I have learned over the years that it is very tough to predict the performance of an entire offensive line, unless you are dealing with a line that was exceptionally good or bad the year before. Sometimes, things just come together well for a unit, as they did in Kansas City last year. And sometimes, they don’t.

We are in the very early stages of handicapping this year’s OLs, and things could change somewhat dramatically once we see free agency, but since it’s almost June it’s time to at least give a glimpse of how we see the OLs stacking up. These rankings were considered when we did our initial 2011 projections, which were posted this week.

Later on this summer, once this labor mess clears up, we’ll be back with a detailed preview of each line, and we’ll re-rank them based on any key free agent losses or additions, health, and more.

1.  New York Jets Run Grade 95 Pass Grade 91 Total 186
Very good for the run last year and well above average for the pass, so still one of the best lines in the business.

2.  New England Patriots Run Grade 93 Pass Grade 93 Total 186
Extremely effective for the run [...]

I did another mock draft last night for another magazine (Lindys Fantasy Football), and while I cannot publish the entire draft, I can list here my team and go over that. This league is a non-PPR league. 12 teams, and the only other scoring nuance of note was that it’s only 3 points per passing TD (and 6 points per rushing/receiving), which devalues the QBs. But I’m usually of the opinion that, if the scoring is the same for everyone, a rule like that can’t devalue the QBs too much.

I picked 3rd, and after doing some stat research on my first pick, I surprised by selecting him over Chris Johnson.

Jamaal Charles – I had just so happened to study some deep stats on Charles yesterday, and everything revealed a budding star in the NFL. We all know he’s good by watching him play, but the stats say he’s beyond good, and the Chiefs are still an ascending team, so I took him. I’m not sure I would have taken him in a real draft, but based on this team and the two player’s performance last year, I do feel better about him than Chris Johnson, who I passed on.

Larry Fitzgerald [...]

I am working on a review of a 12-team mock draft that I did last week, but I figured I would post up another mock I did last week as well, since I can only post my team and it’s a much quicker write. The mock was for the Rotowire fantasy magazine, so I don’t want to publish the results until after it’s released.

But this was a damn good draft. 14-teams, non-PPR, and I picked 7th. Starting lineup is 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 RB/WR, 1 TE, 1 DT, and 1 PK.

1.    Rashard Mendanhall, RB – Solid #1 RB, as long as you can look past his unwise comments from last week. As for my fantasy team, however, I couldn’t care less, as long as he produces.

2.    Hakeem Nicks, WR – Some dude on facebook was critical of my pick of Nicks with the 5th pick in the 2nd round in the other mock. Um, he’s a young emerging stud in a good situation and he was #1 in points per game last year in his 13 games. He even came back nearly twice as fast as expected from a serious injury and not only that produced big [...]

Note: Check out our new Keeper/Dynasty Rankings here. We’ll release our Post-Draft Rookie Report on Friday.

I know people have been asking for more keeper and dynasty content, and I certainly want to appease them. During the season, there are weeks when I’m literally ranking and projecting 1200 players. That occurs when I do updated keeper rankings, update the rest-of-the-season projections, and rankings for the upcoming week within a two day period. These rankings take forever, and the keeper rankings an eternity.

Well, they just got more complicated for me.

In the past, we’ve only been able to rank keepers on a static page, one that was not tied to our database. Now, our keeper rankings will be presented like our regular projections, and even better I have added some category grades to try to put these players into better perspective. I basically have combined a few criteria (graded from 1-10 with 10 being the highest grade) for each of these two categories. They are:

Talent: This is basically self-explanatory, but I consider not only what the player has to work with physically but also what the player is capable of becoming down the road.

Opportunity: This is where I’m considering a few factors. Obviously, [...]

I am participating in my first fantasy draft of the year tonight for MyFantasyLeague.com, so I am starting to think about my overall draft strategy for this year.

My first inclination, as I’ve conveyed a bit in this blog already this year, is that 2011 is not a year to mess around with for obvious reasons (the lockout). I’m not going to try to be a hero, and I’m going to play things a little conservatively. At least I’m going to try to. It might be tough because I’m a play-to-win guy, but I think it would behoove fantasy players to focus on as many stable options as possible, at least in the first 4-6 rounds of a draft. That means eliminating as much risk as possible.

And that’s why I think Michael Vick should not be drafted as the #1 QB in 2011. In fact, I don’t think he should be the second or even the third fantasy QB drafted.  At some point, likely any time in the 2nd round, he is too flashy and exciting to pass up on, but pass on him I might because I think it’s more important to avoid downside this year than it is to [...]