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Since Reeb doesn't write articles, we've outsourced his work:
Listening to this last podcast I took note of two main things, a continued dialogue on the strangeness of the Belichick gene pool along with how it expresses itself, and the twinge of pain I felt witnessing the dwindling number of “experts” on the show. While I cannot fix the bizarre family tree that stems from one of football’s greatest coaches, I can take the same mindset as Detroit’s O-line and decide that it’s next man up time. Put me in coach! I don’t have any technical issues to face, I don’t have a small child to raise in a 17-game season with the extra teaching that implies, and my gambling debts haven’t caught up with me yet - so really, besides a lack of truly extensive knowledge on football like the rest of the profootballjokes staff, I’m basically the perfect addition. With a background in soccer, pediatric nursing and poor bets, I hope to provide a spark to the show (when available) while providing content for the site that reflects my unique perspective as an expert in a sport that has trouble claiming to even be the 4th most popular sport in the US. That being said, this week sees Cordarelle Patterson attempt to achieve international superstardom at my favorite soccer team’s stadium as the Jets take on the Falcons at Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London Sunday morning. Jolly good! I fully realize that the biggest issue with the above statement for most would be with defining exactly what a “hotspur” is. Some distant cousin of the San Antonio Spurs? Michael Carter’s future nickname after he carves up the Falcon’s D? Or perhaps some nickname for a cock from a 100 odd years ago that a bunch of schoolboys in England thought they should name a football club after? The answer’s some combination of all of those and probably more - but none of that’s important. What is important is like Tottenham Hotspurs, the Jets were good in the 60s, hail from major cities in their respective countries, are impressive in the extent to which they’re bottlers, and at this point their fans would honestly just be happy to finish above their local rivals. And omens are not looking particularly positive on that last front for both teams this year…but I’ll drop the soccer informatics and officially focus on analyzing this exciting Sunday morning matchup! This weekend, we await on the edge of our collective seats to stand witness for the matchup that international fans have been clamoring for since they realized that football actually describes a game that you mainly use your hands for…the (1-3) NY Jets vs the (1-3) Atlanta Falcons. Clearly the NFL is putting their best foot forward in advertising the league since they’re only following this up with the Jags facing the ever imposing Dolphins later in the year. But alas! We have a battle for the ages on our hands this Sunday! Or better yet, a battle of ages, as we see the stud apparent, Zach Wilson, attempt another Patrick Mahomes impression while facing a heating up, and ever aging, Matty Ice. Prior to Calvin Ridley being left off the plane as if he were re-enacting Home Alone, I liked the idea of the over (45.5 at time of writing) and this game truly turning into a wild west shootout. Matt Ryan rising to the occasion with the increasingly necessary cialis in his old age for another milestone just sounded like the narrative that made the most sense. And doing it in front of a crowd less likely to know the meaning behind 28-3 seemed like the best place to continue his rediscovering of his throwing arm. But now in the absence of Ridley and even Russell Gage to carve up the Jets [at baseline] depleted secondary, I anticipate some issues to arise from throwing to a guy by the name of Olamide Zaccheaus. That being said, having a future hall-of-famer such as Kyle Pitts might be able to paper over those small cracks and I could be wrong about everything as Matt shows that ice in his veins once again. With the wideout selection being so slim for the Falcons and the public being so fickle to overcorrections, some might be expecting another Cordarrelle Patterson explosion incoming. But truly, the Jet’s run defense (and defense in general) hasn’t been so awful and I think their offense puts up points in front of those redcoats, so the Falcons are really going to have to air it out to Zacc attack and the future hall-of-famer. On the other side of the ball, Zach Wilson and Robert Saleh won’t find a better opportunity to get their second win of the year as they hope to get their first winning streak going together! Wilson will have to prove that his game against the Titans is why the Jets drafted him 2nd overall rather than his performances against the Pats and Broncos setting the expectation that the Jets’ll do another rebuild in about 3 years. I pray for the former, and with weapons like Corey Davis and Jamison Crowder clicking with their new commander & chief and Michael Carter attempting to show the fallacy in the Rb committee approach, I think there’s a good chance this offense really gets going. Of course, rookie qbs can always throw a spanner in predictions as they adapt to a new league and now a freaking new country, so all bets are off… Ultimately, I’m still going to bet on this game though, and I like a touchdown or 2 field goals being the separator between these two teams. Betting Jets -5.5 and calling it a day. Full disclosure: along with being a Tottenham Hotspur fan, I am also a bit of a gang green guy. This article was brought to you courtesy of bias.
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Judging criteria: # of seasons a team has with a 1000 yard WR.
Worst: #30. San Francisco 49ers - 3 Seasons Worth  Two rental years of Anquan Boldin being a beast are all that’s keeping the 49ers from having the worst WR production of the last decade. Boldin was traded to the 49ers right after abusing their DB’s in Super Bowl 47. In fact, both he and Crabtree topped 100 receiving yards and caught a TD in that game. Going into the following season some may have thought that having the two best receivers from the previous Super Bowl would’ve been a surefire win. Unfortunately, prior to the start of the 2013 season Crabtree received surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon and was only able to play towards the end of the season and into the playoffs. His play since this injury can be summed up fairly accurately by Richard Sherman. #31. Jacksonville Jaguars - 2 Seasons Worth  2015 was the peak of Blake Bortles’s garbage time legacy so it makes sense this is the only time the Allen’s topped 1000 yards. I’d say there’s room for optimism with them being so young when they hit these marks but they’re both on different teams now and the closest the Jaguars have been to breaking 1000 since 2015 was Allen Robinson’s 883 yard campaign in 2016. If only Justin Blackmon hadn’t watched too many episodes of That 70’s Show. #32. Tennessee Titans - 2 Seasons Worth  I’m honestly impressed with how bad the Titan’s WR’s have been over the past decade. Sure they’ve had Delanie Walker since 2013 but with how pass-happy the league has been going it’s like they were deliberately trying to stay away from throwing the ball. To be fair, that’s not the case, since 2000 TEN has drafted 25 WR’s which is tied for 3rd most in the league and during the same period they’ve drafted 3 WR’s in the first round which is part of a 9-way tie for 2nd most. These receivers were Kenny Britt (2009), Kendall Wright (2012), and Corey Davis (2017). Kenny Britt and Kendall Wright may not have been anything special but Titan’s fans have some room for comfort as Corey Davis had a solid 2018 year (897 yds & 55.7 yds per game) and, being only 24 years old, has a chance to grow into a WR1 role with his only competition being the Ex-Buc Adam Humphries and 2019 2nd Rd pick A.J. Brown. Best: #3. Arizona Cardinals - 13 Seasons Worth  Having Larry Fitzgerald is a bit unfair for a list like this. He has eight 1000 yd seasons by himself which is better than 18 teams and tied for 1st of all receivers in the same timeframe. When you add in prime Anquan Boldin, John Brown, and a sober Michael Floyd you get shockingly good WR production. With Kingsbury as head coach and Kyler as QB now I only expect to see this number rise in the coming years. #2. Atlanta Falcons - 13 Seasons Worth  To be completely honest with you all, I don’t know who Harry Douglas is. But I am shocked at how someone can get 1000 receiving yards and only score 2 TD’s. Same with Kendall Wright from the Titans. How are you getting 100+ targets and only scoring TWICE? Harry Douglas had 85 rec in his 1000 yd season which gives a scoring percentage of 2.35% Kendall Wright had 94 rec in his 1000 yd season which gives a scoring percentage of 2.12% The average scoring percentage from a 1000 yd season is 9.38%. The Falcons also have six 1000 yd seasons contributed by both Julio Jones and Roddy White. Must be nice to draft a WR in the first round and get six straight 1000 yd seasons from them and then have your next first round WR be an all-pro and likely Hall of Famer. #1. Denver Broncos - 14 Seasons Worth  Who was the person tied with Larry Fitzgerald for having the most 1000 yards seasons you ask? It was none other than Brandon Marshall. He may have bounced around team to team but he consistently produced, reaching 1000 yds with the Broncos, Dolphins, Bears, and Jets.
Marshall, Thomas, and Decker were all drafted by the Broncos, with Decker and Marshall being selected in the 3rd and 4th rounds respectively. I’d give Elway some credit here for spotting underrated talent but he didn’t become the GM until 2011 and they were all drafted before then. Thomas, Sanders, and Decker surely benefitted from having Peyton Manning as their QB from 2012 to 2015 but they still put up above average numbers each year. Also Sanders and Thomas topped 1000 yds in 2016 with Trevor Siemian as their QB. If Elway could hit on just one of the QB’s he’s drafted the Broncos could become a scary team. They have stars at each level of their defense, an up and coming WR corps, and a nice duo at RB. Personally I think Elway should learn from the past. Get rid of Flacco, trade for Eli, and run this thing back. It got you a Super Bowl once it can work again. DISCLAIMER:
Jak AKA My picks are Stupendous:
It’s amazing how much can change over one year of fantasy. Back before the 2018 season Barkley was seen as a risk. Sure he had a ton of upside but he hadn’t played a game yet and nobody truly knew what his usage was going to be. Nevertheless, he was picked in the first round of our draft and the Giant’s Offense decided they were going to exclusively call screen plays every down. Mahomes on the other hand, wasn’t even drafted. He was picked up by Jak’s team before week 2 off waivers. He then proceeded to throw for 50 TD’s and win MVP of the league. They are now both consensus #1 picks for their positions in fantasy this year. With these players, and a decent supporting cast, that’s all you really need in this league to make the playoffs. It can even make up for taking Jags D in the 7th round. My picks are Stupendous Average Position Rankings
The QB ranking does not take Mahomes into account due to him being picked up after the draft so in reality this ranking should be near the top. Mahomes started every game after being picked up except for his bye week. No surprise being first for RB ranking, the lowest rated RB drafted by Jak’s team was Kerryon Johnson who exceeded expectations as a rookie and was RB#33. WR was a different story however, with Michael Thomas being the only consistent contributor. Yes, he got the 20 PPG from Will Fuller for 4 games but at this point you know that’s all you’re going to get from him. The Josh Gordon pick was a risky one but he did provide a spark during the playoff push averaging 11.1 points from weeks 9-14. I also have to applaud the dedication to the player. Even going so far as to play him in the finals against Hillary Clinton’s Blue Wave despite being suspended from all league activities at the time. I’d also like to point out in Rds 12 & 13, Jak selected two Lions players that ended up being ranked #33 and #20 for their positions. So close. If only Kerryon could’ve done a little bit better. My picks are Stupendous Draft Overview DISCLAIMER:
Drew AKA Steelers Suck:
After having not made the playoffs since the inception of the Freakingbeastness league, Drew’s team finished with the league’s best record this past season. Unfortunately this did not translate to postseason success as he was knocked out in a hard fought first round matchup with My Picks are Stupendous. The box score from this game leads me to say something that I didn’t think was possible but if he had only played Trubisky over Roethlisberger he could’ve won. Looking through this draft overview gives further proof that in standard setting leagues (no 2 QBs or superflexes) it can be beneficial to load up on the skill positions and wait until the later rounds to get your QB. Patrick Mahomes wasn’t even drafted in our league, he was picked up off the waiver wire after week 1. As I stated back in Gold Teams article, a shocking trade was made between these two teams after week 5. One that you could say wasn’t even necessary as Drew’s team already had Julio Jones, Mike Evans, and Robert Woods. But to review, the trade was Juju Smith-Schuster (WR#9) for Sterling Shepard (WR#29), jazz hand snapchats, and a franchise name change. Ironically enough, for how much has been said about Mike Evans letting this team down in previous years, it was Juju who let the team down this year only managing to get 4 points in the critical playoff matchup. Steelers Suck Average Position Rankings
It’s clear the WR’s are the highlight of this team, having four that ended up with a top-ten ranking. Big Ben also ended up being the QB#3 despite all the drama surrounding the Steelers last year and not having his all-pro RB. The RB’s were serviceable enough for most of the year with Melvin Gordon keeping things afloat, although he was not available for the playoff game and I’m sure the 0.8 contribution from Lamar Miller that week still stings. On the bright side, Lamar shredded his knee and won’t be playing this year so it can’t possibly happen again. Steelers Suck Draft Overview DISCLAIMER:
Alx AKA The Freakingbeasts:
The three-time champ of the Freakingbeastness league has never missed the playoffs nor had a regular season worse than 7-7. He’s figured out a recipe to succeed in fantasy football and has even gone as far as setting the lineups for other league members who have given up on the season to not give anyone easy wins. This is how we ended up with N***************hitler winning the championship in 2017 so I hope you’re happy Alx. In the most recent Profootballjokes podcast, the staff briefly went over some fantasy draft strategies (when to pick what positions, tendencies of picks, preferences of early/late round position, etc.) and you can see a great example of these strategies in Alx’s draft overview. He got his RB’s early while not neglecting the WR spot completely, got a stud at the TE position, and waited to make good value QB selections. Even though Wentz (QB#23) didn’t have a fantastic year, he was traded off The Freakingbeasts for Kirk Cousins (QB#13) before the season started. Matt Ryan (QB#2) was also dropped from this team after a 3 point fantasy performance in week 1, good thing he didn’t turn it around or anything. Kirk was the guy up until week 10 when Andrew Luck (QB#5) was picked up off waivers to make the playoff push. Good news for Alx, Luck will likely be available to pick up at the same time this upcoming season. Another reason this franchise has had a level of sustained success over the years is the amount of activity on the waiver wire. They consistently have the highest number of transactions in the league, and in this past year added players such as James Conner, Bears D, Chris Godwin, Calvin Ridley, Andrew Luck, Corey Davis, and Harrison Butker among others. So even though Alx missed on some WR’s in the draft, he was able to turn it into a serviceable position group due to the pickups of Godwin and Ridley. Unfortunately this position still turned out to be their downfall. In the semifinal against Hillary Clinton’s Blue Wave, none of The Freakingbeasts WR’s broke double digits. The Freakingbeasts Average Position Rankings
At the time I thought Kelce may have taken a little too high, however I was proven completely wrong with the amount of production he had (12 PPG). There also has to be a form of comfort to not stress about the TE position week after week. The Freakingbeasts also showed how to effectively stream defenses by getting an average of 13 PPG. It was usually Bears D starting but included weeks of Bengals D, Redskins D, and Seahawks D. I’m happy if my defense ends up with positive points.  DISCLAIMER:
Scott AKA Andrew Thompson:
Andrew Thompson has never made the playoffs in the Freakingbeastness league, and with four top-ten WR’s, in a league that uses an extra WR slot, it’s surprising this streak continued through last year. On the flip side, this is one of the worst RB corps in the league with the highlight being RB#48 Duke Johnson who sat on the bench all year. The first two RB selections for this team were a pair of 2018 draft picks, Rashaad Penny and Ronald Jones, who scarcely contributed to their teams throughout the season. Ronald Jones was also dropped by Andrew Thompson after week 3. They received some help with the waiver wire pickup of Austin Ekeler (RB#27) but it was nothing special. No lineup changes were made to this team after Week 5, and they went 7-3 during that span proving sometimes it’s best not to overthink it. Also helps that half the league doesn’t set their lineups on a weekly basis. I have no issues with the Cam Newton pick in the 8th but the knowledge of his nagging shoulder injury was well documented and I’m surprised another QB wasn’t drafted or picked up from waivers purely as an insurance policy. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a fantasy team only draft one QB and start them through every week, even the bye week. Andrew Thompson Average Position Rankings
There’s something to be said about having a game plan for a draft and sticking to it. Going 4 WR’s in the first 4 rounds is certainly bold, but three of them averaged 14 PPG and the fourth averaged 12 PPG so you can’t argue about the production. Four more WR’s were selected by this team in the draft which seems a bit like overkill but I understand when you see Doctson available in the 15th you have to take him on upside alone. He’s gotta be good at some point right, I mean he was a 1st rd pick. Andrew Thompson Draft Overview A look back at the Freakingbeastness Fantasy Draft of 2018: Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb8/20/2019 DISCLAIMER:
Reeb AKA Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb:
I will do my best to remain objective in this review of my team, but at some point it is likely that I’ll complain about the luck I’m dealt in Fantasy, it’s just inevitable. I was recently told that I have a “type” of receiver, ones that are big and strong enough to make contested catches but not necessarily the best route runners. I didn’t want to believe this as I wanted to think I was just picking the best WR available but damn if it’s not a consistent pattern. Luckily this didn’t burn me too much this year as the only ones I’d really consider busts would be Watkins and Funchess. The RB room was solid year-round even after dealing with lingering injuries to Fournette and Breida. A week 2 waiver wire pick up of Phillip Lindsay gave the depth needed to have enough contributors to be comfortable. The injury bug did some harm and good for me this season, giving year-ending injuries to both of my QB selections, and my 6th round RB Jay Ajayi. Leonard Fournette and Charles Clay also suffered through injury filled years. However, these injuries forced me to go to the waiver wire and there I ended up getting Matt Ryan (QB#2 that Alx inexplicably dropped), Eric Ebron (TE#4), and Phillip Lindsay (RB#12). Jerick McKinnon’s ACL tear also paved the way for Matt Breida to have the starting role in SF which meant Breida became a serious contributor to the team, fantasy team I mean. Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb Average Position Rankings
The average position rankings show my WR group being strong however I believe this was the weakest area of the team. Outside of Odell and T.Y. I was mostly just hoping one of Anderson’s 2 targets a game went for a TD. After Amari was traded to DAL he filled in the 3rd WR slot nicely but at that point I was already 2-7 with no shot at making the playoffs. I really don’t think I had a bad team, at the end of the year my starting lineup looked like…
All top 25 for their positions. The 1,556 points scored by this team was 3rd most in the league. The team above went 11-3 and the team below went 9-5. The 1,433 points against was 2nd most in the league. I looked through previous seasons of Freakingbeastness to see where I’ve placed in the Points Against column and my findings only confirm my suspicions. 2018 - 2nd most PA 2017 - 4th most PA 2016 - 2nd most PA 2015 - 4th most PA 2014 - 7th most PA 2013 - Highest PA 2012 - 4th most PA In every year but 2014 I have finished in the top half for Points Against. I know this is just an excuse and I have room to improve with my Fantasy Football selections but when I’m finishing with about as many wins as people who draft Gronk in the 1st and Dez Bryant in the 7th I start to wonder if I should join Bryan and let auto-draft do its thing. Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb Draft Overview DISCLAIMER:
Bryce AKA Gold Team:
It’s bold to take a TE in the first round, especially one as injury prone as Gronk. Even more bold to take three NE RB’s (two of them in back to back rounds). I guess if you can’t predict which back is gonna be featured each week you can just play them all. Questionable decisions aside, Gold Team still ended up with the most players in the top-25 of their respective positions with Nine. Having a draft like this you might expect more than 5 wins for the year. Unfortunately, poorly timed and flat out bad transactions doomed this team to mediocrity. Over the course of the season they…
Without these decisions, Gold Team could’ve had a starting lineup of…
Another contributing factor to the 5 win season was the lack of lineup changes when the bye weeks and injuries hit. From my previous article you saw the game where only 4 players in the starting lineup were active, there were a total of 5 games where Gold Team had at least 2 players in the starting lineup that contributed 0 points due to byes or injuries. Gold Team Average Position Rankings
The average position rankings have Gold Team in the middle of the pack however, they got good value throughout the draft and had 8 selections in the positive difference which was the most in the league. In fact, the only true misses of Gold Team’s draft were Mccoy in the 2nd, one of the Patriots RB’s, and Rishard Matthews in the 14th where the picks are mostly guesses anyways.  DISCLAIMER:
Rabiej AKA N***************hitler:
Say hello to the second auto-drafter of the Freakingbeastness league who decided to try his hand at actually drafting this past season, as well as make every other member insanely uncomfortable when trying to check their lineups at work. Right off the bat we have to address the Dez Bryant selection in the 7th round. The owner of this team still thinks Devin Hester is returning kicks for the Bears so it makes a little bit of sense, but at the same time you’d think he’d wonder what the F.A. was next to his name in the draft, and why he was projected to get 0 points. For how terrible the differences make this draft look, and don’t be mistaken it is a terrible draft, they still hit on their first two picks and ended up with a pair of top-ten RB’s. Unfortunately the WR picks from the 3rd and 4th rounds didn’t pan out and Greg Olsen, taken in the 5th, suffered through an injury filled year. Luckily for Rabiej, his 6th round pick Drew Brees was his handsome self and broke his own season completion % record with 74.4%. But honestly without Brees, Hunt, and Kamara this team is complete garbage. They selected three TE’s, one of whom I’ve never even heard of and has no recorded stats for the 2018 season. N***************hitler Average Position Rankings
With all the misses throughout the draft, it was inevitable for this team to end up with horrible average position rankings. The best receiver on the team (Allen Robinson) was the WR#41. The Dion Lewis pick in the 10th round was the most impressive of the draft for Rabiej but instead of having him in the flex spot, he rode the bench while Delanie Walker manned the flex. Yes a TE was chosen over a RB for the flex position of this team. Delanie Walker had 5 fantasy points all year. Somehow they still ended up with 5 wins on the season while averaging 68 PPG. It may have something to do with only having 1301 points against which was good for 3rd lowest in the league. Could also be because of games like the one shown below where the opponent had four active players. Who is this other team that decided to give up on their bye week? Shockingly they finished higher than Rabiej in the standings so we’ll get to them later.  N***************hitler Draft Overview DISCLAIMER:
Daniel AKA Crouch United:
Injuries to the 2nd and 3rd round picks of Crouch United severely limited their chances of being successful in the 2018 season. A total of five players drafted by Crouch United had their seasons ended/affected by injuries. Misses throughout the draft didn’t help either, Gurley can only carry a team so far. Getting Kittle in the 14th round was one of the biggest steals of the draft however, taking Jimmy Graham in the 6th throws all that value earned off a cliff. It’s also tough to say Derrick Henry was a worthwhile pick, as even though he ended up being the RB#13, he got 55% of his total points in the last 4 games of the year. Long after everyone put him on the bench or dropped him. The Doug Baldwin injury really tanked what was already a thin position group for Crouch United. Edelman being the only one with a positive differential between their end of year position ranking and where they were selected in the draft. Stretches of the year saw Crouch United send out a starting WR unit of Edelman, Crabtree, and Quincy Enunwa. When you take that and throw in weeks of streaming Allen Hurns and Randall Cobb, it gets depressing real fast. You’re just begging to see one of them break 6 points while Gurley handles the rest. Crouch United Average Position Rankings
One positive thing I can say about this team is that not drafting a second QB allowed them to come in 1st for the average QB ranking. It's a good thing we're not looking at the 2017 draft where Crouch United drafted Tim Tebow in the 3rd round, although they did manage to get four more wins that year compared to 2018. Crouch United averaged 80 points a game which is 7th best in the league, although somehow they managed to get 130 the week they played yours truly but I’m not bitter or anything. It’s not like I had 124 that week or his team got over half its points from Deshaun and Gurley it’s fine. This team won the Championship in the inaugural season of Freakingbeastness. In order to get back to that glory they will need to get better value from their later round picks and most importantly, predict who will and will not get injured. It’s that easy. Crouch United Draft Overview |
Reeb the Unpaid InternIf you want to go 6-8 in your fantasy league and not know why, then this is the blog for you. Archives
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