2021 NCU Fantasy Football Preview
2021 NCU Fantasy Football Preview
16. Lucky Charms
😡💀 (Troy):
Caleb has done a disastrous job as an owner. 2020 produced some of the best rookie WR seasons we’ve seen in recent memory. Caleb had the opportunity to draft any of them in 2020 with 2 first round picks but instead turned those picks into TY Hilton and Marquise Brown. Can you imagine how much better this roster would look with Justin Jefferson and Ceedee Lamb? Maybe you're thinking Caleb wanted to draft more proven players? If that's the case Stefon Diggs went 1 pick AFTER Caleb selected TY Hilton. 8 players were kept from the 2020 draft in the 2 rounds after Caleb made his first selection and he has nothing to show for himself. To make up for his ineptitude drafting Caleb had to deal his first 5 round picks to get even a semblance of a roster. Not learning from his mistakes he used his first 2 picks on Indianapolis Colts. This team has nothing going for it.
💖 (Paul):
Yes, I truly LOVE the worst team in the league! LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Wentz should be ready to go for week 1 and will certainly bounce back from a miserable 2020 season. This kid’s got comeback player of the year written all over him.
I’m a believer in Tee Higgins and wouldn’t be surprised at all if he breaks out in a big way.
Nobody ever wants Joe Mixon, but they should. He’s always a good bet for 1500 combo yards and 10 TDs. That’s better bell cow production than a lot of other teams in this league.
And don’t worry about guys like Mike Davis or JuJu sucking, because Caleb can slot Michael Pittman into his WR2 or Flex spot and be in great shape.
Give Caleb some love guys! He’s not the worst!
15. Garbage
😡💀 (Jamaal): I hate incremental change, and the Garbage roster — while it has taken a turn for the better — will once again be unable to produce anything resembling a playoff contender. This is a league where fortunes can change in a hurry if you’re willing to take risks here and there when the time is right. Case and point: Country Bear Jamboroo, a team that can actually make noise now that they’ve intentionally tried to improve. The addition of a fourteenth regular season game will work to further expose teams like this to the reality that this is not their year. I think the worst thing about this roster is that when you’re looking at it, you see Herbert first and you’re intrigued, but then there’s just nothing inspiring happening afterward. Seems like there was no plan after drafting Ja’Marr Chase… Melvin Gordon simply CANNOT be a plan for your starting RB slot in our league this year. Not until the dust settles in DEN, at the very least. Thoughts and prayers as you endure the brutal season ahead, Finney.
💖 (Matt): Last year’s Garbage was built for 2021 and while a couple of his risky picks didn’t work out, he worked some waiver wire magic. He will be much more competitive this year compared to last. Justin Herbert was a fabulous waiver wire pickup while if D’Andre Swift can stay healthy, he could be elite. Ya, I said it. D’Andre Swift has been coming for a while. He was the #3 RB out of high school in Philly and was a workhorse for Georgia. I truly think he is of the same talent level as Nick Chubb and Najee Harris. He just needs health and some help on the line. Robert Woods should have a huge season with Stafford throwing his way and Gesecki averaged over 10 points per game when Tua got things going late in the season. This could easily be a sneaky division threat. Don’t go sleeping on the Garbage. A good life lesson for us all.
14. Falcon Punch
😡💀 (Jamaal): You’d think a team with Jonathan Taylor and Tom Brady would have more juice, but that’s where the intrigue stops. Everyone expects Thielen’s TD numbers to crash back to earth, David Montgomery will cede his passing down work to Cohen, Zach Ertz may no longer be a trustworthy fantasy asset and it gets worse from there when you factor in depth. You have every reason to believe you’ll win when you face Dillon this year — even his best players have major question marks with Taylor potentially fighting with Hynes and Mack for a RB1 workload. This team looks to be years away from being competitive. Another fine offseason performance from Dillon.
💖 (Troy):
Dillon got off to a better start than most recent years as he remembered he still has a team in this league and made a trade for a few keepers. He also has rostered over 60% of the players he’s eligible to keep on his bench so there’s hope he will be able to field a full roster most weeks. Having Tom Brady on his roster and remembering his password should set him up to have his most success since Cam Newton could throw a football more than 10 yards downfield.
13. Urine Trouble
😡💀 (Paul):
Congratulations to Jon for having Kelce! That’s it. That’s all he’s got. This is the fantasy football equivalent of living in a studio apartment with bars on the windows, cooking all your meals on a hot plate, sleeping on a pee stained mattress, but feeling good because you’ve got a vintage Camaro.
Nobody’s winning games with Ronald Jones, Devin Singletary and David Johnson at RB. This might be the worst group of running backs I’v ever seen. Lawrence will be great some day, but it won’t be now. The list of rookie QBs who are big time fantasy producers is pretty short and most of them get there by being big time runners. Sunshine’s going to take his lumps and be great for Jon in a year or two.
These WR’s! This team doesn’t have a single WR who’s the best on his own team! How on earth is that possible?! Claypool has a shot, but he’s a big time feast/famine guy.
“Urine Trouble” The words Jon mutters to himself watching this trash heap of a team play all season.
💖 (Matt): This rating proves once and for all that these “season previews” aren’t about the talent on the roster, but the popularity of the owner. I will not participate in the season preview next year if Jon is rated in the bottom half again. It’s embarrassing. Every preseason, idiots rate Jon low and then he slaps their asses all over the fantasy field. He was the champion in 2018, division runner up to the eventual champion in 2019, and league runner-up last season. In none of those previews was he predicted to be in the top half. These writers should be ashamed of themselves for never learning. It really is embarrassing to be a part of it. If you clowns could pick up your spectacles, he has 3 starting RBs, 4 good WRs, the best TE in the game and the NFL’s #1 pick at QB whose team was so confident in his ability they traded away last year’s starter. That’s not a move that you make if you are nervous about Trevor Lawrence’s transition to the pro game. Sit back and watch as Jon makes fools of you all again this season. And yet you all will come back and rate him #16 again next year like two of you buffoons did this year. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. Which makes you three utterly cuckoo.
12. We Are Terrible
😡💀 (Jamaal): This team was scarier last year. Any squad with Aaron Rodgers is going to turn your head, but literally every other starter on this team not named Mike Evans or Kareem Hunt is below replacement level. Gus Edwards and Josh Jacobs are probably the worst RB tandem in the league… after JK Dobbins went down, the Ravens loved the idea of Edwards starting so much that they brought in Le’Veon Bell to stabilize the running back room. Not a good sign. And now Gus Edwards will be watching from the sidelines until 2022. Watching this team slowly deteriorate is kind of sad, but then I look at my schedule and feel a ton better. Thanks for the free wins, buddy!
💖 (Paul):
A-Rodg, DJ Chark, Mike Evans, and Tyler Higbee are a great core to get this team going. I’m a big believer in the A-Rodg “give the whole league the middle finger” tour for the 2021 season. Another MVP performance wouldn’t surprise me.
11. 1.21 Gigawatts
Why I Hate This Team (Troy):
Drew is relying on a number of players who have severe physical limitations. Kyler Murray needs a step stool to see over his offensive line, Jerry Jeudy plays receiver like he has no thumbs and Ezekiel Elliot looks like an ewok. Drew has had success making the playoffs 4 straight years up until last year, but it's looking like curtain time for this freak show
💖 (Matt): Drew is in rebuilding mode and he is doing it the right way. His roster is filled with young high upside guys that could be bedrocks to his franchise if things break the right way. CeeDee Lamb was on a historically great rookie campaign before his QB was knocked out for the season. Jerry Jeudy has always had talent and got a nice QB upgrade this offseason. Ezekiel Elliot is still only 26 and should have a couple more good seasons on those treads. Kyler Murray is a mighty midget, but his running makes him a great play every week and he’s only in his 3rd year. He even snagged Travis Ettiene for next year. This is a roster built for 2022 and I expect him to rise up these ranks next year.
If Josh Jacobs and Kareem Hunt can prove to be capable starters, this team is going to win more games than a lot of us expect. Maybe not a playoff team, but this roster has playoff spoiler/toilet bowl champion written all over it.
10. David's Johnson
😡💀 (Paul):
Penis puns. Not a fan. It's lazy comedy, just low hanging fruit.
Now that I’ve got that out of the way, it’s time to give this team the shaft.
Quite frankly, they won’t be giving the rest of us very stiff competition. This team really doesn’t measure up.
Russell Wilson can be great in bursts, but will he be able to hold it together when it gets hard?
Will James Robinson get stage fright having to follow up on his breakout rookie season? I’m skeptical that he’ll be comfortable when he’s put on full display.
I guess we’ll have to see how this unit performs, but don’t expect much at the start of the season. The first time is never great.
💖 (Matt): In the age of COVID when hanging with the wrong staffer can get you in COVID List jail, I love teams with depth and Pruett’s sage wisdom has given this roster a whole heck of a lot of it. By week 8, he will have 4 starting RBs in James Robinson, Chase Edmonds, Darrell Henderson, and Michael Carter. He will also have three quality WRs in Terry “only WR in Washington” McLaurin, Cooper Kupp, and Courtland Sutton. That’s seven guys at RB and WR and he only needs four. That gives him loads of trade bait to fill any injury holes. This group of writers over-rates superstars. What you need are guys that score fantasy points and Pruett has enough of those to be dangerous this year if he makes the right moves.
9. Fighting Minnow
You know things are looking dire for Hurm’s franchise when our resident left-wing male feminist will justify rostering a player who displays his junk more prominently than Goodwill in Deshaun Watson. It’s clear Hurm is hard up for talent. Rostering players who won’t play seems to be a theme with Hurm as he also drafted IR bound Cam Akers and a guy who caught 109 fewer passes last year than 2019 in Michael Thomas that will be lucky to suit up for 8 games this season. You can say that Hurm’s lack of strategy on building a competitive roster has been flagrantly exposed this year. The good news is that if things get too tough for Hurm, he can always just quit this league too.
💖 (Jamaal): The key here? Aaron Jones becoming fully established as an elite RB to stabilize the volatility that will come from Hurm leaning pretty heavily on mid-tier players like Golladay and Fant (who I love as a breakout this year). Jones was elite back in 2019 with 19 total TDs, but Robert Tonyan vultured a bunch of those red zone touches in 2020. I’m thinking that the balance could shift back in Jones’ favor this year. I have to say, when you look at the roster it just feels like something’s missing, and that’s probably because Matt built the 2021 Fighting Minnow to have DeShaun Watson and Michael Thomas step in midseason and carry him to a deep playoff run. Despite the magical thinking here, you have to dig the optimism — there is actually a decent chance Thomas comes back and terrorizes the league with his fresh legs and motivation to build rapport with Jameis Winston. And at just 25 years old, Watson will eventually dominate NCU Football (maybe this year)… and Matt Ryan is a fine placeholder in the meantime. I think there’s enough here — including the Miles Sanders Resurrection Tour and perpetually disrespected Allen Robinson III — to inspire hope.
8. Joseph Addai
😡💀 (Jamaal): For me, this one is a little personal because in trading CMC to Ryan for Tyreek Hill I may have opened Pandora’s Box. I got my second championship out of it, but at what cost? The idea of Liddiard having this league on lockdown with Lamar Jackson and McCaffrey for another run of championships is enough to make me ill. Shades of Brady/Peterson… chills. But that’s not why I hate this team. I hate it because Ryan has done nearly nothing since we made that trade. I thought by now we’d be scared of him, but the team is in such shambles that it’s rated #8 overall. He kept Amari Cooper (maybe WR3 on his own team?) and Mark Andrews (becoming less and less appealing as the Ravens add WR talent)… unexciting, but probably helpful. Beyond that, this team is a wasteland… looks like Ben Montgomery’s expansion roster. The lack of 2020 season and 2021 offseason activity is alarming — you’d think Lidds would have made some effort to complement the massive 1-2 punch… it’s like my youngest son doubling down on getting Park Place and Boardwalk and then landing on somebody else’s hotels before he can raise enough cash to make a splash. Sad.
💖 (Paul):
It was not that long ago that Lamar Jackson was the NFL MVP. In the brightest timeline, Lamar and CMC can combine for 7000 all purpose yards and 70 TDs (Lamar 4000 passing yards, 1000 rushing yards, CMC 2000 combo yards. Lamar 38 passing TDs, 10 rushing TDs, CMC 22 rushing/recieving TDs.). Those are massive numbers, but those two could easily do it. That ceiling is not crazy for them. After that, who really cares about the rest of the team, because the rest of us should just quit.
7. Country Bear Jamboroo
😡💀 (Matt): Have you ever watched a gambler on a cold streak? You may have a little deja vu looking at this roster. She will be counting heavily on Austin Ekeler who assuaged doubts about his ability to be a workhorse back last year by...missing more than a third of the season with an injured hammy. And hey, why not roll the dice on Gerald Everett who is 27 and getting his first chance to start ever? Sure he has never topped 3 TDs or 450 yards in a season, but at least he [checks notes] has one catch for two yards this preseason. Then you have Tyler Lockett, the very definition of a boom or bust player who is dropping in value to the Seahawks every week DK Metcalf becomes the beast we all know he will become. Amy’s done yeoman’s work overcoming the massive failures of Jamaal’s past ownership; leaving her without picks, players, or hope. She just needs another year or two to get herself out of the Grand Canyon of a hole Jamaal left her franchise in.
💖 (Troy):
A.J. Brown is in my opinion the best WR to own in a keeper league. Tyler Lockett is the best WR who gets traded at least twice every season in this league. Najee Harris could end up being a top 5 RB and the new LeVeon Bell. Paired with Austin Ekeler Amy could have the highest scoring RB duo in the league. Ryan Fitzpatrick is the antithesis of Kirk Cousins-someone who just doesn’t give a fuck and will throw downfield at will. With a better supporting cast around him I’d expect Fitzpatrick to surprise and finish as a top 12 QB. Given what Amy inherited from Jamaal she's done a great job turning this franchise around. In fact she's done such a good job I’d expect Jamaal to quit in 2-3 years with the hopes of coming back and taking over this team.
6. The Numbers
😡💀 (Paul): I’m going to say this nice and loud for those of you in the back: LANCE KEPT LEONARD FOURNETTE!!!!! AGAIN!!!!! Just sheer buffoonery!
This dang team has problems! OBJ, Cousins and Gronk should not be week 1 starters on any fantasy team with less than 32 teams. Just gross. This team’s success is wrapped around Trey Lance stepping into QB1 territory and meaningful contributions from OBJ, CEH, Gronk, and Fournette. That’s a massive swing and it's probably a miss.
Dalvin and Jefferson will be good enough to win Lance a few games on their own, so that’s something.
The big wild card is the timetable for Lance taking over as the Niners QB. If that transition doesn’t take place before midseason and Captain Kirk is costing our Lance too many games, it may be too late to turn it around.
But how fun is it to have a guy on your team who has your same name!? It begs the question “Why don’t I have a Chris Paul jersey?” I should get on that.
💖 (Jamaal): While there’s some… ahem… nontraditional construction to The Numbers, as a Viking fan I’m kinda loving it. You’ve got the Cousins-to-Jefferson connection + Dalvin. The Vikings have a good offense and those guys are going to generate points, plain and simple. No one has a clue about what to expect from Edwards-Helaire, but I’m anticipating a sensational sophomore season due in large part to KC being fully healthy and opponents gameplannng to shut down one of the most potent passing games in recent memory. At tight end, it’s hard not to root for Gronk at this stage of his career, so that’s what I’m gonna do — especially given the fact that in 2020 he produced at the same level as fantasy breakout darlings TJ Hockenson and Logan Thomas.
OBJ is trash and I’m assuming he’ll be on the waiver wire by Week 4.
5. All Mahomies
😡💀 (Troy):
This team looks good on paper but it's the owner I worry about here. No other owner has historically been as big of a prospect/rookie whore as Nick and outside of his keepers Nick is really relying on some unproven talent. He traded away his best RB option in Mixon and is now relying on 2 RBs who have are expected to split touches in Harris and Gaskin. The good news for Nick is that with 1 or 2 good games he will be able to rip off one of the more gullible owners in the league which has been his M.O. of late. Plus with a 2 year pandemic we’ve endured, half the country on fire and civil unrest in many cities we should expect a Patrick Mahomes season ending injury this year since we can’t have nice things.
💖 (Paul): I mean, it’s in the name. Patrick Mahomes, on his own, is going to win Nick multiple games. He is just simply that much better than every other QB. Then of course you’ve got Waller, an important piece in a lean TE year, and Diggs who could easily wind up as WR 1. If that core stays healthy, this team could make a serious title run.
I love the rest of this roster, mainly because the guys Nick took a chance at are medium risk-high reward. Gaskin and Damien Harris aren’t world beaters, but if they’re good to prettay good, that’s all Nick needs. Laviska Shenault and Dionate Johnson are a great combo to roll the dice on. They could both break out and be studs. If just one of them pans out, that’s a big hole that's covered. Tyler Boyd, Jamaal Williams and Fitzmagic add some great depth.
4. Trojan Horses
😡💀 (Matt): Do you like players who are guaranteed to take big steps back this year? Then do I have the team for you! Brandon Aiyuk isn’t the only WR with a pulse in San Francisco anymore. T.J. Hockenson went from catching balls from Matthew Stafford to a kid who looks like a permanent virgin in Jared Goof. Josh Allen has gone from 600 yards rushing, to 500, to 400. Which puts him on pace for…Lidds? Buehler? Sparta? Yes, 300. Hardly top 5 numbers for a QB. But hey, at least the Seahawks still haven’t found anyone off the waiver wire to take Chris Carson’s job. And if you think their depth should save them, Tua’s owner wants to replace him with a guy who has been sued by 22 different women for sexually naughty behavior (proud Fighting Minnow Deshaun Watson). Troy isn’t stupid. He will make a couple trades for 2022 picks and give up on this team by week 6 again. Classic Troy.
💖 (Jamaal): I think Troy’s depth is going to save him. There are some pretty solid building blocks here with Josh Allen and a guy who went from underrated to overrated to maybe just properly rated in Antonio Gibson. I agree that Aiyuk isn’t really much fun, but that’s where the depth is going to emerge… remember DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle from Alabama? Absolute murderers built in the mold of Antonio Brown. They’re going to be terrifying, maybe this year. Lots of other lottery tickets too, like Trey Sermon and Ty’Son Williams, who could end up grabbing the highest volume of touches in their respective backfield committees. And like I said, that’s just the depth… Chris Carson and Hockenson should be able to hold it down until the young guys get up to speed.
3. Jabad's Sheep
😡💀 (Troy):
As Jamaal showed last season trading top tier running backs can help set your team up for success if you acquire enough equity for those players . Unfortunately for Jabad’s Sheep he didn't get nearly enough equity for the biggest workhorse back in the league in Derrick Henry when he downgraded to Saquon Barkley. He used the 2nd round pick he received to draft Robert Tonyan over other better TE options like Logan Thomas. His first round pick of a backup RB was even worse. Jabad is clearly playing for the future with those moves — this isn't a serious title contender
💖 (Matt): Jabad has two of the three most talented running backs in the game. Saquon Barkley has led this league in points and I have no doubt he will have future seasons of top 5 production. Alvin Kamara is equally accomplished and talented and with Murray gone, is carrying even more of the load for the Saints. Oh, and with Julio Jones gone, Calvin Ridley has nowhere to go but up from his 2020 season where he was this league’s 4th most productive WR. Those three alone make Jabad a nasty team to face. Throw in a Super Bowl winning defense, some young promising players at QB (Hurt) and TE (Tonyan) and some nice young depth led by Marshall and Gallup, and you could easily have the Super Show division’s best team.
2. Return of the Mac
😡💀 (Paul): This team is putting a lot of faith in unproven QB play. Between Burrow and Mac, the ceiling here is a fringe top 10 QB; that’s not how you build a contender.
Hooper as TE1 is a problem, there’s just no getting around it. Maybe if Jamaal traded for a hot commodity like Tyler Conklin, he'd have something. As much as we all love Chubb, Kareem Hunt is always looming and will inevitably vulture yards and the occasional TD. They’re not old balls yet, but Hopkins and Keenan Allen are starting to approach that cliff. This could be the beginning of the beginning of the end for those guys.
And finally, we know Jamaal will get bored one day and blow up this entire roster for no apparent reason. That could end up going one of a thousand ways.
💖 (Troy):
Jamaal made one of the greatest trades in the history of NCU when he traded his old franchise (now Amy’s) plus 12 months on the sidelines for a juggernaut that had the consensus top 2 players coming into 2020 (Saquon and McCaffrey). He made 2 more great trades acquiring Nick Chubb and Tyreke Hill plus draft equity for Saquon and CMC avoiding both of their landmine seasons. Jamaal is playing chess while the rest of us are eating Play-Doh. It really seems like Jamaal can do no wrong with his decisions of late — something that should bode well for Irv Smith Jr. and his fantasy output this season.
1. Serenity Now!
😡💀 (Jamaal): People are going to say Paul has the best 1-2 receiving combo in the league, but it’s obviously false — Tyreek Hill and DeAndre Hopkins are at least as good, if not better. I’ll give you that the DK has the cool factor with the strangest looking 8-pack around… looks like he’s from the movie 300. Terrifying abdomen. I definitely also hate that Robbie freaking Anderson is in the starting lineup. Paul has to be embarrassed to roll that clown out there with the likes of George Kittle — which needs to be a pet food brand — and Dak Prescott’s surgically repaired ankle (nothing to worry about there, I’m sure), and all-world Derrick Henry. Speaking of Henry, you have to start to wonder about that kind of usage and when he’s going to inevitably fall off a production cliff (680 carries in the past two seasons). I think what I hate the most is that this looks to be the most complete team that Paul has put together, and he’s going to be an insufferable ass the entire year.
💖 (Matt): The owner may be historically inept at winning championships (zero out of infinity), but when you look at the roster on it’s own, it’s impossible to deny the legions of talent. Davante Adams and DK Metcalf form the best 1-2 WR combo in the league. Throw in MVP candidate Derrick Henry, and stud-when-healthy George Kittle and you have positional advantages all over the place. And there is no good reason this league let Dak Prescott fall to Paul at 12. There is no excuse. Now, Paul wasted most of the rest of his draft on other player’s handcuffs and 3rd best WRs on middling offenses, but if that starting lineup stays healthy, this should be a title contender. Have an awesome year, NCU Fantasy Football rubes!
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