Today, I thought I would teach everyone how to spot lopsided fantasy football trades in your league as we all know they tend to get accepted / proposed by fantasy football “rookie” managers from time to time.

One of the main reason you need to be able to spots these types of trades is the fact that they can make the “winning” team in the trade overly dominate in your fantasy football league. Another reason you need to be aware of these unfair fantasy football trades is the fact that they make the trade for one week and then the next week they trade back their fantasy football players. usually this is due to helping each other out with their bye weeks.

The example that I’m going to use today as our lopsided fantasy football trade is one that was proposed by a “rookie” team manager (one to three years experience in fantasy sports) and accepted by a “veteran” team manager (three to five years experience in fantasy sports) in a league that I am currently participating in just after Week 2 concluded in our 2008 fantasy football season. This traded was vetoed by me as well as enough owners to block the trade.

The Trade Details

Team A (Rookie Manager) sends the following players to Team B (Veteran Manager):

Carson Palmer (Cin - QB) | Chad Johnson (Cin - WR) | Robert Royal (Buf - TE)

Team B (Veteran Manager) sends the following players to Team A (Rookie Manager):

Pierre Thomas (NO - RB) | Michael Pittman (Den - RB) | James Jones (GB - WR)

Why This Lopsided Trade Was Proposed

Do you have an idea on why this fantasy football trade was proposed? Well, lets analyze the Year To Date stats for each player so far during the 2008 NFL season.

I can see why this rookie manager thought it was a good trade merely based on points. Based on the points alone, he was getting three fantasy football players that have outscored the players that he was giving up. Actually, Pittman alone has scored more points so far than his three players combined. But, you can’t just base this trade on two weeks of stats alone. Some players are known to start the season slow due to them not playing much during the preseason to avoid injuries and thus they’re out of sync with your teammates. Plus, you have to base the trade on what these players have done in the past.

Why This Is A Lopsided Trade

So why do I consider this a lopsided trade and why did I veto the trade? Well lets analyze the Three Year Average stats for each player.

After reviewing the three year averages of these six players, you can see that clearly Team A was giving up way too much in this trade. Chad Johnson alone has averaged more fantasy points during the last three years than all of the fantasy football players combined from Team B. The numbers that Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson have averaged over the last three years are Pro Bowl type numbers. What else should this rookie manager have considered?

Additional Facts To Consider

Something else fantasy football managers can research are the roster depth charts for each NFL team. This will show you exactly where these players are ranked on their team’s depth chart. For instance, using the link above you can see that Carson Palmer is #1 QB for Cincinnati, Chad Johnson is the #1 WR for Cincinnati while James Jones is the #3 WR for Green Bay, Michael Pittman is the #3 RB for Denver and Pierre Thomas is the #2 RB for New Orleans. If you’re not the #1 starter for a team, it’s very unlikely that a #2 to #5 player is going to outscore a #1 player unless that #1 player gets injured.

Conclusion

It’s important for everyone to really research their trades that they are about to accept so they can be sure they are trading for players that will actually help their fantasy football team. Also, if after reviewing the trade you still are not sure whether it’s a beneficial trade for you, feel free to consult other managers in your league that are willing to help you out.

It’s important for league managers to make sure lopsided trades do not impact the league in a negative way as you risk damaging the league and having majority of the managers not be interested in finishing out the fantasy football season. This is not fun at all! Keep this in mind the next time you’re about to accept a trade; make sure it’s actually the right move for you to make.

Woe is me! I imagine this is how a lot of fantasy football owners are feeling after Week 1 in the NFL as several of their key fantasy football players went down injured. So today, Fantasy Sports Dish will recap the major injuries of Week 1 in the NFL so that everyone knows what went down and how to regroup with their fantasy football team.

Key Injury #1 - Tom Brady

Tom Brady Tears ACL & MCL

I’m pretty sure there is not a single person around that does not already know that Tom Brady will miss the entire 2008 NFL season. However, just in case there is someone out there that does not know, here is what happened. Brady was forced to leave Sunday’s game against the Chiefs due to an apparent knee injury and he did not return to the game. Rumors were abundant after the game that Brady had an ACL tear along with a MCL tear and would thus miss the 2008 NFL season. The New England Patriots would not commit on the extent of his injuries except to say he was schedule for an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury.

On Monday, Brady was placed on injured reserve thus ending his 2008 season. Shortly thereafter, Eric Lander, a diehard Patriots fan, was heard screaming “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” after hearing the news. Due to how secretive the New England Patriots are, we STILL do not know what the actual knee injury was and probably will not know this for a while. However, the NFL Network’s Adam Schefter reported that Brady tore both his ACL and MCL on Sunday.

So What Does This Mean For Fantasy Football Owners?

Well for starters it was rumored that Tim Rattay and Chris Simms were scheduled to fly in for tryouts on Monday. However, upon arriving at the airport, both were told their services were no longer needed. So apparently the Patriots are going to stick with Matt Cassel for now as their quarterback. Either that, or there’s a trade in the works that could bring them a more proven quarterback. Also, this will affect the fantasy value of Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Laurence Maroney as Cassel is simply not Brady and does not have the poise Brady has during the game. Also, defenses will make Cassel try and beat them thus making Cassel force it more than Brady would. I doubt both Moss and Welker will be able to repeat their monster 2007 seasons with Cassel as their quarterback, but they still remain must starts.

Key Injury #2 - Marques Colston

Today, the Saints announced that Marques Colston was placed in a cast after having successful surgery to

Marques Colston Has Thumb Surgery

repair a torn ligament in his thumb. Colston was expected to have a big year after starting the year healthy; then today comes this news.

It’s being speculated that Colston was only going to miss up to four weeks, but now that he’s actually been placed in a cast it makes more sense that he’ll likely miss up to six weeks. Jacob Sloan was not happy about this as he had to spend his afternoon contemplating on who to pick up in Colston’s place as well as who to dump to make room for Colston’s replacement.

So What Does This Mean For Fantasy Football Owners?

First off, the Saints will pass 30 to 40 times per game so whomever takes over for Colston will be a good option. So with Colston out, that moves David Patten and Devery Henderson into the top 2 WR spots. However, the Saints are more likely to spread it around as they did in Week 1 as Colston was only targeted six times out of 32 pass attempts from Drew Brees. Reggie Bush and Jeremy Shockey’s values will increase as I’m sure they’ll get most of the looks from Brees. And for those of you in deeper fantasy football leagues, Robert Meachem is also an option for you.

Other Week 1 Notable Injuries

Vince Young - Another QB that was hurt on Sunday in Week 1 was Vince Young as he injured his knee during their win against Jacksonville. It was thought at first that he had torn his MCL, but it turns out that he only sprained it. Supposedly, he will be out 2-4 weeks.

Brodie Croyle - Apparently it was a bad day to be a QB in the NFL on Sunday as Croyle was the third QB to get hurt. Croyle left the third quarter with an apparent shoulder injury when he was thrown to the ground. It was later revealed that he suffered a separated shoulder and his injury is considered week to week.

Shawn Merriman - After trying to play hurt with a torn MCL and PCL, Merriman has decided to cut his season short and get the necessary surgery to repair his bum knee. This decision was based on him not “feeling right” on the field during Sunday’s game.

Drew Bennett - Looks like the Rams are in need of another WR2 as Bennett left the game on Sunday with an apparent knee injury. However, it was later revealed that he actually broke his metatarsal bone when his foot was caught in an awkward position after being tackled.

Nate Burleson - After leaving the game on Sunday in the third quarter with an apparent knee injury, a MRI later revealed that Burleson actually tore some ligaments in his left knee and is out for the 2008 season. Who can name the healthy WRs in Seattle now?

Mike Nugent - Nugent left early in the game on Sunday with a thigh injury, but due to the Jets not having another kicker on the roster he had to come in an attempt a FG and an extra point later on in the game. Currently, there’s no timetable on his return and the Jets have signed Jay Feely to kick while Nugent is out hurt.

And to think this was only Week 1! I wonder what lies ahead for all of us fantasy football owners as it does not look good. It’s time to go pickup some necessary handcuffs in your fantasy football leagues now!

Well as you know I had the last of my 3 fantasy football drafts for the 2008 season last night. For this fantasy football league we’re using FleaFlicker. It’s my first time using this website for any type of fantasy sports league. This is my smallest league out of the three of them. This league features only ten fantasy football teams. So after the draft, everyone seems pretty balanced due to it being a small fantasy football league. The only thing I hate about having three fantasy football leagues is that you are bound not the have the same players on each team. Thus, you’ll likely be pulling for a player on one team that may actually beat you on another team. That will frustrate you! But, what can you do?

So lets get down to it. Here are the roster and scoring settings for the league.

ROSTER SETTINGS

1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB/WR/TE, 1 K, 1 TM, 6 BENCH

SCORING SETTINGS

Passing

2 extra points when total Passing Completions is greater than or equal to 25
1 point for every 20 Passing Yards
1 extra point when total Passing Yards is greater than or equal to 300
2 points for every Two-Point Conversion Passing
4 points for every Passing TD
4 extra points for every Passing TD of 80 or more yards
2 extra points for every Passing TD between 40 and 79 yards (inclusive)
-2 points for every Interception

Rushing

2 extra points when total Rushing attempts is greater than or equal to 30
1 point for every 10 Rushing Yards
1 extra point when total Rushing Yards is greater than or equal to 150
2 points for every Two-Point Conversion Rushing
6 points for every Rushing TD
4 extra points for every Rushing TD of 80 or more yards
2 extra points for every Rushing TD between 40 and 79 yards (inclusive)

Receiving

2 extra points when total Catches is greater than or equal to 9
1 point for every 10 Receiving Yards
1 extra point when total Receiving Yards is greater than or equal to 150
2 points for every Two-Point Conversion Receiving
6 points for every Receiving TD
4 extra points for every Receiving TD of 80 or more yards
2 extra points for every Receiving TD between 40 and 79 yards (inclusive)

Kicking

3 points for every FG Made
3 extra points for every FG of 50 or more yards
1 extra point for every FG between 40 and 49 yards (inclusive)
1 point for every XP

Returning

6 points for every Kick Return TD
6 points for every Punt Return TD

Other

-1 point for every Fumble
-1 point for every Fumble Lost

Defense

1 point for every Solo Tackle
1 extra point when total Solo Tackles is greater than or equal to 15
2 points for every Interception
2 points for every Sack
2 points for every Fumble Forced
1 point for every Fumble Recovered
4 points for every Safety
6 points for every Defensive TD
4 extra points for every Defensive TD of 80 or more yards
2 extra points for every Defensive TD between 40 and 79 yards (inclusive)
-4 extra points when total Points Allowed is greater than or equal to 30
10 extra points when total Points Allowed is exactly 0
7 extra points when total Points Allowed is between 1 and 6 (inclusive)
4 extra points when total Points Allowed is between 7 and 13 (inclusive)
1 extra point when total Points Allowed is between 14 and 20 (inclusive)
-1 extra point when total Points Allowed is between 24 and 29 (inclusive)

And here is the team that I drafted!

DRAFT RESULTS

So which team do you think is my best fantasy football team for 2008; my FleaFlicker Fantasy Football Team, my Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football Team or my NFL.com Fantasy Football Team? Let me know!

I decided to go ahead and write a post for the 2008 Bye Weeks for fantasy football since there will be more drafts within the next couple of days as the season starts on Thursday. It will be crucial that you do not get multiple studs on the same bye week as well as making sure not to get your positional backups with the same bye weeks as your QB/RB/WR/TE/K/DEF players.

Well the draft results are in for my second fantasy football league. Yahoo Sports is who we are using for this fantasy football league. This fantasy football league features 14 teams with some advanced fantasy football players as well as some beginning ones.

Here are the current stat categories for this league:

Passing Yards (25 yards per point)
Passing Touchdowns (4)
Interceptions (-1)
Rushing Yards (10 yards per point)
Rushing Touchdowns (6)
Reception Yards (10 yards per point)
Reception Touchdowns (6)
2-Point Conversions (2)
Fumbles Lost (-1)
Offensive Fumble Return TD (6)
Field Goals 0-19 Yards (3)
Field Goals 20-29 Yards (3)
Field Goals 30-39 Yards (3)
Field Goals 40-49 Yards (3)
Field Goals 50+ Yards (4)
Point After Attempt Made (1)
Sack (1)
Interception (1)
Fumble Recovery (1)
Touchdown (6)
Safety (2)
Block Kick (1)
Kickoff and Punt Return Touchdowns (6)
Points Allowed 0 points (10)
Points Allowed 1-6 points (7)
Points Allowed 7-13 points (4)
Points Allowed 14-20 points (1)
Points Allowed 21-27 points (0)
Points Allowed 28-34 points (0)
Points Allowed 35+ points (0)

As you can see, the Quarterbacks are somewhat undervalued in this league as they only score 4 points for passing TDS whereas RBs, WRs and TEs score 6 points for rushing and receiving TDs.

Now, here are the roster positions we needed to fill with this fantasy football draft.

QB, RB, WR/TE, WR/TE, WR/RB, WR/RB, K, DEF, BENCH, BENCH, BENCH, BENCH, BENCH, BENCH, BENCH, BENCH, BENCH, BENCH, BENCH, BENCH

With this draft I decided to go after WRs after I landed the last draft position (14th - The Ass and The..) in our fantasy football draft.

Here are the draft results: