CFFL 2018 Preview

The 34th season of the Cherry Fantasy Football League is nearly upon us!  What will this year have in store for us.  Injuries to some top players were the theme last year as Rodgers went down, shattering the Roulettes hopes and David Johnson, picked number one by Ferrets was injured in week 1 eliminating the Ferrets hopes of trying to win their first Fantasy Bowl.

CFFL is back!!

What will this year bring?  Will the Ferret curse continue and see Ezekiel Elliott go down with an injury as he was picked number one overall by the Ferrets.

Great White North

Gurley is back for the Chislers

Cherry's Chislers

Top Player:  Todd Gurley
Big Three:  Gurley, Brown, Zuerlein
10 point connection: Goff to Woods or sideways to Gurley - Grade B+

What no Rivers??  That's right boys and girls, the Chislers will be without Philip Rivers for the first time in 6 years.  So who will man the helm?  Why not a homer pick in Jared Goff?  Goff had a nice year throwing for 118 points for a Rams team on the rise.

Pairing up with him will be Todd Gurley in the back field that clearly is one of the top backs in the CFFL.  As if that wasn't enough they went out and got a few more Rams.  Robert "Ice Bucket" Woods and Greg "The Leg" Zurlein.  so basically any time the Rams are anywhere near the redzone the Chislers will be guaranteed points.

Outside of their Rams connections, Antonio Brown comes back to the Chislers and is always a threat to score each week.  T.Y. Hilton will hopefully see his numbers improve with the return of Andrew Luck.  Sanu is back too, just so Rick can yell "Throw it to Sanu!!" every week in the bunker.

Alex's Animals

Top Player:  DeAndre Hopkins
Big Three:  Newton, Hopkins, Evans
10 point connection:  Newton to rookie D.J. Moore -Grade D

Hopkins still thinks Animals are Number 1

The defending Champions Animals will see many returning stars as well including  QB Cam Newton who led them to the title last year.  It was a happy Cam ending to last season.  As long as the Animals continue to get the happy Cam version expect them to keep winning.  Just don't want to get sad Cam in the playoffs.

With Newton at QB and Mike Evans and DeAndre Hopkins at the wide out positions, the Animals come into this year with one of the best passing attacks in the CFFL.  Evans, if stays healthy, is a 10+ TD producer.  Hopkins has proven he is as well  racking up 13 TDs last year, even with Watson out for a good part of the season.  Oh and Marvin Jones as a counter to Crew's Stafford

Running back is where I feel they are weak at.  Alex Collins is the odds on favorite to get the starting job with Corey Clement "C. Dombrowski" and Lamar Miller likely platooning in.  Animals took Ekeler to handcuff the Crew's Gordon.

Not that defenses make much difference, I do like a healthy Texans squad to score a few TDs.

R.C. Wrecking Crew

Top Player:  Melvin Gordon
Big Three:  Gordon, Jeffery, Stafford
10 point connection: Stafford to Golladay - Grade C-

Gordon will need to lead the Crew

The Crew fired their GM and under new direction stayed away from any Raiders this year and instead of bringing Carr back, they decided to go with Stafford.  He has big play ability and can put up some points, but he can also have a few clunkers.

The Crew were not going to ignore the ground game like in the past and used their first round pick to take Melvin Gordon.  While he has some injury issues, if he stays healthy should be a 10-12 TD producer.  They will likely go with just Gordon in back field, but have a few RB that could eventually start along side him.  C.J Anderson is now with Carolina. Marlon Mack should be the main back in Indy and James "I must have the" White.  You never know what you can get with a Patriot RB

Three WR seem solid, the rest are question marks.  And even their main WR, Jeffery, is starting the year as a ? as he is coming off rotator cuff surgery.  Will Fuller is a burner and hopes to be catching bombs from Watson.  Last year he caught 7 TDs in just 10 games.  Funchess "Fungi" surprisingly caught 8 TDs and will be a nice counter to the Animals Newton.

Fez's Ferrets

This is one dangerous duo

Top Player:  Ezekiel Elliott
Big Three:  Elliott, Johnson, Roethlisberger
10 point connection: None

Big Ben will down the Ferrets jersey for the first time in his career.  This will create an interesting dynamic with the Chislers who have Brown.

The strength of the Ferrets will be the back field, unless of course the Ferret curse continues.  They will start with David Johnson and Elliott as a pretty impressive 1-2 punch.  Johnson is coming off a wrist injury that kept him out of the entire season last year.  Listen, if they both stay healthy and out of trouble you could be looking at a two back tandem that could combine for 30-40 TDs!

The Receiving corp are a wait and see group.  Diggs "Dig Dug" is clearly the number one in this squad and could hit 10 TDs this year.  Does Fitzgerald have anything left in the tank?  Is Tate's Taint really Golden?  And what the Ferrets saw in Jaron Brown on draft night going to translate into success in the regular season?

I would also imagine the Mason Crosby will do much better this year than he did last year with Rodgers back.

Division Winner:  Ferrets (let's try something different)
Playoff Team:  Animals
On the Bubble: Chislers (As goes the Rams goes the Chislers)
Outside looking in:  Crew (gonna need some luck this season)

Sad Sack South

Toledo Titans

Top Player:  Tom Brady
Big Three:  Brady, Freeman, Smith-Schuster
10 point connection: Brady to Hogan - Grade B

Brady looking a little more happy with Titans this time

The Titans posted their first ever winning season last year and are poised for another run for the playoffs.  Owner of the Titans, Colin Freeman returned to the draft in his lucky orange shorts and with the return of Tom Brady its hard to argue that theory.  Brady has been one of the most consistent fantasy QBs over the past 5 years and should always threaten more than 30 TD passes each year.

Returning to the Titans is Chris "Hulk" Hogan who will be connecting with Brady for those 10 point connections. But the cream of this crop may be "Aunt" JuJu Smith-Schuster.  He tallied 7 TDs last year and is poised to be a big threat again this year.  Zach Ertz had 8 TDs, but prior to that he hasn't topped 4 TDs in a year.  I see a step back a little from Ertz.  The Titans then have a number of TE and WR that could make some noise, so it will be a wait and see on the rest.

The Titan backfield is real thin.  Freeman will be the starter in a one back set most likely.  He started out last year on fire scoring 6 times in his first 4 games but slowed down after that.  He plays in an Atlanta offense that spreads the ball around a lot.

Michigan Mayhem

Top Player:  Jimmy Garoppolo?
Big Three:  Garoppolo, Cook, Cooper?
10 point connection:  Garoppolo to Goodwin - Grade C+

The Mayhem are a team of unprovens.  It could be either be a great season, or a looong season.  Let's take a look at each scenario:

Jimmy is like "why not? "

The great season:  Garoppolo is what lots of talking heads think he is.  The next Joe Montana or Tom Brady.  He lights it up for over 30 TDs and 10 of those are 10 point connections to Goodwin.  Cook comes back from his injury last year to lead the team in rushing TDs scoring 13 times while Derrick Henry provides a nice 1-2 punch scoring 8 times....Cooper, with Crabtree gone, finally get's double digit TDs, Allen Hurns, now playing for the Cowboys, returns to his Allen Brother status of a few years ago...Evan Engram is the next Bavaro and Robbie Gould lights it up once again in SF.

The looong season:  Garoppolo struggles in his first full season as a starter and Rams knock him out with an injury causing the Mayhem to scramble to find a back up as he is the only QB on the team...Cook is slow to come back after the injury and is mediocre at best.  Henry gives up some TDs to Lewis in Tennessee....Cooper continues to be a stiff...Hurns was always the poor man Allen Robinson...

I feel it may be somewhere in between those two scenarios.


Monclova Dragons

Top Player:  Philip Rivers
Big Three:  Rivers,  Gostkowski, Howard
10 point connection:  None

"I'm not playing for the Chislers??"

The Dragons were the shock of the draft drafting Rivers in the first round, stunning and angering the Chislers, which made it worth it to the Dragons.  Rivers has proven year after year he is a top 3 CFFL QB, even if the Chislers seemed to be the only ones that recognized that.  Well this year the Dragons have and will look to Rivers to give them the success that he has given the Chislers for so many years.

"Curly Joe" Howard will be the main back and is a threat to score 10 TDs, as he scored 9 last year.  Coleman is a TD vulture for the Falcons.

At the wide out spot there are a lot of interesting stories.  Crabtree in Baltimore...meh.  Kelvin Benjamin in Buffalo...could be a force, but then again will Josh Allen make it.  Allen Robinson needs to return to his 2015 form where he scored 15 TDs.  However now he is coming off an injury and with the Bears and Trubisky.  Not that Trubisky is any worse than Bortles.  So if he can overcome the injury, and QB play is decent in Chicago, you never know.  A second South team with lots of questions.

And we can't forget Mike "I don't always play fantasy football, but when I do I draft" Gesicki and George K.I.T.T "Boy" L.E. both young TEs that will try to make the team.  At the very least they may have already solidified their spots on the All Nick Name team for 2018.

Georgia Killer Bees

Top Player:  Aaron Rodgers
Big Three:  Rodgers, Graham, McCaffrey?
10 point connection:  Rodgers to Graham - Grade A-

Rodgers at the bachelor auction...

The Bees, while unable to obtain their favorite kicker Gostkowski, was able to get the best QB in the draft Aaron Rodgers.  He should throw well north of 30 TDs this year and stay healthy, giving the Bees an edge in many games.

It doesn't hurt to have Jimmy Graham as well, which looks to be a very potent 10 point connection as Rodgers will be looking for Graham a lot in the redzone.   Out side of that however the rest of the receivers are average.  Demaryius Thomas best years were a direct result of playing with Peyton Manning.  Kearse will be playing with rookie Darnold.  Kenny Stills may be the number 2 guy in this group and could get more attention (both bad and good) with Landry gone from Miami.

The Bees are banking on McCaffrey to be the main back.  He certainly has a dual threat to run or catch for TDs, but last year only scored 7 TDs.  Now Stewart is gone, but C.J. Anderson is replacing him in Carolina, so I wouldn't expect much more from McCaffrey than 6-7 TDs.  Then you got Sony "Bono" Michel, Devonte Booker and T.J Yeldon, all playing back up or shared backfield rolls.

Division Winner:  Toledo Titans (Hard to bet against "Good Old" Tom)
Playoff teams:  Killer Bees (Rodgers all year)
On the Bubble:  Dragons and Mayhem (depends on what story is written with their plethora of question marks)

Eastern Bloc

Russian Roulette

Top Player:  Odell Beckham Jr.
Big Three:  Beckham, Wentz, Adams
10 connection:  Wentz to Ajayi (sideways)  Grade C-

OBJ fired up for his new contract

The Roulette may start the season as frustrated as they ended last year with an injured Rodgers.  With Wentz and Foles as their QB, as of press time, it was still a question who would even start Week 1 for the Eagles.  Both have injury concerns.  Assuming Wentz comes back in full 2017 form I would look for him to be in the top 5 QBs this year.

Wide Receivers are where the Roulette are strong.  Numbers on the Roulette wheel that are hot and will be coming up alot are 13, 17, and 18.  Place your bets!  13: OBJ.  Beckham signed a huge deal coming into this season, and if stays healthy people will be stacking chips on number 13 as he matches his TDs with his jersey number.  Number 17 Davante Adams.  Scored 10 TDs last year with Rodgers out with an injury a good portion of the year.  With a full year of Rodgers and Nelson gone expect more of the same from Adams.  Number 18, Cooper Kupp seems to be a favorite target for Goff.  And then throw Jordan Reed in there, if he stays healthy could post some good numbers too.

At running back on paper looks good with Ajayi and McCoy.  But in reality Ajayi couldn't seem to find the end zone last year and age seems to be catching up to McCoy.  But if they can live up to expectations, they give the Roulette two bullets to put in the chamber each week.

Molotov Cocktails

Top Player:  Kareem Hunt
Big Three:  Hunt, Gronkowski, Prescott
10 point connection:  Mahomes to Hill or Watkins or sideways to Hunt - Grade A to C+ (depending on Mahomes)

The Cocktails appear to be all in on Kansas City, but Prescott may get the start to start the season.  This will be a situation to watch as Mahomes develops and the Cocktails temptation to have that many possible 10 point connections.

Hunt won't be napping during the season

Kareem Hunt quickly became one of the top backs in his rookie season last year and doesn't appear to shown any signs of slowing down.  Burkhead may or may not produce good TD numbers.  Last year he had 8.  With the Patriots you never know and he could produce 2 this year in that mess of a back field.  Duke Johnson looked nice at times last year, but now Chubb is in town and will eventually take over as the main back in Cleveland.

Hill, Watkins and Gronkowski.  Not a bad trio of wide outs to play every week.  However it is looking like "so go the Chiefs so go the Cocktails".  They are betting on the Chiefs to light it up with Mahomes.  If they do, Cocktails will be a force to reckon with.  And a healthy Gonk can only mean  "Gronk Score, Gronk spike ball!"  They drafted Dez Bryant in hopes he would find a home, but starting to look less likely he will moving forward.  Only the Cocktails want him...no one else does..

Kretz's Krauts

Top Player:  Leonard Fournette
Big Three:  Fournette, Cousins, Rudolph
10 Point connection:  Cousins to Treadwell and Rudolph - Grade: B-

Fournette ready to run for the Krauts

It was no surprise that the Kruats took Kirk Cousins at their QB now that he is in Minnesota.  Cousins is certainly an upgrade in Minnesota and could turn out pretty nice for the Krauts.  They seem to always know something others don't with their SS intelligence unit.

And there must be some classified information regarding his WRs.  Out of all of his WRs only Kyle Rudolph scored more than 2 TDs last year.  Goodwin had one, Josh Gordon had one, Sterling Shepherd had 2 and Treadwell and Williams had none!  However with that being said, there is a lot of upside with this crew.  Gordon has top 5 WR talent.  Treadwell is a real deep threat for Cousins.  And Mike Williams is ready for a big year and has looked great in the preseason.

In the back field, Fournette scored 10 TDs while missing 2 games.  He was on pace to score every week when the season started.  A healthy Fournette should mean another season of 10 or more TDs this year.  Along side him willmbe Joe "Punchy" Mixon.  Mixon showed signs that he could be a top fantasy back last year, and with a less crowded backfield in Cincy, he may live up to that expectation.  Chris Thompson may battle Mixon for playing time but he is starting the season a bit dinged up.

Justin "Mother" Tucker will be another top scoring kicker in the league and should provide many weeks with 10 plus points a week.

Jakes' Juggernauts

Top Player:  Saquon Barkley
Big Three:  Barkley, Luck, Baldwin
10 point connection:  None

Barkley could have Rookie of the Year season

Well Andrew Luck will be back and will try to command the Juggs in the very tough Eastern Bloc division.  He hasn't played in over a year.  He has had season of 40 TDs and 31 TDs in the past, but will he be able to shake off the rust and return to that type of performance?  I imagine it will be something a little less than that...

Saquon Barkley is the odds on favorite to be the rookie of the year. He has looked like the real deal in the preseason and will carry the load for the Giants and the Juggs.  Expect 12-15 TDs for Barkley.  There are three more backs that could eventually get a start in the Juggernaut backfield.  Breida, Hyde and Montgomery.  All will get chances but are playing in some crowded backfields.

Doug Baldwin anchors a relatively mediocre receiving corp.  Baldwin always has the threat to score 10 plus TDs but probably going to be less than that.  John Brown is playing in Baltimore now.  Trey Burton in Chicago might find some chemistry with Trubisky.  Corey Davis and Calvin Ridley are the wild cards and could make the difference.  Both have some big play ability to score, but will be a work in progress.

Division Winner:  Roulette
Playoff Teams:  Krauts and Cocktails
On the Bubble:  Juggernauts

Wild Wild West

Cabucki's Crush

Top Player: Deshaun Watson
Big Three:  Watson, Kelce, Allen
10 point connection:  None

Watson is back!

Can Deshaun Watson comeback form the injury and show those flashes of greatness he had when he was healthy?  Before his injury he was on fire.  In his 5 games before his injury his TD production was as follows:  2, 5, 5, 3, 4.  That's pretty impressive.  Likely not going to keep that kind of production up, but could be in the 30 TD range for the year.

The Crush running backs are a plethora of  handcuff backs.  Giovani Bernard handcuff Mixon.  Dion Lewis handcuff Henry and Spencer Ware handcuff Hunt.  Keep an eye out on Royce Freeman in Denver.  The rookie back could make some noise.  Out of the rest I like Lewis as a big time TD vulture in Tennessee.

Keenan Allen, Michael Thomas and Travis Kelce will lead the Crush wideouts.  All of them have the potential for 10 plus TDs.  I say one will and the others will be close.  Either way it give the Crush some good production form their receivers.  Randall Cobb is not a bad 4th WR in camp and keep an eye out for another rookie on the Crush team Michael Gallup from Dallas.

Bacardi's Bums

Top Player:  Alvin Kamara
Big Three:  Kamara, Bell, Ryan
10 point connection:  None

Kamara is a freak!

Last year Matt Ryan took a big step back where he didn't have a game with more than 2 TD passes the entire year.  While he probably won't get to the 2016 level where he threw for 38 TDs, look for 25 TDs this year.

They won't need to worry too much about that with the backfield the Bums have put together.  Kamara and Le'Veon "Labia" Bell is one hell of duo.  Only the Ferrets' Elliott and Johnson have more potential TD production.  2 or more TDs each week from this 1-2 punch will be very likely.

And they will need that when you look at their WRs.  Jordy Nelson is the top talent, but he seems to only be able to catch TDs from Aaron Rodgers and now he will be in Oakland.  Brandin Cooks is with another new team, the Rams, and hopefully will be a deep threat.  DeVante Parker is pretty much a stiff.

Will "Lug" Lutz will handle kicking duties and will keep the Bums in many games.

Stamm's Sinistars

Top Player:  Russell Wilson
Big Three:  Wilson, Ingram? Green?
10 point connection:  none (apparently the West doesn't believe in 10 point connections)

Wilson coming of his MVP season

Russell Wilson is coming off his best season of his career and is the 2017 MVP.  With 34 TD passes and 3 rushing TDs he led the league.  Hard to believe he will duplicate those statistics again, but should still post a good amount of points each week for the Sinistars.

The Sinibacks however are a bit on the weak side.  Mark Ingram anchors the unit but with a suspension to start the season and the emergence of Kamara its hard to believe he will eclipse 10 TDs this year.  Adrian Peterson was picked up in the off season once it was discovered he was signed by the Redskins.  He hasn't been the same in years, but could still produce 5-6 TDs.  With the Packers trying to figure out their running situation, the Sinistars are betting or maybe just hoping Jamaal Williams gets the nod.

A.J. Green is the star WR for the Sinistars.  He did score 8 TDs last year but at 30 might have lost a step or two.  With the Red Water Pistol throwing to him, 8 TDs is most likely his highest potential.  Jarvis Landry is now with Sinistar's Owner favorite team the Browns.  Who knows what's going to happen there.  Landry and Gordon will be fighting for balls.  6 TDs seems about right.  Then a gaggle of TEs.  Jack Doyle "Rules", Tyler Eifert "Tower" and Greg Olsen "Twins".  Eifert and Olsen have 10 TD potential.  However, Eifert hasn't played a full season in his entire career.  He has played only 10 games the past 2 years. 

Cam's Killers

Top Player: Drew Brees
Big Three:  Brees, Julio Jones, Agholor?
10 point connection:  Brees to Ginn or Watson - Grade C+

Brees not sure how he feels playing for Killers

The Killers were the darling of the league coming in as an expansion team and making it all the way to the Fantasy Bowl only to lose to the Animals.  Probably best they lost.  The CFFL has a history of kicking out teams that win the Fantasy Bowl in their first year.. (Yard Dogs).

The Killers significantly upgraded their QB situation from last year by drafting Drew Brees.  While he isn't getting any younger but with that offense in New Orleans he should be again a top QB in the league. 

Killers are a bit weak at running back as McKinnon was lost for the season with a torn ACL.  Only two other backs in camp at press time.  Marshawn Lynch and Latavius Murray.  Lynch's beast mode days are behind him and Murray will be playing behind Cook all year but could vulture some TDs in the red zone. 

Julio Jones was drafted and while he is one of the best WRs in the NFL, his TD production has never been north of 9 TDs.  Nelson "Christina" Agholor returns to the Killers.  With Jeffery out for the first few games, he might even score more than the 8 TDs he scored last year.  Ted Ginn Jr. and Ben Watson were added for the 10 point connection.  Both have a chance to produce points but with Thomas and Kamara there are only so many balls to go around. 


Division Winner:  Crush
Playoff Teams: Bums
On the Bubble: Killers and Sinistars

So, will the Animals repeat?  Chances are slim.  And I have been way off in my predictions lately.  So take this for what its worth... nothing!

Fantasy Bowl XXXIV

Fez's Ferrets 38  Cabucki's Crush 30

The Ferrets finally get their first Fantasy Bowl victory after 34 years and they ride the back of Elliot and Johnson all season long.  The Curse has finally been lifted!