Fantasy Football Part 3: Mid Season Update

Week 7 of the NFL regular season is in the books. A quick review of where I wanted my fantasy football teams to be at the end of week 7 and after week 13:

Finish in the top half of all my leagues –

• Hawkeye: 3/8
• HoP: 3/10
• Warhawk: 2/12

> 60% win rate –

• 13-8 (61.9%)
• 5-2, 4-3, 4-3

Worst fear: Matthew Stafford and Chris Johnson failing to live up to expectations.

• I must say I saw this coming: Draft Recap

Bad beat: HoP injuries – Jimmy Graham, Greg Jennings, Cedric Benson, Ryan Williams, Rashad Jennings, Austin Collie, and Darius Heyward-Bey.

Best surprise: Despite lackluster performances of Stafford/CJ0k in my Hawkeye league and catching the injury bug in my HoP league, I still have a winning record in all 3 leagues.

Missed opportunity: Still haven’t pursued trading my plethora of Green Bay Packers...

Significant roster moves: Picked up Alfred Morris, Shonn Greene, and Alex Green off waivers in my HoP league.


Summary:
I feel very fortunate to be where I am record wise. For the amount of players I drafted (50), the vast majority have lived up to expectations. Exceptions include:

• Darren McFadden: If you told me he would be healthy for the first 7 games I would have thought he would be a top 5 RB, instead he is the 18th best RB.
• Philip Rivers: I was convinced last year’s turnovers were an anomaly. I have seen Rivers excel with lackluster receiving corps and no run game. Apparently Rivers has simply regressed. He is on pace to throw for under 4000 yards. He is currently the 24th ranked QB.

The Packers have survived perhaps the 4 best defenses in football: Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and Houston. Their remaining schedule looks pretty :)

Not that I will ever know, but it pains me to think what kind of numbers Austin Collie could have put up this year. Donnie Avery and rookie T.Y. Hilton have been averaging double digit targets. It’s hard to know what Collie could have done, but I think we may have seen some big numbers...

I have not had a difficult time finding RBs. I planned on punting the RB position and scrapping by with injury replacements of which have been numerous.


Thoughts going forward:
I plan to hopefully trade Greg Jennings or Alex Green to lessen my dependence on the Green Bay Packers.

If I can stay .500 or above while Greg Jennings and Jimmy Graham recover from injury I should have a great looking team in my HoP league. I need Stafford, Rivers, and Chris Johnson to pickup their game to create an elite team in my Hawkeye league. As expected in my Warhawk, there is a lower level of competition and I should end up a solid team here as well.


I feel as if the majority of my blog has gone towards writing about fantasy football. For this I apologize as I am much more interested in political issues. Fortunately I plan to only have 2 more fantasy football posts during the next 10 weeks. I know my wife/editor will be thrilled :)


Next Week’s Topic: Basic Needs Part I: Food Assistance