Jeff Ratcliffe's Articles

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 […]

It’s dynasty fantasy football rookie draft season, so let’s break down my draft board and optimal draft strategy for this year’s rookie drafts.  Fail to prepare and you’re preparing to fail. This statement is true for all fantasy football drafts regardless of the format. Whether you’re talking about a 16-round standard draft, a 53-round deep […]

All the cards are on the table. The 2021 NFL Draft is in the books, so it’s time to dive in to our 2021 dynasty fantasy football rookie rankings. Below you’ll see every rookie who was either drafted or signed as an undrafted free agent. In total, that’s healthy 183 players.  Obviously, most of these […]

Day 2 of the 2021 NFL Draft delivered a number of interesting picks for fantasy football purposes with 19 skill position players coming off the board. Of course, there were some surprises along the way, and some of these picks have the potential to drastically alter the fantasy football landscape. Let’s break down fantasy football […]

Round 1 of the 2021 NFL Draft is in the books, and there’s a lot to unpack for fantasy football purposes. For each of the skill position players drafted, let’s take a look at both their redraft and dynasty fantasy football outlooks along with giving an initial 2021 fantasy football projection and my current fantasy […]

The Run for the Roses is here. Saturday, we’ll have the 147th Kentucky Derby, and more importantly, this year’s edition will take place on the first Saturday in May. The Derby is always a tricky race to bet, as you not only have very young horses, but you also have a massive 20 horses on […]

The NFL draft has some major implications for the fantasy football landscape, as every year we see a reshuffling of the deck. In some instances, team have gaping holes that need to be filled. In others, an aging vet could see his eventual replacement selected. Still others, a surprise pick may have us completely questioning […]

The NFL draft is only four days away, so it’s time for our NFL mock draft of 2021. This is the fourth iteration of mocks from yours truly, and a lot has changed since Mock Draft 3.0. We’ve had trades, the medicals even in Indianapolis, and more rumors than you can count. Given what we […]

The 2021 NFL Draft is rapidly approaching, and we’ve already seen some big trades in the buildup. San Francisco moved from the 12 up to the third pick, presumably to select their quarterback of the future. Their trade partner, Miami, then turned around and sent the 12 to Philadelphia for the sixth overall pick. Given […]

We’re heading down the home stretch with the NFL Draft now only a week away. While we don’t know how things are going to unfold over the three-day event, we can say that this will be the most unique draft in the history of the league. The ripple effect from the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically […]

NASCAR DFS is back after a week off, and we’re heading to Martinsville for the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. Martinsville’s signature paperclip shape makes it one of the most unique tracks on the circuit. It’s a short track is just a half-mile with flat banking.  We have 500 laps on tap for this race, […]