Chalupa Batman is riding high right now.
Let's just call him the Brian King, or at least that's how he feels right now.
He’s coming off a JFL season where he won a division title
with nine wins and went to the playoffs.
He’s currently in the JLB playoffs after taking over a franchise
that was dead in the water through two prior owners and posting the franchise’s
first winning record.
It’s good to be Brian O’Reilly right now, and the poll
continued to show this as Chalupa earned 38 points to finish first.
The Cheese Steaks are right behind him at 34 points and the
Toasters are one point behind the Steaks at 33.
T-Money. … Well, gosh, I just don’t know what happened here.
Just 15 points in the poll. We’ll talk about that team later.
Personally, I picked the Toasters to finish second here, and
with a little luck, I can see him finishing No. 1.
1. Chalupa Batman
(9-4, 1st in the NFC East, lost in NFC Divisional Playoffs)
Let’s remind Chalupa how last season ended, just so he can
be fired up for his first matchup against the Cheese Steaks — which comes in
Week 4, in case you were wondering.
Chalupa went 9-4 to win the division and the regular season
was capped by his biggest offensive output of the year, dropping 152.8 points
on the Cheese Steaks.
Of course, as it worked out, the Steaks found his way into
the playoffs despite the loss and he earned himself another matchup against the
great Chalupa.
And, how life works out, the Batman fell flat on his back
losing 78-73.9. He just couldn’t manage even half of his total from the week prior, and
that had to sting.
So, now that I’ve taken him down memory lane, let’s talk
about this year’s team.
QUARTERBACKS
Philip Rivers is back again. He’s the poor man’s fantasy QB,
and Chalupa is perfectly fine with that. He loves Rivers. With 4,793 yards and
29 TDs, who wouldn’t want him?
And for Chalupa, he wound up getting him in the sixth round this year.
That’s one round later than last year. One would have thought he would have
kept Rivers with that fifth-round pick, but man oh man, he made out like a
bandit getting Rivers one round later.
He also got Carson Wentz who pushed Jay Cutler out the door
faster than he thought thanks to the Eagles fast-tracking their rookie QB.
I’d say Wentz would be a potential late-round keeper for him
next year, but I mean, how can he turn down drafting Rivers in the seventh
round next year?
RUNNING BACKS
Ryan Mathews missed games to injury, he was misused in
others — much like the rest of the Eagles offensive weapons under Chip Kelly —
and in other games, he showed his true talents.
With DeMarco Murray gone, perhaps that opens the door to
even more opportunities for Mathews, who had 539 yards and 6 TDs rushing to go
with his 146 yards and TD receiving.
Matt Jones also had those moments and those injuries, so he,
too, gets a chance to prove himself as the lone feature back in Washington.
The question marks are there for both, but at least each one
is listed as the No. 1 back on their team.
Charles Sims isn’t, yet he somehow outperformed both last
year with more than 1,000 all-purpose yards and 4 TDs receiving. That was with
Doug Martin having a bounceback year, so you would think another 1,000 yards is
possible this year. It’s just a matter of Chalupa starting him on the right
weekends as he hit double-digits in just six of 16 weeks.
RECEIVERS
This is where Chalupa looks to do his damage, especially
when Josh Gordon comes back from suspension. If he does and he’s the Josh
Gordon of old, we’re talking about Mike Evans, Antonio Brown and Josh Gordon
starting weekly.
Brown is by far the best fantasy player out there after
1,834 yards and 10 TDs last year. He’s a dynamic playmaker that just hasn’t
been stopped yet.
Evans had one hell of a rookie year, only to come back to
Earth with just 3 TDs a year ago. He still had 1,206 yards, so one would expect
the TD total to rise up to where it should be with someone who posts 1,200
yards.
Chalupa also has Travis Benjamin (966 yards, 5 TDs), Rishard
Matthews (662 yards, 4 TDs) and Travis Kelce (875 yards and 5 TDs). They’ll see
little playing time, but it’s nice for the Batman to have options.
And of course, he also has Austin Seferian-Jenkins. He had 4
TDs last year and no one really cares.
OUTLOOK
This team is very good. The fantasy points will be there for
sure with some of the playmakers on this team. The only weakness could be RB, but
seriously, if he starts more than one RB in a given week, something has gone
horribly wrong in the WR department.
Chalupa should win this division very easily.
2. Philly Cheese
Steaks (8-5, lost in NFC Championship)
The Steaks had a mediocre start to the 2015 season, going
3-4 in his first seven games. Five straight wins pushed him into the playoffs.
He’ll need some help to get there this year. On paper,
looking at all the names on this roster, one would really think this is a
championship squad, but injuries and suspensions leave me wondering if it can
be achieved.
Just too many “ifs” for my liking.
QUARTERBACKS
What did I just say? Ifs.
Yeah, no “ifs” here. Ben Roethlisberger used to be my go-to
late-round QB. You know, back when I was winning Super Bowls. This year, Big
Ben went in Round 3 despite tossing just 21 TD passes on 3,938 yards. He
battled some injuries last year, missing four games, but for the most part,
when he was in, he was a huge fantasy star. He had seven games with 29.5 points
or more, including two in the 40s — a third was at 39.9.
Big Ben should do just fine, and if not, the future could be
here. Just like division rival, Chalupa Batman, a rookie was fast-tracked into
starting, pushing RGIII out the door and beginning the Dak Prescott era a little
earlier than the Steaks expected.
If he becomes a superstar, the Steaks will take Dak. … He’ll
hate it as an Eagles fan, but he’ll take it if it brings a certain trophy to
his house. … Keep the kids away, Vaughn!
RUNNING BACKS
Le’Veon Bell is suspended once again. Three games this time.
He managed to come back from his two-game suspension a year ago and run for 556
yards and 3 TDs in six games before going down with a season-ending knee injury.
So, three games out and then it’s time for his first game
back from injury.
That’s a big “IF” to me. The reward is there, but as a
first-round draft pick, this one is rough. I want my first rounders to play 12
regular-season fantasy games for me. Bell will miss three, plus the bye.
That means Rashad Jennings and Chris Ivory pick up the
slack. Ivory had 1,070 yards and 7 TDs with the Jets, but now that he’s in
Jacksonville, I just don’t know if he’ll be able to put up those same numbers.
With Blake Bortles, the offense is more of a passing attack, and T.J. Yeldon
will force quite the time share.
That’s why Jennings may be the man. He had a career-high 863
yards last year with another 296 receiving. He had 432 rushing yards over the
final four games, which ranked No. 1 in the NFL during that time. He had four
of his six double-digit games during that time, so perhaps Jennings is just
heating up now that the Giants know how to use him.
RECEIVERS
Here we go again. Ifs.
If Jordy Nelson can come back from injury strong and if Keenan
Allen can come back from injury and if Victor Cruz can just come back...
Yeah, that’s a lot.
For Nelson, one would think should come back
just fine, and with Aaron Rodgers, you can’t go wrong there. Still, he’s 31,
coming off an ACL tear. Making cuts could be shaky. As a 12th-round keeper, though,
no one can blame the Steaks for rolling with Nelson.
Cruz, well, who knows? Really, I’m asking. Anyone?
Allen had 725 yards and 4 TDs in eight games before going
down. In case you’re bad at math, that extrapolates out to 1,450 yards and 8
TDs over 16 games. Not bad. Now, can Allen play 16 games and post those numbers?
If he can't, Cheese does have some other options in Michael
Crabtree and Michael Floyd. To my surprise, Crabtree had 922 yards and 9 TDs
last year. My East Coast bias must have led me to miss that, so one has to like
his prospects in that Raiders offense. “That Raiders offense.” Can you believe
I used that statement in the positive?
Floyd had 849 yards and 6 TDs for the Cardinals, with all
seven of his big games coming after Week 5.
Cheese also has a pair of tight ends in Kyle Rudoplh and
Zach Ertz. You already know what I think about Ertz if you read the NFC West
preview.
OUTLOOK
As you can see, the upside is there. If Bell comes back
strong along with Nelson and Allen, I think the Cheese could really contend for
this division title. It will all come down to those divisional matchups against
Batman.
Winning the series will go a long way because if Cheese gets
these players going, he’ll win a lot of the out-of-division matchups like
Batman.
3. Dottsville
Toasters (8-5, 2nd in NFC East, lost in NFC Divisional Playoffs)
For the third straight year, Dottsville went 8-5, and for
the fourth straight year, he posted a winning record.
It’s been quite the run for the 2009 Super Bowl Champions.
Last year, he got bounced by the Generals in the divisional
round and he’d certainly like to avenge that loss this season, and I think
he’ll be in the playoffs and have that chance this year. I have the Toasters
finishing second and I’m confident he’ll contend for the division title as the
regular-season winds down.
QUARTERBACKS
Russell Wilson is easily worth that round one keeper spot.
He threw for 4,024 yards and 34 TDs, and he ran for 553 yards and a TD last
year.
He averaged 28.9 points per game, and that really was thanks
in part to a monster second half. Over the first 10 weeks of the season, Wilson
threw a TD pass in every game, but only once threw two. Starting in Week 11, he
threw 24 TDs in seven games. He had fantasy outputs of 51.5, 46.3 and 45.8.
Sadly, that 46.3 came in 2.2-point loss to the Generals in the NFC Divisional
Round.
Still, for the Toasters, he has to be quite excited for the
2016 season. If Wilson can keep that momentum going, we could be looking at a
record-breaking year.
RUNNING BACKS
I really was disappointed in the draft when the Toasters
grabbed DeMarco Murray. I was hoping I could get him in the next round. I
wasn’t expecting him to go in the second round.
Murray did total 1,024 total yards (702 rushing, 322
receiving) and 7 TDs with the Eagles, and that was under a mismanaged offensive
run by Chip Kelly. Imagine what he can do in an offense that will actually look
to him to run the ball, you know, like Dallas did.
I think we’ll see a return to fantasy greatness by Murray.
He’ll rush for 1,300 yards and score double-digit TDs.
That will be key for the Toasters because I’m not quite sure
what to expect from Duke Johnson, Justin Forsett and Javorius Allen.
RECEIVERS
Kelvin Benjamin is back from injury, so there’s certainly a
question mark there, but I like his chances of bouncing back better than Jordy
Nelson for the sheer fact that he is 25 and not 31. If he does, we can expect
something similar to his rookie year when he had 1,008 yards and 9 TDs.
Joining him in the weekly starting lineup should be Stefon
Diggs, who had a lot of promise heading into the season, lost it when Teddy
Bridgewater went down and then all of a sudden gained it back — if not more —
when Sam Bradford was acquired. Bradford has the ability to get him the ball, and
that offense should click nicely with Adrian Peterson.
I like Julius Thomas to continue gaining more chemistry
with Bortles and Terrance Williams should get the chance to bounce back after a
very mediocre 2015.
And then there’s Jordan Cameron. Or is it Cameron Jordan? I
can’t remember.
OUTLOOK
The receiving corps is really where this team has all its
eyes on. Benjamin and Diggs both have to come through because without that,
the Toasters will be just Murray and Wilson, and he knows all too well that
they can’t single-handedly lead him to the Super Bowl.
He needs those wideouts to make up that 2.2 points that
separate him from the next round and the golf course.
4. T-Money (3-10, 4th
in NFC East)
Ah, the last preview.
Literally, this is the last one because I saved the NFC East
for last.
No reason, really. It just worked out that way.
And honestly, it’s good it did, because I really do
not know what to say about T-Money. He caught a bad break with Tony Romo, but
that was after the draft that really had some interesting decisions. Barring
some crazy breakouts, T-Money could be in line for a top pick.
At least this year, he was able to laugh at those who broke
the draft rules and he will legitimately get to keep his pick this year.
QUARTERBACKS
Tony Romo was kept again. Why? Not sure. After last year’s
injury, I was sure he’d be shipped off for Todd Gurley, but T-Money went with
his QB. A few days later, he broke his back and now it’s the Dak Prescott Show
in Dallas. He’s looked good and if he continues to look good, we may never see
Romo under center in Dallas again.
If that’s the case, he’ll just have to keep rolling with his
backup.
Wait? What’s that? His backup is Jimmy Garoppolo? As in the
Jimmy Garoppolo who will start for four weeks before Tom Brady returns?
Yeah, so that doesn’t really cut it. Unless of course,
T-Money is betting on Romo’s return in Week 5.
If not, then he also has Collin Kaepernick, who is a backup
in the NFL. Blaine Gabbert is ahead of him and I really can’t imagine Gabbert
holding on to that job for long, so Kaepernick may actually be the long-term
answer at starter — and by that, I mean a warm body who is actually starting games in the NFL after they get that damned National Anthem out of the way.
RUNNING BACKS
Jonathan Stewart is the leading returner here with
1,000-plus all-purpose yards and 7 TDs. T.J. Yeldon also had more than 1,000
all-purpose yards with just 3 TDs, so they could vie for starting time, as
should Carlos Hyde, who had 470 yards and 3 TDs in the seven games he played
before missing the rest of the season. Chris Johnson shouldn’t factor in,
despite having 814 yards last year.
RECEIVERS
Greg Olsen is the leading receiver, and that’s a bit scary.
He had 1,104 yards and 7 TDs and no one else came close. Willie Snead had 984
yards and 3 TDs, while Ted Ginn Jr. had 739 yards and 10 TDs. Vincent Jackson
actually could be the best of the group as I expect some better numbers from him after a sub-par year.
OUTLOOK
What this really comes down to is, there isn’t one player on
this team that stands out as a sure-fire fantasy starter.
On the Batman, it’s Antonio Brown and Philip Rivers and Mike
Evans and Ryan Mathews. On the Toasters, its Russell Wilson and DeMarco Murray.
On the Steaks, it’s Ben Roethlisberger and Jordy Nelson, or even Le’Veon Bell
when he returns.
These are guys who you start no matter what.
On the T-Money? I can make cases each week for who should
start, and that’s a tough spot to be in. It doesn’t mean he's going to lose,
it just means it’s going to take a lot of luck and strategy to win.
Chalupa can just roll to a win because Brown will start
weekly. T-Money doesn’t have that player.
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