Aneoth wrote:Acaeum Collectors League.
Question for anyone who knows the answer.

This is my first experience with Scoring Kick Returners.
So, at least In my case, it is Partly my fault for not knowing who many of them were.
But, while studying up for the draft, I did not realise that ONLY offensive players could be selected as KRs for the rosters.
So, I did not JUST look at offensive KRs.
I looked at the best KRs in the NFL, and seriously, most of them are not also desigated by the NFL teams as offensive players.

During the draft I looked to draft actual Kick Returners and could not find any to draft from the list, which is why I kept loosing time in the later rounds and having to make hasty picks near the end....

We get individual kick return yardage points for players on our rosters.
However, we are not allowed to pick up any players that do return kicks UNLESS they are ALSO offensive players?
IE. Only RBs/WRs are allowed to be picked up and started at W/T, or RB, or WR..........

No defensive players and no Specialists at all, such as Corner backs, not even Kick return specialists.... whose official NFL designation is only as a special teams player.

Only WRs and RBs.......
That system excludes about 70% of the best Kick Returners in the NFL........

So... Why bother with that scoring method at all, if we are not allowed to pick up the best at that position?

The entire field of truly good, or great KRs is at best perhaps 12-15 players in the NFL, with the rest of them either sharing, or are simply not as good as those others.

Half of those 12-15 are NOT also designated by thier NFL teams as offensive players.
So they are not available to us in the Acaeum Collectors League.

Its like not being allowed to pick up Westbrook as a RB because he also catches passes.

Signed:
Frustrated looser......

Aneoth;

All of the best kick returners in the NFL are classified as WRs or RBs. Only a very few (Pacman Jones, for example, although I'd call his less than stellar performance so far this year not anywhere near the best company) are classified strictly as DEF special teams players, but honestly not enough to matter.  I can think of exactly TWO viable choices, Rossum for the 49s and McKelvin for the Bills. Last year, the best KRs in the league, both yardage and TDs scored, were Devin Hester and Josh Cribbs, both classified as WRs (both have won the Special Teams player of the year, 2006 and 2007 respectively).  Dante Hall and Darren Sproles were close seconds (a WR and RB resprectively).  Other top performers were/are Steve Breaston, Rock Cartwright, and Glenn Holt.  The Cowboys own Felix Jones, should he get more consistent, may also enter the top listings, as well as another rookie (Desean Jackson) if he can stop dropping the ball all over the place. Other KR rookies putting up decent numbers are Dexter Jackson and Eddie Royal (although Royal has made more of an impact in the WR position).

I keep pretty close tabs on the league's best returners, and I know of very, very few that are also not classified as WR/RB, regardless if they ever actually play those positions or not.

This year, Johnnie Lee Wiggins (WR) and Dante Hall (WR) are leading the league in return yardage, with Sproles (RB), Holt (WR) Breaston (WR) and Felix Jones (RB) right behind. Hester and Cribbs remain viable choices but they have both been slowed by injuries this year.  The only non-offensive player KR that might end up in the top ten this year is Rossum. That's 10% not 70%.

If you remember during the draft I DID take Hester and Cribbs.....!

Here are two pre-season articles on KRs.  Very few, if any, non-offensive players are named:

http://football.about.com/od/cheatsheets/a/bl_cheatKR.htm

http://www.fftoolbox.com/football/article.cfm?article_id=252

http://warroomreport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=292&Itemid=1

Mike B.

Mike B.

Aneoth wrote:No wonder you are unbeatable in that league.

Last year the league was 16 teams.  I auto drafted which left me with Matt Leinart as my starting QB, Torry Holt as my #1 WR, and an injured Frank Gore as my #1 RB (he did nothing the first month of the season).   I only managed to finish 7th last year by doing extensive research on KRs, as that was the only position not completely obiliterated after the draft.  Hester and Cribbs actually made me legit a couple weeks! (I remember both had 40+ pt days at different times during the year).

Kick returning is an interesting thing once you research it.  Ironically the best teams have some of the worst kick returners; since they aren't scored on as much, they don't return as many kick offs.  The best KR's are, like Hester, Cribbs, Higgins and Hall, on middling to awful teams with bad defenses...lots of scores, lots of kick offs to run back (and a kick off returner is far superior to a punt returner, typically averaging 20 yds a return to a punt returners 8-10 yds).  The gold standard is a Hester, Cribbs or Higgins, who returns BOTH punts and kick offs.

Let's just say I did a lot of research.  And I can tell you most of the kick returners on most of the teams in the NFL...and which ones are good or bad.   Let's also just say I was very pleased to see the Cowboys draft Felix Jones this year because not only was he a fine RB but he was a top kick returner in college (a skill he has already shown in the NFL!)

Mike B.

Man, is Big Lugs going for the record the Patriots almost got last year, and go undefeated? 6-0, hasn't even LOOKED like losing so far.

John, I have to play you this week and I'm not looking forward to it. McNabb's on a bye, and with Romo out Barber is primed for 200 yards and 4 TDs against the Rams.

I guess you really do prefer a live draft....  

Regards

Mike

Wow, just heard Jerry Jones on the local sports program.  Sounds like he's pretty much through with Pacman Jones. Good for him, the dude has had  million chances, no point in putting up with his crap.  Wonder if he'd be so cavalier about it if Pacman was actually contributing anything.  

In other Cowboys news, Tony Romo owners, Romo may be back in two weeks vs the Giants (hard to believe anyone misses a month for a broken pinkie, sheesh), Roy Williams will play this week, and the Cowboys locked up Williams for five years (this was Williams last year on his contract, the Cowboys extended it for five years).  Good for them, they haven't drafted an impact WR since Michael Irivn, it was time they got a good young guy in here that's not near the end of his career (ala Keyshawn Johnson, Terry Glenn and TO).

Mike B.

Addendum:  This blurb made me laugh...first, you have to know that Romo grew up in Wisconsin and Favre was his hero when he was a young Packers fan:

The Dallas Morning News reports New York Jets QB Brett Favre called Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo (finger) to offer encouragement after Romo fractured the little finger on his throwing hand, according to ESPN.com. Favre played with a broken thumb while he was a member of the Green Bay Packers.

I'd love to have been able to hear that conversation..."Hey, wuss, rub some DIRT ON IT and get your ass out there....!"

Mike B.

mdr003 wrote:Man, is Big Lugs going for the record the Patriots almost got last year, and go undefeated? 6-0, hasn't even LOOKED like losing so far.

John, I have to play you this week and I'm not looking forward to it. McNabb's on a bye, and with Romo out Barber is primed for 200 yards and 4 TDs against the Rams.

I guess you really do prefer a live draft....  

Regards

Mike

Yeah, I do unless its a kick returner league...
The Lugs have been quite lucky so far, but that wont hold up.
Your team is looking like the better one this week.
Sometimes the Yahoo scoring predictions are so far off that I am wondering how they come up with some of those numbers.

With Romo out, they will stack the front line, since Barber and Choice are the only runners, and with Roy being new and Romo out, the passing game will probably stumble and limp along.
Brad Johnson is a good QB though.
He is a very experienced veteran (with a super bowl win in fact) so it could meld into a very productive game for him.
But, IF Romo does put some dirt on his owie and starts, that will be worse for them.

BTW: You were speaking of mine being the team to beat...
I have little doubt that my team will NOT go undefeated.

BUT, Mike B's is the team that has that undefeated likelihood going for them...
He is not even close to being worried.
He has FIVE of the top 11 players in that league on his team.
So many that he cannot even start them all each week.

At least in the Luddites the other teams have an excellent chance left to win it all.

Mikes ACL team does not even need any luck.
The Block Wipes are wiping out the entire league.

Well, The Spoilers (Formerly the Drowning Victims) have slowed the Dragons rise to power for this week at least.

And in the Luddites, the Pugs continue to roll over every team in the league in its quest for supremacy.
Once again, they outscore all comers, though this week it was by just two points.

BTW: I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that trades are allowed in the Luddites league this season.
I also heard from somewhere that trades could actually improve a fantasy teams chances for winning.

Yep, you heard it here first folks.

Badmike wrote:
Hey, I deserve that (if it's aimed at me).  I had a trade on the table with the Lugs that would have won me the game this week (Instead of the very hard to get tie I was lucky to pull out of my ass vs the Cubes).  

All the races are tightening up in both leagues...well, except for the aforementioned Pugs. They are clobbering the opposition like taking candy from a sissy kid.  

Mike B.

We can make trades! Damn  I may have a player or two up for grabs soon and I'll be listening to all offers.

Thanks for the kind words, but the Pugs have been lucky.  The Luddites is a scary-good league:  each week, aside from the Aneoth's Mighty Lugs, it's hard to pick a winner.  

Were there any ties last year, or in the other league this year?

Paul

The fight for the final play-off spots in the Luddites League will be bloody.

Speaking of play-offs, the 96th Grey Cup is this Sunday. ( Yes, the Canadian football league is that old)  Montreal vs. Calgary:  it should be a great game.

Well after a 1-6 start, the Spoilers nearly pulled off the unthinkable.
Winning seven weeks straight and ...against all odds... missed the playoffs by just a few measily points.
If I had started one player different this past week, then the Spoilers would be the fourth seed.
Like using TO instead of DJax....      Oh well.

What a competitve and so very close ending that was...
FOUR Teams tied, with total points being so close too!
WOWSERS!

Congrats to all those who made it in and good luck to all the teams in both leagues throughout the playoffs.

Lucy... I shall be gentle if you promise the same...  
Yours is a team that has scary potential for blowup production every week.