It’s Tuesday morning, you’re sitting on the cold, iron throne of porcelain, staring blankly at your phone, maybe with a kid crying in the distant background, and you’re 0-3. How the hell did we get here? It’s the early-season version of skid row.
[Also See: Week 4 Waiver Wire Adds | Week 4 Trade Targets]
I was doing some self-reflecting myself this fine Tuesday morning, after a 151.95 – 148.30 loss to my wife, of all people (in all seriousness, she’s an angel who is too good for me, so if there is anyone to lose to, it should be her). Antonio Brown, mi amigo, I’ve always been respectful of your power. Why are you doing me dirty by going catch-less in the second half of Monday Night Football?
Maybe you’re asking yourself: Am I expecting too much? Sure, maybe luck didn’t swing your way these past couple of weeks. Maybe there was a touch of over management here and there, or maybe the ponies you drafted just aren’t the bulls you thought they were. Is it time to go off script and cut bait, you may be asking yourself?
Sure, it’s early, but not too early to make a few key decisions. On one of my teams, I’ve got Drew Brees, who put up 52 points last week, and I still lost. So, he’s on the block. It’s a half-point PPR league, 10 teams. It’ll hurt to lose him but I feel like I can adequately replace his position while massively upgrading at a weak spot like tight end and wide receiver. With Kareem Hunt, Adrian Peterson, Joe Mixon, LeSean McCoy, Derrick Henry and Austin Ekeler, I’m stacked at running back. A package deal of Brees and a running back could yield a solid TE-WR duo. It’s a deal I will be exploring in hopes of bringing good value for both sides (or not, I’m fine with that). Rob Gronkowski is probably a little undervalued right now; he’d look real nice in my line up.
Week 3 in the NFL has likely brought more pain and suffering than not, courtesy of The Curse. Tight End is even thinner with the temporary loss of Evan Engram. The 49ers and all of their fans at this point are just hoping to go fully numb before the real abuse begins. Is George Kittle suddenly fantasy irrelevant? Another TE bites the dust with the felling of Jimmy G?
Looking to Week 4, there are plenty of wide receiver options available, quality running backs and, of course, tight ends, are in short supply.
Week 4 Sleepers
Rhett Ellison, TE, New York Giants (FanDuel: $4100; DraftKings: $2700)
An MCL sprain for Evan Engram means multiple weeks before we see him again. Rhett Ellison hit paydirt in Week 3 when his number was called. The Giants can also put up some points in a pinch and have been known to target the TE position. Currently 0% owned on Yahoo, this is a deep sleeper.
Austin Hooper, TE, Atlanta Falcons (FanDuel: $5000; DraftKings: $2900)
I spoke about him last week and he didn’t do much if you listened. The tight end landscape is a scene out of a Mad Max movie, though, and he’s on an offense usually throwing the ball all over the place. It’s got to translate at some point.
Willie Snead, WR, Baltimore Ravens (FanDuel: $5300; DraftKings: $3900)
Downtown Willie Snead is owned in just 6% of Yahoo leagues. There was a little drop off in performance in Week 3, but Snead has been fairly consistent thus far this season. I’ve been talking up the Ravens since last week, and I’m still with them – Buck Allen is a dirty, goal-line grinder! Their schedule is very favorable coming up, so Snead might make a nice bye-week plug-in based on matchups.
Chris Ivory, RB, Buffalo Bills (FanDuel: $5500; DraftKings: $4600)
It’s safe to say that absolutely nobody saw coming the beat down that the Bills dispensed on Minnesota in Week 3. Ouch. In the absence of McCoy, Chris Ivory put in some solid work. Should McCoy miss more time, Ivory is primed to reap the rewards and is only owned in 7% of leagues. After flat backing the Vikings, the schedule for the next few weeks does not look very intimidating for the Bills.
Tyler Boyd, WR, Cincinnati Bengals (FanDuel: $5800; DraftKings: $4600)
The third-year Tyler Boyd is heating up. Owned in 19% of yahoo leagues, he is probably available in yours. Regardless, whether A.J. Green is going to bounce back from this latest injury or not, Boyd is appearing to be the future of receiving in Cincy. For now, he’s a plug-and-play receiver should Green miss Sunday (and beyond). He could be the steal of DFS this week if A.J. is indeed out.
Wendell Smallwood, RB, Philadelphia Eagles (FanDuel: $5500; DraftKings: $3600)
This is a hedge against The Curse. Jay Ajayi should be back this week and Darren Sproles is working through a hammy injury. If they are not back in action, Wendell Smallwood is totally in the flex conversation for Week 4. A combination of running and catching, you could do worse with your dart throws this season. He’s only owned in 2% of leagues.
Crypto Corner (NOT Financial advice)
- A big week for some of the big names. I watched XRP, not to be confused with Ripple, go from 4300 to 11.5k satoshis – the equivalent of watching it go from $.28 to $.79. It was thrilling but it also reminded me this market is full of manipulation, as XRP is currently trading for $.45. This is a lesson for those who are interested in this market, trade carefully.
- Zaif, a Japanese crypto exchange, was hacked recently to the tune of $59 million. I believe Coinbase is one of the few exchanges that is actually insured and would cover customers in this situation. This also highlights the use of off-exchange wallets to hold your crypto assets. My Ethernet Wallet (MEW), Toast, Edge Secure… all great choices to keep your holdings safe.
- The trustee for the Mt. Gox saga, Nobuaki Kobayashi, released a statement today confirming the sale of roughly 230 million Bitcoin ($BTC), ending this past June. In the statement Kobayashi essentially says he has secured enough fiat currency to pay creditors and doesn’t anticipate the need to sell further Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash ($BCH) assets. The past eight-month market downtrend has been tied to the sale of Mt. Gox assets to sort this hacking mess out. I personally believe there is still more pain to be had in the crypto markets before things get better.
- Google announced today that they are unbanning crypto/blockchain related ads from verified companies on their platform. This is a big deal for mass adoption.
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