Ask Papa Weimer: Fantasy Football PreSeason Week 3

Alright, I’m back again for another session of Ask Papa Weimer! I’ll be here all year folks, so enjoy it, ask questions, read answers, agree, disagree, tell me so when you get a chance, and interact as much as possible. I’m old like dirt and rocks and Al Michaels, so I don’t have much else to do besides spit knowledge about the grand game of football and answer emails. Throw your emails to papaweimer50@hotmail.com. Seriously. I was a little low on emails this week, so I had to start a new section (see the bottom of the article, “Weimer’s Absolutes”)  – but it might be for the better, humor is a hell of a drug! Continue on, my good reader, it gets better from here!!!

BonJovisIdol writes, “I loved Lucky Lester’s article “Don’t Sleep on Me” and the two guys he’d pick ahead of the higher drafted player at each position. What I want to know is, how would you rank the running backs he listed in that article? And do you guys always agree on rankings?”

First of all, we don’t always agree. In fact, we love to disagree – it’s a family thing. We often really like the same players coming into a season, but that’s because we both recognize value coming into the year, guys getting ignored, guys getting overdrafted – stuff like that. But we definitely don’t always agree. Lucky talked about Ryan Matthews, Ryan Grant, and Beanie Wells – and I really liked the points he made. I must say, however, I watched Ryan Matthews play the other night, and he looks like a special runner. He looked very natural catching the ball, and besides pushing his own blocker in the back, he seemed to have a good feel in that offense. But he’s still a rookie, which is one of the points my nephew lists. I think Ryan Grant is the surest thing of the three and Beanie Wells has the most upside. I expect Darren Sproles to get plenty of touches in that San Diego offense and Beanie has to deal with Tim Hightower stealing touches (especially if he has fumble troubles – Ken Whisenhunt doesn’t like that). Ryan Grant doesn’t have to deal with anything (though Brandon Jackson looks better than I’ve ever seen him). I would rank them like this, Beanie Wells, Ryan Grant, and then Matthews – so I kind of agree with LL. I’m an upside guy, and I think Beanie could be awesome with more carries in his sophomore season. I also like Rashard Mendenhall, whom NFL.com has rated behind Matthews. Rashard will be great in 2010.

Bill from here asks, “How many fantasy football leagues are you in? How many is too many? In a league with 10 buddies, what would you consider a good buy-in, payout format to be? Any good rules we should add? Thanks!”

Crazy Bill, I’m also from here. I like your question, however. I usually get questions about rankings, players’ upsides, junk mail, and trades, but every once in a while I get questions like this, and I really like to share my confident opinion about actual fantasy settings – as good settings can make the game a lot more fun to play. I am only in 3 leagues this season, the fewest in the last 10 years. I’ve cut down a little bit, as writing and answering emails have given me a new outlet. One of my leagues is a 2-player keeper league with a $275 buy-in, it’s a total points league (no versus) with a lot of ways to get paid out. The highest score each week gets $30. The top 4 finishers make money, $1000, $600, $300. Then there is a survivor pool where the winner makes $150. And there’s a playoff fantasy format (pick the best fantasy starting line-up every week) where the winner gets the remainder of the pot. That league is awesome. It has a quirky set-up with points bonuses at 100 yards and 200 yards for RBs and WRs, an 250 and 500 yards for QBs, and 50 yards for TEs.  One of my leagues is a dynasty league (full roster keeper) with a rookie draft the day after the NFL draft finishes every year – the buy-in is $35, it’s a pretty basic PPR. I’m in another league with an auction draft. You get to keep 4 players if you want. There are salary rules, $10 more for 2nd year keepers, $15 more for 3rd year keepers, and a 4th year at $5 more. So if you draft a guy for $1, next year you can keep him for $11. The next year you have to decide if you want to keep him for year 3 and 4, or let him go. Year 3 and 4 will be $26 then $31 – but once you decide to sign them for the final two years, you have to keep them for those years. The more unique rules, the better! I love auctions as well. I don’t like full roster keepers leagues, as drafting is one of the more delightful aspects of fantasy football. I think 3 is probably too many for me, but Lucky enjoys having about 7. It’s all preference. I think every league should have blind bidding for free agents – first come first serve is kind of stupid, and “worst to first” is a little fishy as well. Blind bidding starts everyone out with the same free agent bucks, and from there it’s up to the owner to wast that cash. Just adds to the game!

Samson from Darrington, Washington says, “Give me one sleeper! That’s all I ask!”

Don’t cut your hair. I’ll give you one better, I’ll give you two. Draft Michael Bush. Draft Eddie Royal. Your welcome. Neither of those guys get drafted in your average 10-team fantasy league. Both should be. If it’s a real deep league, go with Mike Williams in Seattle – not Mike Williams in Tampa (I really like him, too, but he’ll get drafted in most leagues). Good luck, Samson.