Last Place Wisdom: Sorting out the Early Season

The fact that I haven't written anything since just after the draft is pretty disappointing from my perspective. I fully intended to get something written up after Week One, as fantasy football has been taking up more of my thoughts this season than in the past couple of seasons. As the Champ, I'm feeling the pressure to live up to the high expectations, both that I put on myself and that I feel from the league as a whole. Despite starting the season 2-0, I'm not at all happy with how my team is looking at the moment, so I've been reading and listening and strategizing as much as I can in order to improve my chances going forward this season. That extra time has not carried over into writing however, so hopefully I can find the time to deliver a higher quality Last Place Wisdom on a consistent basis. To be frank, this blog and the podcast represent the two clear schools of wisdom on the state of our league, and because of how strong the Podcast has been bringing it to start the season, I need to step my game up if I want to keep pace as an opinion maker within the TFLOEG.

That being said, let's get down to the hot takes and random musings based on the first two weeks of the 2017 season.



The first couple of weeks, from an actual football perspective, have been pretty terrible. I haven't watched a ton of football, but when I have I've had the displeasure of catching boring game after boring game. This is somewhat surprising, because on paper you wouldn't have thought all of those games would be that bad, but after what has been a golden age of good QB play and strong offense, I think it might be time for the changing of the guard. Through 2 weeks, there have been a dozen instances of teams scoring less than 10 points in a game, and I'm going out on a limb and calling all of the following teams with bad offenses.

Titans
Texans
Jaguars
Cardinals
Browns
Bengals
Bears
Jets
Bills
Colts
49ers
Seahawks
Packers
Giants
Panthers

The following I'm not sure on yet, based on injury questions, etc:
Saints
Panthers
Rams
Vikings

That's 19 teams that I don't like to start the year, and I don't know how much better they are going to get as the season goes along. This includes a lot of surprise bad teams, like the Titans, Seahawks, Saints, Packers, Giants, Bengals and Cardinals. (Yes, all of these teams are bad)

With so many teams just sucking to start the year, it means there are very few fantasy players who have been reliable to start off. Guys who teams have been relying on to be starters are borderline droppable, and almost no one has any depth on their rosters. What's worse, the waiver wire has become a wasteland of mediocre talent. I don't remember things looking this bleak for quite some time, which is both exciting and terrifying.

• Clarke has performed like everyone expected he would perform to start the year, he's going to be a force to be reckoned with all season long, but even he isn't without his weaknesses. Injuries have sapped a lot of his depth, which could end up being significant.
• Aaron and John have really struggled to start the year. Aaron is used to starting the season off in the underworld and climbing his way out, but this is territory that John hasn't had to deal with regularly.
• I had a high opinion of Andrew's team, but injuries, suspensions and Lacy and Peterson failing to materialize has caused him to struggle early on as well. The good news is, he's 1-1 and there is plenty of season left to play.

Mr. Manager of the Week Award

You might be saying that it doesn't make sense to give this award to an 0-2 team, but that's what I'm going to do. To be honest, I think at this point I would probably choose Mike's team over anyone besides Clarke when looking at what he's done and the possibility for season long success. Chris Carson, Buck Allen and Matt Forte all are smart moves that Mike has made since the draft to round his team out. It might not have shown up on the standings yet, but Mike is one of the few teams with good depth to start the season.

• Yes, it was a good move for Mike to pick Forte up. I probably should have kept him and dropped some of my other terrible RBs instead. That's a regret for me at this point.
• No, I don't regret dropping Austin Hooper, and Week 2 is a good reason why. You shouldn't chase points in the TE position, it is guaranteed to drive you crazy as you add and drop the guys who have big weeks, only to follow it up with a 2 point game. I don't trust Hooper yet, so give me the guy who I can count on for consistent points, and right now that is Jack Doyle.
• It looks like I wiffed on a lot of my draft picks so far, but it gives me pleasure that I seem to have made a good call on Carson Wentz. As Seattle, Green Bay and the Giants have shown us so far, a bad offensive line is an easy way to make any QB look bad. After years of watching my Bombers struggle to show any consistently, this year they have finally turned it around by building a solid O-line and getting a consistent receiver. When I heard Philly invested a lot in their O-line in the off season, my ears perked up, and this has combined with some impressive physical skills from Wentz.

Adding IDP might have been a mistake (I love the fact that based on conversations on BBM, even the people who attended the Manager's Meeting don't know how this change was made), but I have to say I think changing to a waiver auction system is the best change the TFLOEG has made in some time. I love the added thought it requires, and the extra element of skill and strategy it has added to the waiver system. I probably spent a good hour today thinking about how much I should bid on each player this week, and I look forward to seeing what strategies and trends develop as the season goes on. The first week there are some players people actually want to put a serious bid on should get interesting.

On the next Last Place Wisdom

• I realize this post has been light on the jokes and features that you have come to know and love from Last Place Wisdom. I have some thoughts on a new feature to implement next week that could be a little spicy, I'll just have to sort myself out before it's ready for the big leagues.
• I discuss hot IDP pickups after my player at the position gets injured for the 3rd straight week.
• I recap the flurry of trades that have taken place in the last week, since for this league 2 weeks is far too long to go without league shattering trades (I guess this is what happens when Clarke is cruising and doesn't feel the need to tinker)