Daniel McNeeley

Fantasy Football: Hot or Not?

Waiver Wire Hits and Misses

The Rise and Fall of ManaMan

The Commissioner’s Handprint was a true Monkey’s Paw to begin the season, granting Manaman unholy success. But the paw curls and takes its toll, as ManaMan has dropped 3 out of the last 4 games, and spent $15 on Matt Ryan in the waiver wire only for him to get benched a week later. Finally, the universe is fixing its mistakes.

New Year No Money

One thing you can guarantee with Shizzlez’s team every year is spending all his FAAB before the halfway point of the season but this time it worked. Shizzlez spent $70 dollars on Kenneth Walker (after my dumb ass dropped him) back on September 7 and the last 3 games have proven that he was worth the cost. There’s few things guaranteed in fantasy football, but someone will always be there to capitalize off your mistakes. Gotdamn you, Shizzlez.

Will He or Wan’t He?

Speaking of Shizzlez, the man has dropped and added Wan’Dale Robinson 3 times. Robinson saw increased playing time over the last few weeks and now Kadarius Toney just got traded to the Chiefs, so I think Shizzlez is going to hang on to Robinson a little longer. Another player picked up by Shizzlez 3 times in a row? Christian Watson. Much less likely to stick around. I'm officially proposing a 3 strike rule on adding the exact same player. 3 adds and you're in. If you pick up the same player 3 times

Bye Week Blues

Finding a replacement during a bye week is a slog, especially when you don’t prepare for both your QBs being on a Bye at the same time. I tried no less than 3 times to get a replacement QB, but opted to save my $35 and not use any, which meant 3 unsuccessful waiver additions until I finally nabbed an underwhelming Jacoby Brisset. At least he didn’t score negative points like a certain running back from San Francisco who just got replaced again.

Post Week 7 Craze

There were a total of 14 waiver wire transactions immediately following Week 7 with 4 more the following day and surely more on the way. Injuries are piling up, NFL teams are making trades, and the boys are playing fantasy GM in more places than just their bedrooms. The only moves that really moved the needle for me is the Mecole Hardman addition, which has spurned owners before, and Parris Campbell, whose future is uncertain with Sam "Texas is Back" Ehlinger. Malik Willis is another interesting addition (my own, so yeah, biased opinion but who cares - you're still reading about it) with a hobbled Tannehill. Expect it to be nothing as he most likely won't even start this week, but never say never.

Geno Smith???

Geno is currently QB7, but was picked up and dropped for free. Is this a name recognition problem or are we all just trying to outsmart ourselves? The Seahawks are a run-first team but he ranks 6th overall in TD passes, 7th in yards, 5th in yards per pass attempt, 1st in CPOE (completion percentage over expected), and .15+ in EPA/play. Geno’s highs may not be as high as others, but neither are his lows. Honestly he’s a real player and QB7 not even rostered in a 12 man league means we’re a bunch of idiots stuck in the past like Cowboys fans reminiscing over their SuperBowls.

Dead Chad Not Sad Chad

How is this for a stat? DumbLuckChamp has only made two waiver moves the whole season, both to stream defenses. Absolutely dead activity on the waiver wire. The guy is 6-1, 4th in Points For (693.46 - 1 point behind 3rd), and managed to have productive players at each position without any significant additions or drops. What a freaking draft, man. This roster has one of, if not the, highest floors every week even when not fully healthy, and a high ceiling when all the pieces are on the field (looking at you Keenan Allen and Amon-Ra).

Bonus Land

Blockbuster Back Open

When one person is looking for a solid piece to break through a ceiling and the other is trying to fill out their team to avoid last place, it means I can land Justin Jefferson to pair with Ja’Marr Chase for the ultimate top 5 WR combo. Just in time too, with Chase suffering a hip injury that will sideline him for 4-6 weeks. That same trade would have had HiloBayPackers smelling blood in the water, knowing I was desperate to replace that production. I didn’t even have to do a traditional Pray Lewis blood sacrifice!

Enough to bounce back?

ZeyTong is crashing to last place with a 3 Loss streak. The only thing helping his cause is that HiloBayPackers has an atrocious Points For of 570, with no one else under 606. If Tee Higgins pops off the next few weeks, he might have enough juice to steal a few wins while HiloBayPackers should also benefit from Tyler Boyd seeing more targets because of Chase’s injury. Truly, though, he is banking on the return of D’Andre Swift to keep him away from the shit that’s quickly falling to the bottom of the toilet bowl. If Kenny Picket continues to target Pickens in the passing game, his stock will also continue rise with Gabe Davis providing major point possibilities. Zeke and Hines should also provide strong floors in a pinch and Jameson Williams potentially returning during the fantasy playoffs for a sneaky strong Lions offense.

Key Matchups in Week 8

Shizzlez (4-3 / 61%) vs ManaMan (4-3 / 39%)

Three teams sit tied for 3rd place with another 3 teams tied for 2nd. The loser of this game is going to tumble down the league standings while the other ascends with a little more stability. Sleeper favors Shizzlez pretty heavily in this matchup and I do too. ManaMan’s players are finally coming back to earth after being blessed by the Hand of The Commissioner - they don’t stand a chance. If ManaMan wins, I’ll photoshop ManaMan’s head on my stomach instead of the hand slap and make it my profile picture.

DoItAllDMac (5-2 / 47%) vs Botohead (5-2 / 53%)

This one is much closer, though I feel absolutely gutted with Chase out of the picture. I will never bet against myself but it is pretty troubling, particularly with all my players in unfavorable matchups. I pick myself to win because I have to, but I’m not very confident. If I lose, I’ll Venmo Shaine McDonald’s money because I am not McLovin it.

Dkiddy (2-5 / NA%) vs ZeyTong (1-6 / NA%)

I listed the win percentage as NA only because the teams need to move some players around. Until then, I’m looking at these rosters and I am still a ZeyTong believer. Give me Brady against Baltimore over Jimmy G playing the Rams but the rest of the roster matchups are a push with the biggest X Factor being Tee Higgins, as Cleveland has made every opposing offense look like Super Bowl winners. Lazard (doubtful) is currently slotted in but will probably be replaced by Jerry Jeudy, who shouldn’t be enough to make a difference. Mostert won’t be better than a Tony Pollard with a full workload, and defenses are too high variance to guess a winner, though it is ironic that both defenses are matched up against each other (Rams vs 49ers). ZeyTong will win and possibly escape last place. But if Chase is back for fantasy playoffs and Higgins loses value, it doesn’t even matter. So forgive me for what I’ve done in cursing you now Zey. *cue Linkin Park and Transformers Ending meme*

PS: If ZeyTong loses, I will write an erotic fanfiction about Jimmy G seducing Zey and whoever the lowest scoring player is on his team.