Week 5 Power Ranks

Im going to take a screen shot of the standings every week moving forward.

Current Standings:

And this weeks version of Power Ranks:



1.  Tahiti Loungers (Last week: 1)

Two things we need to talk about here. The first: winnning Week 4 by a mere 5 points. Early on in the battle of the unbeatens, it looked like a Tahiti Lounger rout. But once Sunday night rolled around Kait and her team (Victorious Secret) fought back with a couple great performances highlighted by Terrance Willams and his 2 TD game. This was extra salty as I had traded Williams to Kait a couple weeks ago for Roddy White, (14 points) who I benched for Pierre Thomas (4 points) in this matchup. So that left me with a small 3 point advantage going into Monday Night Football, with the last player of the matchip being Kait's D/ST- the Patriots @ KC. Well, the Pats got destroyed and Kait ended up getting a -2 score from them in what I'm sure will prove to be one of my most memorable victories. I'm now the last remaining undefeated team with a 4-0 record and 7 game win streak dating back to last season.

The second thing that needs to be discussed is the mosnter trade that went down last night. I traded away my first round pick, Eddie Lacy, along with his handcuff James Starks and my franchise captain Roddy White. Lorenzo Taliaferro was also included in the haul that brought me back Jamaal Charles, Kniles Davis, Chris Ivory, and Kendall Wright. I am upgrading from Lacy to Charles which is measurable, and while I lose Roddy White, who IMUO is a back end WR1/high end WR2, I get a good player in Chris Ivory who may serve as my flex player until Josh Gordon returns. A large part of the reason I made the trade for Charles is because of Knile Davis. If Chalres goes down, Davis is just a slight downgrade, but still a RB1. I'm now rolling out Leveon Bell and Jamaal Chalres with both of their back ups in what is a disgusting back field that is hard to top.


2.  Angry Pirates (Last week: 2)

Campbell's team is even stronger now than it was before, as Keenan Allen seems to be back. His 10 catch performace last Sunday was great. Also at WR for these pirates is Antonio Brown, who is in all regards a top 5 WR. So consitant, so fast, such a threat. Very high floor and high ceiling. This is like, a better version of Wes Welker when he was in NE.

Demarco Murray has also been a BEAST this year. If re-draftiung right now, he would likely be a top 6 pick. I knew he fell to far in the draft but NO ONE thought he would be THIS good. If LeSean McCoy gets back to being LeSean McCoy, you're looking at a weekly core of:

McCoy (top 5 option)
Murray (top 5 option)
Brown (top 5 option)
AJ Green  (top 5 option)

with guys like Keenan Allen, Kelvin Benjamin, Jonique Bell, and Isiah Crowell in the mix.

As Ive said all year, when/if Campbell upgrades his QB/TE combo... I would legit be afriad to play this team. Week 11 is our matchup this year... At this point I would be surprised if that isn't a preview of the championship. This is a great squad.




3.  A Pinch Better  (Last week: 3)

Sean's team is just slightly behind myself and Campbell right now, IMUO. Just a very solid squad, with no holes or glaring problems. Rivers has been excellent and he still has Cam Newton on the bench, who later this season could reappear in the weekly top 5 ranks, if he starts running again. Sean has a plethora of WRs on  his team, which is good because he can start 3 of them and will have no issues during bye weeks. Percy, V Jax, Welker, Randle, Steve Smith Sr, and Brian Quick? Options city.  Obviously having 6 solid WRs is forcing Sean to try to trade a couple of them to upgrade elsewhere, but that is hard to do since WR is deep, most owners don’t need help at WR but at RB. If I’m Sean, I’m sending out offers of Morris + WR for an RB upgrade. Depending on the target, Sean could even afford to give up 2 Wrs + Morris for any clear upgrade over Morris, who just has a low ceiling because he doesn’t catch the ball. Steven Jackson and Chris Johnson are both terrible and if Sean can upgrade his RBs he may be closer to joining the two elite teams I have ranked higher.

Update: Sean traded away V Jax, Percy, S Jax for Gronk and Decker. 

My rapid reaction is that this is a great trade for Sean. Gronk's worklaod is increasing and having the chance to start Jimmy and Gronk could be LETHAL if Gronk can figure it out. He still has some very good Wrs to pick from every week. 



4.  Victorious Secret (Last week: 4)

Tough loss this week for Kait, but putting up 120+ points without Peyton Manning is respectable. I tried to “block” Kait from getting a good QB- I picked up Big Ben earlier in the week so she couldn’t- but Teddy Football (Bridgewater) came through big time in what has to be one of the best pick and pops Kait’s ever made (his first career start). Bridgewater scored 24 points in his debut and almost carried Kait to victory.  With Maclin emerging as a weekly WR1, this team is trending in the right direction. Martellus Bennett has been unbelievable…. Right now he actually has one more point than Jimmy Graham and is the #1 TE in the league. While this is great, it’s obviously unsustainable. The black Unicorn has started HOT in previous seasons, and always cools down. With VD banged up, though, Kait can ride the wave as long as it lasts.


5.  Crossing Guards (Last week: 6)

Jordy Nelson had 15 TDs in 2011 (three years ago). James Jones had 14 TDs in 2012. Last year Aaron Rodgers got hurt so numbers were down, but this offense has produced  ELITE fantasy WR each season Rodgers has been healthy. This year, Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb may BOTH finish in the top 5 WRs. Nelson currently is the #1 WR in the league and Cobb is just behind him at #6 Sooooo having the Rodgers-Nelson connection is a great strength to Bill's team. I'm afraid to play against these guys tonight. I'm also not excited to play Crabtree, but everyone else on the roster I can deal with. Asiata was great last week, but with McKinnon behind him he is going to be very TD dependant moving forward. He should still catch a few passes to help raise that floor, but if Asiata doesnt get in the endzone, hes just a low end RB2 that bill is counting on as his RB1.



6.  the rental guys  (Last week: 10)

I had Dan here at #6 before the trade and I'm keeping here for now, even though I am not a fan of this trade for Dan. In reality this rank is too high but I'm leaving it for now.

Wrs before trade:

Wayne
D Jax
Decker
Hilton
Hawkins

Wrs after trade:

Percy
V Jax
D Jax
Wayne
Hilton
Hawkins


Are the Wr after the trade better? Sure I guess. Not by much, IMO.  But Dan has lost his TE edge. Gronk is a matchup difference maker and that's what Dan had in this back pocket. To trade that in to slightly upgrade at WR is not something I can endorse... espeically since Dan already had a plethora of WR2 type players, which is exactly what V Jax and Percy are. Neither are weekly top 12 options. Also, starting at TE Dan now has Dwayne Allen, who is OK... the 12th best TE in the league up to this point. What kind of sucks now is how many Colts Dan has...Wayne, Hilton, Bradhaw, T Rich, Allen? Damn. That's literally every relevant fantasy Colt except the best one, Andrew Luck. While the Colts are a good offense, they arent the Packers. I wouldnt want THAT many players on my team.

Dan DOES have a ton of RB depth that he can play with. Forte is locked in as a top 3 weekly option, and rotating out of the RB2 slot Dan has Bradshaw, T Rich, Sankey, Stacy, and S Jax.  That is some nice depth that Dan may be able to cash in on later in the year if he needs/wants to. Especially with Sankey who is emerging.



7.  Eat More Chicken  (Last week: 9)

It's borderline impossible that this team has the lowest amount of points in the league, but somehow it does. However, you cant ignore the big boys on this team. Demaryous, Gio, J Thomas, Stafford, Andre.... thats a damn good core of guys. Sammy Watkins has emegred as a weekly WR2/flex option, despite his bad situation in Buffalo. Watkins is a beast... I'm upset I dont own him anywhere.

Jenna NEEDS to figure out her RB Situation. Having Gio is great, he's locked and loaded as a RB1 the rest of the year. However, currently Jenna's other RBs are Shonn Greene and Bernard Pierce. Both of these guys are well behind their RB partners (Sankey and Forsett/Taliferro) and their respective ranks among RBS for rest fo season ranks are RB39 and RB44. That is awful... and unacceptable.

Also, Jenna is rostering 2 D/STs now. Seattle as they were on a bye, but ATL? Why? They are a TERRIBLE defense. Their weekly scores are 2-2-31 and -4. Sure they had a fluky great performance at home that Thursday night, but cmon. Drop them.



8.   A1 Providers (Last week: 8)

Megatron screwed Paul last week by playing, buy decoy-ing. As we know you HAVE to start Mega if he plays... but he wa sheld to two catches. Frank Gore had a really nice game as did Lamar Miller, and for now Paul is OK rocking these 2 RBs. I highly doubt in 4-5 weeks from now they are a good pair of guys to start, but until they break down Paul is looking solid. Alshon and Wallace complete what is one of the better WR trios in the league, and it's only a matter of time before Brees starts raking. He has too many home games coming up to sell now.

Paul's team isnt deep but he has a good lineup for now. Unfortunatly the Dolphins are one of 2 teams on bye and the only relevant fantasy players are Walace and Miller and Paul has both. So for this week he may be a little short handed. especially at RB where he may have to play Deangelo Williams? Gross. RB situation here is bad now and could get ugly quick.



9.  Boston Patriots (Last week: 5)

It's tough to rank this team, and by that I mean I want to rank them higher but I cant. Not without a QB. Last week I asked how long Mr. B will stick with Brady for… and it was certainly at least one game too long. With Andy Dalton on the roster, though, it’s a murky situation. Mr. B really should have had a claim in for Big Ben or should be working the market for a trade because you cant do anything without a solid QB. The WRs here continue to power this team… although I am a little nervous about Brandon Marshall and his ankle injury. Thankfully Mr. B still has Dez, Manny Sanders, and Brandin Cooks so he can weather the Marshall Injury storm fairly easily.

Mr. B also needs to address his TE situation. It’s awful. On the roster is Witten and Ladarius Green. Green is droppable and Witten isn’t startable. Traditionally he has been a guy who produces between the 20s, but nowadays the Cowboys are running the ball in the middle of the field and Witten isn’t a big  Red Zone guy, so the only value he really carries is NAME value. I GUESS you can say one good thing is Witten has improved each week? He’s gone from 3 points to 7 points to 8 points to 11 points last week.

10.  The Godfather (Last week: 11)

Abe made that huge deal with me which altered the landscape of his lineup. To be honest, the trade would not have been accepted by me last week had it been in proposed form. Abe and I actually didnt really talk about this trade until last night, and it happend within a matter of hours. Anyway, wile Abe does downgrade his RB1 slot, he still has Eddie fuckin Lacy on his team. Now a weekly roll out of Ryan/Roddy/ M Floyd/Lacy/Martin  is something I can get on board with, that is if Doug Martin can be the muscle hampster he was in 2012. I think he can be. Also. this Matt Ryan-Roddy White connection will be nice... the schedule for the Falcons is favorable so this combo should pay off a few times....Props to Abe for picking up Jerrick McKinnon a cuple weeks ago. That is the type of forseight / re-evalaution it takes to win. McKinnon looks real good, and even if he isn't a consistent enough option to start yet, down the line this year he could be a real help. I dont think Asiata is going anywhere but they are giving the guy a ton of carries and McKinnon should be heavily involved bethween the 20s anyway. If Asiata got injured, and Mckinnon was a bell cow, he would flirt with RB1 status.




11.  Mosey Machine (Last week: 12)

The fact that Beckerman was celebrating breaking 100 points is telling. What happened ot this squad? Remember when I ranked it #2 after the draft? Whoops.

To be fair, it still looks solid on paper... Cutler has been good, Cruz has improved, Kelce is contributing, and Sproles is looking good. BUT.... Cordarrelle Patterson is still not a take it to the bank type WR... his situation just sucks. big game, small game, big game, small game. Frustrating.

DeAndre Hopkins needs to be in this lienup, no question. Why Beck hasnt turned to him yet is beyond me.... he's scored a TD or gone over 100 yards in every game.

I'm happy Beck finally picked up the appropriate handcuff to Montee Ball. CJ Anderson will be their guy if Ball gets hurt. Ball himself has been real bad, considering where he was drafted. A turnaround is in store, but needs to happen quickly for Beck. Also, If Vereen was being used properly, this team would be a lot better. But Belichick is being Belichick and that is annoying every Vereen owenr out there. Give the guy the ball! He's a playmaker.



12.  Team Ice Cream (Last week: 7)

Woof. 73 points? C'mon Man. I took a ONE WEEK flier on Adam by ranking him nice last week and he reponded with the lowest score in the league. Kirk Cousins had a terrible game (which effected Garcon too) so Adam was off to a bad staret to the week anyway. Garcon will be fine but Cousins may lay an egg every once in a while, which is why it was a really good pick up of Big Ben for Adam off waivers.

Delanie Walker has been awesome, and one of Adam's best players. He is having a career year and basically is the go-to guy in the Titans passing offense right now. As team's adjust, I'm sure his point totals will come down, but this guy is a legit TE1.

It was nice to see Golden Tate have a good game... as Adam like's to say "best hands in the league." Moving forward I expect Tate to be a solid WR2.

The RB depth really needs to work for Adam. He cant have Donald Brown losing all his value after terrible perfromances. There are teams in the league Adam could trade with, but he needs his RBs to produce now so he can right the ship ASAP. 1-3 is not easy to overcome.