X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Join the Best Live Fantasy Chat Community!

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Draft Rankings
Draft Simulator
Enter League Settings
Player Comparisons
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

Why You Should Target Injury-Prone Pitchers (Sometimes)

To some fantasy owners, there’s nothing more frustrating than the good but oft-injured starting pitcher. It makes owners just want to wash their hands entirely of pitchers like Rich Hill, James Paxton, and Stephen Strasburg in favor of sub-par innings-eaters and often pushes these fragile hurlers down draft boards.

However, in certain league formats, targeting these pitchers at their discounted prices can actually be a solid strategy in building an outstanding pitching staff on a budget. With a little hard work, we can maximize the value of these training table regulars.

In this piece, we will look at the scenarios in which this may be profitable while identifying potential targets to draft late or buy-low once the season begins.

Featured Promo: Get your MLB Premium Pass for 50% off the regular price with any full-season pass. Exclusive access to our Draft Kit, Nick Mariano's #1 accuracy rankings, Ariel Cohen's #1 accuracy ATC projections, customized advice in the Team Sync platform, Live Draft Assistant, 15 in-season lineup tools, customized rankings and much more! Go Premium, Win More!

 

When to Pull the Trigger

First, and this goes without saying, is that we’re only looking to target the injury-prone pitchers that put up above average or better numbers when healthy. We’re not trying to maximize the innings of Jason Vargas here. We’re also not looking at pitchers like Michael Wacha or Anthony DeSclafani, both merely capable starting pitchers that have dealt with injury troubles throughout their career. For this strategy to work, owners need to target pitchers that are downright dominant when healthy.

Second, this strategy is quite dependent on league format and depth. In an AL or NL-only league targeting injury-prone pitchers is a bad idea, otherwise you’ll end up relying on the likes of the aforementioned Jason Vargas. The same is true in deeper leagues, and this writer wouldn’t consider this strategy in leagues with more than 12 teams. The number of injured list (IL) spots is important as well. If the league has just one or even none then it’s hard to build a pitching staff around oft-injured pitchers because it may reach a point where one can’t hold multiple injured guys.

And finally, while this is not a necessity, targeting injury-prone pitchers works best in weekly leagues. While this is certainly doable in daily leagues and season-long Roto, in weekly leagues we’re focusing on our team in smaller slices. We’re just trying to build the best team for one week, and it’s easiest to judge the streaming help we’ll need.

 

Pros and Cons

The main benefit in drafting pitchers like this is that they are awesome when healthy. Rich Hill has been one of the league’s best strikeout pitchers thanks to his signature curveball, James Paxton can look like a Cy Young candidate at times when healthy, and even lower-priced pitchers like Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kenta Maeda, and Tyler Skaggs have shown flashes of brilliance relative to the pitchers going around them on draft day.

The biggest drawback, of course, is that we aren’t getting the volume from these pitchers, and in order to compete for a fantasy title, volume from roster spots is almost as important as quality of play. It’s what makes pitchers like Rick Porcello and Jose Quintana appealing; their overall numbers will probably underwhelm, but they take the ball every fifth day and pitch deep into games. If Rich Hill only pitches around 130-140 innings, like he has the last two years, his fantasy owner needs to cobble together an extra 40-50 innings through streaming and waivers. The question then becomes, just how much do those innings hurt your bottom line?

In 2018, the average MLB starter posted a 4.19 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and 8.25 K/9. Those numbers certainly aren’t winning anyone a championship; that’s why they’re average. But, to make up for the lost innings of our injured pitchers, we’ll have to dip into some league-average pitchers off waivers. To make a rough projection of where we’ll stand after adding these supplemental innings, I’ve calculated what adding X number of league average innings to a few pitchers' 2018 numbers would do to their overall line.

This is, of course, an imprecise measurement, but there are far too many variables to calculate exactly how streaming will work out in every circumstance. The purpose of this is to provide a rough guideline of what to expect, not to bank on these stats when projecting your team’s end of year numbers. I am going to start this exercise by supplementing Hyun-Jin Ryu’s stats, which were amazing when healthy last season, with the innings of a league-average starter.

 

Case Studies

Hyun-Jin Ryu was awesome last season when on the mound. He posted a 1.97 ERA, 5.93 K/BB ratio, and 11.6% SwStr rate, all career bests. The ERA will regress, but maintaining an ERA under 3.00 would be a reasonable expectation for Ryu. The only problem was that he logged just 82.1 innings last season. That means we need almost 100 innings of streaming to make up for lost time. If we add 100 league-average innings to Ryu’s stats we wind up with 182.1 innings, a 3.16 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and 8.95 K/9. That season compares similarly to Zach Wheeler’s 2018, since Wheeler posted a 3.31 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and 8.84 K/9. Wheeler is going at pick 87 while Ryu is going at pick 176 in NFBC leagues.

Another good example of how to use a pitcher of this ilk is Tyler Skaggs. Skaggs’ 2018 shows us how injury prone pitchers need to be managed individually throughout the season in order to obtain the best results. His overall numbers weren’t that impressive; Skaggs finished 2018 with a 4.02 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, and 3.23 K/BB ratio. His underlying stats paint a much prettier picture, but from a results perspective, Skaggs hardly seems like a candidate for the great-when-healthy-but-when-are-you-healthy strategy. However, sharper and more experienced owners would’ve avoided (most of) Skaggs’ bad outings and gotten the best value out of him.

Ultimately, a right adductor strain ruined Skaggs’ season, and in case you aren’t sure what the adductor muscle does, it’s apparently the muscle that helps one pitch well. Skaggs was a disaster on the mound after suffering this injury. In 33.1 innings following his adductor strain, he pitched to a 7.83 ERA and 1.65 WHIP. He also served up six home runs over that stretch after giving up just eight in the previous 92 innings. Those 33.1 innings were split between three separate trips to the injured list for the same injury. Technically, the Angels marked it as a right and left adductor strain, but this writer thinks he strained the left one after spinning around too fast to watch another home run fly over the fence.

Since Skaggs’ poor performances were separated by pre- and post-injury it would have been easy to avoid most of the bad he put out last season. The trouble began for Skaggs on July 31, when he served up 10 earned runs in 3.1 innings to the Rays in Tampa Bay. He hit the injured list immediately after that start and dealt with injuries and poor performance for the rest of the year. Experienced fantasy owners would not have eaten another bad start after the 10 earned run disaster against the Rays, because experienced fantasy owners know not to start sub-elite pitchers straight off the IL. This is why most people likely avoided his 3.1 inning, seven earned run nightmare against Oakland after a minimum stay on the injured list, and after missing another month owners would have cut bait on Skaggs before absorbing any more bad outings. So, even if we factor in the Tampa Bay start Skaggs gave us a 3.34 ERA, 1.25 ERA, and 9.4 K/9 in 113.1 innings. Those numbers aren’t nearly as bad, but he left us with about 70 innings to fill on waivers. If we add 70 innings of a league average starter the overall line ends up being a 3.66 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and 8.96 K/9 over 183 innings. That isn’t too different from what J.A. Happ and Cole Hamels did in 2018, and both of those pitchers are going over 75 spots ahead of Skaggs on draft day.

Now, simply adding on league-average innings to a pitcher who lacks volume may seem like an overly simple way to project potential streaming results, and it is, but it’s also the most straightforward way to outline how the necessary supplemental innings affect that pitcher’s bottom line. There are too many variables on a week-to-week basis with a streaming-heavy approach like this to project with more precision.

There is one kicker with this strategy that may make it more enticing, and it’s that you, yes you, dear reader, are likely going to get better than league-average innings off waivers in 10- and 12-team mixed leagues.  This is for two reasons: First, is that if you’re sharp and well-informed (and since you’re reading RotoBaller, you are clearly both of those things) you’ll have a good idea of who is worth streaming off waivers and who should be ignored. Second, is that league-average numbers are dragged down by yucky, unusable pitchers like Matt Moore and Yovani Gallardo. Pitchers like that will never sniff your lineup, but their stats count towards league average. Of course, you’ll wind up absorbing bad starts here and there, it’s unavoidable, but personally, this writer expects to get better than league average results when streaming starting pitchers.

 

Conclusion

To conclude, I have two key tenants to keep in mind for those following the injury-prone pitcher strategy.

  • Be Diligent: For this to work, one needs to be on top of the waiver wire and managing their bench and IL spots. This doesn’t work for those who like to set-it and forget-it. You will be checking your lineup nearly every day and you will be planning out streaming targets a week in advance when necessary. You will need to be tight with the FAAB dollars in case of emergency. It’s work, but it’s fun work because it’s fantasy baseball.
  • Accept the Risk: If you fill your rotation with 3-5 of these injury prone pitchers, there may be a time in the year when three are already on the IL, one gets scratched from his start the day of, and one only makes it through an inning before a blister pops up. This is part of the strategy; it’s the downside. It’s unlikely that all of these pitchers would experience their injuries at the exact same moment, but possible.This strategy is for risk takers. It’s for the kind of people that cross the street, even when there’s no painted crosswalk. The kind of people that eat a yogurt two days after its expiration date. The kind of people that see a stoplight turn yellow and hit the gas on their certified pre-owned Hyundai Sonata, zooming through the light just before it hits red. If that’s too much for you then stay in your cocoon and fill your rotation with the Rick Porcellos of the world. Personally, this writer prefers to shoot for the moon in every league, consequences be damned. For those who like to go all-out in fantasy, targeting injury-prone pitchers may be the right path.

Some Possible Targets: James Paxton, Stephen Strasburg, Luis Severino, Noah Syndergaard, Tyler Skaggs, Andrew Heaney, Anyone on the Dodgers, Carlos Martinez, Yu Darvish, Matt Strahm, Michael Pineda, Jimmy Nelson.

More 2019 Fantasy Baseball Advice




POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Draft Rankings
Draft Simulator
Enter League Settings
Player Comparisons
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Zac Gallen5 hours ago

Gets Opening Day Nod
Nolan Schanuel6 hours ago

Injury Isn't Serious
Isaiah Stewart7 hours ago

Injured Against Boston
Duncan Robinson7 hours ago

Doesn't Return On Monday
Jackson Chourio7 hours ago

Makes Opening Day Roster
Anthony Davis7 hours ago

Cleared To Meet Atlanta
Blake Snell8 hours ago

Heading To The Giants
Onyeka Okongwu8 hours ago

To Return On Monday
Bryce McGowens9 hours ago

Unavailable For Tuesday
Tyus Jones9 hours ago

Won't Play On Tuesday
Deni Avdija9 hours ago

Unavailable For Tuesday
Nick Martinez9 hours ago

To Open The Year In The Rotation
OG Anunoby9 hours ago

Set For Multi-Game Absence
Kyle Kuzma9 hours ago

Uncertain For Tuesday
Luka Doncic9 hours ago

Considered Probable For Tuesday
Matt McLain9 hours ago

Scratched With Shoulder Soreness
Bilal Coulibaly9 hours ago

Ruled Out For Rest Of Season
Kenley Jansen9 hours ago

Scheduled To Make Four More Spring Appearances
Jackson Chourio9 hours ago

"In The Mix" For Roster Spot
Rudy Gobert9 hours ago

Ruled Out For Monday
Scoot Henderson9 hours ago

Returns To Starting Unit Without Restrictions
Matisse Thybulle10 hours ago

Available Again On Monday
Jerami Grant10 hours ago

Remains Sidelined On Monday
Lauri Markkanen10 hours ago

Returns To Action On Monday
Alex Caruso10 hours ago

Ready To Roll Monday
Coby White10 hours ago

Ruled Out For Monday
Kristaps Porzingis10 hours ago

Returns To Celtics Lineup
Jaylen Brown10 hours ago

Ready To Go On Monday
Jayson Tatum10 hours ago

Won't Play Against Detroit
Teuvo Teravainen10 hours ago

Misses Second Straight Game
Joshua Dobbs10 hours ago

49ers Reach Agreement With Joshua Dobbs
TOR11 hours ago

Mitch Marner To Miss At Least Two More Games
Jacob Markstrom11 hours ago

Could Return This Weekend
Rico Dowdle11 hours ago

Staying With Cowboys
Mikhail Sergachev11 hours ago

Skates On Monday
Dustin Wolf11 hours ago

Between The Pipes Monday
New Orleans Saints11 hours ago

Saints Expected To Sign Chase Young
Alexander Mattison11 hours ago

Signing With Raiders
DJ LeMahieu12 hours ago

In Danger Of Missing Opening Day
Buffalo Bills13 hours ago

Taron Johnson Re-Signs With Bills On Three-Year Deal
José Urquidy13 hours ago

Jose Urquidy Has Forearm Strain, Will Begin On Injured List
Justin Verlander13 hours ago

Expected To Face Hitters "In The Next Day Or Two"
Corey Seager13 hours ago

Takes Batting Practice Monday
Aaron Judge13 hours ago

Likely To Play In Four Of Final Six Spring Games
Garrett Crochet13 hours ago

Named Opening Day Starter
Nolan Schanuel13 hours ago

Scratched With Back Tightness
Dallas Cowboys13 hours ago

Leighton Vander Esch Calling It A Career
DJ LeMahieu14 hours ago

Still Pretty Sore
Aaron Judge15 hours ago

To Return On Wednesday
Jhoan Duran15 hours ago

To Begin Season On Injured List
Bryan Battle15 hours ago

Bout Ends in Controversy
Ange Loosa15 hours ago

Fight Ruled A No-Contest After Accidental Eye Poke
Ovince Saint Preux15 hours ago

Wins Split Decision In A Back-And-Forth Fight
Kennedy Nzechukwu15 hours ago

Suffers Split-Decision Loss To Ovince Saint Preux
Gerald Meerschaert15 hours ago

Gets Back In The Win Column
Shohei Ohtani16 hours ago

Cleared To Begin Throwing Program
Bryan Barberena16 hours ago

Submitted In The Second Round
Kyle Manzardo16 hours ago

Sent To Minor-League Camp
Jackson Merrill16 hours ago

Wins Center Field Job
Denny Hamlin17 hours ago

Emerges Victorious For Second Bristol Win In A Row
Alexander Mattison17 hours ago

Visiting With Raiders
Dak Prescott17 hours ago

Cowboys Restructure Dak Prescott's Contract
Dmitry Orlov18 hours ago

Collects Four Points In Big Win
Tyler Toffoli18 hours ago

Dominates Against Columbus With Three Points
Lucas Raymond18 hours ago

Pots Pair Of Goals Versus Penguins
Kaz Grala18 hours ago

Finishes 19th At Bristol Motor Speedway
Bo Horvat18 hours ago

Scores Twice In Losing Effort
Brad Keselowski19 hours ago

Exceeds Value In DFS At Bristol Motor Speedway
Pavel Buchnevich19 hours ago

Delivers Three Assists In Sunday's Win
Ryan Lindgren19 hours ago

Suffers Leg Injury Versus Islanders
Kyle Larson19 hours ago

After 5th at Bristol: "I Hope I Never Have To Run A Race Like That Again"
Chase Elliott19 hours ago

Earns First Top 10 Finish Of 2024
Justin Haley19 hours ago

Earns Best NextGen Short Track Finish for Rick Ware Racing
Ty Gibbs19 hours ago

Has Dominant Day at Bristol but Fades Late
John Hunter Nemechek1 day ago

Found Speed At Bristol
Chris Buescher1 day ago

Secures Top 10 At Bristol
Alex Bowman1 day ago

Late Charge to Fourth Masks Early Race Struggles
Christopher Bell1 day ago

Ran Well, But His Teammates Were All Better
Martin Truex Jr1 day ago

. Matches Career-Best Finish At Bristol
Ryan Blaney1 day ago

Fades to 16th at Bristol After Handling Struggles
Russell Wilson2 days ago

Still Considered The Starter
William Byron2 days ago

Is One Of The Top DFS Options For Bristol
Ty Gibbs2 days ago

Starts 19th At Bristol After Damage In Practice
Justin Haley2 days ago

Scores A Starting Position Of 32nd For Bristol
Denny Hamlin2 days ago

Should Compete For The Win At Bristol
Brad Keselowski2 days ago

History Indicates Brad Keselowski Being A Favorable Bristol Play
Joey Logano2 days ago

Should Be Rostered With Caution At Bristol
Tyler Reddick2 days ago

Is Tyler Reddick Worth Rostering At Bristol This Week?
Martin Truex Jr2 days ago

. Could Work As A Tournament Play At Bristol
Alexander Nylander2 days ago

Totals Three Points In Saturday's Win
Sebastian Aho2 days ago

Leads Hurricanes To Victory In Toronto
Owen Tippett2 days ago

Delivers Three Assists In High-Scoring Loss
Steven Stamkos2 days ago

Extends Scoring Streak With Four-Point Performance
Nick Schmaltz2 days ago

Records Three Assists In Win Over New Jersey
Artemi Panarin2 days ago

Racks Up Five Points In Saturday's Win
Brady Tkachuk2 days ago

Sinks Islanders With Third Hat Trick
Pannie Kianzad2 days ago

Drops To .500 In The UFC
Macy Chiasson2 days ago

Gets First-Round Submission Win
Isaac Dulgarian2 days ago

Suffers First Career Loss
Christian Rodriguez2 days ago

Overcomes Early Adversity At UFC Vegas 88
Tai Tuivasa2 days ago

Suffers Fourth Straight Loss
Marcin Tybura2 days ago

Gets First-Round Submission
Justin Fields2 days ago

Traded To The Steelers
NHL2 days ago

Lukas Reichel Will Be In The Lineup Sunday
Cale Makar2 days ago

A Game-Time Decision Saturday
Zach Parise2 days ago

Likely To Return Saturday
Michael Gallup3 days ago

Panthers Bringing In Michael Gallup For A Visit
Mike Williams3 days ago

Panthers To Host Mike Williams On A Visit
New York Jets3 days ago

Jets Expected To Sign Tyron Smith
AJ Dillon3 days ago

Officially Re-Signs With Packers
Van Jefferson3 days ago

Steelers Signing Van Jefferson
Jakobi Meyers3 days ago

Raiders Restructure Jakobi Meyers' Contract
Jimmy Garoppolo3 days ago

Rams Agree With Jimmy Garoppolo On One-Year Deal
Gerald Meerschaert4 days ago

To Fight In Main Event Of UFC Vegas 88
Bryan Barberena4 days ago

In Dire Need Of Victory
Kennedy Nzechukwu4 days ago

Looks To Get Back In Win Column
Ovince Saint Preux4 days ago

Set For 27th UFC Appearance
Bryan Battle4 days ago

Looks To Extend His Win Streak
Ange Loosa4 days ago

An Underdog At UFC Vegas 88
San Francisco 49ers4 days ago

De'Vondre Campbell Heading To San Francisco
Dallas Cowboys4 days ago

Leighton Vander Esch Being Cut By Cowboys
Michael Gallup4 days ago

Cowboys Releasing Michael Gallup
Kenny Pickett4 days ago

Steelers Sending Kenny Pickett To Eagles
Pannie Kianzad5 days ago

Looking For Redemption At UFC Vegas 88
Macy Chiasson5 days ago

Ends Layoff At UFC Vegas 88
Isaac Dulgarian5 days ago

A Favorite At UFC Vegas 88
Christiaan Bezuidenhout6 days ago

Looking To Put It All Together At TPC Sawgrass
Eric Cole6 days ago

Rebounding Well In The Sunshine State
Brian Harman6 days ago

Playing The Dark-Horse Role Again At The Players
Matt Fitzpatrick6 days ago

Searching For Answers Thus Far In 2024
Sahith Theegala6 days ago

One Of The Tour's Fastest Risers To Start The New Year
Sam Burns6 days ago

Brings A Stellar Run Of Form Into TPC Sawgrass
PGA6 days ago

Sungjae Im Trending Up After Arnold Palmer Success
Jason Day6 days ago

Facing Iron Hiccup Heading To The Players
Tom Hoge6 days ago

Brings Strong Form And History To Sawgrass
Min Woo Lee6 days ago

Ready For Second Trip To Sawgrass
Will Zalatoris6 days ago

Working Toward A Win
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
Russell Wilson - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

NFL Free Agency Tracker - Updates On Every Free Agent Signing (2024)

The legal tampering period for NFL free agency begins on March 11 at noon EST, so news of signings will be flying in all week. Veterans like Russell Wilson and Jonnu Smith were released before their contracts expired, meaning they got a head start on free agency and have already reached agreements with new organizations.... Read More


Rome Odunze - College Football Rankings, NCAA CFB DFS Lineup Picks

Coach Knows Ball: Rome Odunze NFL Draft Film Breakdown of Washington WR

Welcome to Coach Knows Ball, an NFL Draft series analyzing the top prospects in the 2024 class. I'm a college football coach with nine years of NCAA experience and have been scouting NFL Draft prospects for over 15 years. This series will give a deep dive into the film of some of the top players... Read More


Kirk Cousins - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Winners and Losers of 2024 NFL Free Agency (Teams)

Well, strap in, folks, because the first week of 2024 NFL Free Agency was a rollercoaster ride. Some teams made power moves while others seemingly snoozed at the switch. The Houston Texans, for instance, came out swinging, pulling off some of the savviest deals that could very well tilt the scales in their favor this... Read More


George Pickens - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Next Gen Stats Review: 2023 Wide Receivers and Tight Ends

A while back, we covered the Next Gen Stats for running backs, including rushing yards over expected and the percentage of plays with eight or more defenders in the box. Check out the running back review of the Next Gen Stats, as it adds a layer to player analysis. We love the advanced stats for... Read More


Keenan Allen - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Keenan Allen Traded To Bears: Fantasy Football Impact

Star wide receiver Keenan Allen has been one of the more underrated players in the NFL over the past few years. He spent the first 11 years of his career with the Los Angeles Chargers, playing for the franchise since their days in San Diego. However, the team reportedly asked Allen to take a pay... Read More


Marquise Brown - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Marquise Brown Signs With Chiefs: Fantasy Football Impact

Veteran wide receiver Marquise Brown signed a one-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday. Brown hopes to follow JuJu Smith-Schuster’s footprints by playing on a one-year deal with the Chiefs and earning a multi-year big-money contract the following offseason. The former Oklahoma star spent the first three years of his career with the... Read More


Justin Jefferson - Fantasy Football Rankings, DFS Lineup Picks, NFL Injury News

Will The Vikings Trade Justin Jefferson? 2024 NFL Outlook

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson is one of the top players in the NFL. The superstar was part of an impressive 2020 NFL Draft class. Yet, he was the fifth wide receiver off the board. Jefferson has been a superstar since his rookie year, making three consecutive Pro Bowl teams and All-Pro rosters to... Read More


Marquise Brown - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Top Free Agency Fits For Marquise Brown – 2024 Free Agent Outlook

Free agent wide receiver Marquise Brown is one of the more explosive players in the NFL. The veteran wide receiver ran a 4.27 40-yard dash at his Pro Day coming out of Oklahoma. He was a first-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2019 NFL Draft. Brown has spent most of his career as... Read More


Nico Collins - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings For 2024 Best Ball Leagues (Tiers 4-9)

We have now entered the process of free agency, which is providing pathways for some wide receivers to seize significant roles in their new landing spots. The player movement that has ensued will also decrease the stock of other receivers whose roles will decrease within their reshaped depth charts. Participation in the best ball draft... Read More


Cade Otton - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Early 2024 Best Ball Tight End Sleepers

Top tight ends such as Sam LaPorta and Travis Kelce are bound to put up quality fantasy football numbers weekly, but most tight ends are unpredictable. The top tier of tight ends are reliable for fantasy football purposes, but most tight ends are boom-or-bust type of players. Even though it is hard to hit on... Read More


D'Andre Swift - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL DFS Lineup Picks

D'Andre Swift Signs With Bears: Fantasy Football Impact

Newly signed Chicago Bears running back D'Andre Swift has been one of the most promising, but also underperforming running backs across the NFL and the fantasy landscape in recent years. After three injury-riddled seasons in Detroit where he showed flashes of greatness but didn't quite live up to the hype, Swift was traded to the... Read More


J.J. McCarthy - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Rookies, Draft Sleepers

Top 50 NFL Draft Prospect Rankings After the 2024 NFL Combine

With the NFL Combine in our rearview mirror, now is a logical time to put out an up-to-date rankings for this year’s NFL Draft. Below, you will find my top-50 players who have declared for this NFL Draft. Below those ranks, you will also find several fantasy-relevant notes I have on this class, and on... Read More


Calvin Ridley - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Calvin Ridley Signs With Titans: Fantasy Football Impact

The Tennessee Titans made a huge move once NFL free agency officially opened. They signed wide receiver Calvin Ridley to a four-year, $92 million contract with $50 million fully guaranteed. Ridley was the top receiver on the open market. The Titans swooped in out of left field and signed him to give second-year quarterback Will... Read More