Live Chat With Tom & Greg: Wednesday At 3 PM ET

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 2:09 pm

Okay, I know Tom is dying to do a Live Chat and explain why he thinks the Philadelphia Eagles are now the team to beat in the NFC along with the Green Bay Packers. He's ready to talk about all of the free agent signings and even the Milwaukee Brewers if anyone has a baseball question. I'm along for the ride, but I'm more than happy to talk about anything involving sports, the industry and especially fantasy football. Let's do it.

We've set up a time on Thursday for a Live Chat to give everyone some time to get their questions loaded, but we'll jump in when we can if you need early answers. Post questions here and get ready for a fun and wild thread. This should be fun.

See ya Thursday...or even before that.

[ August 09, 2011, 03:32 PM: Message edited by: Greg Ambrosius ]

Purple Helmets · Post by **Purple Helmets** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 2:44 pm

Has Randy Moss played his last game in the NFL?

Purple Helmets · Post by **Purple Helmets** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 2:46 pm

Given everything that happened with the CBA this off-season, are you happy with the number of registrations you have at this point for your main events...Classic and Primetime?

David U. Kennedy · Post by **David U. Kennedy** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 1:06 am

With some early drafts done and in the books who do you feel are the best values right now? Name two for each position. Right now Id go with Cutler/Freeman, Lynch/Benson, L. Moore/Fitzgerald, Cooley/Pettigrew. It also seems that Brady and Wayne are slipping a little further than they should. Thoughts?

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 2:42 am

Originally posted by wahoo:
With some early drafts done and in the books who do you feel are the best values right now? Name two for each position. Right now Id go with Cutler/Freeman, Lynch/Benson, L. Moore/Fitzgerald, Cooley/Pettigrew. It also seems that Brady and Wayne are slipping a little further than they should. Thoughts? I'll take this one and the Moss one.

As far as Moss, yes I think he's played his last game. He was clearly done last season and I have to believe every team in the NFL saw it. I'll say the same thing I've said about him dating back to last season. When two future Hall of Fame QBs and a team desperately needing WR help give up on you and stop throwing you the ball, it's a clear sign you're done.

Here are two of my value picks from the three main positions so far in NFFC drafts:

Quarterbacks
Jay Cutler (ADP of 85.31): I'm not a huge fan but he's QB15 right now in the NFFC and I'm not convinced there are 14 QBs better than him from a fantasy perspective. He's going behind Joe Flacco, for example, and there's no way I'd take Flacco over Cutler.

Matt Cassell (95.46): He's QB17 right now in NFFC drafts and while their schedule is more difficult this team looks to be loaded at the skill positions. I love the Breaston signing and Baldwin was a fine pick in the draft. And we know they have a stud RB. Cassel finished strong last season and with all the talent he has to work with I like his chances to be a productive QB2.

Running Backs
A LOT of great value picks here so it's hard to pick out just two but here are a couple:

DeAngelo Williams (53.85). He'll be the lead dog in Carolina again and there's no denying he's a top talent when healthy. Yes, there are durability concerns (which worry me more than Jonathan Stewart to be honest) but getting him 22nd among RBs is nothing short of an absolute steal.

Ryan Grant (89.15): This is not a homer call. Grant looks like he'll open the season as the starter. Yes James Starks is there but Grant is a proven regular-season producer, something Starks hasn't shown. Grant is currently RB31. Considering he's been a Top 12-15 RB as recently as two seasons ago, that's outstanding value even with Starks hovering in the picture.

Wide Receivers
Lance Moore (105.62): I'm going to be pimping him HARD for the next month. He's WR39 in NFFC drafts. That's crazy value given his proven PPR production and the offense he's in. Have you seen Drew Brees has already started raving about him again? I did and that's why I'm targeting Moore in every draft i'm in this year.

Mike Sims-Walker (157.21): His ADP is likely to rise going forward but right now he's dirt cheap. He has issues (durability, ego concerns) but he's on a prove-it-to-me deal in St. Louis and in my opinion has the highest upside of any Rams WR. There's risk involved here but if he has his head on straight and stays healthy he could be a very nice WR3 with the uber-talented Bradford at QB.

[ August 03, 2011, 08:43 AM: Message edited by: Tom Kessenich ]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 9:25 am

Originally posted by Purple Helmets:
Has Randy Moss played his last game in the NFL? I know that Tom believes Moss is retired for good, but I could see Moss coming back if the right team called. Hey, this is going to be a season filled with pulled hamstrings and groin pulls and you name it and Moss will be at the top of the list if the right team needs a wideout late in the season. And you know that Moss would like nothing more than to step in and be a hero.

The reports are that Moss had a select few teams he wanted to go to and when those teams didn't want him he did what he does best: Pouted and quit. He wanted to return to the Patriots or go to the Eagles or even the Jets. None of them wanted him, so he quit. But if the Patriots call mid-season after a ton of injuries, you don't think he would answer the call? I do.

So he's retired in my opinion...for now. But I'm not sure that either Brett Favre or Randy Moss stay retired this year or certainly in future years to remain on the Hall of Fame ballot for 2016.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 9:44 am

Originally posted by Purple Helmets:
Given everything that happened with the CBA this off-season, are you happy with the number of registrations you have at this point for your main events...Classic and Primetime? Yes, I'm ECSTATIC. I don't blame anyone for not signing up for our live event before the new CBA was announced. Heck, I know I wouldn't have. We all knew it would get done before the start of the NFL season, but if it wasn't done by Aug. 1st it was going to be very difficult for us to retain hotel contracts in three different cities, that's for sure. So I'm extremely grateful to all of our NFFC patrons who stayed patient and loyal to us.

Since last Monday when the CBA was announced, we have now had almost 90 Classic signups (in nine days) and over 75 Primetime signups. We now have 145 Classic teams entered and 136 Primetime teams. Since we don't give out draft spots early (thanks to KDS), the majority of our signups come in August. I'd say we are slightly behind past seasons with our numbers, but considering that there was a 137-day lockout I'm ECSTATIC where we are now.

We love the two different formats here rather than one big grand prize for one contest. I'm not saying one idea is better than the other, I just like the two unique game formats and having many people drafting two teams in one day with a chance for $200,000 and an additional $75,000 cash bonus. And I like that same dual format in our Online Championships, too. Some of our guys have excelled in both formats, which is amazing to me. And when they do that year after year, you know how good they are as fantasy players.

Moving the Primetime to $100,000 was a bit of a gamble for us, but I think we needed to step up in the 12-team format and establish that contest. We just weren't going to grow with the middle price point or be a major player at $850 per team. Remember, we finished with 240 teams at that price point, so the consumers spoke loudly. Now by going to two weekends we have a chance to sell this out and maybe even grow beyond the $100,000 grand prize. I like where we are now with both contests.

I'm also glad that we added Online options for the Classic before the live events. We never did that before and just added one date last year, which resulted in two leagues. Now it looks like we will have at least three leagues on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, which should help us reach our goal of 322 teams in the Classic. That keeps the Classic around, keeps it viable as part of our business and keeps us in the 14-team format for years to come.

I'm also excited about what we've added this year to get the buzz going earlier than ever before. The NFFC '60s got people drafting in July, the earliest we've ever had live drafts. The NFFC Slow Draft League also got folks drafting in June and July, creating deep drafts for early preparation and fair league and overall prize payouts. These two events will keep the NFFC hopping earlier and more often than ever before. In the past, we got satellite leagues rolling in August and the only thing we had going before that was smack talk and Message Board feuds. Now we have ADPs, live drafts and actual results to talk about. I'm loving it.

And heck, the side events are filling up faster than ever before, too. We sold out the Chicago Auction League in July. All three Supers have 9 spots filled already; the Diamond has 11 spots filled; the Ultimate has 9 spots filled. We obviously have a lot of work to do over the next 4+ weeks, but we're on the right track and a lot of our NFFC die-hards are back in full force. And the best news is that we have a LOT of new members, names I've never seen before. I'm not sure where all of you are coming from but WELCOME ABOARD!!! Please get on the Message Boards, introduce yourselves and get involved in the talk. I love it.

Thanks for asking and sorry about sounding like a politician, but I am excited (oh yeah, 175+ signups for the 12-team Online Championship after shooting for 300; SWEET). It's all good so far now that the lockout is over, but the best is yet to come. Keep the signups coming in and you'll see me in a VERY GOOD mood in Las Vegas!!

kentucky · Post by **kentucky** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:13 am

What's the one major factor to keep Atlanta from reaching the SB this year? Please don't say Green Bay and/or Philly. Remember, Seattle took care of the Saints last year. I believe they could be as good as anybody at the skill positions, especially the addition of JJones and JRodgers (kinda like Ocho in NE).

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:22 am

Defense.

The Packers chewed them up and spit them out in the divisional round win. I think the Falcons are in great shape offensively. Wonderful balance and terrific talent at the skill positions. Their season will be determined by how good their defense can be. For them to get to the Super Bowl they'll have to pass teams like the Packers, Eagles, Saints and Cowboys, all of whom have outstanding offenses. The Bucs are looking good offensively as well.

Money · Post by **Money** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:34 am

How about your take on the biggest rookie "Fantasy" impact players?