In the fantasy football world player selection is constantly asking the question—who is getting the touches? In mock drafts and then in the real draft, we base a lot of our selection on who is the primary player.

I believe that when it comes to many receivers that they benefit from being teamed with another good player. Why? It is because if you are doubled teamed all the time, it is very hard to get open often and make big plays.

It takes a good QB and offensive line to give the receivers time to get open. But thanks to the NFL’s do not touch after the line of scrimmage rule, it is easier today than a few years ago.

Let’s look at who will benefit this year from additional help. Let’s start with Derrick Mason of the Ravens. Who would you put your best defender on when playing the Ravens, most likely Anquan Boldin. Last year, the defenses thought of Mason first. Now Derrick is getting older and only so many passes will be thrown, but he will get his share and I predict that his average yards/reception will be better.

Another player who will eventually benefit will be B. Edwards when Holmes is allowed to play. Santanio will be the primary go to guy and Edwards, starting in week 5 will become a secondary receiver. But what an opportunity for him, if he can hold on to the ball, he has a chance to be a big time fantasy player, even more productive than early in the season when he is the number one guy on the pass playbook pages.

A primary receiver can also benefit when a good number two shows up. Take Chad Ochocinco, for example, now he has bad knee Bryant and the foot in mouth disease T. Owens to take pressure off of him. I think if either number two is healthy and motivated, Chad’s numbers will soar. Palmer must be on his game, but assuming the same as last year, more openings due to less coverage for Chad O.

There are other examples, such as Dez Bryant, the greatest receiver to never play a pro game, teaming up with Austin Miles. I am sure that the Cowboys are dreaming of single coverage on either guy and letting Romo toss it to the open man. Of course, Dez must live up to his own hype, but the idea is good.

Finally, when a good receiver leaves it opens up opportunities for their replacements. Steve Breaston of the Cardinals is an example. The only difference is that Warner had retired and now Leinart will be the QB, that could be a problem, but let’s see how Matt looks when he is the man.

Player selection tools will help spot the hidden gems, but self searching helps. Use Data Sense to help you, but remember you are the GM of your team and its your call.

Have a good week, do some mock drafts, get your salary caps teams ready. Training camp is almost upon us and the real fun is less than seven weeks away.

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We do mock drafts for fun, practice and learning. We spend time ranking our players, using aids and tools and seeking the magic ingredient for a fantasy football championship.

When the real draft occurs, we need the type of Cheat Sheet that helps us in OUR league with its scoring and its rules (private or public), helps picks the best overall team for the highest score and adjusts as the draft proceeds with the its own unique quirks.

In drafting for real, however,many times we seem to lack one very important aspect and that is “HELP the sucker in front of me just drafted my player”….what do I do? I’ve only got 52 more seconds!!!!

The answer to that question is not to look on your printout to see who is next, but to look at your computer and see what FSO’s Live Cheat Sheet says is the best position to choose and gives you several choices of equivalent players to fill the slot. No doubt, a system which is dynamic and helps you pick the best position and the best player at that position, depending on what is happening in your draft is so much better!!!!

This LIVE, on the spot tool is essential, if you are to top the league in January. A cheat sheet down loaded from a general source just does not meet the standards of excellence that you deserve and need. How can it? It isn’t dynamic, it isn’t set for your rules and it certainly isn’t going to adjust to the ins and outs of a live draft. That is why the Live Cheat Sheet from Fantasy Sports Optimizer is best, it does all those things.

I know the others are free and cost nothing….why because they are worth next to nothing. I give them their due in that they give you a general idea what to do, but you need specifics…..very many specifics in the right order and on a on-line and in real time basis.

FSO will deliver the goods, so visit the website and then sign up. Victory is yours in less that seven months from now. Have a great week and do some mock drafts for fun or fill out a salary cap team off the top of your head just to see what it might be, before you do your due dilligence.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

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This year a new level of sophistication will be noticeable among the various fantasy football tools available to the interested player. That is certainly true for Fantasy Sports Optimizer’s Data Sense.

One of the most talked about fantasy aid is the weekly Strength of Schedule data. There is nothing new about the concept of SOS, as we fantasy officinados called it. But what is new is the level to which the best products such as Data Sense use the information available. Creating and using superior data mining techniques, FSO illuminates many nuances not readily apparent to others but available to the Data Sense user.

The key, to be redundant, is SUPERIOR data mining. It is not enough to know which player does well against a weaker team, but which player does well or less well against this particular defense by position. Take for example, a great passing QB and stack him up against the number one overall defense and what do you get. Who knows, if the defense is great against the run, but only good against the pass, then the QB rating (mapped to the individual player, not just position in Data Sense’s case) for that week will be higher than playing against a weak run defense, but a great pass defense. Data Sense goes even beyond this, but I think that you get the message. Data alone is not the answer, but knowing which data is more material makes a big difference!!!

Analytical tools are important, but more important are predictive tools. That is what a superior data mining system gives you, the fantasy football player, a great predictive tool. No more shoulda, coulda, woulda with Data Sense.

Combine this with other selection tools, such as Live Cheat Sheets for drafting fantasy leagues and The Optimizer for roto and/or salary cap teams and you are on your way to a league championship. Player rankings not only include the football player himself, but also the fantasy team coach. Make sure you are Numero Uno and sign up with Fantasy Sports Optimizer as soon as the new products are available.

Have a great fantasy football season, I can’t wait and its almost Christmas season for us fantasy fans!!!!

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Three cheers for Big Ben, the Steelers most famous player has avoided the pen because his victim was so drunk that she couldn’t get her story straight. Phooey, phooey, phooey!!!!

The NFL really protects their image and Big Ben is a bad smudge on the image. I am glad that the Commisioner is a no nonsense guy, otherwise, it would be like the NBA or MLB a few years ago.

This week is the real draft, no more mock drafts….thank God!!! I am tied of ESPN and it floating crap game of who is slipping and who is ascending. Who cares!!! The draft is a big media event staged for the benefit of the league to get more money out of ADVERTISERS, nothing more, nothing less. Is the real draft important…of course, but mostly it is a media event hyped by the televisors and the NFL.

The real question is what fantasy rankings now change? Who cares about the real draft, when the fantasy drafts are two and a half months from now. That’s what we who do mock drafts care about. Player selection, player rankings, analytical tools,etc. are meaningful to more people than the real draft.

Fantasy Sports Optomizer and other player rankings, position selection tools are getting ready. Are you? Now is a good time to review where the “steals” will be. Probably not in Pittsburg (a hidden pun is there), but who knows who will be the Steeler QB in September? Will the Steelers trade Ben for a draft choice or a “secret” second stringer ready to bust forth, or do nothing and have his teammates give us the cliche of most modern athletes—”We will have to step up.” What have you been doing for the past games? Sitting down???

So now for the real draft…..tune in every ten minutes between playoff games in the NBA and the NHL. You won’t miss anything!

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A few weeks from now the NFL draft will be under way and we will know who “filled the holes in their team.” The question is how do some teams always seem to come out of the draft in better shape than others in the long term? And how do they do it year after year?

The answers include superior scouting, an organization that knows what it needs and mock drafting. Mock drafting was invented by teams in the NFL years before fantasy football ever existed.

People tell me that way back in the 1930s, when the draft started (this is the 75th year), teams used mock drafting. They not only knew what positions and players they wanted to match, but what other teams needed and who they might draft. This lead to many modifications of strategies over the years, but the idea is essentially the same today with many more teams.

One interesting fact for the fantasy footbal player of today is that Fantasy Sport Optimizer’s twin drafting tools, namely Live Cheat Sheets and Data Sense help the fantasy player do the same thing by anticipating what positions will be drafted and when. This, of course, makes who you pick and when much easier to do.

In all fantasy drafts, it is always important to have your own strategy, but to recognize what is happening around you. All analytical tools will be of little help if your hard rock strategy is derailed by the person in front of you picking “your guy.”

The same is true in the NFL. That is why they have multiple potential picks depending on what happens in front of them and how the draft is flowing. That is the reason good orgs can draft a Tom Brady in the 6th round and bad orgs can draft a wide receiver early in the first round for 3 or more straight years and have little to show for it. Knowing your drafting position and what it takes to get the job done from any starting point is the secret to drafting success. Try FSO’s Live Cheet Sheet next summer and see what happens.

Two weeks from know there will be a big splash on ESPN as the talking heads say who is doing well and who is goofing up. Oakland, St.Louis and the Lions are probably having mistakes pointed out by the experts, while the Colts, the Saints and the Pats are being congratulated. Here’s hoping that your team will be a Colt like drafter and not a Raider like drafter. Two weeks to go for the real thing. See you in TV land!

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In the world of real football, no one gets more blame and less credit than Mr. McNabb. In the fantasy player rankings, McNabb always is a good second tier QB and one who can score lots of points for you. Donovan has had an injury risk factor above 1.0, so it was always with some trepidation that he was selected early. However, most years he delived the goods.

In the draft next summer, it will be interesting to see where McNabb is taken. A lot depends on which team he is on, but then unless it is the Raiders or so, should it make any difference? Maybe if it is the Vikes and Brett stays retired, it could be positive. Most likely it won’t make any difference and DM will be a #8 to 10 pick for QBs.

This then brings up a point, what happens to the Eagles? Will Kolb be a fantasy wizard and play all year like he did for a few games last year? Or will the Big Birds of Philly go with the ever exciting, but non passing Vick and have a nice 9-7 season with no playoffs on the horizon.

Player rankings always take into account past performance and to some degree matchups for a particular week and strength of schedule for the longer view. Fantasy Sports Optimizer will be doing just that for 2010 and will be a major tool for fantasy football players in their quest for glory. McNabb, Vick and Kolb will have different ratings depending on what happens, but this much is for sure….Donovan is the cream of this crop, at least in 2010.

Let’s hope that DM gets a good team next year and wins a ring. The guy strikes me that he is a deserving player who should at last get his positive strokes. Astute fantasy football fans will love this also, as the mock drafts, player rankings and other analytical tools will not rank McNabb as more than a fourth rounder, however, they may take him earlier and reap the rewards of a good, but gutsy pick.

See you in two weeks…..

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Last year, we saw the emergence of the Quarterback and the decline of the running back. Why? The answer has a lot to do with TV ratings and the fans who wanted more excitment to watch on the Jumbo-tron. So the NFL in its wisdom changed the rules to better protect the QBs and give the receivers an easier way to get in the open. Notice I capitilize the QB, while other lowly players start with lower case letters. That’s how it is…..and should be according to the QB’s club.

However, some of the early player rankings still list the first several players as running backs and have few QBs in the top 15. To me this is not looking at their own scoring systems and seeing who was the leading point getters for 2009 and what position did they play. Fortunately, these early player rankings and mock drafts are for free. The price is what they are worth, NOTHING!!!!!

Fantasy Sports Optimizer is now working on its player rankings for 2010 and they will reflect what anybody who plays fantasy football knows…the QBs are “hot to trot.”

Does this mean that the runners and receivers are not important, of course not, just a little less than they used to be. The excitment of the game has increased as Brees, Manning, Farve etc. work their magic. Unless there are significant rule changes, next year promises more of the same on the real field. It will be interesting to see if any of the fantasy leagues change their scoring systems to make the game more even among positions. This year it will be more important to read the rules than ever before if there are any bigtime changes.

Private leagues, and other big money leagues, may have to make some changes especially in keeper leagues. Can you image having a real good running back and now finding out that he is actually scored lower than 10 QBs. Well, as the wise old owl said “that’s the way the cookie crumbles.”
What does that really mean?

Have a good week and keep those cards and letters, electronic ones that is, coming to FSO.

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