It's the penultimate week in the RotoWire Expert Championship and there was a seismic shift in the leader board.
Tate McIntyre (tamc10) flipped spots on the leader board with Shannon McKeown (rotoshannon) at first and third place. Despite a 15th place (146.16) showing in Week 15, McKeown was able to leapfrog from third to first as McIntyre slumped last week by finishing 35th out of 38 with 104.96 points.
Josh Collacchi (JCollacchi) moved up from fifth place to second place overall as he won Week 15 with 188.06 points, less than three points better than Jason Brown, who sits at 13th place for the season.
For Week 15 Josh Colacchi rode the wave of Arizona RB David Johnson who piled up 42.9 points with a salary of $6,500. He was also helped by Washington TE Jordan Reedwho collected 23.9, a nice sum at tight end to go along with the recent stalwart Seattle QB Russell Wilson, who had 26.56 points, while Atlanta WR Julio Jones bounced back nicely with 22.3 points.
Poor running back production destroyed my Week 15 as Minnesota RB Adrian Petersonsuffered an injury and put up only 6.3 points while ditto for San Diego RB Melvin Gordon who saw his disappointing rookie campaign end with only 5.2 points.
Many of you have probably seen your fantasy football season come to an end and are looking on the outside of your fantasy league championship or your favorite NFL team is no longer in playoff contention. You can still head over the FanDuel to get some fantasy action for Week 16.
And there is sure to be more movement this week in the RotoWire Expert Championship. You can also follow along with the full leaderboard.
1. Shannon McKeown (rotoshannon) - 1,912.06
2. Josh Collacchi (JCollacchi) - 1,896.62
3. Tate McIntyre (tamc10) - 1,892.78
4. Joel Bartilotta (joelbartilotta) - 1,872.96
5. Peter Merrill (black26) - 1,870.68
6. Peter Schoenke (rotopeter) - 1,866.08
7. Jeff Stotts (RotowireATC) - 1,830.06
8. Chris Smith (smithca28) - 1,827.02
9. Adam Wolf (rotosomething) - 1,822.30
10. Ed Kensik (chicagoed) - 1,819.42
While Week 17 is derided for its unpredictability as most playoff spots are usually secured, Week 16 might be as difficult to predict with several teams already looking to 2016. And there are notoriously a couple of players who come out of the blue for a team that is playing for 2016 that will hurt you week.
Value Picks
QBRyan Fitzpatrick: New York vs. New England
Price: $7,700
This is a tricky play which could go either way. New England's offense could be at full gear, but the Jets defense could make this a low-scoring game. Fitzpatrick registered 20.7 points in the first contest with the Patriots, but he has shown to have better output at home at MetLife Stadium. There is a good bet that the Jets will be playing from behind and they will have to abandon the run game to throw to WR Brandon Marshalland WR Eric Deckeralong with RB Bilal Powell.
RBChristine Michael: Seattle vs. St. Louis
Price: $5,500
It appears that Seattle might have settled on Michael to replace RB Thomas Rawls who was lost for the season and there still is no sign of RB Marshawn Lynch at least for Week 16. Michael ran 16 times for 84 yards, but missed out on a touchdown last week as he generated. In the past four weeks St. Louis's defense ranks near the bottom of the NFL. The Seahawks will most likely have an early lead and lean on Michael to pile up the yards and should hit the end zone.
WRGolden Tate: Detroit vs. San Francisco
Price: $6,700
For Detriot WR Calvin Johnson has not been the Megatron of old especially in the last couple of weeks where he's a little more than two points each week. In addition Johnson is questionable with an ankle injury. Taking over for Megatron has been Tate who has been averaging almost 22 points per week that included a pair of touchdowns each week. Tate actually might be helped with Johnson playing on Sunday against the 49ers since defenses still concentrate their efforts against Johnson.
TE Zac Miller: Chicago @ Tampa Bay
Price: $5,600
Miller had a disappointing Week 15 with only 8.7 points against the Vikings. The news though that top Bears WR Alshon Jeffrey is doubtful to play Tampa Bay gives a boost to Miller. Chicago QB Jay Cutlerwill need to throw the ball and Miller is one of the top targets if not the top target. Tampa Bay has allowed 28 receiving touchdowns this season so Miller has a chance at a touchdown or two.
High Risk/High Reward
QBBlake Bortles: Jacksonville @ New Orleans
Price: $8,200
Bortles is not the highest priced quarterback that would go to Carolina QB Cam Newtonat $9,300. Newton might be a good pick-up and reliable one at that although there is a good chance that the Panthers will be ahead against an Atlanta team that is looking to 2016. Bortles is probably one of most obvious pickups since they go against one of the worst passing defenses in New Orleans. The Saints rushing defense is as bad as its passing defense, but both Jaguars top RBs T. J. Yeldon and Denard Robinson are banged up. The Jaguars best players are on the passing game be it WR Allen Robinson, WR Allen Hurns or TE Julius Thomas.
RBDoug Martin: Tampa Bay vs. Chicago
Price: $8,100
One of the few incentives outside of winning out is for Tampa Bay to hand the rushing title to Martin. Martin is only behind Minnesota RB Adrian Peterson by nine yards, 1,314 to 1,305 and a Tampa Bay running back has never won a rushing title in the almost 40 years of the franchise. The Bucs are mainly a running team so the Bears defense will get a heavy dose of Martin. The Bears have allowed 125.9 yards rushing per game, the seventh most in the league.
TERob Gronkowski: New England @ New York Jets
Price: $8,200
If you have some money leftover or if you want a rock solid/consistent pick up, Gronkowski is your man. He has averaged a little more than 16 points a week for the last three weeks and registered 22 points (his best output in a single week this season) against the Jets earlier in the season with 11 catches for 108 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Player To Avoid
RBDevonta Freeman: Atlanta vs. Carolina
Price: $8,500
Despite the Atlanta win last week and Freeman bouncing back for 19.6 points against the Jaguars, the Falcons top back does not have an appetizing contest against a stiff Carolina defense that you would think would have pride this week after giving up 35 points to the Giants. Most of the yardage for the Giants came via the pass after New York was down by 28 points. In the first contest with Carolina, Freeman only accumulated 5.7 points.