FAABulous Football Week 1: Guess Who’s Back
Welcome to Week 1
Steph is back, back again for what is my fourth year writing my FAABulous Football waiver column and a third year here at Legendary Upside.
There is no offseason for fantasy football fanatics anymore… yes, if you are reading this it most likely applies to you. We all are playing in way too early contests and have portfolios full of hundreds of fantasy teams under our belts already this year, and if you don't, welcome and you soon will.
Now we are ready for the next chapter of the season. Here is where the real hard work begins. Say goodbye to the laissez faire attitude you took with your best ball drafts, and get ready to get down and dirty with managing the teams you drafted and start grinding those waiver wires friends!
Yes, I might be slightly sick in the head that I actually enjoy getting into the nitty gritty of waivers, where most get bored with the tedious monotony of it all. However, you know what is fun and not at all boring…. Winning.
I promise you can win and lose your league via the waiver wire. You don’t need to have the perfect draft, you can gain a leg up on your opponents if you are willing to put in the work.
I am here to help you remain steadfast on your journey and motivate you to keep taking those upside shots while you churn the backend of your roster for what feels like eternity. All this work in the pursuit of microedges over your opponents, while hoping and praying to discover some buried treasure… the true diamond in the rough.
My FAABulous Football waiver column for those of you who are new, is not just your typical waiver column. It is a high stakes strategy guide that is centered around FFPC and can be used for other high stakes leagues like NFFC, and deeper formats; such as, dynasty as well.
I also include a section of waiver advice for those who play in more typical home redraft leagues. Each week I will look at players owned less than 60% in ESPN leagues and rank out in order my favorite waiver pickups broken down by position, this will be starting next week.
Every week I recap real teams with real bids made, for better and worse and report the results to you. I chronicle the journey of all the Ship Chasing high stakes teams throughout the season, which many of you are invested in after watching these streamed drafts. I also will include a couple of my other teams in these recaps.
This week is going to be a bit shorter, as I focus on some advice on the preseason waiver run before the games start in the high stake streets.
All stats and data for this article are pulled from Fantasy Life, PFF, and Stealing Signals, unless documented otherwise.
A Sneak Peek at High Stakes Football on FFPC
The Main Event is FFPC’s flagship high stakes tournament with a 2.2k buy in and million dollar top prize, there is a maximum of 4500 entries, consisting of both online and live drafters. There are also a Big Gorilla $350 and Little Gorilla $150 contests that follow the same rules, but different prizes and entrant numbers. All these contests are the definition of top heavy, so swinging for the fences is a must. One final reminder, FFPC is full PPR scoring and is TEP… people forget.
The FFPC season is broken down into three parts; Weeks 1-12 regular season(H2H matchups and one all play week), Weeks 13-14 league playoffs, and Weeks 15-17 championship round aka the sprint.
The top two seeds from each draft ( best record and most points) automatically advance to the sprint.
The third and fourth seeded teams can win a spot if they win the league championship in weeks 13-14.
Once teams are in the sprint it is cumulative scoring from weeks 15-17 in addition to your regular season total points average to decide the winner.
One other unique aspect of these FFPC drafts is there are teams that draft after the Wednesday and Thursday games.
That is where the ability to “sneak a peek” comes in to level the playing field. All managers have the ability to retroactively set their lineup with players from these games. You can choose to start or sit these players after watching them play. You can also drop them if you choose and churn them before the Sunday games on the waiver wire.
This makes any players available from Wednesday night Patriots and Seahawks and Thursday night 49ers and Rams especially appealing, including defense and kicker if you choose. There are a lot of strategy edges you can maximize to your advantage depending on your roster and league here if you want to get sneaky.
The first waiver wire runs Wednesday September 9 at 10 AM EST, this is the only time the Wednesday waiver run will be in the morning, so don’t forget!
Now, let’s preview the teams we will be following this year.
The Ship Chasing and Bonus Teams
Framemoggers (Ship Chasers MinisodesDraft) 6/18
This draft was the taped slow draft from the Ship Chasing gang drafted way back in June, wow how things have changed. The guys drafted from the 8 hole with a 2 RB start, Christian McCaffrey over Jonathan Taylor and Kenneth Walker over James Cook. Double WR and TE with the duck footed king, Harold Fanin, felt a bit more familiar. The guys got Jonathan Brooks at a value, if you look at ADP now. Travis Hunter CLV stings a bit, as does some of the late RB darts, but with Christian McCaffrey holding it down, we will be all good.
Looksmaxxers (Ship Chasers First Live Draft) 7/15
This team was the Ship Chasers first live draft of the season...in the middle of the afternoon. The boys drafted out of the 6 and were handed a WR Jaxson Smith-Njigba start, which felt like an easy decision with Brock Bowers off the board. Saquon Barkley fell to a point where you had to take him in the second round, even though he is far from a brand pick. Following that pick up with Breece Hall brought it back. This is the second draft that the crew took Nick Singleton over Mike Washington, but hey at least they avoided James Conner... we knew much less back then.
ASU Frat Leader (Ron Stewart) 8/12
Who can forget the draft with Ron Stewart from the 4 spot, where the guys did not hesitate to get their first Brock Bowers share for the year. AJ Brown over Derrick Henry, and 2 out of first 3 RBs are rookies...Ship Chasing feels back! Then the most dramatic moment of the drafting season occurred, after taking Stefon Diggs in the 9th round, the team was auto-drafted Trevor Lawrence. They asked for a commissioner roll back, there was video evidence that they did not time out on Stefon Diggs and should not have been on auto. The result, justice prevailed and they were able to select Jordan Addison, who had also been snap picked by the team after them.
The Ascendants (Shawn Siegele and Ben Gretch) 8/19
This team with Shawn and Gretch was from the 12 spot. They started with Ceedee Lamb and went double TE with Trey McBride and Tyler Warren. Then they took Jeremiyah Love as their first RB, followed by Bucky Irving and a plethora more RBs. These guys pushed out WR and took several late shots, which is a big change in strategy from years past.
Jestermaxxers (ADP Chasing) 8/25
The ADP Chasing team had Schopp at the helm trying to wrangle all the guys in to focus on a plan. They drafted out of the 5 hole and went with slam dunk Puka Nacua after Brock Bowers was off the board at 4. The guys decided to live a little and took a big swing on Malik Nabers over AJ Brown, Drake London, and Nico Collins, but the real value was the Big Dog, Derrick Henry, in the 3rd... Awooo!
Cortisol Spikers (My team) 8/26
Here it is the team you have all been waiting for my main event, which is available to Ship Chasing members. We drafted from the 12 spot, without Pete. I came in with a plan and got shut down after learning Pat Kerrane did not think any of the likely running backs fit the Legendary Upside criteria. We opted for double WR start with Ceedee Lamb and Justin Jefferson. We got the dream runout coming back to us with both Jeremiyah Love and Breece Hall being there on the turn, followed by 5th round Harold Fannin. The 8th round is where we lost the plot a bit, I really wanted a RB, but somehow we ended up with DK Metcalf, which led to more bad decisions. I still like the team, but I could have loved it!
Crankular (CrakRok) 8/27
This is always one of my favorite streams of the year with Mr. CrakRok and this year did not disappoint. The team got 4 pick and another Puka Nacua share, this time over Brock Bowers. This felt like the right decision after Trey McBride came back in round 2. This team pushed RB a bit further and landed on a trio of D'Andre Swift, Bucky Iving, and Treyveon Henderson, which felt better before the ankle injury. Later in the draft it felt like everyone got what they wanted, the guys went to the Strib club, Davis got Terrance Ferguson, Kerrane got Drake Maye, and CrakRok ended with another TE... Charlie Kolar.
Stat Chads (Stat Chasing) 8/31
The new Stat Chasing crew made their streaming debut drafting a main event team live, and let me tell you the chat hated this team. From audio issues to technical difficulties the boys handled every bump like seasoned pros. They drafted out of the 3 hole and did not hesitate to pull up Brock Browers. There was one point where the guys timed out, and I was scared for a repeat of another auto draft nightmare and jumped in to turn off auto. I'm excited to see how this one plays out this season.
Bonesmashers (Sam Sherman) 9/3
This is Ship Chasing's most recent draft with BBM champ, Sam Sherman from the 9 spot. The guys locked up their first Jonathan Taylor share followed by another Trey McBride share. It was pretty funny to watch Sam be forced to take players he hates, as we all know he has some strong convictions. Ultimately, I think they landed the plane well and wrapped up their final Main Event draft (aside from the spite draft) well.
Subhuman (Spite Draft) 9/2
I thought including this team would be a fun way too judge all the guys and I can't wait to see who prevails. This one is included for your viewing pleasure only, here is the board with Jakob Sanderson at pick 5, Pete Overzet at pick 8, Davis Mattek at pick 10, and Jakob Sanderson at pick 5.
5K Big Payback (Mike Leone and Ben Gretch) 9/8
This team will be drafted live on Tuesday, probably after the article is out. I will be sure to give a recap next week.
Big Gorilla (Cos and Steph) 6/28
This is my Big Gorilla draft I drafted with Nick Costantino from the "Go Bills" trio who won back to back main event championships. We drafted out of the 7 spot and started with Brock Bowers and got Kenneth Walker to fall back in round 2. Then we doubled up on WR with Zay Flowers and Tee Higgins. I am a little worried about taking Jordyn Tyson on this one, but luckily we took a shot on Stefon Diggs, before he signed with the Patriots. Ultimately, I am very pleased with how this team turned out, LFG!
T's and P's Guillotine League (Waiver Queen) 9/4
This is the guillotine league hosted by Pete Overzet and Tony Squares that I drafted on stream last Friday. I thought it would be fun to talk some waiver strategy for guillotine league as well this season. These drafts always feel so gross so fast, but the waiver strategy is huge. Did I mention I am the defending champ and won this league last year.
Scott Fish Bowl Dallas Lives (Sonya Blade) 7/19
This is my Scott Fish Bowl team I drafted in Dallas at a live event. If you are unfamiliar with the Scott Fish Bowl league it is a charity invite only league where you play against many other fantasy football industry people. The scoring is always changing and unique. This year there are no position, and TEs are given very premium scoring, along with any players who can make big plays. This league has more options available on the waiver wire, a bit closer to those you could find in your home redraft leagues and is a nice way to give more strategy advice here.
Week 1 Waiver Priorities for FFPC
Below are all the players I like for Week 1 for FFPC leagues. I break down all players into tiers with FAAB suggestions and player analysis.
Please note these tiers are not ranked in order as the players I like best, but are the players I expect you to get within these price ranges.
Week 1 preseason waiver run prices are most highly correlated with ADP in main event drafts. This means the earlier a player is going in drafts the more expensive they will be on waivers. While this may seem like common sense, note in future weeks there is much more data to influence drafters decisions and opinions… recency bias is one hell of a drug.
