Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. In this edition: Why it makes sense to trade away Jamaal Charles in a keeper league. Should the league suspend players for smoking pot? And what running back should be targeted in the middle of the first round?
Question 1
Need some advice. As my roster stands right now, at RB I have Charles and Ball. I can only keep one. We are in a PPR and can only keep players for three years. I drafted Ball so I can keep him three more times, but Charles for only one more. I am thinking of moving Charles for a first-round pick and keeping Ball. My thinking was that the value from two first-round picks would off set Charles slightly and I am worried about him being over worked last year. Thanks in advance.
Adam Bergeron (Salem, NH)
Jamaal Charles is the No. 1 player overall on the board. If my projections are correct, he’ll be 45 points better than Montee Ball. So that’s a loss there, one that you’ll need to be compensated for. But the additional first-round pick you’re receiving isn’t chopped liver. Tough to measure it against the pick that it’s replacing (since you might be lucky and find some star player in the late rounds, or maybe you’ll find a great player on the waiver wire). But conservatively, I expect that new first-round pick will be something like 120 points better than what you were going to select previously. Tough to give away the No. 1 overall draft prospect, but the math/logic in this case indicates that the correct move is to gamble that Montee Ball will develop into what you think he’ll be, and move Charles for an extra premium pick. If you’re a good salesman, maybe you can get even more than a first-round pick for Charles.
Question 2
I would like your thoughts on marijuana in the NFL. Don’t you think a one-year suspension is awful harsh handed to Josh Gordon for testing positive for pot? What can or will the NFL do if and when a Seattle Seahawk or Denver Bronco tests positive for marijuana in states that it is now legal? Besides that problem, is pot really bad? It’s not a performance-enhancing drug, and most everyone has smoked the stuff or been around it at one time or another. I guess after today, you can go to the store yourself and buy an ounce and smoke the hell out of it because you live in Washington State. I can’t just yet, but I think soon Oregon and other states will follow.
BEN HOGEVOLL (Siletz, OR)
I don’t see smoking pot as much different than drinking beer. That’s not an issue, I think, that the NFL should be sticking its nose into. As far as I’m concerned, what those players are doing on their own time is their own business. I think it’s comical and insane that players are getting suspended for entire seasons. There’s an owner (Jim Irsay) who appears to have a far more serious problem with drugs, and he’s not getting hit with the same kind of punishment. How is that fair? With all of these guys – owners, coaches and players – I don’t see any reason for them to face league sanctions. Whatever local punishments they receive (in my opinion) is enough. As for the Seahawks and Broncos, that doesn’t appear to add an extra dimension. I saw an article a few months back that indicated it would still be legal for companies, like the NFL, to have their own policies prohibiting employees from using marijuana. The article suggested the league would still be able to hold the players from those teams to the same standard as the other 30 franchises.
Question 3
If you were drafting in a standard league and you had 7th pick, who would you be looking at if the following were already picked: McCoy, Peterson, Charles, Manning, Calvin Johnson, Forte.
Michael Holmburg (Glenolden, PA)
Marshawn Lynch and Eddie Lacy are the top remaining guys on my board. Lynch would be the pick. If you’re nervous about his age or about him holding out trying to get more money, then you could shift to Lacy. Lynch is getting up there in years but I did a study on age and durability a few months back, and my conclusion was that elite running backs his age (he’s 28) tend to be more durable than 24-year-old elite backs like Lacy. The bust/fizzle rate is higher with the second-year backs like Lacy. Doesn’t seem like it would be that way, but it is. Not a huge difference between those guys, but right now I’d take Lynch before Lacy.
Question 4
Been fan for 20-plus years; good stuff, keep it going! $200 auction league, Keeper question. Keep 2 (up to 2 years more each) between Kaepernick ($26), Romo ($23), Cobb ($20) or Bell ($17). Roster is 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE, 1 DEF, 1 K, 1 Flex (RB/WR), 1 Ultra flex (QB/RB/WR). PPR (0.5) league with standard scoring but with some yardage bonus options. No idea what other people keeping yet. Leaning Kaepernick and Bell but really not sure.
Steve Wells (Freeport, IL)
That’s a tough one. Without running the full numbers, which would include knowing how many teams are in the league, I can’t rule any of those guys out. Teams have the ability to start two quarterbacks, so it’s possible you’ll want to keep both Kaepernick and Romo. It would be nice to have two of the top 18 or so quarterbacks. You really want to have two quarterbacks in that format. Cobb might be a top-5 receiver in that format, so he’s certainly a possibility. In a PPR format (and this is a half PPR league) the key tends to be to get those stud receivers who’re going to catch 90-plus balls. I think Cobb might catch 100. And it’s always nice to have good running backs, and Bell might be a top-10 guy in that format (plus he’s under contract for only $17). Without having the true prices/values to work with, I will guess that Cobb and Bell are the two guys you keep, but I don’t think the two quarterbacks would be far behind.