NFL Draft

2022 DFF Draft Coverage: Chris Olave

Olave has been one of the most productive collegiate wideouts the past few years. He didn’t see the field much during his freshman season, but he was impactful in his limited time. In seven games, Olave hauled in 12 receptions for 197 yards and three touchdowns. During his sophomore season, he started to turn heads as he hauled in 48 receptions for 840 yards and 12 touchdowns. His Junior and Senior seasons were just as impressive, and he finished his career with 176 career receptions (third in school history), 2,711 receiving yards (fifth in school history), and 35 touchdown receptions (first in school history). 

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2022 DFF Draft Coverage: Kayvon Thibodeaux

Kayvon Thibodeaux was a five-star recruit and the consensus No. 1 recruit of the 2019 class coming out of Los Angeles’ Oaks Christian High School. The USA Today High School Defensive Player of the Year had 54 sacks in four years (two at Dorsey High School) and enrolled early at Oregon to contribute immediately the following fall. Thibodeaux has been a favorite of your author’s for the past three seasons and should have been definitely considered as the number one overall pick. 

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2022 DFF Draft Coverage: Drake London

A California All-State selection in both football and basketball in high school, Drake London was recruited to USC to play BOTH sports. While he played as a freshman on the basketball team, he really stood out on the football field. In his true freshman season, he posted 39 receptions, 567 yards, and five TDs in 13 games with nine as a starter. He put up similar statistics in the covid-shortened 2020 PAC-12 season before completely dominating this past season. In 2021 he registered 88 catches for 1,084 yards and seven TDs in just eight games before suffering a season-ending ankle injury.

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2022 DFF Draft Coverage: Travon Walker

Travon Walker was a five-star recruit coming out in 2019. He was named to the Freshman All-SEC Team in his first year at Georgia with 15 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, and 2.5 sacks as a true freshman. He played as a reserve in 2020 with decent numbers before becoming a lynchpin on the edge for the National Champion Georgia Bulldogs in 2021. He recorded 37 stops, 7.5 TFLs with six sacks, and two pass breakups.

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Top 10 Fantasy Football Myths Busted: #1-5

There is no shortage of annual narratives that develop within the hive mind of the fantasy football (FF) community. Some narratives last for several seasons, and some attach themselves to specific players. That is not to say that the hive mind can’t be useful, or that narratives that form are necessarily wrong. Quite the opposite happens a lot of the time. The wisdom of the crowd is something that can be leveraged to improve one’s fantasy performance. But following the groupthink mindset can be treacherous, and has led to what I think are some systemic misunderstandings within the hobby.

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2022 DFF Superflex Rookie Mock 4.0: Round 1

Sports Illustrated reported that over 10 NFL Teams graded Desmond Ridder as a First-Round Talent. Should Ridder meet that expected capital, his dynasty value will skyrocket above 1.12. Landing Ridder anywhere in the second half of your rookie drafts is exceptional value. I would not be surprised to see Ridder valued higher than every quarterback from the 2022 class come this time next season.

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Top 10 Fantasy Football Myths Busted: #6-10

There is no shortage of annual narratives that develop within the hive mind of the fantasy football (FF) community. Some narratives last for several seasons, and some attach themselves to specific players. That is not to say that the hive mind can’t be useful, or that narratives that form are necessarily wrong. Quite the opposite happens a lot of the time. The wisdom of the crowd is something that can be leveraged to improve one’s fantasy performance. But following the groupthink mindset can be treacherous, and has led to what I think are some systemic misunderstandings within the hobby.

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The WR1 Rating: Dynasty Rookie Wide Receiver Rankings Countdown (15-11)

Over the next few weeks, I will be revealing my annual WR1 prospect model ratings to help prepare DFF readers for their dynasty rookie drafts. This article covers the prospects ranked 15-11 in the model. For those new to the WR1 rating, this is a proprietary formula I developed to provide a data-driven forecast of future dynasty value for incoming rookie wide receivers. The WR1 model scores rookies on nine predictive metrics and then combines those individual metric scores into a total WR1 rating score. The goal is to provide a single easy-to-use score for those who don’t want to spend all the time dissecting different metrics. You may find an in-depth explanation of the model’s process and a glossary of what the metrics mean here. Before we get into the 2022 prospects, here are the top 20 all-time prospects in the model so you can see how effective it is at forecasting future fantasy value.

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Dynasty Trading Psychology: It Pays To Advertise

Trading is the lifeblood of Dynasty Fantasy Football. Most of us would prefer to be in a league full of active and attentive owners where lots of trades go down. Unfortunately, that is often not the case, and even in some of the best leagues, there are usually at least one or two owners that are hard to reach (for any number of reasons) and that are hard to make deals with. I don’t know if I have ever gone through a startup draft or a rookie draft where there wasn’t at least one instance of someone reaching out to me and saying.

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Rapid Reaction: Matt Ryan Traded to the Colts

The offseason quarterback carousel continues. Matt Ryan’s name has been synonymous with the Falcons franchise for over a decade. That time is no more. After 14 long-tenured years with the same team, Matty Ice is on the move. The Colts are acquiring the veteran services of the former NFL MVP for a third-round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, per Ian Rapoport. Ryan becomes another name on the long list of quarterback changes occurring around the league. There are colossal fantasy implications for both parties involved. A transaction of this magnitude will have a lasting ripple effect throughout the 2022 season and beyond. Let’s dive in.

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2021 devy profile

Draft Stock Watch: Weeks 0 & 1

This series is coming to you on a bi-weekly basis in 2021. Week Zero and Week One of the college football season had a familiar feel with virtually every conference and every level of collegiate ball being played. There have already been several unprecedented upsets and perennial top-10 ranked teams taking losses. These games were highlighted by Clemson’s loss to Georgia in Week Zero, as well as Ohio State’s loss to Oregon and Iowa State’s loss to Iowa in Week One. We will now discuss some of the individual player performances and draft stock movement!  

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The Hybrid Startup Strategy and Results

Here at DFF, we completed a startup dynasty league draft with a unique format that few had tried before. But few will willingly go back to a standard snake draft after experiencing the thrill of the hybrid setup. This was a shallow, 12-team league including a Superflex starting roster and tight end premium scoring. The unique format of this draft is that we started with a partial auction, then rounded out the rosters with the standard snake-style.

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2020 NFL Draft Round 1 IDP Fantasy Preview

Now that the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft has concluded, I want to look at the values of all the defensive players, their landing spots, and what that could mean for us fantasy owners. How do they fit the team that drafted them? What kind of talent do they have around them? Will they make an impact right away or will they need time to find their role on the team? I’ll break all this down for you and get you ready for your fantasy drafts.

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Does the NFL Combine REALLY matter?

Everyone is touting “Their Guys” and making bold predictions for the Combine. I love taking in this information, as it gives me a better idea of how the community views the perceived athleticism and value of the upcoming rookies. We all want our favorite players to do well at the NFL Combine, but does their Combine performance matter?

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2020 East/West Shrine Bowl: IDP News & Notes

It’s officially draft season, and prospects from all over the country are attending all-star games over the next month. Up first is the 95th edition of the East-West Shrine Bowl. This game has showcased stars such as Ricky Jackson, Steve Atwater, Pat Tillman, Mean Joe Greene, Alan Paige, and Dick Butkus. From small school hopefuls to big school studs, this game puts everyone on a level playing field, so they can showcase their talents. The East squad was able to get the victory over the west squad by a score of 31-27. Now let’s take a look at this year’s stars and how they performed.

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2020 Wide Receiver Pre-Draft Profile: Lynn Bowden Jr.

“Athlete” Lynn Bowden Jr. was not a player I was very familiar with until the Belk Bowl Brawl. If you are not aware, Bowden Jr. was involved in a pre-game scuffle before the Kentucky vs. Virginia Tech game. It was the drama that got my attention, but it was his play on the field that intrigued me.  

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K.J. Hamler Declares for the NFL Draft

Meet Hamler This speedy receiver has had all heads turning this season as he has proven to the fans and scouts that his big-play ability is worthy of a roster spot in the NFL. Hamler only has a two-year sample size for teams to look at for scouting. But in that small sample size is plenty of head-turning plays that will make this player rise up boards (a couple of which I’ve shared below). Penn State’s K.J. Hamler went AIRBORNE for this TD ✈️(📍 @WellsFargo) pic.twitter.com/adSjgi61Dl— ESPN (@espn) October 13, 2019 That is some insane speed from K.J. Hamler going 93 yards to the house. Penn State stealing all the momentum as we near halftime. pic.twitter.com/y56EL8MYCl— Jonathan Valencia (@JonValenciaDTSN) September 30, 2018 Statistical Breakdown When looking at the stats it may seem as if Hamler was not utilized enough to be considered an NFL talent, but his “basic” receiving stats are inflated due to the offense design of the Nittany Lions. The Lions, in the 2019 season, ranked 88th in the nation in passing rate of plays run at 43.87%. A team that runs the ball at 56.13% of the time and relies on defense to stay in the game is not the perfect location for a big play wide receiver, but even in this scenario, Hamler put together two solid seasons. When evaluating wide receivers I like to look at two things when gauging the player: College Dominator and Breakout Age. College Dominator is the percentage of yards that the individual WR had in relation to the team’s total

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