NFLBy: Keith Richards
Welcome back, young padawans! NFL Training Camps are opening. Fantasy Football drafts will soon be happening all over. So, you know what that means. Yes, that means it’s time to get back to work. Welcome back to all those who are returning. To those who are new, welcome and get ready to have your minds blown.
The first few weeks of class will include analysis of each pertinent position of a fantasy football team. While our goal is to help you mold your perfect team, we also aim to make you an expert as well. We will advise you of the players to buy, sell, or bench but the choice is yours in the end. Choose wisely. First, we will discuss the quarterback position. Let us begin!
Buy: Pat Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Before we begin to sing praises to Mr. Showtime, let us discuss why we will be singing said praises. In 2018, Mahomes was a fantasy football king. He threw for 5,097 yards with a 66% completion, 50 touchdowns against 12 interceptions, and a 113.8 passer rating. That led all offensive players with 417.08 points (per NFL Fantasy). Did I mention this was his first year as a starter? I didn’t? Indeed, this was Pat’s first year as a starter.
Admittedly, we don’t expect Mahomes to exactly duplicate his magic from last season. Conversely, we wouldn’t be surprised if he did either. The kid is that good. He is that special. Tyreek Hill (no comment) is returning. Hunt is gone but Damien Williams and/or Carlos Hyde should replace him well. Kelce is back and Watkins is back. Mahomes will, once again, be the best QB in fantasy football. Keep him if you can. Trade up to get him if you can. Just do what it takes to have him on your team.
Sell: Eli Manning, New York Giants
I’m going to go ahead and get this on record: Eli Manning will NOT be the starting quarterback for the Giants at season’s end. On paper, it doesn’t look like Manning had a bad season. As we know, though, football games are not won on paper. Eli did complete 66% of his passes for 4,299 yards but he only threw 21 touchdowns in relation to 11 interceptions. Fantasy Football, however, IS won on paper. In fact, it’s really all that matters. How many points can you get?
239.96. That’s how many points Manning had. If you’re curious, that’s good for 17th in the league (NFL Fantasy). To be fair, it’s not the worst. Still, I highly doubt that it gets betters. OBJ is gone. For sure, he was a diva, but he was still one of the best receivers in the league. Barkley is a beast, but he can do most of his work by himself. DO NOT FALL INTO THE MANNING TRAP!!! As Elsa said, let it go.
Bench: Joe Flacco, Denver Broncos
The success of Joe Flacco depends on two factors: what is expected of him by the Broncos and your own fantasy football league format. Let’s start with what the Broncos expect of him. If the Broncos expect Flacco to personally lead them to the promised land, he will fail. If the Broncos expect him to be competent, not turn the ball over, and not lose games, he has promise. This last point leads directly to Joe’s fantasy football potential.
If you are in a PPR league (points per reception), Flacco is good to have around IF he limits the turnovers. It’s rare that a QB will win you games in a PPR league, but they can definitely lose you games. I expect that Vic Fangio will do all he can to limit how Flacco can hurt the team. With that in mind, keep Flacco on ice if you can. He will be very valuable trade deadline and/or fantasy football playoffs.
That’s all that we have this week. Be sure to check in next week as we will discuss the buy, sell, bench options in fantasy football for wide receivers. In addition, my office hours are 6 AM to 9 PM MST and I can be reached here.
