Jeff Ratcliffe's Articles

Dwight Schrute said it best: “Keep it simple, stupid.” That’s a mantra for fantasy football drafting. Instead of developing an overly elaborate plan for your drafts, making things as a simple as possible is other the path to success. On draft day, we don’t want to overthink. We want to react to what the board […]

Fantasy football keeper leagues are a fun hybrid of the traditional redraft and dynasty formats where you get to carry over players from one season to the next. While these leagues come in all shapes and sizes, the decision on which player to keep can often be a tricky one. If you’re faced with fantasy […]

It is always fantasy football season, which means it is never too early to rank, and update your rankings throughout the year. When it comes to fantasy football, the most important part of preparation is projections or rankings. For me, rankings helps prepare for fantasy football drafts like no other as it is what we […]

Fantasy football sleepers aren’t what they used to be. Fantasy players in 2021 are significantly more informed than they were 20 years ago. So we don’t have a lot of draftable players who only a select few in our leagues will know about on draft day. However, we can still take advantage of the common […]

Auction drafts aren’t as common as their snake draft counterparts in fantasy football, but it’s an exciting format that every fantasy football player should try. Where snake drafts are checkers, auction drafts are chess. Auctions have a much more nuanced strategy and give you the possibility for a wider set of outcomes for your rosters.  […]

Every year, we see rookies make their mark on the fantasy football landscape. Often, these guys are some of the bigger names of their respective classes, like Jonathan Taylor last season. This year, the fantasy playing public has high expectations for the likes of Najee Harris, Kyle Pitts and Ja’Marr Chase.  But we also see […]

Fantasy football draft strategy doesn’t need to be complex. The goal on draft day is pretty simple: Out-draft your opponents and put together the best team possible. While there’s certainly a lot to think about in a fantasy draft, there are a few key things to keep in mind as we head into the heart […]

Training camps are in full swing around the NFL and football is on the horizon. With that in mind, I wanted to take a detailed look at all of the cornerback units around the NFL. Cornerback play is something we pay close attention to in fantasy football and DFS, as knowing the intricacies of these […]

Training camp is underway for some teams in the NFL, and by this time next week, every team will be in camp. The good news is there’s still plenty of time to get some player prop futures wagers in play. With the most recent betting markets available, here are four NFL player prop futures bets […]

Injuries are the worst part of football. We were reminded of this fact on Tuesday morning when news broke that Rams RB Cam Akers suffered a torn Achilles and will almost certainly be out for the season. While losing your lead running back isn’t exactly a death knell for the Rams 2021 outlook, this is […]

Fantasy football tiers are an extremely useful weapon in your draft day arsenal. But you may have noticed that there’s one big flaw with the tiers that you find throughout the fantasy industry: they’re often only based on individual positions. It’s very useful to see how players stack up against others at their position, but […]

July is here, which means things are heating up in the NFL. We have just under two weeks until the start of training camp, but we still have plenty of opportunities to get some futures wagers in play. In terms of the current betting markets over at Tipico Sportsbook, here of some of the top […]

July is almost upon us, which means things are going to start heating up for the NFL. With just over two months from the start of the season, we still have plenty of opportunities to get some futures wagers in play. In terms of the current betting markets over at Tipico Sportsbook, here of some […]

Last year, the Cleveland Browns were a quintessential post-hype sleeper. After being one of the “it” teams in fantasy football in 2019, expectations were much lower for Baker Mayfield and company, but the Browns delivered an impressive year under new head coach Kevin Stefanski. Heading into his second year, this is one of the league’s […]

The 153rd running of the Belmont States takes place Saturday. Under last year’s race, which was the first leg of the Triple Crown due to the coronavirus-adjusted schedule, we’re back to the Belmont as the final leg. There will be no Triple Crown winner this year, and as of this writing the Kentucky Derby winner […]

It’s been a rough stretch for the Cincinnati Bengals over the last two seasons, but exciting times are brewing for the franchise. The team has exciting young quarterback Joe Burrow returning from injury, and he’ll now be paired up with his former LSU teammate in Ja'Marr Chase. Of course, a big part of the problem […]

Following an impressive start to the Matt Nagy era in 2018, the Chicago Bears have taken a bit of a step back over the last two seasons. Inconsistencies at quarterback and all-around lackluster play didn’t lead to a ton of fantasy production from this squad. Should we expect more of the same heading into 2021? […]

We’re inching our way toward the 2021 NFL season, but there’s still plenty of time to get some futures action in play. At this time of year, we have a sizeable number of markets to choose from including the Super Bowl winner, team win totals, odds to make the playoffs and league awards. Here are […]

The Carolina Panthers head into Year 2 of the Matt Rhule regime with a new look at quarterback with Sam Darnold taking over for Teddy Bridgewater, who is now in Denver. With Bridgewater at the helm, the offense wasn’t able to fully actualize offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s playbook. Whether Darnold can do so remains to […]

In the span of a year, the Buffalo Bills went from a somewhat lackluster offense to one of the most exciting units in the league. Much of that evolution can be credited to the progress Josh Allen made in his third professional season. Allen also benefited significantly from the addition of Stefon Diggs. With largely […]

The Baltimore Ravens came back to the pack a bit last season following their explosive 2019 campaign, but this team remains one of the most exciting offenses in the league thanks to Lamar Jackson and his world-class athleticism. Baltimore’s offense remains largely unchanged from last season with the exception of free agent signing Sammy Watkins […]

The Atlanta Falcons are a team in transition after moving on from former head coach Dan Quinn last season. Arthur Smith is now at the helm, but how this offense will look is a bit of a mystery. Unlike in his time with Tennessee, Smith doesn’t have a dominant workhorse running back. However, he does […]

The Arizona Cardinals got off to a hot start offensively last season, with Kyler Murray leading all signal callers in fantasy football scoring through his first eight games of the season. An injury slowed Murray’s production down the stretch, but we now have a sense of just how productive he can be for fantasy purposes. […]

As you know, projecting the upcoming fantasy football season will be a bit different in 2021. With 18 weeks and a 17-game season, each team’s projections will be different than before. Luckily, we cover my projections and fantasy outlook for each and every team for the upcoming 2021 NFL season. Let’s dive in, and follow […]

A number of NFL backfield situations are fairly set in stone as we enter 2021. Barring an injury, guys like Christian McCaffrey and Dalvin Cook are locked in as the feature backs on their respective teams. However, there are several backfields in flux. There’s fantasy potential in most of these spots, but getting the correct […]

You aren’t going to find many values at running back in the early rounds of 2021 fantasy football ADP data. The trend in this year’s drafts is running back early and often. However, there are some sneaky options at the position who have the chance to return some solid value. Here are three running backs […]

Early fantasy football wide receiver ADP for 2021 is chock full of value all up and down the board thanks not only to the overall depth at the position, but also due to the early-and-often drafting tendencies at running back in this year’s drafts. Given the current fantasy football average draft position data for 2021, […]

The 146th running of the Preakness Stakes is this Saturday, which means we have another opportunity to win some money. Two weeks ago, we nailed Medina Spirit to win the Kentucky Derby and had the exacta as one of my suggested exotic wagers. In that article, I used a 10-step process that narrowed the field […]

The NFL knows how to market itself. The league figured out how to turn something as boring as a schedule release into a primetime event that has all of the football world talking. So let’s follow suit and break down some of the biggest fantasy football takeaways from the 2021 NFL schedule release. But before […]

With NFL rookie mini-camps about to take place this upcoming weekend – May 14-16 – it’s a good opportunity to solidify our look at this year’s rookie class. Since the NFL draft wrapped up, I’ve given you my 2021 fantasy football rookie rankings, draft strategy for dynasty rookie drafts, my favorite players outside of the […]

With the NFL Draft in the rearview mirror, we’ve been rolling up our sleeves and digging into all of the landing spots this past week. Every year we see players who get a boost in fantasy football value thanks to a favorable landing spot and vice versa. Throughout the predraft process, I had my eye […]

Just because you go undrafted doesn’t mean you can’t make an impact in the NFL. Just last year, we saw the quintessential example with James Robinson going from relative unknown to fantasy football darling in the span of a few weeks in September. One of the biggest fantasy surprises in recent memory, Robinson went on […]