The DLF Mailbag
Welcome to the latest edition of the weekly mailbag.
Send me your questions using the DLF Mailbag Form and I’ll include the best in future articles. Remember the guidelines to have the best chance at seeing your question get posted:
1.) Dynasty questions only, no start/sit questions
2.) Help me help you by providing sufficient information about your league (e.g. line-up requirements/PPR or non-PPR/etc.), and include your first name and where you’re from.
3.) Your chance of getting your question answered is inversely proportional to the length of the question.
Let’s get to it!
Note: We answer additional Mailbag questions on the weekly DLF Podcast. Make sure to download and listen because your question might be answered on the air.
1.)  I have the fortune of having Matt Ryan and Drew Brees.  I am thinking of moving Brees to the Rob Gronkowski owner because I only have Brent Celek and Fred Davis at TE. Is Ryan going to have a strong enough year to make this trade? – Ryan in Chicago
Purely on value, I think this is a very solid offer. Assuming the other owner has a weak quarterback and another acceptable option at tight end, I’m sure he will consider it seriously. If you make the offer, you might add Celek to the mix to give him a replacement level tight end.
As to Matt Ryan, he is a polarizing player. The composite DLF rankings have him as the QB#9, but the individual ranks vary quite a bit. Ryan has yet to put elite fantasy numbers on the board so you’re still betting on the come at this point. With many predicting a breakout season for Julio Jones, hopefully we see an uptick in Ryan’s production.
Ryan is near the bottom of the list of every week starters for me. The quarterbacks I have ranked after him are all QBBC candidates and can’t be counted on to shoulder the load. If I owned Ryan, I wouldn’t be enthusiastic about it, but I also wouldn’t be scrambling to make a change.
I believe that Fred Davis is poised for a strong season and that Brent Celek is underrated. I’d rather keep Brees and see which of my TEs panned out. If by week three or four neither is producing adequately then I might consider making this offer.
2.)  My current starting lineup is Ryan Fitzpatrick, MJD, LeSean McCoy, Larry Fitzgerald, AJ Green, Robert Meachem, Fred Davis and Mark Sanchez as my flex player. I have the following picks in this year’s draft: 1.1, 1.4, 2.1 (16th pick), and I was wondering who you would recommend. – Justin in Fairfax, VA
What a strange league – a 15 team super flex.
I think you need to load up on quarterbacks. I don’t believe Mark Sanchez will survive as the starter with Tim Tebow breathing down his neck.  Andrew Luck would be an easy selection for me with the 1.01. At 1.04, I’d take Doug Martin, Trent Richardson or RGIII.
A steal at 2.01 would be either Ryan Tannehill or Russell Wilson. My bet is that Tannehill is gone, but that Wilson might be there for you. He just won the starting job by putting up an amazing fight. Pete Carroll is the type of coach who will ignore the big dollars paid to Matt Flynn and go with the option he thinks gives the team the best chance to win and that’s Wilson right now. Obviously this is a risky pick if you make it, but the upside in a superflex would be worth it to me.
3.)  Doing a start-up dynasty draft with all newbies, including me. I am 10th in the draft. Should I take rookies in the first three rounds or go with the best veterans? – Joseph in Selden NY
Great question Joseph. And I hope you and your league mates enjoy your foray in to dynasty. Make sure you tell them about DLF.
The only rookies that warrant consideration in the top-30 picks of a standard league are Trent Richardson and Doug Martin. A strong argument can be made that even Martin doesn’t deserve to be drafted that high – I certainly wouldn’t take him in the top 30. There is a consensus in the fantasy community that Trent Richardson is an impact player and a caliber of player that only comes along every five years or so. He’s worth a late first round or early second round pick in dynasty start-ups.
Newbies to dynasty tend to overvalue youth. If the other owners are snapping up mid-tier rookies like David Wilson, Justin Blackmon and Kendall Wright, they’re leaving high value veterans for you. You want to be competitive now, but also not draft an entire team of aging veterans. Draft with an eye toward winning but with each pick consider age. For example, if you are torn between say Julio Jones and Greg Jennings, take Jones since he’s younger. But don’t take AJ Green over Calvin Johnson as Calvin is clearly the superior player.
Another tip about age. People will overvalue this year’s rookies, but undervalue last year’s. Inexperienced players will draft Michael Floyd over Greg Little because they’ve been seeing Floyd on ESPN, in the NFL draft, etc. The new car smell has worn off of Little, but that doesn’t mean he and the others from last year aren’t still nice pick-ups.
4.) What are Delone Carter’s prospects for the next two years? – Adam in Toronto
Not good I’m afraid.
I haven’t seen anything to like about Delone Carter so far. One can’t pin that all on him. The Colts O-line continues to be a work in progress and the passing game in 2011 was totally ineffective. And of course he’s been banged up this preseason.
From what I’ve seen so far, this is Donald Brown’s job to lose. I think the Colts will go with him until he proves them wrong. Worse yet, Vick Ballard has looked good with the carries he’s gotten. From what I’ve seen, Carter is going to be lucky to be listed as the RB2 on the depth charts.
I can’t see the benefit of owning him at this point in a shallow league. He’s certainly outside my top-250. Regardless of how good Luck has looked, the Colts are in for another rough season. I’d bet pretty heavily that Carter is never a startable player over the next two years. The combination of the competition at the position, the weak O-line, Luck himself stealing carries and constantly playing from behind severely impacts Carter’s two year value.
5.) I have the 1.05 & 1.08 pick in our upcoming rookie draft. Our league is a bit strange in a sense that QBs tend to go very late in our drafts. Assuming Richardson, Martin, Blackmon and David Wilson are gone; who would you take at 1.05. I really think Luck will fall to me at the 1.08. – Barry in Madison WI
I’m in a league like that as well. Luck fell to the 1.06 in my league. You don’t mention if this is a salary cap/contract league, but quarterbacks tend to fall pretty far in that format. You know your league, but for Luck to fall to the 1.08 seems unlikely. His strong showing so far in the preseason must have caught the attention of others in your league. I wouldn’t run the risk of passing on him at 1.05.
Let’s assume I can’t convince you to take Luck at the 1.05. The second choice would be Kendall Wright. I’ve seen every snap he’s played this preseason and I think if I was drafting today I’d take him over Michael Floyd. Wright’s looked very strong so far and has benefited from Kenny Britt being sidelined. My bet is that he is a day one starter for the Titans and quickly becomes a viable bye-week, injury replacement.
6.) How much do you value IDPs in comparison to the other 2012 rookies? I have the 11th pick in the upcoming rookie draft and I need to address WR, TE, LB, and DE. Where would you rank Luke Kuechly and Andre Branch among the rest of the rookie class? – Matthew in LA
Note: Special thanks to TheFFGhost for answering Matthew’s IDP question.
Luke Kuechly is such a talent that it makes his ranking a little bit easier than most. As you and many others know, Kuechly entered this year’s draft as the number one linebacker far and away. In his sophomore and junior years at Boston College he posted over 100 tackles in each year – an amazing feat for any player. Drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the first round of the draft, he is now penciled in as their weakside linebacker with the clear (believed) intent to move him to middle linebacker in the near future. As such, I have no problem ranking him as a late first round, early second round talent in a 16 team league. Bottom line, if you don’t take him with the 11th overall pick then he won’t be there the next time you pick.
As for Andre Branch, he too should be a stud in the IDP world given some time to develop. Branch however can be had later than Kuechly in the draft. The news out of Jacksonville’s training camp that Branch’s run stopping ability seems to be above par to go with his superior pass rushing ability, which is pretty encouraging. As such, don’t sleep too long on him, it might be better to grab him too early as opposed to too late as his stock seems to be on the rise as of late. I’d say the third round would be the sweet spot here.
Editor’s Note: Tim Stafford can be found @dynastytim on twitter and in the forums as dlf_tims.
