Every fantasy football player in the country looks for the competitive edge to beat their opponent. Each game means bragging rights and sometimes winning or losing a friendly bet. (Well, friendly might not always describe it, but you get the point.)
When we look for these tips for our team, we often turn to the few people that get paid to research and dedicate their work to fantasy football. This year, I am on the quest to find the most accurate and reliable fantasy football “guru.”
I will spotlight on the four websites that own the fantasy football world and in the end, crown the best guru in the last edition of “Fantasy Guru Rankings.”
The four gurus: Michael Fabiano of NFL.com, Jamey Eisenburg of CBS Sports, Matthew Berry of ESPN, and Brad Evans of Yahoo! Sports.
It’s time for another edition of Russell Street Report’s “Fantasy Guru Rankings.” Last week, guru Michael Fabiano proved that he started the hottest as his yearly percentage was at 58.4% after three weeks, while Jamey Eisenburg of CBS Sports slipped and is quickly falling down the leader-board. Here are our standings after Week Four:
If you need a refresher on how this system works, click HERE.
*All points will be based off of ESPN’s non-PPR standard scoring for players*
Michael Fabiano, NFL.com—@Michael_Fabiano
Improving his yearly total by over a point this week, Fabiano had a great week going 24-38 and racking up a 63.1% weekly total. The highlight of his picks were at the wide receiver position where he predicted six of eight correctly including Torrey Smith having a big day and Roddy White struggling.
He struggled with his starting quarterback “start” picks as he misfired on RGIII, Tony Romo and Andrew Luck. His tight end picks have been solid as well, so be sure to keep an eye on that.
He’s holding strong at the top of the leader-board. Can he sustain consistency?
Matthew Berry, ESPN—@MatthewBerryTMR
We have a big change in the standings coming from the Talented Mr. Roto! He passed Jamey Eisenburg to take sole possession of 2nd place by 0.5% with a good week four performance.
Berry had a nice showing in the tight end category as he nailed picks like Antonio Gates and Jared Cook. He also accurately predicted Rashard Mendenhall’s bust of a day along with Kansas City’s defensive domination.
If Berry wants to keep going, he’ll have to get more consistent with his wide receiver picks. Fabiano is in the lead by over 10 percent—can the ESPN guru find a way to close the gap in the coming weeks?
Jamey Eisenburg, CBS Sports—@JameyEisenburg
After Eisenburg’s rough performance last week, we got our first tweet from one of the gurus. After I tweeted that his performance needed to improve to hold onto second place… I got this tweet back:
So, there’s that.
Anyway, Eisenburg did improve but not enough to secure the second spot. He went 0-for-5 in the quarterback “start” category but rebounded nicely with his tight end “sits”.
He’ll need to find some consistency at the wide receiver spot as it’s been a rollercoaster ride there all year.
Our next guru is gaining ground as well. Is it possible for Eisenburg to fall to last place in the upcoming edition?
Brad Evans, Yahoo Sports
Note: As always, Evans only makes 10 picks in his “flames/lames” feature—so the object of tracking Evans is to see how correct he really is with these risky picks.
Here’s how Evans improved in Week Four:
“Starts”
E.J Manuel—X
Bernard Pierce—X
Le’Veon Bell—CORRECT
Brian Hartline—X
Alshon Jeffery—CORRECT
“Sits”
Andrew Luck—CORRECT
C.J Spiller—CORRECT
Arian Foster—X
Hakeem Nicks—CORRECT
Tony Gonzalez—X
