IDP Wrap-up ‘09

IDP Wrap up for ‘09
The regular season is over, and so are most fantasy teams, at least when it comes to IDP football. When it’s all said and done, I like to look back and see how the highly-touted players fared vs. their draft position, and who turned out to be bargains. So this blog update is a look at our fantasy dream-team, fantasy bargain team and the all-bust team. Let’s hope your squad had more dreamers than busters.
Instead of averaging multiple sites preseason rankings, I used the Slaughterhouse IDP league draft, as it was an IDP-only draft manned by an experienced IDPers. It’s a good starting point, as I had never seen an IDP draft that was as tough to find bargains.

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Tags: aaron schobel, Al Afalava, andre carter, antonio cromartie, barrett ruud, brian cushing, brian dawkins, cedric griffin, charles woodsonk, clay matthews, darnell dockett, David Hawthorne, deandre levy, deek cox, derrick johnson, dhani jones, ed reed, eric weddle, Ernie Sims, Fantasy football, gaines adams, hali ngata, IDP, james laurinaitis, jared allen, jerraud powers, johnathan joseph, Jon Beason, jordan babineaux, Keith Rivers, kyle williams, louis delmas, matt shaughnessey, michael johnson, patrick willis, ray edwards, roy miller, shawne merriman, steven tulloch, terrance knighton, terrell thomas, tyvon branch, yeremiah bell

Three-week Trends

Nothing but stats over the last three weeks.

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Tags: ahmad brooks, andre carter, anthony adams, bernard pollard, brian orakpo, chinedum ndukwe, chris harris, chris kelsay, clay matthews, corey williams, daniel muir, darren howard, dashon goldston, demarcus ware, demorrio williams, eric foster, Fantasy football, gary brackett, gerald alexander, IDP, jerod Mayo, Jon Beason, Jonathan Vilma, kroy biermann, kyle williams, laron landry, mario williams, marvin white, melvin bullitt, nick harperm brian dawkins, osi umenyiora, patrick willis, paul poslusznhy, sheldon brown, steven tulloch, tamba hali, tyson jackson, tyvon branch

The Return of The Forgotten – Trevor Scott & Kevin Payne

The Friday edition of the IDP Zone comes with an analysis at a couple of players who fell off the IDP radar at the beginning of the season but are surprising sleeper picks entering Week 13 of the NFL season. They’re perfect examples of how IDPs should never be completely dismissed out of hand since they can always come back to significance at any time due to injury or ineffective play by the starters on the field ahead of them.

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Tags: Al Afalava, Chicago Bears, Danieal Manning, derrick burgess, Greg Ellis, Jon Alston, Kalimba Edwards, Kevin Payne, oakland raiders, richard seymour, Ricky Brown, Thomas Howard, Trevor Scott

Crystal Ballin’ Week Thirteen

So what’s going on this week in the world of IDP Football?
The hits keep on comin’. Not only the hits on the football field, but the IDP players hitting the IR. It really has been an incredible year, and since we are just in week 13, there will be more to come. This year above all others you should have a plan in place in case you lose your stud LB. Which Lofa Tatupu owner wouldn’t like to roll back the clock and nab David Hawthorne? There are countless other examples, but now as we roll into playoff time, you should look less at depth and more at backing up your studs somehow.

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Tags: antonio pierce, brian cushing, chase blackburn, David Hawthorne, Ernie Sims, Fantasy football, IDP, injured reserve, ir, james anderson, jason trusnik, Jonathan Vilma, kaluka maiava, kyle vandenbosch, Lance Briggs, Shaun Rogers, waive wire, will smith

The Land of the Free (Safety)

Traditionally, there’s been a bias against the free safety as a productive contributor in IDP formats.  For the most part, the bias was justified.  Linebackers and strong safeties are the tackle machines and cornerbacks chipped in with both tackles and big plays.  Meanwhile, the free safety roamed center field helping the cornerbacks in deep coverage and occasionally stopping the long run. The strong safety was the defensive back to own because he was usually the extra linebacker who played close to the line of scrimmage and made a lot of tackles with enough coverage responsibility to net some big plays. Free safeties generally had a decent value in big-play formats but minimal value in tackle-heavy leagues.

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IDP, Injured Reserve and Frustration

As I was moving Buffalo LB Keith Ellison to the IR section on my spreadsheets and bolding him in blood red, I was somewhat surprised to see the lengthy list of IDP players that have hit IR this season. Some teams were hit numerous times, as were us fantasy players. I realized by looking at the lists that this year has seemed worse than most from an IDP perspective, and I can’t recall making as many moves simply based on IR moves in years past. So I decided to take a closer look and review the impact of those losses to the NFL teams, and the impact of the replacement players.

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Crystal Ballin’ Week 11 ~ IDP

Yea….bye weeks are over. For us fantasy freaks, we are finally past the pain and irritation of trying to find replacements for perfectly healthy players sitting by the pool on Sunday, for no other good reason than to allow NFL teams one more week of play so they can stuff their already packed pockets.

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The Mysterious Case of Channing Crowder

I have a serious issue with Channing Crowder.  You see, in the offseason, I had a chance to upgrade my team at another position via trade and the asking price from the other owner was one of the two linebackers who were competing to be my No. 3 starting linebacker in 2009:  Channing Crowder and Chad Greenway.  In most leagues, Crowder and Greenway would be solid No. 2 starters but I was lucky enough to have D.J. Williams and DeMeco Ryans as my top two starters. 

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The Man Who Would Be King . . . of IDP

Every once in a while in IDP leagues, a player literally comes out of nowhere and can almost single-handedly win a title for some lucky fantasy owner.  This season, that player comes out of the Great Northwest and he’s becoming a legend overnight and I love the kid . . . in a platonic fantasy football owner-player sort of way, of course. His name is David Hawthorne and if he’s on your fantasy IDP roster, you should be grinning from ear-to-ear. If the second-year player from TCU isn’t on your team, do whatever it take to acquire him since he can literally win you a title.

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Tags: aaron curry, David Hawthorne, leroy hill, lofa tatupu, Patrick Wilis, Seattle Seahawks

Crystal Ballin’ Week Ten IDP

The Saints and Giants are off the charts this week, thank god bye weeks are almost done. Just on a side-note, I wish we didn’t have byes. I know that’s a selfish deal with us fantasy players, but even from a fans perspective I hate them. I know teams need to rest up and this gives them a break, but it does give some teams an advantage going into a tough matchup. Even if that’s not the case, not having a bye would put all the teams on an even keel.
I just think the bye week is a way for the NFL to stretch 16 weeks into 17 and get some extra TV revenues.

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