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Leonard Fournette may have finally reached the $7,000 mark but he's still far too cheap.
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My journey into the journalism world began with my love of sports. Writing sports was my passion. It was what I loved to do. My life, in fact.
I wanted to be known for my writing. Published everywhere. The biggest papers in the country, the largest websites and featured on the million-viewer sports analysis shows.
What I've learned about journalism and media, however, as I've gotten older, is that it's not about your byline or the amount of followers you have on social media, or even the amount of words you're allotted in a publication.
Rather, it's about what you do WITH those words. Making those words have real impact. Using your byline in a way that can bring attention to causes and people who aren't million-dollar athletes or NFL superstars.
No. There are things that are bigger than football.
And this is one of them.
Dakovion Kennedy, a sophomore football player at Moline High School, began the battle for his life just two short weeks ago.
Those two weeks, though, undoubtedly feel like an eternity for him, his family and friends as he continues to fight what was first deemed "an unidentified virus."
Numerous tests and examinations later revealed the diagnosis as viral myocarditis, which, according to Mayo Clinic, is "an inflammation of the heart muscle. ... Severe myocarditis weakens your heart so that the rest of your body doesn't get enough blood. Clots can form in your heart, leading to a stroke or heart attack."
Kovi had a successful heart transplant, which has made his outlook much better. Great news.
My two cohosts of For Fantasy Sake, DeeJ Jarvis and Doug Green, and I have collaborated with a local Quad-Cities business to raise money for Kovi and the Kennedy family.
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| Order Here |
You can order the shirt here.
Even if you don't have the funds to purchase a shirt, please take the short time it takes to share the link around from our Facebook and Twitter.
The Moline Dispatch/Rock Island Argus has been following this closely, and has done an amazing job telling Kovi's story.
Some things are bigger than sports. Some things are bigger football.
Make a difference in the life of a young man and his family.
Together we are all #KoviStrong✊
The Plays
Leonard Fournette, RB, $7,000 (vs. Cincinnati)
Two players account for 90 percent or more of their team's running back snaps. One is Christian McCaffrey. The other? Leonard Fournette. It's about time DraftKings recognized him as one of the few featured backs getting all the work and gave him a price bump -- from $6,700 to $7,000. STILL TOO CHEAP! Especially considering the matchup against a Bengals defense that is awful at defending running backs. Cincinnati is yielding the second-most points to opposing backs (27.33 per game), and is allowing more than six catches per game out of the backfield. In a game where Jacksonville is favored by four on the road (and they run nearly 5 percent more of the time on the road), I envision them wanting to lean heavily -- not like they don't already -- on Fournette. Take advantage of DraftKings mispricing him yet again.T.Y. Hilton, WR, $5,900 (vs. Houston)
Speaking of misprice. Wow. You're telling me I can get a Top 15 receiver, against a bottom eight defense vs. wide receivers, at home where he's nearly 12 yards per game better ... and at $5,900? I'm all OVER that. Hilton missed Week 4, put up a season-low 7.7 points in Week 5 and was on bye in Week 6, so hopefully the sour taste of that dud game is still in peoples' mouths. I doubt we'll get anywhere near low ownership on Hilton this week, but he's worth eating the chalk.Darrell Henderson, Jr., RB, $3,500 (at Atlanta)
Nothing beats a little speculation on a Wednesday. Todd Gurley and Malcolm Brown both are listed as questionable early in the week. Gurley's quad injury kept him out last week, and Brown took the lead back role. Brown didn't look overly great, accumulating 40 yards on 11 caries and got exactly ZERO targets in the passing game. So, with both backs ahead of him nicked up -- and one, maybe even two -- looking awful, Henderson could be the best value play on the slate. Even if Brown is healthy -- and Gurley is out -- the passing-down work will go to Henderson. Against a Falcons team that legitimately couldn't stop me and my two cohosts if we ran offense against them, it's an enticing matchup.The Fades
QB
Aaron Rodgers $6,400Jimmy Garoppolo $6,000
Philip Rivers $5,500
Teddy Bridgewater $5,300
RB
Alvin Kamara $7,500 (only if we get no injury update on his high-ankle issue)Austin Ekeler $6,200
Melvin Gordon $5,900
Kerryon Johnson $5,100
WR
Adam Thielen $6,900Keenan Allen $6,700
Terry McLaurin $6,100
DJ Chark $6,000
Allen Robinson $5,500
Tyrell Williams $5,100
TE
Jimmy Graham $4,200Eric Ebron $3,900
Delanie Walker $3,800
Jared Cook $3,600
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| Jacoby Brissett and T.Y. Hilton -- at incredibly inexpensive prices -- are definitely worth a look this weekend against Houston. |
Stack 'Em Up
Kyler Murray and David Johnson ($14,500)
Obviously, this is a little bit different than what we've done in the previous weeks. This game is one of the biggest totals on the board, so we're going to want to get a piece of it. The Cardinals have gotten away from being the horizontal raid, and are back to the air raid. However, it's still difficult to peg which wide receiver is going to get the big plays. We know that Murray can run, and Johnson is going to be involved both on the ground and via the pass, so they're locks. Plus, your likelihood of cornering the market of all the possible outcome for Cardinals touchdowns is pretty good. If I had to take a shot on a receiver, I'm going back to Damiere Byrd ($4,000). He's finally healthy and they're willing to at least take some shots to him down the field.Run It Back: It's the flow chart, right? Tight end. Cardinals. Smash. Seems to work out every week. Well, other than that Tyler Eifert week. But, let's be real, he's dust anyway. You're going back to the Engram well -- GRANTED HE'S HEALTHY. So keep an eye on news here regarding his health. If he's in. Fire him up. If not ... well, you can still fire him up, but enjoy your zero, pal. It might even be worth just playing Murray and Johnson on the Arizona side and Engram and Tate on the other. Get creative. Get weird. Whatever you want to call it. Just stack this game six ways to Sunday.
Jacoby Brissett, Nyheim Hines, T.Y. Hilton ($15,900)
The last time we saw the Colts, they were looking like a team from 1957. Just straight grounding and pounding to the tune of 45 rushing attempts. That won't be the game plan this weekend against Houston. The Texans' offense has been clicking of late, scoring 84 points in their last two games, and that Indy defense isn't ... great to say the least. They rank 28th in the NFL in DVOA, according to FootballOutsiders.com. Before that Week 5 game plan, Brissett had put up 23.8 and 23.5 points in Weeks 3 and 4, respectively. He's cheap this week at only $5,600. And speaking of cheap, Hilton at $5,900 is just absurd. He's capable of being WR1 on the week. You are basically forced to play him this week whether you're stacking the Colts or not. The Texans yield the most receptions to running backs in the NFL, so taking a shot on Hines and his five targets per game over the last three games might not be the worst idea. If the Colts trail in this game, which is a possibility, Hines should see the field a decent amount.Run It Back: Okay. Okay. This. This is definitely the week, DeAndre Hopkins. It has to be. You can't keep a good man down this long. And, damnit, he's a good man. Or, at least a good fantasy man. The Colts are weakest across the middle of the field, where slot receivers and tight ends do most of the work. Care to wager a guess at who runs the majority of the slot routes for the Texans? Hopkins. I've yet to run any ownership projections since it's so early in the week, but there's a good chance Hopkins ends up chalk. A lesser-owned play might be firing up tight end Darren Fells -- who got the coach speak bump this week.
Russell Wilson, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett ($18,000)
There hasn't been anyone better this season than Russell Wilson. I'm not certain I've rostered him once on DraftKings in this run, but I know for certain I'm going to have shares this week. Baltimore isn't a matchup that scares me. Their defense is fraudulent. Weeks 1 and 2 were the foundation and concealer they needed to make people believe their defense was one of those Ravens of old units. Not so much. They're allowing almost 270 passing yards per game and rank 22nd in the pass defense DVOA. I'm absolutely in love with the price of Metcalf on DK -- see what I did there? -- this week. With Will Dissly now out for the season with the Achilles injury, it should lead to an uptick in targets for Metcalf. It's not even the big-play targets that excite me. It's that he's likely to eat up some of those targets Dissly was getting inside the five. Grab both the top pass-catchers for Wilson because I think this is more of a through-the-air game for the Seahawks.Run It Back: Marquis Brown has basically been Will Fuller. Minus the fact that he didn't throw up a 50-burger. He's been underwhelming since that Week 1 eruption against the Dolphins, but that's likely attributed to some of the injury issues he's dealt with. He didn't play in Week 6, so I'm hoping the week off helped get his ankle back to feeling good. Another cog to the Ravens' offense who has dealt with myriad injuries, but ALWAYS seems to play get his mandatory seven or eight targets, is Mark Andrews. Like Kevin Costner, the dude just keeps getting work. The only difference being, Andrews is actually good at his profession. BURN! Seattle struggles to stymie the tight end position, ranking fifth-worst in the fantasy points allowed. With the steady target share Andrews sees, he's a top play this week, and a great way to solidify a Ravens or full-game stack.
-- By Nathan Joyce
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