OFD Mailbag: Take Five

Welcome back to the OFD Mailbag, where we need your help! We're running light on mailbag submissions, so tell yo kids, tell yo wives, tell yo neighbors to shoot us questions @OFDMailbag or to the OFDMailbag@gmail.com accounts. As always, questions are from real readers, as far as I know. Without further ado, let's jump into the mailbag:

Tarean It Up

How do you think Bryant's suspension will affect Folston? Kelly seems to like a rotating backfield, but with the clear #2 out for the year, I'm wondering how much of that workload Folston picks up. Basically I'm wondering if Folston gets 20+ carries a game and becomes the first ND back to rush for 1,000 yards since Wood.

-Publius2010

I think in last year's offense, you would have seen Tarean Folston north of 20 carries a game. This season, however, Folston will be competing with Malik Zaire for carries just by how the offense is setup.

As far as percentage of snaps go, Folston will be by far and away the #1 option. I fully expect the majority of his time off the field won't be for another RB, but a jet-sweeping slot receiver.

Can he rush for 1000 yards? I think if we see the offensive line play up to its potential, he will easily reach that. There's too many things working (potentially) in his favor: uptempo offense, much larger focus on the running game, no one really to take carries away, and general awesomeness at the RB position. I expect big things from Folston this season: I think he sniffs 1400 yards rushing this year.

TJ Houshmanazode... Championship!

What should my fantasy football strategy look like this year? Is the 1st round too early to take a kicker or should I wait?

-Jim Miesle

Assuming the punishment for finishing last in your league isn't being forced to draft a kicker in the first round (yes, leagues like that exist) -- then I'd hold off on the special teamers.

I'm sure I'm not the only one, but fantasy football has almost entirely changed my NFL fandom. I used to consider myself a much larger Bears fan, but now, I really only watch the NFL with an eye towards my own fantasy teams and don't really follow the Bears much anymore, beyond knowing that they are going to be generally bad and unenjoyable this season.

To answer your question, here are my three ironclad fantasy football starter tips that if you follow you'll be competitive:

1. Don't draft a Kicker until the final round, and a defense until the second to last round. Every week, you should pick up a different kicker and defense based on matchups instead of wasting draft spots on them.
2. Draft only one QB and one TE (assuming you're in a league with "normal" rosters). The talent you can pick up off the waiver wire for bye weeks is just fine at these positions, and you'll want to spend as many bench spots as possible on RB/WR backups/sleepers.
3. Before your draft, rank the players in each position and across all positions. Keep it to one sheet of paper. During the draft, follow your rankings and always take the best player available without breaking the rules above. Boom, you've got yourself a winner and you don't second guess yourself in the draft.

Only Brian Kelly Didn't Say Fudge...

Now that Notre Dame is doing a docuseries with Showtime, a premium cable channel, what's the over/under on Brian Kelly swears that are aired during the series? I'd place it at 12 for the 12-week series (conservative estimate because I'm assuming Kelly doesn't want to be shown swearing and will say so), but I'll still go over.

-ndistops

I'm going to take the under. I think they're going to *BLEEP*ing bleep out that crazy son of a *BLEEP*.

Luckily for us though, on premium cable, the purple face should be resplendent if it makes an appearance.

Thanks for joining us for another edition of the OFD *BLEEP*ing Mailbag. Until next time, keep coming up with reasons to explain paying for Showtime to your significant other.

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Please be sure to submit any and all questions to @OFDMailbag or OFDMailbag@gmail.com -- queries about how to pirate premium cable are welcome, but will not be answered (wink, wink).