Out of the sandbox

2017 Record: 13-3 The Eagles won the Super Bowl for the first and god I hope only time last season, so it can't get much better for them. Now they get their QB of the future, and the present, Carson Wentz back from injury and they are receiving praise and attention. The Eagles did hold on to last years hero Nick Foles, but you have to think at some time a trade will happen to move him, once a team has an injury or something and needs a QB and over pay for him. Phili has a good WR core with Nelson Agholor, Mike Wallace, and Alshon Jeffery, a player I actually use to like, before he signed with the Eagles. They also have a very good tight end in my ball  Zach Ertz. Running game is also solid as they have a nice 1-2 punch in Jay Ajaji and Darren Sproles. Wemdell Smallwood and Corey Clement also adds depth to the back field. The Eagles defense was 6th last season in total fantasy points scored by defenses and features a number of talented players that are likeable if they didn...

2017 Record 6-10 Oakland had a disappointing year in 2017 after some high expectations. Injuries played a factor for sure but it was still enough for the Raiders to get a new, old, coach. Paying Jon Gruden a butt ton of money to come out of the MNF booth and back to the sidelines. Derek Carr has proven to be better than older brother David, and is an above avg QB in the NFL. He has weapons too. Joining Amari Cooper is Jordy Nelson from Green Bay and Martavis Bryant from the Steelers. Giving the Raiders one of the best, if not the best, group of wide outs. Jared Cook is also an above average tight end, giving Carr yet another option when he throws the ball. When the Raiders want to run, they have talent there to. Doug Martin came over from Tampa to add depth to go with Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington. But Marshawn Lynch is still the starter and will be the work horse. Also on the goal line you should give the ball to him, and not throw a slant, just if that ever comes up. The...

201 Record: 5-11 The Jets are bad, but of course I guess I can't mock them too much because they had a better record then the Giants did last season. They used their high first round pick on USC QB Sam Darnold, though did sign Josh McCown and Teddy Bridgewater to give him some veteran "leadership" and keep the spot warm for him before he is ready to take over. Bilal Powell showed to be a decent enough RB for them, and the Jets added Isaiah Crowell from the Browns, and also the ex CMU great Thomas Rawls, who after a good first year in Seattle, has faced injuries problems and has struggled. We will see if the change in uniforms can help him bring him back to his glory days, not stealing purses from old ladies at the casino, but having 100 yard rushing games. Robby Anderson had a break out season for the Jets last season as a WR and kind of showed he can be their #1 option in the passing game... The program, he has had some run ins with the law and with some hearings set...

The 2012 season saw Tirico dominate the entire season on his way to an 11-3 season and easily win the one seed. Though his 1622.39 total points, 115.89 avg was only good enough for the 2nd best overall point season in 2012. The first was done by the second seed in the playoffs, Steve, who scored 1721.33points on the season for an avg of 122.88 per game during the regular season. Despite the big points Steve was only 9-5 on the year. Robb and Greg, both at 8-6 were the three and the four seeds going in to the playoffs. In the semi finals Robb dominated, because I mean of course he did, as Steve had his worst week of the season at the worst time and BMR easily made another trip to the finals with a 141.16-69.12 butt kicking. In the other semi finals Greg also dominated 136.09-99.93 to set up a rematch of the 2010 finals. In the 3rd place match up Steve once again ran into the wrong person at the wrong time, as Tirico brought out the big bats and humiliated Steve 165.06-115.91. I...

2017 Record: 3-13 A year that Giants fans just will pretend never happened. ODB get hurt in preseason, and then came back early in the year and got hurt again. Of course they won at least 3 games, so they got the 2nd pick and not the first, but that was fine, because Cleveland had the first pick and didn't take the best player in the draft, instead took a QB who will win less than 20 games in his NFL career and will be out of the league before year 5. This let the Giants take Saquon Barkley, a stud of a RB who is just a freak of nature physically and also backed it up on the field. It gives the Giants a true #1 running back, something they haven't had since Tiki Barber and Brandon Jacobs. Since the Giants also added Jonathan Stewart, who should help as well. They paid Nate Solder a lot of money and then drafted Will Hernandez in the 2nd round of the draft to help their left side of the line, moving Ereck Flowers to RT which will hopefully also help him. Odell will be back, ...

2017 Record: 11-5 The Saints had a good season last year, winning the division and a playoff game before ending their season in the divisional round. Drew Brees is still around holding down the QB spot and continues to play at a high level and the Saints will need him to do that again since the other QBs on their roster is Tom Savage, Taysom Hill and JT Barrett, who took a pay cut from college to the NFL. The Saints have to deal with a little bit of off the field issues as Mark Ingram is facing a 4 game suspension for PED. That will make Alvin Kamara even more of a fantasy stud, at least early in the season, as he will not have to carry all of the weight in the Saints backfield. Unless Daniel Lasco, Boston Scott, Jonathan Williams, Terrance West or Trey Edmunds can handle some carries when he needs a little bit of a breather. On the outside Michael Thomas has become a top 10 WR in the NFL and will continue to be the true #1. Ted Ginn is back, to join Austin Carr, Cameron Meredith...

2017 Record: 13-3 Something crazy happened last season, New England was good, and made it to the Super Bowl. I know, that never happens. Shockingly they didn't win the Super Bowl and let Philadelphia finally win one, an event that should never happen and I may never forgive the Pats for this huge sports blunder. Of course the biggest reason for the Pats being good is their QB is this Tom Brady guy and their head coach is Bill Belichick, who is smart because he of course is the former defensive coordinator for the New York Football Giants. Year in and year out, the players change, but the results have basically stayed the same since Drew Bledsoe got hurt, Brady stepped in, and the rest is history. This year they are facing a little bit of off the field drama, so much so that the mother ship was forced to send our own Jeremy Slone, Producer extraordinaire, to cover the team's mini camp. Julian Edelman is looking at a 4 game suspension to start the year which will let Jordan...

2017 Record 13-3 Even with injuries to the starting and back up QB the Vikings still had a great season last year before losing to the eventual champs in the NFC title game. They have re built that position as they gave Holland native and MSU alum Kirk Cousins a lot of money and brought over Trevor Siemian from Denver to be his back up. Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs gives Minnesota a really nice 1-2 punch in the receiving core, and Laquon Treadwell is big and athletic and has all the tools to be a very good wide out, plus the Viks have Kendall Wright, Stacy Coley and Tavarres King for depth at the position. Minnesota also has one of the best tight ends in the NFl in Kyle Rudolph, plus they used their 5th round pick for the best pick in the draft, former Northwood Basketball player and CMU football stand out Tyler Conklin. Blake Bell and David Morgan may be ahead of him in the depth chart now but that will not last, you have my word. Minnesota also has two very talented running ba...

2017 Record-6-10 Miami isn't good, and then they get ride of Landry, and now the ageless wonder Frank Gore is back in Miami, he played college football at da U of course. Kenyan Drake is his back up running back and now Kenny Stills, Danny Amendola, coming back to Miami after leaving and going to the Pats, and the forever inside joke in this league the one and only DeVante Parker. MarQuies Gray and AJ Derby were joined this years by rookies Mike Gesicki and Durham Smythe for the Dolphins tight end group. The Dolphins defense isn't great either, as they scored only the 22nd most fantasy points last season. Right now, two rookies, Jason Sanders and Greg Joseph are the two place kickers on the roster. Plus you have a QB who may be very smart, in Ryan Tannehill but who definitely is not a great QB. Put that all together and Miami should be bad, real bad. 2018 Predictions: 4-12 This one is short I know, kind of mailed it in... Just no one cares about the Dolphins and I just ...

As we continue our trip down memory lane we look at the 2011 season. A season dominated by Ryan and Greg. After a slow start, and looking at a 1-2 record, Ryan went on to win 10 weeks in a row, before loosing in the final week of the regular season to finish 11-3. Greg on the other hand won the first 8 weeks of the season before cooling a bit, to also finish with an 11-3 record. Even though for season points Greg did hold a 1927.11 to 1671.42 total point advantage. Also making the playoffs was Robb, because of course he did, as he went 10-4 and did score more total points on the year then Ryan did as well. Rounding out the playoffs as the 4 seed was the one and only Derek, who finished 8-6. In the semi finals both G Money and Rite Aid put up great weeks and won fairly easily. With Greg winning 129.14-111.79 and Ryan winning 117.27-99.61. The following week in the 3rd place game Best Man Robb easily took care of Derek 143.75 to claim a 3rd place finish to go with his two runner ups,...

2017 Record-10-6 KC had a good year, won the division, and made the playoffs behind wonderful former #1 overall pick Alex Smith. But then they lost in the first round of the playoffs 22-21 to the Titans and I'm sure that led to Best Man Robb kicking puppies or something. So now, they re load. Alex Smith is gone and last years first round pick Patrick Mahomes II will be their starting QB. Sammy Watkins has joined the squad as well joining Tyreek Hill, Chris Conley, Marcus Kempt, Demarcus Robinson and DeAnthony Thomas in the receiving core. Kareem Hunt was one of the break out players last season as the rookie RB had a great year... MAC Love.  KC still has Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware who both have shown flashes in short stints that they have talent and can handle the load. The running game will again be counted on this season as KC enters the season with a guy with 1 career start as their starting QB. KC also features of course one of the best tight ends in the NFL in Tr...

2017 Record 10-6 The Jags had a great year last year. They made it all the way to the AFC title game before losing to the Pats. They used a rookie RB in Leonard Fournette, mixing  in TJ Yeldon as well. Marqise Leee is a decent enough Wide out, and they had the #1 scoring defense in fantasy last season. A great defense and a great running game, it's old school football and it is nice to see. The reason they were 10-6, even playing in a crap division, is they still have Blake Bortles as their QB. A guy who looked so bad in a pre season game showed nationally on ESPN that people were calling for Chad Henne to get a chance to start. Though during the year he wasn't really that bad. completion % and rating was up from 2017 compared to 2016, and his interceptions were down, 13 in 2017, down from 16 in 2016. The Jags used a 2nd round pick this year on DJ Chark to add receiver depth, to go with Donte Moncrief, Dede Westbroo and Rashad Green. Austin Seferian-Jerkins will be their ti...

2017 Record: 4-12 Maybe missing a game or two turned in to missing the entire season for Andrew Luck and that pretty much gave the Colts no chance to win much in 2017. Now Luck claims he is healthy and will "definitely " be playing in week 1. The Colts still have TY Hilton who is still a top ten type wide out. They added Ryan Grant from Washington, and KJ Brent from the 49ers to go with Chester Rodgers and then some youth in Deon Cain and Daurice Fountain among other invites to camp to try to add depth. But basically besides TY, that receiver core is not good. They did add Eric Ebron to be their tight end, who does have talent, I mean the Lions drafted him before Odell Beckham, but he has a problem catching the ball, which I believe is semi important in a tight end. Frank Gore is no longer in Indy so besides Marlon Mack the Colts running backs are Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins, 4th and 5th round rookies this year, and Robert Turbin and Christine Michael….So yeah here...

2017-4-12 Injuries were a big part to that record sure, but the Texans just haven't been able to put it all together again since a few years back when it looked like they were finally going to have that break out season. Deshaun Watson was exciting to watch, before he got hurt, but the wins were not coming with him either. But now he is "light years ahead" mentally then he was at the end of last season according to a "source" so he is becoming a top 3-5 QB taking in fantasy and everyone is happy.. Especially the one and only Mr. Football Jeremy Slone. If Watson gets hurt again, Brandon Weeden is there to save the day, so rest easy H town. The Texans do have one of the best wide outs in the game in DeAndre Hopkins, who remains a high round pick. Will Fuller and Braxton Miller round out there main wide receivers. In the backfield Lamar Miller is their main RB while D'Onta Foreman showed to be a nice change of past and someone worth keeping an eyes on . E...

2017 Record-7-9 When discount double check gets hurt the Packers usually don't win a lot. That was the case in 2017. Then the Packers let Jordy Nelson go and with Minnesota coming on strong, having a great year last season and making the NFC title game, the time may have come where the Packers are no longer the favorite in this division at the beginning of the year. I do believe that most will pick the Vikings to win this division but I do feel it will be close and Green Bay will be right there with them all season long. Of course Aaron Rodgers makes this team go but he has some talent around him. Davante Adams has shown he can be a #1 wide receiver, at least he has the talent for it . Randall Cobb has had his own injury problems as well and wants to show he still has something left in the tank... I am sure sometime in late July or early August reports will have him in the "best shape of his life" Geronimo Allison, DeAngelo Yancey, and I believe Ty Montgomery, who wil...

The 2010 season once again saw Santino, Jeremy and of course Best Man Robb have great regular seasons, as well as our commissioner Greg. Greg was 9-5 in the regular season, while Tino Sloney and BMR all were 8-6. In the semi finals Greg laid the smack down on Santino 133.48-85.92 to make a trip to the finals. BMR dominated his semi final match up, because, of course he did, beating Mr. Football 127.84-89.83. In the 3rd place match up Sloney was able to re group and beat Santino 95.87-86.23. In the finals the two best friends Greg and his Best Man Robb faced off in a classic match up. Greg was able to pull away with a 102.93-100.13 victory to put his name on the trophy for the first, but not the last, spoiler alert, time. Greg used Peyton Manning, Chris Johnson, Darren McFadden, Antonio Gates, Jeremy Maclin, Derick Mason, Austin Collie, Johnny Knox and Hakeeeeem Nicks with a balanced attack to win the title. Of course the biggest reason for him winning is he had the great Tim Tebow ...

2017 Record: 9-7 The Lions had a pretty good season last year and were so close to making the playoffs, where they would try to get their 2nd playoff win since 1957. But they are the Lions and lose the games that they shouldn't and they found themselves outside of the playoffs yet again. Despite having this Matt Stafford guy as their QB who is the 10th highest paid athlete in the world! That's all sports, all athletes, all over the world... he is number 10.... and he has zero playoff wins.... Stafford of course is talented and puts up big numbers and Marvin Jones, Golden Tate and Kenny Golladay gives him three pretty darn good wide outs. The running game has been the problem for the Lions, really since Barry Sanders retired. They added Super Bowl winning LeGarrette Blount to go with Ameer Abdullah, if he isn't cut before the season, and Theo Riddick. They also drafted a full back in the 7th round of the draft this season, as well as used their first round pick on a guar...

2017 Record: 5-11 The never ending Paxton Lynch is the QB of the future will be put on hold yet again as Case Keenum comes overs from the Vikings. Having two good wide outs in Demaryious Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders should make the QB's job much easier in Denver. Devontae Booker is a talented running back, when he holds on to the ball, besides him, De'Angelo Henderson and then a trio of rookies, Royce Freeman, David Williams and Phillip Lindsay round out the back field. The Denver defense wasn't much better than the offense in 2017, as they finished 15th in total fantasy points for defenses. Von Miller is great, besides him.... not so much. Brandon McManus will be handing the kicking duties and I don't see him being on many fantasy players radars, but hey, high altitude, ball travels, so maybe some 50+ yarders for extra points will help you. Jeff Heuerman is the starter TE for now for Denver, but I am sure it will not be long until one of Greg's man crushes Jak...

2017 Record: 9-7 Suck it Cowgirls 2018 Predictions: 0-16 Dallas doesn't win a game, or score a point because they suck. This leads to CMU Legend Cooper Rush getting the starting QB spot for 2019. OK really though, Dallas, had a tough year last year with the will he or will he not be able to play saga of Zeke Elliott, when on the field he is a top 3 RB and gives Dak a legitimate running game to help the young QB. With Dez being cut, Dallas' starting wide outs right now looks like this... Deonte Thompson, Terrance Williams and Tavon Austin... with Colt Beasley and Allen Hurns on the roster still too. Ron Smith is going to be the primary back up to Elliott this year as the Cowboys expect Zeke to carry the ball A LOT. Jason Whitten retirement to join the mother ship leads Geoff Swaim and Blake Jarwin as the main TE for Dallas. Though I would keep an eye on Rio Gathers, the former Baylor basketball player is a big and strong target, like 6'8 275 big, and has a chance t...

2017 Record: 0-16 Coming off only the 2nd ever 0-16 season in the history of the NFL the Browns have no where to go but up right? wrong, they can stay just as bad as they have been since, well, the mid 80's. Give the Browns credit though, they have made some moves. Adding Jarvis Landry the talented WR from Miami, they had two top 5 picks in the NFL draft and they got the best QB ever,  ask Sloney, Tyrod Taylor. The Browns also added Carlos Hyde from the 49ers and drafted Nick Chubb in the 2nd round. They also still have Duke Johnson who has had moments in the last few years that at least makes you think he is not totally worthless. Adding Landry to Corey Coleman and Josh Gordon gives the Browns a pretty darn good receiving core. As for the tight end spot they added Darren Fells, the ex Lion, and still have one of last years first round picks David Njoku as well. The Defense was really bad last year, of course, that's how you get to be 0-16, as they finished 29th, out of 3...

2017 Record: 7-9 The Bengals always seem to be about the same. They have their moments, they get their fans semi excited and then they either just miss the playoffs or make the playoffs and lose in the first round. Boomer Esiason is not walking through that door. Last season was more of the same, as the Bengals finished 7-9. They drafted a talented rookie running back... of course they drafted the one with issues off the field because they are the Bengals, but Joe Mixon is talented and showed flashes. Last season also saw Gio Bernard take over from Jeremy Hill, who has since moved on, as the featured back. I do believe that Mixon is the RB1 there before it is all said and done, perhaps Gio gets a few more carries to begin camp and he may even start the season still as the starter but I do see him being more of the 3rd down back and Mixon get the majority of the carries. Gio will catch enough passes and has the home run threat still to make himself worth a fantasy bench spot. AJ Gre...

In today's way back Wednesday we look at the 2009 season. The first season that was won by a member who is no longer in the League. The season started with Best Man Robb losing week 1, and then winning 10 weeks in a row, on his way to an 11-3 record and the number one seed in the playoffs. Greg kept pace with his old friend though and finished with an 11-3 record as well to get the 2 seed in the playoffs. With Tirico as the 3 seed with a 8-6 record, and Chris limping in to the playoffs as the 4 seed and a 7-7 record the playoffs seemed to be a forgone conclusion on what would happen... But as they say... that's why they play the games. Best Man Robb won in the semi finals to make the finals, because, I mean of course he did, beating Tirico 128-115. In the other semi finals Chris beat our fearless leader Greg in a heartbreaker 93-92. That gave us a 3rd place match up between Greg and Tirico and Chris and Best Man Robb for the title. Greg lost his second straight close play...

2017 Record: 5-11 Take away one year since 1985 and the Bears have been the team to make the Lions feel a little bit better about themselves. The Bears did do some work in the off season as they completely changed their wide receiving core adding Allen Robinson from the Jags and Taylor Gabriel from Atlanta to go with high draft pick Kevin White. The Bears have a good running game as well with one of the better 1-2 punches in the league in Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen, who showed flashes of brilliance last season, enough to become a must own hand cuff for Jordan Howard owners....... cough cough... Sloney.... The Bears used a top pick in Mitchell Trubisky last year and he will once again be the starter, with Chase Daniel as his back up, he does not need to look over his shoulder, this is his team and he will be given  every chance to be the man.... The problem for the Bears.... he isn't. The Bears defense may not be the monsters of the midway but they are still a solid group...

2017 Record: 11-5 Lost to the Saints 31-26 in the Wild Card Round Usually trading away your best wide receiver isn't the best plan. For Carolina, it worked out just fine. Using the run/pass skill of Cam Newton, a dynamic rookie running back in Christian McCaffrey and still having old faithful J Stew, the Panthers had a great regular season in 2017. Torry Smith is now on the squad to be the left WR on the other side of Devin Funchess, who had a break out 2017 season. Greg Olsen, when 100%, remains one of the best TE in the NFL, giving Cam a great red zone threat, which should help Newton to continue to put up good numbers while usually being available late in drafts. J Stew has moved on so Cameron Artis-Payne and CJ Anderson, the ex Denver starter will now back up McCaffrey as he tries not to have a sophomore slump. Panthers offense should still be pretty good though in the ultra competitive NFC South. On the defensive side of the ball Carolina is still lead by LB Luke Kuec...

2017 Record: 9-7 The Bills had a odd year last season. They started by trading Sammy Watkins, thinking they would go in re build, then they make trades to try to improve, and they end up making the playoffs, before losing 10-3 to the Jags in a game that set offensive football back 10-15 years. Now this off season they let the best QB in the NFL, according to Sloney, Tyrod Taylor go, then use their 1st round pick on Josh My girlfriend is smoking hot Allen. So basically they got rid of one of Sloney's man crushes in order to get another... We will see how that works for them... In the mean time they have Alabama great AJ McCarron, speaking of guys with hot girlfriends/wife's, to keep the seat warm for Allen until Josh is ready to take over. Losing Watkins and adding Kelvin Benjamin wasn't all bad for the Bills, and Buffalo hopes Zay Jones can continue to improve and become a legit #2 wide out for Buffalo this season. There depth besides these two... not great. Unless you ...