receivers struggle with?

Will Andre Williams, Tre Mason or Terrance West get the carries needed to be fantasy starters? It is possible. But it is also possible that Rashad Jennings, Ben Tate and Zac Stacy keep them off the field.

There are just too many unknown factors to accurately pick a sleeper/lottery ticket at this time.

With all that said The Informer’s advice on picking a sleeper/lottery ticket is to get more than one. Obviously you don’t want to fill your entire team with “potential” guys, but after you fill up your roster and get some established backups, don’t be afraid to take some chances.

As the old saying goes; “it only takes one time to win the lottery.”

The Informer’s Unofficial Sleeper/Lottery-Ticket List: John Football, Blake Bortles, Ted Bridgewater, Tavon Austin, Kelvin Benjamin, Allen Robinson, Terrence West, Carlos Hyde, Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods, Jordan Mathews, Andre Williams, Justin Hunter, DeAndre Hopkins Ryan “RT1” Tannehill and Michael Vick.

“Informer, how do you feel about Sammy Watkins?”

Via @tyreljstark

The best way to describe how The Informer feels about Sammy Watkins would be to say that he gets a Mike Seaver’s friend from Growing Pains in his sweat pants every time he thinks about the possibility of Watkins dominating the NFL as a rookie the same way Randy Moss did 16 years ago.

As for fantasy football life, The Informer thinks for the right price Watkins is a steal. This means if you can get him in the eighth round or later in a snake draft you need to own him.

And for an auction draft you should not spend more than $10 on him else you are overpaying. The reason you would be overpaying is because while Watkins is full of awesomeness and potential, he is still a rookie who is bound to struggle at times this season.

(The Informer note – For those of you that did not understand the above reference, Mike Seaver was the main character on the 1990s hit show Growing Pains. In the show he had a best friend who was nick-named “Boner” #TheMoreYouKnow.)

“Informer how do I win my league?”

You need luck. And the best way to get luck is to have the “Fantasy Tebows” on your side. And the best way to get the “Fantasy Tebows” on your side is to draft Timothy H Tebow.

“Are you serious Informer? You want us to draft a guy who is not even in the NFL? You are a moron.”

Fine . . . If you refuse to get some “Tebow” in your life, then the best way to win is to just have fun. Remember fantasy football is supposed to be a way for you and your buddies to interact, talk some stuff, have some fun and compete against each other while enjoying 12 hours of football every Sunday for the next five months.

So if you can remember to enjoy the experience, then in the end you will be a winner.

Also . . . It doesn’t hurt to have Peyton Manning on your fantasy football fantasy team.

Part I Part II Part III Part IV