If you haven't taken your shot in the 2022 Footballguys Players Championship, what are you waiting for? You only have a few days to make 2022 your year and win life-changing money. Remember that fantasy managers are chasing a $500,000 grand prize in drafts going off daily, and I have a front-row seat for all the action as one of the online facilitators of these drafts. If any of the drafters have a connection issue, cannot get into the draft room or experiences any other obstacles in making their picks, I am there in the draft room to assist. In this piece, I want to share a few things I have noticed while monitoring these drafts over the last few days of drafting season.
Are high-stakes fantasy players buying into Nyheim Hines’ hype man Frank Reich?
Hines is a semi-polarizing player, despite his head coach’s ringing endorsement of him. If you recall, earlier this summer, Reich said he’d draft Hines in fantasy football. (Imagine if he was talking about standard leagues and not full-PPR. Hines could be a gold mine! But I digress.) In this series, I’ve tried to hammer home that high-stakes fantasy football players LOVE drafting pass-catching running backs. So, shouldn’t Hines’ ADP be inflated?
When Reich made that statement, Hines as an early 13th-round pick. After? He spiked all the way up to the late 10th-round. The FPC drafters are nothing if not reactionary, right? Since then, Hines has been on a slow rise—more of a plateau, actually—even continuing to move up now. Right now, he settled in at the nine/10 turn, but he did go in the late seventh round in the Labor Day Weekend Draft-A-Thon supporting one of Footballguys co-founder Joe Bryant’s favorite charities the Knoxville Dream Center. When you draft him this week, be prepared that you may not get him at ADP when the “Get-Your-Guys" mentality takes over. Remember, it only takes ONE GM in your draft to like Hines better than you to ensure you won’t get him.
Where are we on this summer’s hottest joyride, the Treylon Burks Roller Coaster?
Has anyone been more fascinating to follow since the pre-NFL Draft process than Burks? Many analysts considered him the top receiver in the draft earlier in the calendar year. Then he had the lackluster showing in minicamp, followed by running with the third- and fourth-string Titans in the preseason. To cap it all off, we all saw Dan Graziano’s report that Tennessee still has a major role for Burks this year. So, what are high-stakes players doing with him now, with the last bit of information in on him before the season starts?
While he spiked in early June as a seventh-round selection, Burks then fell all the way to the 11th about two weeks ago. Since then, he has made a steady ascent back to relevance as solidly in the ninth round. I saw him go in the early-eighth round a couple of days ago, too. Is he a league-winner? My guess is no, but some high-stakes players are definitely believers.
Based on recent news, who is a player to watch in the next week?
Historically, as we get closer to the start of the season, an interesting phenomenon occurs to some players who are either hurt or recovering from injury. While the normal expectation is that these players’ ADP will rise, sometimes it actually falls. For instance, it’s much easier to stomach DeAndre Hopkins' suspension or Jameson Williams' surgical recovery in May because—let's face it—the start of the season seems so far off.
Now that we are only days from the start of the season, those recovering players suddenly look a little less desirable. But the positive news out of Dallas and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has prevented Michael Gallup from dropping. In fact, in mid-August, he was a late 13th-round pick. But with reports stating that he’s very close and hitting every target in his rehab, he’s climbed up. I saw Gallup go in the late eighth and early ninth rounds over Labor Day weekend. Sure, he may start slow (he’s already out for Week 1), but if the Cowboys' offense is truly elite, he should be ready to go at full strength when the bye-week gauntlet begins for you.
Thanks for reading, everyone. See you in the Footballguys Players Championship draft rooms this final week!
Eric Balkman is an online commissioner for live Footballguys Players Championship drafts at MyFFPC.com. He is also the host and producer of The High Stakes Fantasy Football Hour, the RotoViz High-Stakes Lowdown, and the FFPC Live Best Ball Coverage shows broadcast on all FFPC media outlets. Balkman is also part of the original group of talent selected for the Bettor Sports Network that launched on August 29, 2022, as he hosts The High Stakes Fantasy Football Show there.
