Weekly Twitter Observations

Kevin OBrien

In this series of Twitter Observations, we will focus on some of the interesting tweets you may have missed. Twitter can be overwhelming with the amount of information that streams live, but it also proves to be one of the fastest and easiest ways to communicate. In 140 characters or less you can learn something about a player you may have never thought of from trends, stats or analysis. Let’s review some of the best tweets I’ve captured this week.

Dorial Green-Beckham was a first round rookie pick in most dynasty leagues last season. Many believed that his on the field talent was worthy of him as top five rookie pick, however many conservatively worried that he carried some level of risk due to his off the field issues. In April of 2014, Beckham was indefinitely suspended by Missouri for undisclosed violation of team rules. This came as Beckham was being investigated for a domestic violence assault, no charges were brought against Beckham, but he missed his junior year from the suspension. Prior to that, Beckham had two previous issues involving marijuana, suspended one game in 2012, and in 2014 was arrested, but released upon investigation that the one pound of marijuana in the car, belonged to another passenger. With recent issues surrounding Martavis Bryant and Josh Gordon, we tend to become apprehensive investing too heavily in players with a past. With all that said, there is no ignoring the pedigree or raw physical talent.

In 2012, Yahoo! Rivals 100 which ranks all incoming recruited freshman heading into college football, Beckham was ranked number one. This list is not just receivers or skilled players, this list is for all players entering college football. Beckham did not disappoint on the field at Missouri either, scoring 12 touchdowns on 59 receptions in his sophomore year. His ADP in DLF’s May mocks is 31, putting him in the third round of startup drafts. I would consider this cost to not have any risk built in. This range is among wideouts like Kevin White, Donte Moncrief, and Laquon Treadwell. All four of these players involve risk of the unknown rising star, but Green-Beckham ADP suggests that the off the field risk is not being factored in. This makes him a ‘pass’ for me. I would prefer to see him have a fourth or fifth round ADP price tag, among players like Corey Coleman, Allen Hurns, and Michael Floyd.

Justin Rogers, Detroit Lion News

The Lions offensive coordinator expects Theo Riddick to be more involved in the offense, even as a runner. With Riddick scoring 180 points in PPR leagues last year, one may get excited that Riddick could increase his role as a runner. Except, the thing is, it would be really hard for Riddick to be involved less. Let’s look at the numbers; in 2015, Riddick had rushing production of 43 attempts, 133 yards, and did not have a rushing touchdown. Similar running backs to Riddick were Danny Woodhead, Shane Vereen, and Darren Sproles. If Riddick can match Woodhead’s rushing of 98-336-3, this would have moved him from RB18 to RB7. Combine this with Riddick’s age, 25, is the youngest of these backs, and also has a palatable ADP of 128 in May DLF mocks makes Riddick an interesting buy low candidate.

Mike Beers, @RotoViz fantasy football contributor

Mike’s series of charts is a longtime favorite of mine. Not only do I love data, but love when it’s presented in a clean and graphical manner. Here, Mike highlights that although Amari Cooper’s ADP has been skyrocketing, it’s less about his production in 2015. Cooper had only produced three weeks of top 12, and had more weeks lower than a top 24 WR than weeks as a top 24 or better. The key in dynasty here is the talent level and future performance. Certainly Cooper has all of the traits to be a very good wide receiver for years to come. His May DLF ADP has him as the number six player overall. This price is ‘at-value’ for Cooper and although has yet to produce at this level, Cooper is a prime target to build the core of your dynasty team.

Tyler Buecher, Fantasy football contributor @numberFire, @FantasyLabs, and @RotoViz

Wide receiver Eric Decker has been quite the productive fantasy player over the past four seasons. Certainly looking back he has likely outperformed his ADP not only in MFL/Seasonal leagues, but likely in dynasty as well. However, going into 2016, Decker has an ADP of 67 in DLF May mocks. While I by no means am afraid of a productive receiver at age 29, my opinion is that his ADP is ‘at-value’. Combined with the age and production, he would be your sixth player in a startup draft. This is where a case of a player is a buy if you’ve drafted super younger with your first five picks and looking for a safe WR3 to help you compete (as I like to compete in the first year and every year). However, if you’ve already went with relatively older first five players, I probably would start leaning Devin Funchess in this ADP range.

Scott Fish, Senior Writer/ Developer, www.dlfstg02.dynastyleaguefootball.com

Scott Fish who runs the #SFB480 massive tournament, has setup a website to facilitate a way of giving back. On his website, http://fantasycares.net/ you can join leagues and donate directly to worthy causes. Leagues have prizes with a portion of the pot going to charity, including Toys For Tots.

With so much information on Twitter, there are so many great minds contributing great discussion, articles, and bits of data, truly a hot bed of fantasy goodness. I will be doing my best to capture the highlights of the week and mining it out in one place for you.

kevin obrien