🍯 A Savage Last Place Punishment

Poor Chris...or should we say Pooh Chris...

In today’s Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by Jock MKT:

Over the years we've seen plenty of brutal punishments for individuals who finish last in their fantasy league highlighted on Matthew's Twitter feed.

People have been forced to spend hours in a Waffle House, run 5ks in diapers, and all kinds of other debasing acts.

But I'm not sure I've ever seen something so devastatingly savage as what Chris had to do for finishing last in Zach Rosenblatt's league last year:

When you do something so absurdly over the top, it's more likely that most people know it's clearly a joke. But a date with Winnie the Pooh? That's honestly just believable enough in 2022 that I can feel the cringe from here.

Let's get Chris signed up for the newsletter so this doesn't happen again.

I know it's hot best ball summer, but even us fantasy sickos need to take a quick break and get some action down for the US Open. Luckily, Jock MKT is making it easy for us Fantasy Lifers.

For the Open, Jock MKT has a free contest with $2500 in prizes, PLUS every new user who enters the US Open contest receives a payout. That's right, every new player that joins will be rewarded with REAL money regardless of their lineup's performance.

Not only do they match your first deposit up to $100, they will GUARANTEE your first market and refund any losses up to $100 as well.

To recap: This is guaranteed free money for all new users who sign up using the link below or who use promo code LIFE!

To get you started, check out some of Geoff's favorite selections on Jock MKT for the Open below...

We don't always talk about golf around here, but when we do it's because there's a big tournament and Jock MKT is hooking us up with a nice promo. Below Geoff shares, some of his favorite U.S. Open picks on Jock MKT.

Jock MKT is a unique format in that we’re really just investing in singular players as opposed to creating lineups, as we’re asked to on traditional DFS sites. One nice thing about Jock MKT is that allows you to create your own bundle of investments by selecting multiple players from a slate (much like an ETF on the stock market).

For this year’s U.S. Open I’ve given you two players to consider adding to your Jock MKT portfolio in what will surely be a roller coaster-type event.

📈 Patrick Cantlay

The fair value prices on the top three or four players will likely require massive weeks to pay off, with many names like Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas becoming hot targets after huge weeks in Canada. However, if we slide just a little down the board we can get a player with a cheaper valuation and similar upside in Patrick Cantlay, whose missed cut at the PGA Championship two weeks ago is likely best written off as an anomaly by backers this week. Cantlay has accumulated an amazing 10, top 10 finishes since June of 2021 (with three wins) and comes in off a great bounce-back week at the Memorial (T3) where he showed massive confidence with the putter (gaining 4.4 strokes on the greens for the week). Starting with Cantlay is a good way to get some high-end exposure to this event.

📈 Tommy Fleetwood

From the mid-tier range, I certainly don’t mind looking to Tommy Fleetwood, whose game has taken a clear uptick in 2022. Fleetwood – who has multiple top-five finishes at this event – comes into the 2022 US Open showing great consistency in multiple areas and off a T5 at the PGA Championship where he had his best ball-striking week (from a strokes gained perspective) since the 2020 Honda Classic. With him taking the last two weeks off, the out-of-site, out-of-mind approach may work to keep bidding lower on him at Jock MKT than other players in his fair value range, as well.

🐆 Where will Baker Mayfield end up? A frontrunner has emerged.

🚌 Everything you need to know about best ball. Scott Barrett drops the ultimate comprehensive guide. And it's free.

🏌️‍♂️ U.S. Open Preview by RickRunGood. Get prepped for Jock MKT contests tonight at 8:15pm ET.*

🔔 Don't fade the wedding narrative. Sounds like Odell gave McVay a nice gift.

🏅 We love rookie WRs for best ball tournaments. Here are the best two to target.

*= Sponsored link.

It's hot best ball summer around here, which means in addition to discussing macro strategies, we need to be on top of specific team and player situations to make the best possible selections at every pick. Today, Jonathan Fuller puts Lamar Jackson under the microscope and Pete weighs in as well.

Even though it is only mid-June, drafters appear to have a strong opinion on the Ravens. There are currently four players being taken in the top five rounds on Underdog, and then there is a massive gap down to the fifth Raven with an ADP of 175. This tells us that the market expects the Ravens offense to be A) Good and B) Concentrated. If that turns out to be the case, we are going to want to have pieces of this offense.

But which pieces? And on what types of rosters?

One tricky thing about the Ravens is that we have to spend serious draft capital to stack the top pass catchers in what does not project to be an elite passing offense. Mark Andrews goes in the early to mid-second round while both Jackson and Rashod Bateman (more on him below) have ADPs that put them in the fifth round.

Considering that Lamar’s upside is closely tied to his rushing ability, I don’t like spending that many premium picks on his pass-catchers. Rather, the smart move is to pair Lamar with either Andrews OR Bateman, and then consider grabbing one of the other Ravens receivers as a last-round dart throw with less opportunity cost.

For an Andrews-Lamar pairing, we are dedicating multiple early picks to the onesie positions (QB and TE because you only can get points for one each week), which can work, but pretty much guarantees you should stick to just 2 QB and 2 TE builds.

This can be a really fun start for a Zero RB team to go along with three WRs in the first five rounds. You can also pull off an Anchor RB build with this start, but I am unlikely to ever recommend a hyper fragile or robust RB approach due to the early QB and TE picks leaving you too thin at WR. (If you're unfamiliar with Zero or Anchor RB, don't worry, we'll be covering them in our best ball summer school!)

Jackson has as high of a fantasy ceiling as any QB in the league, but we want to make sure we are giving our teams the best chance to win when picking him early in drafts.

Hot best ball summer is all about having the patience and flexibility to build great rosters across many different drafts. If you can create smart stacks with great offenses like the Ravens, you just might find yourself cashing in on a cool $2 million come January.

Pete's take: So if we're not premium stacking Jackson because of the cost, and the backfield is banged up, who exactly do we tack onto Ravens stacks late? There are three really interesting names to me that are all essentially free:

• WR Devin Duvernay (ADP 202)

• WR Tylan Wallace (ADP 215)

• RB Tyler Badie (ADP 215)

Duvernay is a speedster and punt returner who could help fill the deep target void with Marquise Brown gone... Wallace is entering his 2nd year in the league, was very productive at Oklahoma State, and profiles more as a slot WR... Badie is an athletic rookie RB with great pass-catching chops who could blindly stumble into a pretty nice workload with J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards banged up.

Depending on your team's needs, any of these guys are worthy dart throws late.

By the way, if you missed it on Monday, we kicked off Hot Best Ball Summer with a 101 primer for drafting teams. This is just the beginning, but here's a sneak peek of where else we are headed this summer.

Scoop me bro...

In this series, our contributors will disclose their favorite players and tell us why they can't stop drafting them. Today, we have the face of Jake TV, Jake Trowbridge, disclosing his love for Rashod Bateman...

My Guy: Rashod Bateman

Underdog Fantasy ADP: 54

Why:  I like my WRs like I like my living rooms: with sturdy floors and a high ceiling (and preferably not too drafty).

Bateman enters his sophomore season as, at worst, the second receiving option in the Ravens offense. With Marquise Brown and Sammy Watkins gone, Bateman knows it’s “his time” to take over the WR depth chart. His only real competition for targets is Mark Andrews, and last year proved that a WR could thrive alongside the elite TE. In fact, Brown earned more targets per game than Andrews.

The rookie first-round pick missed a chunk of games to start the 2021 season due to a core muscle surgery and only played seven games with Lamar Jackson. But in that small sample, Bateman was on a 17-game pace for 107 targets, 70 receptions, and 911 yards. Not too shabby for a rookie dealing with a significant injury.

But that’s also to be expected from a player viewed very highly as a prospect coming out of college.

It’s reasonable to assume the Ravens operate a more run-centric offense in 2022, but that would require a healthy backfield, which is still very much up in the air. Baltimore’s two top RBs could potentially start the season on the PUP list as they work their way back from ACL injuries. Regardless, Bateman has the talent and the opportunity to demand the ball. That makes him a safe option with massive upside this year.

Disclosures: Admittedly, Jake first chose to write about this player because he’d been watching a lot of Ozark and had Jason Bateman on the brain. But he stands by his analysis.

The season is fast approaching, which means it is time for us to get to know all of these NFL teams and who we should be drafting and fading after a busy offseason. In today's team preview, Cooterdoodle, who also should probably disclose her love of this team, previews the New Orleans Saints.

The New Orleans Saints have experienced many setbacks and changes over the last few years (Read: Drew Brees and Michael Thomas nowhere to be found in 2021).

However, this offseason the Saints organization made additions that have excited the fans and the players alike. While it’s not a full rebuild, the Saints are getting a bit of a facelift in 2022.

⚙️ Offseason changes

• Retirement of Sean Payton, who coached the Saints to their first and only Super Bowl win

• Defensive coordinator, Dennis Allen, was named Head Coach. Under Allen, the Saints had a top-5 defense over the last 3 seasons.

• Drafted Chris Olave 11th overall. Olave looks to be a much-needed deep threat for the Saints WR room

• Loss of left tackle, Terron Armstead, to the Dolphins

• Taysom Hill became a tight end… again

• Signed safety Tyrann Mathieu and WR Jarvis Landry. Both players are strong additions due to their experience and reliability at their respective positions.

•  Michael Thomas is not back to 100%.

• Jameis Winston is still “limping” after an ACL tear in 2021, but is expected to be ready for training camp.

• Matt Ryan’s departure from the NFC South is noteworthy as he was Cameron Jordan’s favorite sack.

✨ Team vibes

In short, the team needs Thomas and Winston back to full health. Although they took a hit losing Terron Armstead, they have more than significantly strengthened their WR corps. That’s right, Jameis Winston no longer has to rely solely on Marquez Callaway with players like Thomas, Olave, and Landry suiting up.

While some are reluctant to praise this offense until they see them take the field, their defense is another story. The Saints secondary is nothing to mess with. And if it needed to be said, Alvin Kamara looks to continue his role as one of the most reliable fantasy starters on the Saints offense yet again.

🎯Draft targets

• Alvin Kamara (Underdog Fantasy ADP 22)

• Jarvis Landry (Underdog Fantasy ADP 127)

• *Andy Dalton just in case, right? (Underdog Fantasy ADP 216)

👋Draft fades

• Michael Thomas (Underdog Fantasy ADP 70)

• Marquez Callaway (Underdog Fantasy ADP 215)

*Editor's note: we absolutely cannot endorse this, but leaving stricken for posterity's sake.