Sunday, August 25, 2019

The Informer's 2019 NFL Fantasy Football Preview: Part 4



One of the main questions I get asked by people seeking fantasy football advice is: Who should I pick with the “insert pick” in my draft?

Needless to say; there are a ton of different variables that go into answering this question, so giving a specific "take this guy here" is pretty difficult (for example let’s say the guy hates the Cowboys and refuses to draft Zeke, that changes how I would answer if the guy had a Top 4 pick).

But, just because it is difficult, doesn't mean there is not an answer. That is why today, in my quest to answer the "who should I draft here" question, I have put all of the 2019 NFL fantasy football players I love into different "Tier Groups" for each round of a standard fantasy football snake draft. 

This way -- when the inevitable happens -- and the guy who you were going to pick at 47 gets snaked, instead of frantically searching through player rankings while the clock ticks down, you will be able to refer back to the tier groupings and find a suitable 47th pick replacement.

At least that is the plan for this blog. We will see how it turns out. 

Anyways, now that we are all on the same "tier" page, here is part four of The Informer’s 2019 Fantasy Football Preview.

Picks 1-5: Saquon Barkley, Run CMC, Zeke Elliot, Alvin Kamara and David Johnson

In any and all 2019 fantasy football drafts these are the only five guys I am drafting if I have a Top 5 pick. And I will be drafting them in this exact order. 

(Informer note — I am obviously drafting under the impression that Zeke Elliot will not be holding out any games this season. I get that his situation could make him a non draftable player for some, but I am going to continue thinking positive thoughts and assume he will be back soon.)

Picks 6-10: LeVeon Bell, DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, Tyreke Hill, Michael Thomas, Nick Chubb

On Yahoo, Tyreke Hill is usually going in the late second or early third round. So some will say he does not belong in The Informer's Top 10. To those people I would say you are morons. Tyreke Hill will finish as a Top 5 WR this season and thus he totally needs to be considered at the end of the first round, and at the very least the beginning of round two (Hill is going Top 15 on ESPN so at least they agree with The Informer).

As for the other guys; I don’t think you can go wrong picking any of them in the six to 10 range. So whomever you prefer, or whoever falls to you, snatch them up.

Picks 11-20: Tyreke Hill (seriously draft him), DeVante Adams, Odell Beckham, Travis Kelce, JuJu Smith Schuster, Mike Evans, Joe Mixon, Dalvin Cook, James Conner, Todd Gurley

Todd Gurley scares me the most out of this group, but if I have the last pick in the second round and he is the only one of these 20 players left I’m gonna take him. Besides, pairing Gurley and Saquon (assuming you take Saquon 1st like I do)  in a fantasy backfield is not the worst thing to ever happen.

The rest of this tier is pretty much the same as my back half of round one tier. Namely, they are all studs so it doesn’t matter who you take or where. Just don’t do something dumb and reach for Patrick Mahomes in Round 2 and you should be fine.

21-30: Leonard Fournette, Zack Ertz, George Kittle, Antonio Brown, Amari Cooper, Josh Jacobs, Patrick Mahomes, DeVante Freeman, Damian Williams, Derrick Henry

This goes without saying, but if any of the Top 20 guys falls into the 21-30 range you should be taking them as fast as you can. Also, once you get to the third round, I no longer have a problem drafting Mahomes. So if you are targeting the “rocket armed man” pick 21 is the earliest I would think to draft him in standard leagues. 

31-40: Melvin Gordon, Julian Edelman, Keenan Allen, Adam Thailand, Kerryon Johnson, TY Hilton, Brandon Cooks, Stefon Diggs, DeShaun Watson, Marlon Mack, Robert Woods

I will not be drafting Melvin Gordon to any of my teams going forward. I have too many bad “post traumatic LeVeon Bell flashbacks” to entertain the idea of adding Gordon this year. But if you are wanting to take a chance, the 31-40 range is when it would be acceptable to go fishing. Me personally -- if no one from the other tiers fall -- I am looking at “Kerryon my wayward Johnson”, “Mr. 1k” Brandon Cooks or Tom Brady’s best friend in this range.

41-50: David Montgomery (Bears rookie RB), Aaron Jones, Mark Ingram, Cooper Kupp, AJ Green, Sony Michel, Mike Williams, Chris Carson, Aaron Rodgers and Phillip Linsey

I really like this group and will be hoping at lest one of these guys drops to the 51-60 range so I can get two guys from this tier. In a perfect world I would love to get Michel or David Montgomery here, then turn around and get AJ Green (should be back by Week 4 at the latest) with my next pick.

51-60: Chris Goodwin, Damian Williams, Evan Ingram, Alshon Jeffery, Kenny Golloday, OJ Howard, Baker Mayfield, Matt Ryan, Tyler Lockett, James White or Jarvis Landry.

Again I am assuming someone from the tier above will drop, but if not a person can't go wrong with Chris Goodwin (rising fast and probably needs to be moved up a tier), James White, Jarvis Landry or Baker's Mayfield. 

61-70: Miles Sanders, Jared Cook, Hunter Henry, DJ Moore, Calvin Ridley, Darrius Guice, Tyler Boyd, Sammy Watkins, Tarik Cohen, Austin Ekler

What starting position do you still need to fill? Figure that out and then draft the best player (or guy you love the most at that position) with this pick. Or draft Darrius Guice because I think he is going to be awesome.

71-80: Russell Wilson,  Kyler Murray Cam Newton, Tevin Coleman, Robby Anderson, The Joker, Josh Gordon, Larry Fitzgerald, Will Fuller, Dede Westbrook, Courtland Sutton, Duke Johnson, Christian Kirk

 Honestly, if you are not taking a QB here, or "The Joker", you should be taking the highest ranked player available. This is not the time to start jumping down your draft board to grab sleepers, or reach for a lesser tight end to fill need. Now is the time to build strength. So, when the other people in your league make the mistake of reaching, you stick to the basics and I promise your team will be better for it. 

81-90: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Carson Wentz, Vance McDonald (TE), Marvin Jones, Dak, Big Ben, Jared Goff, Rashaad Penny, Curtis Samuel, James Washington, Darwin Thompson, Mecole Hardman. 

 Same as above. Keep taking best player available, or fill out your QB spot if you have been waiting. 

91-Til the end

At this point in the draft it is time to start taking fliers on rookies, or your favorite sleepers  (Darwin Thompson, Mecole Hardman are mine), or anyone from the above 90 players that have slipped in the draft. 

With that said, since we are here to put players into tiers, I went ahead and tiered by position my favorite late rounds picks. 

 QB: Phillip Rivers, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, James Winston, Sam Darnold.

RB: Darwin Thompson, Jaylen Samuels, Dion Lewis, Tony Pollard, Alexander Mattison, Gus Edwards, Justice Hill, Darrell Henderson, Malcom Brown, Justin Jackson, Devin Singletary Kareem Hunt, Neyheim Hines and Adrian Peterson.

WR: Michael Gallup, N’Keal Harry, Mohmmad Sanu, Albert Wilson, Cole Beasley, Paris Campbell, Jalen Hurd, Preston Williams, Jakobi Myers, Rashard Higgins, Deebo Samuel.

TE: Austin Hooper, Greg Olson, Kyle Rudolph, Jim Graham, Jack Doyle, TJ Hockenson, Noah Fant, Dallas Goedert, Chris Herndon (Herndon is a Top 5-8 TE from last year who is a great draft and stash until he returns from suspension in Week 5).

And with that, we are done with Part 4. In case you missed them, here is Part 1, Part Deux and Part 3. Hopefully everyone reading will be able to use these blogs to win tons of fantasy football glory (and more importantly money) this season.

 Good luck with all your drafts. I hope you win. 

Now if you will excuse me, The Informer has three drafts and 12 cans of Natty Light that need attending to. 
(The Informer after the blog note -- Before we go I just wanted to say it really sucks that we are no longer going to get to watch Andrew Luck play football. He has been one of my favorite players over the last seven years and I am going to miss the heck out of watching him play. So thank you Andrew for all the great memories. It was a pleasure watching you play football. Also, for those wondering, here is my full on Twitter meltdown upon hearing the news. I thought I handled myself pretty well considering the circumstances)















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Sunday, August 18, 2019

The Informer's 2019 Summer Mailbag




As always, please keep in mind that half of these questions came from real life people on Twitter, and the other half came from actual made up readers. I hope you are entertained.

 Q: If you could go back in time and change one moment in your favorite NFL team's history: What would you change?

This was a tough choice between Gary Anderson's missed field goal in the 1999 NFC Championship game and the 18-0 season. But in the end I would go back and give Randy Moss the 18-0 season.

Q: Speaking of Randy Moss: If you threw 10 passes to "in his prime Randy Moss" while he was being guarded by "in his prime Deion Sanders" how many would Moss catch? 

Both in their absolute primes? I would have to say at least 15.

Q: Informer what is your Mount Rushmore for Pro Wrestlers, Western Movies, Rappers, Taco Bell foods and T.V. Shows?

Wow what a loaded question. I honestly think the only way I can answer this properly -- by properly I mean without putting in at least 40 hours of research -- is to just rapid fire my answers without thinking about it. So if I miss someone or something don't be mad at me. I am literally going with my first reaction.

Okay, here goes . . .

Pro Wrestlers - Hogan, Macho Man, Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle

Western Movies - Unforgiven, Young Guns 1, Young Guns 2 and Tombstone

Rappers - Eminem, Tupac, Bone Thugs n Harmony and Nelly

Taco Bell Foods - Cheesy Gordita Crunch, Chicken Quesadilla, Double Decker Taco and Hard Shell Taco

TV Shows - It's Always Sunny, Boy Meets World, Boston Legal, Psych and The OC

Q: Julio Jones or Odell Beckham Jr in fantasy football this year?

I am going with Julio Jones. I would actually draft Jones over any wide receiver not named DeAndre Hopkins. And if I were being completely honest, there is a 50-50 chance I would take him over Hopkins as well. 

 Q: Informer can you rank your favorite cuts of steaks to grill from worst to first?

Skirt - Its a cheaper steak, but done right it tastes pretty good.

Bacon wrapped filet - It is literally steak wrapped in bacon. Do I really need to elaborate?

Sirloin - No joke, I can get a 1.5 pound sirloin at my local HyVee for under seven bucks.

Ribeye - I don't really think I need to explain this one.

T- Bone - Or this one.

New York Strip - With all due respect to the eye and bone, for the price there is not a better steak on the market than the New York strip.

Q: When did your obsession with Natty Light begin?

Honestly, I wouldn't call it an obsession as much as I would call it an addiction. But either way; I would say my freshman year of college when members of the football team gave me Natty Light to write their term papers. Back then a 1-2 page paper cost them a 12 pack and anything over 3 pages was a 30 pack.

Needless to say -- after hundreds of satisfied customers -- I developed a taste for the Natty that has endured the test of time.

Q: Why did you start doing Twitter poll tournaments? And do you have an end game for them?

I don't remember exact details, but I do remember thinking in November of 2017 that it would be really fun to put together a huge list of movies and then have a March Madness style tournament using Twitter polls to see what the best movie ever was (I still hate you for never losing Shawshank Redemption). And, well, here we are almost two years later and I have had a twitter poll tournament going every single day without fail. As far as my endgame goes; the moment I run out of ideas that I think will be fun tournaments I am going to stop. The good news -- or bad depending on how you feel about my polls -- I have at least four tournaments ready to roll so we should be good until at least 2020.

(For those new to reading The Informer, or who may have accidentally clicked on this blog and are really confused to what I am talking about, please check out @therealinformer on Twitter to get an understanding of what a Twitter Poll Tournament is.)

Q: How many fantasy football teams have you drafted so far? And what are the most important things you have learned from each draft?

I have drafted 19 "paid" teams so far and the most important thing I learned from each draft is to make sure you know your leagues rules/settings prior to the draft.

You need to know if you are in a points per reception league? What is the roster size? Is this an auction or a snake draft? How many quarterbacks can you start? Is a QB TD pass worth 4 or 6 points? How many WR do you start? Are defensive players apart of the league? Is this a points per first down league? 

 I can't  state this enough: Knowing your settings/rules is literally the most important thing you need to know heading into a fantasy football draft. 

Q: Informer I accidentally (and regrettably) read one of your fantasy football preview articles and I gotta ask: Why do you hate mock draft articles so much?

It’s not that I hate them, it’s that I don’t trust them to give me accurate data. I mean what’s the point of reading a "mock draft article" where so called experts refuse to draft Tyreke Hill because they don't want to root for him? Or some guys picks Patrick Mahomes 5th overall in a standard 10 team league because he "just wanted to have Mahomes"? These are things that actually happened in some "Mock Draft Articles" that I have read on the so called "expert sites". So again, I am not saying they are completely worthless; I am just saying if you are relying on a mock draft article to give you a good representation of what will happen in your fantasy football draft you are going to be in for a major surprise when your actual draft starts.

Q: What is the best food to eat with ketchup?

Oh man, and I thought the Mount Rushmore speed round question of tough. Okay, here goes. My Top 5 foods to eat with ketchup are:
  1. Steak
  2. Cheese Burgers
  3. French Fries
  4. Hot Dogs
  5. Scrambled Eggs
Q: Are you serious Informer? Only a psycho puts ketchup on steak. You know you are going straight to Hell for this take, right?

Listen, I will not tolerate any steak & chup slander on this blog. You can take that nonsense somewhere else, because it does not belong here.

#Chup&Steak4Life

Q: Two Weeks into the NFL Preseason who are your favorite rookies/sleepers?

I really like N’Keal Harry, Alexander Mattison, Devin Singletary, David Montgomery, Darwin Thomas, Mecole Hardman and for some reason I’m intrigued by Hakeem Butler.

Also for the sake of making a bold hot take prediction: I think that Courtland Sutton is a 1k receiver this year. #Take that for data.

Q: Informer what’s the most annoying thing about fantasy football?

I really hate when people join a Yahoo Cash league but don’t click the “pay before joining button”. It’s literally only $10 Karen, just pay the gosh damn fee so you aren’t holding the rest of the league hostage.

Q: What is your favorite story of the preseason?

With all due respect to Antonio Brown trying to become Encino man, I really love the Browns signing a homeless dude who also happens to be Devin Hester's long lost twin brother. I mean that’s pretty freaking cool.

Q: Seriously though Informer: Do you really put ketchup on your steak? Or are you just trolling the internet?

I am being serious. There is nothing wrong with a little ketchup on a steak. Do I always do it? No. Do I do it at times? Yes.

Q: Informer do you have any cool NFL stats you want to share with the six people who were able to ignore your absolutely garbage ketchup take while trying to finish this blog?

Ummm . . . That kinda sounds like chup & steak slander, and I am pretty sure I just said there would be none of that on this blog. So watch yourself guy. But since you brought it up, I do have 10 pretty cool stats I found interesting heading into the 2019 NFL Season.

Here they are:
  1. Adrian Peterson needs one rushing TD to move into the Top 5 all time. 
  2. Frank Gore needs to 521 yards to pass Barry Sanders for the 3rd most rushing yards all time.
  3. Cam Newton needs 121 yards rushing to break Randall Cunningham's NFL record of 4,928.
  4. Larry Fitzgerald needs 23 receptions to pass Tony Gonzalez for second place all time.
  5. Larry Fitzgerald needs 247 receptions to pass Jerry Rice for first place all time.
  6.  Matt Stafford is 1,474 yards away from becoming the 21st player in NFL history to throw for 40,000 yards in a career.
  7. Joe Falco is 1,755 yards away from becoming the 22nd player in NFL history to throw for 40,000 yards in a career.
  8. Drew Brees needs 19 touchdown passes to surpass Peyton Manning for most career TD passes.
  9. Tom Brady needs 22 touchdown passes to surpass Peyton Manning for most career TD passes.
  10. If Mike Evans reaches 1k yards receiving, he will join Randy Moss as the only WRs in NFL history to start their career's with six straight 1,000 yard seasons. 
Q: Hey Informer what’s the better day: Super Bowl Sunday or NFL Sunday Week 1?

The answer is Week 1 NFL Sunday. And to be honest I don’t think it’s that close.

Q: What is better for fantasy football: A snake or auction draft?

You show me a person who says “snake draft” and I’ll show you a person who has never done an auction draft. Also, if you have never done an auction draft, go to yahoo and do one right now. I promise your fantasy football life will be changed forever.

Q: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck would?

Seven . . . Is the answer seven?

Q: Is it weird for adult men to take baths?

We are kind of going off the rails here, but the answer is yes. It is showers only once you become a teenager.

Q: Okay Informer, final question: What are your favorite over/under bets for NFL team win totals?

I am going to do a full fledged gambling article later this month -- so I don't want to step on that to much -- but just scanning the odds the five bets that jump off of the page are:

Atlanta Falcons over 8.5

Carolina Panthers over 7.5

San Diego Chargers under 9.5 (Lock Lock Lock)

Cincinnati Bengals under 6 (remember exactly 6 is a push)

Minnesota Vikings under 9 (again exactly 9 is a push and there is no way this team wins 10 games)

And finally, as a bonus, I am going to load the farm on Nebraska over 8.5. They are my college football Lion King Lock of the year.

Q: I swear to God if you just jinxed the Huskers season I am going to hunt down your overweight alcoholic ass and stab you in the d*** with a soldering iron. I’m being serious you f******* moron. Take back your stupid f***** prediction or else Informer. Do you hear me? I SAID OR ELSE!!!!!

Ok then. I guess that means we are officially done for the day. Thanks to all the real people who asked questions on the Twitter. I really do appreciate you making this blog better. As for the made up readers who are trying to slander my chup takes -- or threatening my man hood with soldering irons -- y'all can go **** yourself.

Now if you will excuse me, I got a fantasy football draft to do and Natty Lights to drink.

#GoBigRed #NattiesUp #ReadShareInform

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