Fantasy Football, Inartistic Offences and Indoor Decorating
Paolo Della Rocca
29-08-2021 06:36 PM
Peeze’s Playbook Week 9
Fantasy season is around the corner and my other home at Hot Sauce Sports is your one stop shop for way too much football and fantasy info. We have a whole series on how many of the fatnasy relevant rookies should fit in on their new teams and where, if at all they should be drafted. I included my write up on Jaylen Waddle (it’s not plagiarism if it’s my own work). For more content check out www.hotsaucesports.ca
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It is slightly too early for fantasy football analysis. We just found out who teams are playing against but with little to no injuries about injuries and contract holdouts or the like, it is hard to come up with cogent arguments.
This series will review the value of specific rookies and as we are far out I will focus on rookies who are the most likely to have a starting role, who will have one from the get go and how I believe that will project outward. At the end, I will indicate where I think the given player SHOULD be drafted. This way, if you miss out on the player because someone pulled the trigger too prematurely, you can smirk and pick someone more valuable when the pick comes around to you. Likewise, if the player no one believes in falls to you, it’s time for a mental fist-pump.
***before we get started each week I will remind everyone that the analysis in this series is based on regular, season-long point per reception scoring. It also assumes you play in a 12 team league***
Full disclosure, I’m a Dolphins fan. I was incredibly happy when the Dolphins drafted Jaylan Waddle. He didn’t have the moments that DeVonta Smith had last season. He was injured and DeVonta Smith earned the number 1 receiver spot for Alabama. However, I love Waddle’s speed, route running and ability to get separation. Advertisements
The last time we saw Jaylen Waddle playing a football game he was clearly injured and he had a fairly obvious limp. However, he since has looked good in team activities and is showing no obvious signs of injury.
The Dolphins have recovered nicely from Adam Gase’s assault on interesting football. In one season they went from tanking to just missing the playoffs. While Tua Tagovailoa looked solid for the most part last season critics didn’t like his inability/or unwillingness to stretch the field. I contended the weapons were sub par. Davante Parker seems to have turned the corner but he wouldn’t be anyone else’s number 1 receiver. The same can be said about the undrafted Preston Williams or the 5’6” Jakeem Grant. I’m not even convinced that either of those guys will make the team.
Waddle’s top end speed combined with the ability to burst in and out of cuts makes him the big play threat the Dolphins were sorely lacking last season. I saw a lot of comps that measured him against the Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill. It has been leaked and confirmed that the Jacksonville Jaguars had two players tied for their highest draft grade. The first player was Trevor Lawrence (the quarterback they drafted) and the other was Jaylen Waddle. The Jags are an organization renowned for talent evaluation in the last few years so this bodes well for the rookie receiver.
Perhaps this is my bias but I think Waddle is the kind of receiver who will make an impact right away. In my mind there is no doubt that they will want to give Tua every opportunity to succeed and I think an offense that features Waddle, Parker, Mike Gesicki, and the newly acquired Will Fuller should make for a wide open offense and one defences won’t be able to key on a single player.
I do have a very specific worry. It doesn’t matter a ton given his ADP but there is a chance that the volume comes largely on low efficiency targets. If that’s the case then Waddle will be more of a boom/bust play. In the end you’re drafting him as a WR4 with upside and I think the upside is massive.
Summary: Waddle’s speed and route running makes him a shoe-in to be involved in the offense immediately. Additionally, the team picked him early and the path to success seems very clear.
Where should you draft Jaylen Waddle: Right now Waddle’s ADP is about 110 in ppr leagues. This would mean he’d be a fairly early 9th round pick. There are a few players in this range that don’t excite me. Curtis Samuel and Hollywood Brown likely won’t help you win your league. I’m ok with “reaching up into the late 8th round to grab him. This of course can all change is he has a breakout preseason.
Quick Analysis: Waddle might be a guy you cut loose early if he doesn’t get involved in the offense early. However, if he’s as good as advertised he could be a league winner in this range. The Dolphins want Tua Time to come to fruition and Waddle seems to be one of the major dominos.
Musings, Ramblings, Lies and Other Assortments
- I mentioned Zachary Young only had 4 catches heading into week 8. With Green Means Go having completed their week 9 game, he has caught 14 passes in the last two weeks.
- White and green Nike Dunk High Tops; don’t mind if I do!
- Derek Kastner has low-key taken the lead in passing yardage for the season.
- Whatever happened to roller derby? It was NASCAR but with people.
- Mike Zenobi’s head got opened up against Trailer Park Boys. He did play last night against the Brewers. I’m happy to see that he’s ok
- In his first season in FPF Oscar’s Hockey School’s Luca Leccese recorded 11 receiving touchdowns. They’ve played all 10 of their games and will need to sit around for a while to see if they will get the help they need to get them into the post-season.
- Brewers Christopher Morin has quietly had a very good season. He led his team in targets, catches, yards and touchdowns. He’s a very good player but I don’t think that’s how he thought the Brewer’s players would perform.
- V-Town likely needs to win 2 of their next three games to have a chance to make it to the playoffs.
- Leonard Benoit of The Bad Batch has been pretty good on defense, they’ll need him to step up if they plan to upset Quantrium FFC.
- Rough night for Melons. However, Leo Diakoumakos brought in 2 more touchdowns to double his season total.
Memories, Hallucinations and Observations
Week 8
Making it Rain
You’d think this would be a reference to Rainmakers and while they were involved in this game, the heading refers to Green Means Go who were spreading their green and making it rain all over the field. Zachary Young had barely played for GMG thus far this season and entered the game with four catches on the season. So, it’s understandable that heading into the game the Rainmakers wouldn’t think that he’d be a huge part of the game plan. However, somewhere along the 13 targets he received it should have been clear that Dave Allen was looking to him often. If you look at the scoring summary Young only scored once but his 8 catches and 90 yards kept the GMG offense moving all night.
The game looked like it may swing in the Rainmakers favor toward the end of the second half. They completed a 40 yard pass from Derek Kastner to Anthony Rossi for a touchdown. Later, with a single play remaining in the half Dave Allen’s pass would be swatted away by Phil Picci. Down 7 at the half, the momentum would turn on a Zachary Young pick 6. Green Means Go would never look back and would walk away with a 32-18 win over Rainmakers.
Riders on the Swarm
Les Chevaliers du Rohan have turned their season around. While early struggles seemed to be the defining characteristic of the season, the team has reached that point where they’ve learned how to compete and implement offensive and defensive plays that work in FPF. This was far from a perfect game by Kevin Hebert-Pedulla. He turned the ball over three times and that matched his 3 passing touchdown effort. However, he ran one in from 11 yards away as well and that would be the difference in a 28-24 win over Oreos.
Oreos have had a different type of season. They came in like gangbusters but now seem to be plagued with lackluster efforts and roster inconsistency. There were some positives in this game. Justin Charles intercepted a pair of passes while Terrell Phillips was able to haul in another ill-fated offensive attempt. In the end the inconsistency on the field was most evident in the red zone where converts seemed impossible for Oreos. This was surprising as they did score on 70% of their red zone visits. This ended up being an interesting case study of two teams heading in different directions.
Week 9
Skinny Pencil, Big Win
There is something to Pincello’s somewhat inartistic yet gritty style of play. If I’m being candid, it’s not a style of play that I prefer. I like quick moving, efficient offences that take chunks of field at a time. I like defences that are super high risk/high reward. Pincellos haven’t been that. They’re offense is effective despite not always looking pretty.On defense they are solid and will wear down an offense by forcing the opposition to stay on the field and continuously make plays. This is where they get a lot of their turnovers from.
So in essence, the key to playing against Pincellos is patience and discipline. This was a lot to ask for from Oscar’s Hockey School. They are a new team and Matthew Zeppetelli was unable to complete half of his passes in an eventual 20-13 loss. The rookie QB completed 4 passes in his first drive and would only complete 7 more the rest of the way out. On the other side of the ball, Pincelos game started with a 40 yard touchdown from Vince Romano to my man Jordan Farray. A lot of this game was pretty slow. The second half had Jocelyn Calixe setting up a score to Mike Apa and a two point convert. Pincellos continue an impressive season; my hatred grows stronger.
Declarations of Bravado
- Dilly!Dilly! (7-1): Eight games in and they have yet to allow 100 points. DD is rolling and a three interception game by Riccardo Desrosiers was sure to turn heads.
- Green Means Go (8-1): They edged out Suicide Squad who I thought were the stronger team. Since their only loss of the season so far Dave Allen has thrown 17 touchdowns and 3 interceptions in his last 4 games.
- Save The Turfles (7-3): STT can’t control that they played a team who took the field with a ton of subs. Either way, they got the win and did so in impressive fashion.
- Pincellos (7-2): The win was, as it often is closer than it should have been. Pincellos are still impressive week in and week out even if the margin of error remains small.
- Ravens (6-1): They haven’t played in what seems like forever, so I just slid them down because sometime rearranging your furniture is fun.
- Ball’s Deep (5-4): Read with 30 for 30 voice: what if I told you Ball’s Deep has won 5 straight games?
- Quatrium (3-5): They blew the cap and lost by forfeit last week. However, as I mentioned on the last episode of CTA and in the last article I like what they’ve done with the roster. They are clinched and they will be a tough out in the playoffs.
- Chevaliers du Rohan (5-4): Rohan is not as boisterous as Ball’s Deep but they’ve won 5 of their last 6 games. Antoine Bonin has scored on ⅓ of his catches. That is my random stat for this team.
- Menace II Sobriety (5-4): The good: they play up to the level of their competition. The bad: they play down to the level of their competition.
- Rainmakers (5-4): It’s been an up and down season but this matchup dependent team may be difficult to handle come playoff time.
Predictions for the World of Tomorrow
Sometimes it pays to be bold. It hasn’t been for me this season as division E has been very unpredictable. It makes for great football and terrible picks. Notwithstanding, my picks, as always, are in bold.
Denouement
For those who have any thoughts, commentary or complaints, I am very easy to find. I’m @peezehss on twitter, @pdellarocca and Peeze Della Reeze on facebook. You can also take a chance by emailing me at [email protected] but I don’t check it because it’s a death trap of junk emails all trying to sell me hair and penis growth solutions. I really need to use incognito mode.
Remember that each week you can join the party on our Facebook page or at www.youtube.com/flagplus on our weekly podcast: Calling the Audible. We are still trying to figure out when the shows will be available and how to get it live on air.
Till next week, I want to thank you falettineme be mice elf agin!