Curtis Patrick shares his 2021 fantasy running backs who won’t cost you a top-36 pick — but could win you a fantasy football championship.  In 2019, Curtis gave you Austin Ekeler long before anyone else had solved the Chargers backfield riddle. In 2020, he put you on Kareem Hunt when he was still being drafted at RB30 by ADP. Who’s up in 2021? Must-Draft Running Backs…...

Shawn Siegele looks at five heavily discounted RBs who were much better than advertised in 2020. Dave Caban has just finished the new Advanced Stats Explorer which provides a wealth of charting data for our 2021 subs. Accuracy percentages for QBs from clean and pressured pockets Broken tackles, yards after contact, and evasion rates for RBs A wealth of route data for WRs and TEs,…...

Sam Wallace identifies his favorite wide receiver targets in the fifth and sixth rounds based on current redraft ADP. As I wrap up my WR Target Series, it’s important to note the various emerging themes. The focus has been on roster construction through the lens of single quarterback redraft leagues, and different tiers and styles of players have surfaced. In Part 1, I outlined a…...

Shawn Siegele looks at four potentially undervalued foundation backs and judges whether human or machine is right. One of my favorite things about the RotoViz tools is the way they allow you to ask different questions and come at player value from different angles. When we use the Projection Machine, we can use the data on team tendencies, player histories, and teammate competition to craft…...

If you are like me, you would have multiple tight end spots in your standard redraft teams. Most people are not like me, however, and would almost happily kiss goodbye to the most volatile spot in all of the fantasy sports. Most leagues insist on starting at least one, however, and that should suffice for now. When to target a TE in your drafts can…...

Sam Wallace identifies his favorite wide receiver targets in the seventh and eighth rounds of 2021 redraft leagues. In Part 1 of my WR Targets Series, I gave you my pick for the next Calvin Ridley in Round 9 and located a rookie with explosive upside in Round 10. Today, I’m sliding up a few rounds to bring you my next pair of wide receiver…...

Shawn Siegele dives into the class of fourth-year breakout options who hope to follow in the footsteps of Antonio Brown and Tyler Lockett. For many years, third-year WRs were the most coveted asset in fantasy. That infatuation has long since gone the way of the dodo, but the vestigial disillusionment leaves an opening for savvy owners. And the best way to take advantage isn’t to…...

Sam Wallace identifies his favorite wide receiver targets in Rounds 9 and 10 based on current redraft ADP. In my Decoding Backfields series, I focused on the tenets of roster construction and the importance of opportunity cost when selecting running backs. As I start my WR Targets Series, we’ll be using some of those insights to help us locate WRs with upside at their current…...

Shawn Siegele uses the RotoViz tools to break down the history of sleepers in fantasy football. How do we find the deep impact players in 2021? This is Sleepers Week on Stealing Bananas. Ben Gretch and I are looking at how to find them, what their impact is, and which targets we’re drafting in 2021. One element that I mention on the show but wanted…...

Shawn Siegele continues the Discount Series with a look at three WRs who can provide Robert Woods’ production without the WR13 price tag. Robert Woods’ price is crazy. Now Woods is a good player, and the Rams offense should be better. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a career year. But when relatively minor elements of a 29-year-old receiver’s profile are pushing his ADP…...

Originally published August 5, Corbin Young reminds us of inexpensive second-year breakout candidates, including one who blew up in the first preseason game. In a recent article, I looked at three second-year breakout wide receivers. We used Blair Andrews’ previous research to help identify players. That article included three second-year receivers ready to breakout in 2021. But none of those three players are particularly cheap, with…...

Sam Wallace uses the Strength of Schedule Streaming App to identify three tight ends with favorable early-season schedules that are also priced at a value. In my latest piece, I sought to identify three quarterbacks with the perfect blend of early-season value and upside for those in single-quarterback leagues. Today, the goal is the same, but the position is different: tight ends. A notoriously tricky…...

Sam Wallace uses the Strength of Schedule Streaming App to identify three quarterbacks with favorable early-season schedules who are also priced at a value. Fantasy football is all about value. Our goal is to maximize the return on every pick consistently. A first-round selection has to live up to lofty expectations, or we feel let down. Consequently, if a late-round pick doesn’t perform as well…...

Shawn Siegele looks at why the best running back option in the RB Dead Zone might not be one of the dynamic rookies. And unlike Travis Etienne, this 2021 value occasionally falls out of the Dead Zone entirely. We’ve spent a lot of time at RotoViz the last several years explaining why you want to be careful about exposure to runners who are usually drafted…...

Shawn Siegele presents his 2022 first-round redraft projection and explains how it will help you win this season. On this week’s episodes of Stealing Bananas, Ben Gretch and I looked at the key metrics for predicting breakout seasons and avoiding collapse campaigns. In this exercise, I use the RotoViz research and tools to take a trip forward in our crystal ball. What will 2022 fantasy…...

Shawn Siegele outlines the key tactics and the six crucial players to select if you begin your fantasy football draft with a slot-based disadvantage. There is no safe place in a fantasy football draft. The 10 highest-drafted players of the last four years were all RBs. Seven of them posted win rates below 5.5%. Four of those were miniscule win rates below 2.5%. But it’s…...

Have the guts to search the RB Dead Zone for options? Shawn Siegele begins the Discount Series with a look at three RBs who can provide Austin Ekeler’s production without the first-round price tag. During our recent Zero RB series for Stealing Bananas, Ben Gretch and I suggested that the Dead Zone might be exactly where you want to look if you’re going to employ…...

Two of the projects that I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time working on are the Draft Dashboard (DD) and the Range of Outcomes app (ROO). Both tools are focused on helping redraft managers maximize their chances of winning in the coming season. The 2021 version of the DD was recently released. In a nutshell, it’s a drafting tool that helps users to keep track…...