NFL Breakout Players of 2011, Plus Potential 2012 Breakouts

Royster and Helu could give Washington the running game to compete in the NFC East next season.

There are a number of different ways that an NFL player can become an impact player for his team. Many are acquired through the draft and thrust into a starting role, while some may need to work their way through the depth chart, only seeing the field when a hole opens via trade or injury. Some just flat out show their abilities and leave the coaches no choice but to keep putting them out on the field.

The 2011 season provided great examples for all these scenarios: rookies playing phenomenally from the get go, players making “the jump” in their second or third year, and seasoned veterans finally breaking through. [Read more...]

Fantasy Football Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups and Advice

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If you’re still playing in Week 17, I have a couple thoughts to share with you.

First off, congratulations!

Second, what the hell are you thinking?

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Fantasy Football Week 15 Waiver Wire Pickups and Advice

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I don’t know about you, but I thoroughly enjoyed Week 14.

No, I didn’t make the playoffs in all of my leagues, but I did get to enjoy a couple of Week 14 byes, and my teams that did play meaningful Week 14 games all did well.

Sure, it all could come crashing down this week, but I’m going to spend a few extra minutes studying stats and trends and matchups to ensure that I put myself in the best possible position for victory.

And it all starts with analyzing the waiver wire to see if there are any players out there who may be able to help me out now that the fantasy pressure is racheted up to its highest levels.

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Fantasy Football Week 14 Start em, Sit em Advice, Projections, and Lineup Q&A

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Week 14 is here.

For some of you, that means you have a team (or hopefully teams) on bye this week. If so, major kudos to you.

For others of you, Week 14 means that it’s the first week of the playoffs. If so, good luck, and hopefully the advice in this post will help you move on.

For others, Week 14 is the last week of your regular season. Maybe you’ve clinched a playoff spot or maybe you’re still scratching and clawing for one. Regardless, hopefully we can do you and your lineup some good with our picks in this week’s start em, sit em.

And for some of you this may be your first week without fantasy football – if your playoffs start this week and you did not make it; but if that’s the case, why would you be reading this?

Alas, if you’re here, you are looking for help in Week 14. And you’re in luck, because that is exactly what you’re about to get.

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Fantasy Football Week 14 Waiver Wire Pickups and Advice

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Unless your league is crazy and plays in Week 17 (which, make no mistake, is crazy), this week is either the final one of the regular season or the first week of the playoffs.  Consequently, it’s not a time to get too cute by picking up obscure free agents and plugging them into your lineup.

Quite frankly, I’m not sure any of these guys are plug and play options, but if you’re in a pinch and looking at the waiver wire for potential help this week or depth down the stretch, here are a few guys you might be considering.

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Fantasy Football Week 13 Waiver Wire Advice and Pickups

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With the fantasy playoffs just around the corner, every week is critical.

Unfortunately, at this point in the season there aren’t too many gems left out on the waiver wire with the exception of those who gain value because of injury.

Still, there are a handful of players out there who just might put you over the top based on their recent play, favorable matchups, or both.

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Fantasy Football Week 12 Waiver Wire Advice and Pickups

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With bye weeks now a thing of the past, fantasy owners have one less thing to worry about as the playoff push begins.  However, it’s also a great time to start looking ahead to identify guys who can help you during the fantasy playoffs and to pick them up while you can.

This week we’ll look at not only guys who can help in the short-term but also those who may pay dividends when it matters most.

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7 Things We Learned This Weekend

Jermaine Gresham, after establishing possession, gets his second foot down. (Cincinnait Enquirer/Jeff Swinger)

Happy Muppets week.

Last week, I was critical of the Disney Channel Original Movie Geek Charming. A few hours after the article posted, I got an e-mail notification that someone named Robin Palmer was following me on Twitter. It turns out that Robin Palmer wrote the novel, Geek Charming, on which the movie was based.

So now I feel bad. For what it’s worth, my wife, Ashlee, enjoyed Geek Charming and was upset that I panned it.

Anyway. Here’s what we learned this weekend.

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Fantasy Football Week 8 Waiver Wire Advice and Pickups

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Yesterday was a brutal Sunday in the NFL, both in terms of injuries and the quality of play.  With so many prominent fantasy players banged up and six more teams on bye in Week Eight (Atlanta, Chicago, Green Bay, New York Jets, Oakland, and Tampa Bay), the waiver wire will once again be a popular destination.

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Fantasy Football Week 5 Start Em, Sit Em: Start/Sit Picks, Player Projections, and Week 5 Lineup Advice

cam-newton

Injuries!

Andre Johnson is gone.  Ben Roethlisberger is banged up.  Miles Austin is on the mend.  Marques Colston is back, but when will he get on track?

With the bye weeks now here, the time has come when fantasy leagues are truly won and lost.  If you drafted well, and got a little lucky, you should be near the top of the standings.  But nobody can ever completely escape the injury bug.  Managing your lineup properly when byes and injuries attack is what separates the good owners from the great ones.

So let’s look at the Week Five games and decide who to start and who to sit this week.

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Fantasy Football Week 5 Waiver Wire Advice: Crabtree, Cruz, Cook, Casey, Kendall Hunter, and many more

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The first quarter of the season seems to have flown by, and Week Four brought a new wave of unlikely fantasy scorers like Jed Collins, Craig Stevens, and Jake Ballard.  Hell, even Tarvaris Jackson put up solid fantasy numbers, lending credibility to any rumors that the apocalypse is near.

Six teams (Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Miami, St. Louis, and Washington) have a bye in Week Five, so many fantasy owners will be hitting the waiver wire in search of one week rentals to fill out their rosters while others are trying to fill holes created by injuries or ineffectiveness.

As always, the players listed here are owned in less than 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues.

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Fantasy Football Week 4 Start Em, Sit Em Picks, Player Projections, and Lineup Advice

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Week Three is over, and you are probably wondering one thing: How is a guy that’s giving such great advice 0-3 in his own fantasy league?

I wish I knew…injuries have just killed me…and I’ve lost each week by an average of 1.2 points. Just heartbreaking.

Some of you are probably in the same boat as me. Even if you aren’t, it’s the time in the fantasy football season when leagues are won and lost. Now is when we have to start making the tough calls.

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Fantasy Football Week 4 Wavier Wire Advice: Hasselbeck, Hunter, Hardesty, Nelson, Washington, and more

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With injuries mounting and bye weeks looming, the quality of your bench is about to be put to the test.  As you look ahead to the second month of the season, here are some notable players owned in fewer than 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues, our waiver wire advice for Fantasy Football Week 4.

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Fantasy Football Week 3 Start Em, Sit Em Advice, Player Projections, and Lineup Q&A

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Week Three is here, and hopefully you aren’t 0-2. Don’t worry, it’s still not panic time…but it very well could be time to shake some things up. As always, let’s recap last week’s predictions before looking ahead.

Because we at MSF try our best to get you our Start Em, Sit Em picks before everyone else, we have to take a few chances. One of the downsides to coming out with these picks on Tuesday is that we won’t know all of the injury updates that come out later in the week. We answer your questions and update our predictions accordingly as more information comes out.

However, a few predictions didn’t pan out this week because of injuries (either during the game, or because guys with nagging injuries didn’t end up suiting up on Sunday)…so out of fairness to me, we are going to throw out Michael Vick, Felix Jones, and Dez Bryant.

So besides those guys who caught the injury bug, I went 29 out of 46 overall…a little under 65%. I improved from week one…and that’s exactly what you should try to do from week to week in fantasy.

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Fantasy Football Week 2 Start Em, Sit Em Lineup Advice, Projections, and Roster Q&A

tony_romo-fantasy-football-week-3-start-em-sit-em-projections-lineup-advice

[Editor's note: this was originally published on September 13th, but I'm bringing back to the front of the site for easy Sunday morning access.]

If there is one word of advice I could give you before week two of your fantasy league this year, it would be this: “Don’t overreact. Panic time doesn’t hit until week 4.”

Every player is due to have a bad week or two; and luckily for Jamaal Charles and Adrian Peterson owners, they already got one of theirs out of the way.

Does that mean that we should take nothing from week one? Of course not. It’s possibly time to drop Colts’ players not named Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark.

But don’t go scrambling for Cam Newton just yet.

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