Shawn Siegele

Author of the original Zero RB article and 2013 NFFC Primetime Grand Champion. 11-time main event league winner. 2015, 2017, 2018 titles in MFL10 of Death.

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In-Season Articles

In-Season Articles

The Next DeVonta Smith Could Be the Perfect Way to Beat 2023’s WR Dead Zone

Shawn Siegele dives deep into the evidence and breaks out the full RotoViz toolkit to help you find a receiver who profiles as the 2023 version of DeVonta Smith. In Part 1 of this series, I framed the project this way: You only have so many early-round selections. Players on the same NFL team are frequently dealing with the same team-level risks. That leads to…...

Manipulating the RB Dead Zone for Outsized Gains in 2023 – Stealing Bananas

Ben Gretch and Shawn Siegele discuss the history and theory of the RB Dead Zone, explore how fantasy football ADP has shifted the dynamics in 2023, and give their favorite RB plays to exploit the inefficiencies. Subscribe to the RotoViz YouTube Channel here! HOSTS Stealing Signals creator Ben Gretch (@Yardspergretch)  Subscribe to Stealing Signals and Stealing Lines today. RotoViz co-owner Shawn Siegele (@FF_Contrarian)  SPONSORS Listeners

Best Ball Workshop: Drafters Are Still Giving You a Dominant QB Approach in the FFPC SF Tournament

Shawn Siegele examines quarterback tactics in the FFPC Superflex tournament and explains why a tournament-winning approach is still alive and well. The FFPC Best Ball Superflex tournament has always been one of my favorite contests to participate in and write about in the workshop. The most fun I had writing a piece last year may have been How the RotoViz Tools Fueled a Team to…...

The Late Rounds Are a Black Hole at WR, But These 5 Deep Options Could Be Tournament Winners

Does the Wide Receiver Avalanche have you on the defensive in summer best ball drafts? Shawn Siegele breaks down his favorite deep sleeper options at receiver. The 2023 fantasy landscape features brutally WR-heavy tournament drafts. Those drafts become even more aggressive at WR when you look at the toughest rooms. Check out an OT listener league draft or a Best Ball Banana Stand contest. In…...

Do Fantasy’s Best Sleepers and Biggest Reaches (at Both RB and WR) Reside on the Same NFL Team?

Could 2022’s top WR breakout candidate and the best Zero RB option come from the same team? Shawn Siegele debates the best way to play a controversial offense. When RotoViz subscribers talk about crafting a roster, they’re usually thinking about a mix of structural drafting at the squad level and contingency-based drafting at the player level. They’re building their rosters out from back to front…...

Will Ty Chandler and DeWayne McBride Emerge as Zero RB Stars After Dalvin Cook’s Release?

Shawn Siegele examines the fantasy fallout from Dalvin Cook’s release and asks whether Ty Chandler or DeWayne McBride could become the 2023 league winner as Alexander Mattison disappoints. It’s been an open secret that the Minnesota Vikings would move on from Cook this summer. The former star generated 101.5 fantasy points over expectation (FPOE) across the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but that dropped into the…...

Underdog Workshop: How to Combine Hyperfragile RB and Elite QB for a Contrarian Juggernaut

Shawn Siegele looks at how to maximize the upside of an Elite QB + Hyperfragile RB squad in today’s edition of the Underdog Workshop. In the Workshop’s previous lesson, we discovered that conditions were perfect for Elite QB and Hyperfragile RB in 2023. Unless we experience another sea change in fantasy, the general framework of best ball combined with long-term scoring trends will always dictate…...

A Broken Rules Build: Can We Pair Elite QB With a Hyperfragile Approach at RB?

In his second lesson of the 2023 Underdog Workshop, Shawn Siegele proposes a combination of Elite QB and Hyperfragile RB. He starts by pulling up the Underdog Advance Rate Explorer for a look at the intersection of stacking, price, and points added as it relates to QB value.  Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been discussing Elite QB after Michael Dubner got the ball rolling…...

Underdog Workshop 2023: The 5 Components of Supercharged Elite QB Builds

In the 2023 Underdog Workshop, Shawn Siegele provides a series of lessons based on insights from the RotoViz tools and his own drafts. Today he discusses five complementary tactics for building an Elite QB roster with the upside to win $3 million. Star quarterbacks dominated in 2022, giving rise to a significant jump in 2023 prices. As Michael Dubner expertly breaks down in Should We…...

Dynasty Workshop: 6 Teams, 77 Picks, 18 Trades – A RotoViz Triflex Rookie Draft Spectacular

Shawn Siegele breaks down all six of his RotoViz TriFlex rookie drafts, examining the execution of his pre-draft plan through 77 picks and 18 trades. The RotoViz TriFlex leagues over at the FFPC are entering their third season. The format has been a big hit, as it reflects starting lineup requirements that have become industry favorites: 1-QB, 1-SF, 2-RB, 3-WR, 1-TE, 2-Flex. With the advent…...

Underdog ADPs Set to Rise and Fall and the Most Dynamic Ways to Play the 2023 NFL Schedule

Shawn Siegele forecasts rising and falling Underdog ADPs and breaks down his favorite ways to play the Week 17 schedule. In order to set the stage for our look at some of the fun schedule elements, it’s imperative that you read Michael Dubner’s Best Ball Bible. It’s one of the foundational articles in best ball literature and a must at any juncture, but especially today…....

Need a Discount Option for Your Favorite Prospect? How to Maneuver Tiers in Rookie Drafts

Want upside but don’t have early-pick firepower? Shawn Siegele explores the best options for maneuvering within 2023 rookie drafts. Rookie drafts in the RotoViz TriFlex format start Saturday morning at the FFPC. With Superflex, TE Premium, and deep starting lineups, the format reflects most new leagues across the dynasty landscape. Tactics that work in the TriFlex are widely generalizable to your league, so let’s dive…...

The Lions Dump D’Andre Swift in Philadelphia and Launch Multiple Fantasy Running Backs

The Lions traded D’Andre Swift to the Philadelphia Eagles for a meaningless move in Round 7 and a fourth-round pick a million years from now (or 2025). Even for a one-year rental that feels a bit . . . light. At one point late last season, Jerry Jones was criticizing the Eagles for going all-in on the 2022 season. This was one of the weirder…...

The Discount Breece Hall Goes to New York to be the Handcuff to the Actual Breece Hall? Heartbreaking for Abanikanda

Israel Abanikanda goes to the New York Jets with the 143rd pick in the 2023 NFL draft. Even if the Breece Hall injury provides a small window at the beginning of the season, this is a disaster for Abanikanda. Well, this one hurts. Abanikanda was pretty easily the most exciting running back in this draft not named Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs. You don’t normally…...

How the Contrasts Between Israel Abanikanda and Roschon Johnson Can Help Flesh Out Nuances of RB Prospect Evaluation

Shawn Siegele breaks down the battle between two controversial RB prospects who could go on Day 2 and explains why it’s easy to get caught up in a specific aspect of their profiles when the full picture is both more interesting and more complicated. There’s more than one way to be a good NFL running back. That’s the fun part of evaluating prospects. It’s not…...

Projecting the First Round of Superflex Rookie Drafts After Day 1 of the Reality Event

Last night, Blair Andrews, Dave Caban, and I put together our live fantasy reactions. The full writing team will be involved on Day 2, and I’ll be doing a live Stealing Bananas show with Ben Gretch. That’s a good place to start in our draft breakdowns, but I also wanted to add my initial projection for Round 1 of rookie drafts next week. Before the…...

2023 Rookie Rankings and Tiers: Round 3 Packs a Serious Punch at Every Position

With the draft now less than a week away, Shawn Siegele provides advanced stats for every rookie ranked No. 25 to 36 in his dynasty superflex rankings. This series has been even more fun than I anticipated, which is exactly what you’re hoping for when you set out (and definitely not always the case). In Part 1 of the Rookie Rankings Series, I debated the value…...

The Next DeVonta Smith Could Be the Perfect Way to Beat 2023’s WR Dead Zone

Shawn Siegele dives deep into the evidence and breaks out the full RotoViz toolkit to help you find a receiver who profiles as the 2023 version of DeVonta Smith. In Part 1 of this series, I framed the project this way: You only have so many early-round selections. Players on the same NFL team are frequently dealing with the same team-level risks. That leads to…...

Manipulating the RB Dead Zone for Outsized Gains in 2023 – Stealing Bananas

Ben Gretch and Shawn Siegele discuss the history and theory of the RB Dead Zone, explore how fantasy football ADP has shifted the dynamics in 2023, and give their favorite RB plays to exploit the inefficiencies. Subscribe to the RotoViz YouTube Channel here! HOSTS Stealing Signals creator Ben Gretch (@Yardspergretch)  Subscribe to Stealing Signals and Stealing Lines today. RotoViz co-owner Shawn Siegele (@FF_Contrarian)  SPONSORS Listeners

Best Ball Workshop: Drafters Are Still Giving You a Dominant QB Approach in the FFPC SF Tournament

Shawn Siegele examines quarterback tactics in the FFPC Superflex tournament and explains why a tournament-winning approach is still alive and well. The FFPC Best Ball Superflex tournament has always been one of my favorite contests to participate in and write about in the workshop. The most fun I had writing a piece last year may have been How the RotoViz Tools Fueled a Team to…...

The Late Rounds Are a Black Hole at WR, But These 5 Deep Options Could Be Tournament Winners

Does the Wide Receiver Avalanche have you on the defensive in summer best ball drafts? Shawn Siegele breaks down his favorite deep sleeper options at receiver. The 2023 fantasy landscape features brutally WR-heavy tournament drafts. Those drafts become even more aggressive at WR when you look at the toughest rooms. Check out an OT listener league draft or a Best Ball Banana Stand contest. In…...

Do Fantasy’s Best Sleepers and Biggest Reaches (at Both RB and WR) Reside on the Same NFL Team?

Could 2022’s top WR breakout candidate and the best Zero RB option come from the same team? Shawn Siegele debates the best way to play a controversial offense. When RotoViz subscribers talk about crafting a roster, they’re usually thinking about a mix of structural drafting at the squad level and contingency-based drafting at the player level. They’re building their rosters out from back to front…...

Will Ty Chandler and DeWayne McBride Emerge as Zero RB Stars After Dalvin Cook’s Release?

Shawn Siegele examines the fantasy fallout from Dalvin Cook’s release and asks whether Ty Chandler or DeWayne McBride could become the 2023 league winner as Alexander Mattison disappoints. It’s been an open secret that the Minnesota Vikings would move on from Cook this summer. The former star generated 101.5 fantasy points over expectation (FPOE) across the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but that dropped into the…...

Underdog Workshop: How to Combine Hyperfragile RB and Elite QB for a Contrarian Juggernaut

Shawn Siegele looks at how to maximize the upside of an Elite QB + Hyperfragile RB squad in today’s edition of the Underdog Workshop. In the Workshop’s previous lesson, we discovered that conditions were perfect for Elite QB and Hyperfragile RB in 2023. Unless we experience another sea change in fantasy, the general framework of best ball combined with long-term scoring trends will always dictate…...

A Broken Rules Build: Can We Pair Elite QB With a Hyperfragile Approach at RB?

In his second lesson of the 2023 Underdog Workshop, Shawn Siegele proposes a combination of Elite QB and Hyperfragile RB. He starts by pulling up the Underdog Advance Rate Explorer for a look at the intersection of stacking, price, and points added as it relates to QB value.  Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been discussing Elite QB after Michael Dubner got the ball rolling…...

Underdog Workshop 2023: The 5 Components of Supercharged Elite QB Builds

In the 2023 Underdog Workshop, Shawn Siegele provides a series of lessons based on insights from the RotoViz tools and his own drafts. Today he discusses five complementary tactics for building an Elite QB roster with the upside to win $3 million. Star quarterbacks dominated in 2022, giving rise to a significant jump in 2023 prices. As Michael Dubner expertly breaks down in Should We…...

Dynasty Workshop: 6 Teams, 77 Picks, 18 Trades – A RotoViz Triflex Rookie Draft Spectacular

Shawn Siegele breaks down all six of his RotoViz TriFlex rookie drafts, examining the execution of his pre-draft plan through 77 picks and 18 trades. The RotoViz TriFlex leagues over at the FFPC are entering their third season. The format has been a big hit, as it reflects starting lineup requirements that have become industry favorites: 1-QB, 1-SF, 2-RB, 3-WR, 1-TE, 2-Flex. With the advent…...

Underdog ADPs Set to Rise and Fall and the Most Dynamic Ways to Play the 2023 NFL Schedule

Shawn Siegele forecasts rising and falling Underdog ADPs and breaks down his favorite ways to play the Week 17 schedule. In order to set the stage for our look at some of the fun schedule elements, it’s imperative that you read Michael Dubner’s Best Ball Bible. It’s one of the foundational articles in best ball literature and a must at any juncture, but especially today…....

Need a Discount Option for Your Favorite Prospect? How to Maneuver Tiers in Rookie Drafts

Want upside but don’t have early-pick firepower? Shawn Siegele explores the best options for maneuvering within 2023 rookie drafts. Rookie drafts in the RotoViz TriFlex format start Saturday morning at the FFPC. With Superflex, TE Premium, and deep starting lineups, the format reflects most new leagues across the dynasty landscape. Tactics that work in the TriFlex are widely generalizable to your league, so let’s dive…...

The Lions Dump D’Andre Swift in Philadelphia and Launch Multiple Fantasy Running Backs

The Lions traded D’Andre Swift to the Philadelphia Eagles for a meaningless move in Round 7 and a fourth-round pick a million years from now (or 2025). Even for a one-year rental that feels a bit . . . light. At one point late last season, Jerry Jones was criticizing the Eagles for going all-in on the 2022 season. This was one of the weirder…...

The Discount Breece Hall Goes to New York to be the Handcuff to the Actual Breece Hall? Heartbreaking for Abanikanda

Israel Abanikanda goes to the New York Jets with the 143rd pick in the 2023 NFL draft. Even if the Breece Hall injury provides a small window at the beginning of the season, this is a disaster for Abanikanda. Well, this one hurts. Abanikanda was pretty easily the most exciting running back in this draft not named Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs. You don’t normally…...

How the Contrasts Between Israel Abanikanda and Roschon Johnson Can Help Flesh Out Nuances of RB Prospect Evaluation

Shawn Siegele breaks down the battle between two controversial RB prospects who could go on Day 2 and explains why it’s easy to get caught up in a specific aspect of their profiles when the full picture is both more interesting and more complicated. There’s more than one way to be a good NFL running back. That’s the fun part of evaluating prospects. It’s not…...

Projecting the First Round of Superflex Rookie Drafts After Day 1 of the Reality Event

Last night, Blair Andrews, Dave Caban, and I put together our live fantasy reactions. The full writing team will be involved on Day 2, and I’ll be doing a live Stealing Bananas show with Ben Gretch. That’s a good place to start in our draft breakdowns, but I also wanted to add my initial projection for Round 1 of rookie drafts next week. Before the…...

2023 Rookie Rankings and Tiers: Round 3 Packs a Serious Punch at Every Position

With the draft now less than a week away, Shawn Siegele provides advanced stats for every rookie ranked No. 25 to 36 in his dynasty superflex rankings. This series has been even more fun than I anticipated, which is exactly what you’re hoping for when you set out (and definitely not always the case). In Part 1 of the Rookie Rankings Series, I debated the value…...

The Next DeVonta Smith Could Be the Perfect Way to Beat 2023’s WR Dead Zone

Shawn Siegele dives deep into the evidence and breaks out the full RotoViz toolkit to help you find a receiver who profiles as the 2023 version of DeVonta Smith. In Part 1 of this series, I framed the project this way: You only have so many early-round selections. Players on the same NFL team are frequently dealing with the same team-level risks. That leads to…...

Manipulating the RB Dead Zone for Outsized Gains in 2023 – Stealing Bananas

Ben Gretch and Shawn Siegele discuss the history and theory of the RB Dead Zone, explore how fantasy football ADP has shifted the dynamics in 2023, and give their favorite RB plays to exploit the inefficiencies. Subscribe to the RotoViz YouTube Channel here! HOSTS Stealing Signals creator Ben Gretch (@Yardspergretch)  Subscribe to Stealing Signals and Stealing Lines today. RotoViz co-owner Shawn Siegele (@FF_Contrarian)  SPONSORS Listeners

Best Ball Workshop: Drafters Are Still Giving You a Dominant QB Approach in the FFPC SF Tournament

Shawn Siegele examines quarterback tactics in the FFPC Superflex tournament and explains why a tournament-winning approach is still alive and well. The FFPC Best Ball Superflex tournament has always been one of my favorite contests to participate in and write about in the workshop. The most fun I had writing a piece last year may have been How the RotoViz Tools Fueled a Team to…...

The Late Rounds Are a Black Hole at WR, But These 5 Deep Options Could Be Tournament Winners

Does the Wide Receiver Avalanche have you on the defensive in summer best ball drafts? Shawn Siegele breaks down his favorite deep sleeper options at receiver. The 2023 fantasy landscape features brutally WR-heavy tournament drafts. Those drafts become even more aggressive at WR when you look at the toughest rooms. Check out an OT listener league draft or a Best Ball Banana Stand contest. In…...

Do Fantasy’s Best Sleepers and Biggest Reaches (at Both RB and WR) Reside on the Same NFL Team?

Could 2022’s top WR breakout candidate and the best Zero RB option come from the same team? Shawn Siegele debates the best way to play a controversial offense. When RotoViz subscribers talk about crafting a roster, they’re usually thinking about a mix of structural drafting at the squad level and contingency-based drafting at the player level. They’re building their rosters out from back to front…...

Will Ty Chandler and DeWayne McBride Emerge as Zero RB Stars After Dalvin Cook’s Release?

Shawn Siegele examines the fantasy fallout from Dalvin Cook’s release and asks whether Ty Chandler or DeWayne McBride could become the 2023 league winner as Alexander Mattison disappoints. It’s been an open secret that the Minnesota Vikings would move on from Cook this summer. The former star generated 101.5 fantasy points over expectation (FPOE) across the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but that dropped into the…...

Underdog Workshop: How to Combine Hyperfragile RB and Elite QB for a Contrarian Juggernaut

Shawn Siegele looks at how to maximize the upside of an Elite QB + Hyperfragile RB squad in today’s edition of the Underdog Workshop. In the Workshop’s previous lesson, we discovered that conditions were perfect for Elite QB and Hyperfragile RB in 2023. Unless we experience another sea change in fantasy, the general framework of best ball combined with long-term scoring trends will always dictate…...

A Broken Rules Build: Can We Pair Elite QB With a Hyperfragile Approach at RB?

In his second lesson of the 2023 Underdog Workshop, Shawn Siegele proposes a combination of Elite QB and Hyperfragile RB. He starts by pulling up the Underdog Advance Rate Explorer for a look at the intersection of stacking, price, and points added as it relates to QB value.  Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been discussing Elite QB after Michael Dubner got the ball rolling…...

Underdog Workshop 2023: The 5 Components of Supercharged Elite QB Builds

In the 2023 Underdog Workshop, Shawn Siegele provides a series of lessons based on insights from the RotoViz tools and his own drafts. Today he discusses five complementary tactics for building an Elite QB roster with the upside to win $3 million. Star quarterbacks dominated in 2022, giving rise to a significant jump in 2023 prices. As Michael Dubner expertly breaks down in Should We…...

Dynasty Workshop: 6 Teams, 77 Picks, 18 Trades – A RotoViz Triflex Rookie Draft Spectacular

Shawn Siegele breaks down all six of his RotoViz TriFlex rookie drafts, examining the execution of his pre-draft plan through 77 picks and 18 trades. The RotoViz TriFlex leagues over at the FFPC are entering their third season. The format has been a big hit, as it reflects starting lineup requirements that have become industry favorites: 1-QB, 1-SF, 2-RB, 3-WR, 1-TE, 2-Flex. With the advent…...

Underdog ADPs Set to Rise and Fall and the Most Dynamic Ways to Play the 2023 NFL Schedule

Shawn Siegele forecasts rising and falling Underdog ADPs and breaks down his favorite ways to play the Week 17 schedule. In order to set the stage for our look at some of the fun schedule elements, it’s imperative that you read Michael Dubner’s Best Ball Bible. It’s one of the foundational articles in best ball literature and a must at any juncture, but especially today…....

Need a Discount Option for Your Favorite Prospect? How to Maneuver Tiers in Rookie Drafts

Want upside but don’t have early-pick firepower? Shawn Siegele explores the best options for maneuvering within 2023 rookie drafts. Rookie drafts in the RotoViz TriFlex format start Saturday morning at the FFPC. With Superflex, TE Premium, and deep starting lineups, the format reflects most new leagues across the dynasty landscape. Tactics that work in the TriFlex are widely generalizable to your league, so let’s dive…...

The Lions Dump D’Andre Swift in Philadelphia and Launch Multiple Fantasy Running Backs

The Lions traded D’Andre Swift to the Philadelphia Eagles for a meaningless move in Round 7 and a fourth-round pick a million years from now (or 2025). Even for a one-year rental that feels a bit . . . light. At one point late last season, Jerry Jones was criticizing the Eagles for going all-in on the 2022 season. This was one of the weirder…...

The Discount Breece Hall Goes to New York to be the Handcuff to the Actual Breece Hall? Heartbreaking for Abanikanda

Israel Abanikanda goes to the New York Jets with the 143rd pick in the 2023 NFL draft. Even if the Breece Hall injury provides a small window at the beginning of the season, this is a disaster for Abanikanda. Well, this one hurts. Abanikanda was pretty easily the most exciting running back in this draft not named Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs. You don’t normally…...

How the Contrasts Between Israel Abanikanda and Roschon Johnson Can Help Flesh Out Nuances of RB Prospect Evaluation

Shawn Siegele breaks down the battle between two controversial RB prospects who could go on Day 2 and explains why it’s easy to get caught up in a specific aspect of their profiles when the full picture is both more interesting and more complicated. There’s more than one way to be a good NFL running back. That’s the fun part of evaluating prospects. It’s not…...

Projecting the First Round of Superflex Rookie Drafts After Day 1 of the Reality Event

Last night, Blair Andrews, Dave Caban, and I put together our live fantasy reactions. The full writing team will be involved on Day 2, and I’ll be doing a live Stealing Bananas show with Ben Gretch. That’s a good place to start in our draft breakdowns, but I also wanted to add my initial projection for Round 1 of rookie drafts next week. Before the…...

2023 Rookie Rankings and Tiers: Round 3 Packs a Serious Punch at Every Position

With the draft now less than a week away, Shawn Siegele provides advanced stats for every rookie ranked No. 25 to 36 in his dynasty superflex rankings. This series has been even more fun than I anticipated, which is exactly what you’re hoping for when you set out (and definitely not always the case). In Part 1 of the Rookie Rankings Series, I debated the value…...

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