A-town Roosters - Footballguys.com team analysis

QB: Robert Griffin III, Jay Cutler
RB: Doug Martin, Darren Sproles, Eddie Lacy, Andre Brown
WR: A.J. Green, Pierre Garcon, T.Y. Hilton, Josh Gordon, Justin Blackmon
TE: Jimmy Graham, Jermaine Gresham
PK: Stephen Gostkowski

Overview:

In a competitive league, almost every team has a weakness. It's almost impossible to build a team that is strong at all three core positions (quarterback, running back and wide receiver). As you probably suspect, we perceive your weakness to be at the quarterback position. Of all the deficiencies to have though, this is usually the easiest one to mask.

Footballguys owner David Dodds even recommends you go into your draft with the goal of landing the top RBs and WRs while waiting to grab QBs late. Value-Based Drafting principles also suggest that teams constructed in this manner end up being strong. But for this team to reach it's full potential, you might need to have a quick trigger finger at the QB position and stay on the look out for good quarterback help. Last year Russell Wilson and Andrew Luck could be had very cheap in August and September, but ended up contributing to a lot of fantasy championships. In 2011 it was Cam Newton; in 2010 it was Michael Vick and Josh Freeman; in 2008, the same could be said of players like Aaron Rodgers, Kurt Warner, and Matt Cassel. Quarterbacks like these can be found every year, and that could be the key to your team's success.

So although this team isn't perfect (few are), it should still be a strong contender.

Players we particularly like on this team include Andre Brown, Jermaine Gresham, Eddie Lacy, and Justin Blackmon. We have all these guys ranked ahead of where they are typically being drafted.

Bottom line:
With great inseason management, we think you have about a 99 percent chance of making the playoffs.
With good inseason management, we think you have about a 99 percent chance of making the playoffs.
With average inseason management, we think you have a 90 percent chance of making the playoffs.

QB Summary:

We have Robert Griffin III rated #9 among quarterbacks, which makes him a viable starter if not an exciting one. Jay Cutler, our #17 quarterback, should be solid as a backup, but we're not sure if he can hold down the fort as a starter if circumstances force him to be one.

Incidentally, these two have a terrific combined schedule and a decent playoff schedule too. If you simply played the one with the better matchup each week, this is the schedule you'd face:
PHI | MIN | DET | OAK | NO | NYG | WAS | DEN | SD | MIN | PHI | STL | MIN | KC | CLE | PHI

A quick note about the Griffin III/Pierre Garcon hookup you've got here: while we think the effect of the quarterback/receiver hookup has largely been exaggerated in fantasy football circles, it does have a tendency to make your team somewhat more inconsistent than comparable scoring duos from different NFL teams. But if you like the players at both ends of the connection, we do not see any need to make a change because of it.

RB Summary:

Your starting running back group is a strength, particularly Doug Martin as a top running back. Our projections have Martin ranked second and Darren Sproles ranked 18th.

Your bench also looks good. Eddie Lacy looks great as a third running back; he's a likely flex starter.

Andre Brown is an excellent depth pick, though you may not end up using him much.

As we mentioned earlier, the QB/receiver hookup tends to make your team a little more inconsistent. But that's not the case with the Sproles/Jimmy Graham pair you've got here. Though the effect is probably negligible, this kind of pairing is likely to make your team more consistent if anything. See this article (which was written before the 2008 season) for more discussion.

WR Summary:

Your starting receiver group is a strength, particularly A.J. Green as a top receiver. Green is our second ranked WR, and we have Pierre Garcon at #22.

Your bench also looks good. T.Y. Hilton should be a good third receiver. Josh Gordon should also be solidly above average at WR4. We love Justin Blackmon as a fifth receiver.

Note that the above "thoughts" were generated by David Dodds's projections. Others have different takes:

Some of our staffers have Pierre Garcon as high as #14, which would make him an above average second receiver. Sigmund Bloom's take: "It's definitely worrisome that Garcon did not have foot surgery this offseason because it wasn't assured of doing more to help him this year than rest. On the other hand, Garcon produced like a low WR1 through the injury last year, and one would think that a full offseason of rest would put him at a higher level of play than he was at during the second half of 2012. If he is even at 80-90% of normal and stays on the field, Garcon will be a strong WR2."

Some of our staffers have T.Y. Hilton as high as #20, which would make him a great third receiver and even a legitimate WR2. Matt Waldman's take: "I love Hilton's game and if not for the inexplicable addition of Darius Heyward-Bey, I still don't see Heyward-Bey as a threat, but I also didn't see him as a viable starter for the past two years and the Raiders kept trotting him out there and giving fantasy owners chances to drink the doctored Kool-Aid. By August, barring a break-down in Colts coaching sanity, I hope Hilton will be in my top 25 at the position. Unfortunately, he's going too high in drafts that I'm in and I can't tolerate taking him as my WR2 just yet in PPR leagues. In yardage-touchdown leagues, I might be more inclined to risk it. "

Josh Gordon is ranked #17 by some of our writers, which would make him a great fourth receiver and even a legitimate WR2. Matt Waldman reasons, "Gordon would have been my top receiver off the board in the 2013 NFL Draft if his career played out without issue. I don't blame Cleveland one bit for making that clear this spring. the only thing holding Gordon back from WR1 production is quarterback play. It appears the Browns have given Brandon Weeden a vote of confidence or as strange as it seems, think Thaddeus Lewis has potential to compete for the job. either way, Gordon is the WR1 in Cleveland and should benefit form a Norv Turner play-action game. How much is up to the improvement of the QB. I suspect he'll fall to WR3 range in many drafts, which makes him a bargain if he only misses those two games from the suspension. "

TE Summary:

As you are well aware, Jimmy Graham is an elite tight end. We have him ranked first overall at the position. He's about 3.9 points per game better than an average starting TE in this league. Jermaine Gresham is a nice backup.

Kicker Summary:

With Stephen Gostkowski, you should be above average at the position.