Trent Richardson #3 of the Alabama Crimson Tide beats Morris Claiborne #17 of the LSU Tigers on 34 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter of the 2012 Allstate BCS National Championship Game. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

In a play that essentially sealed the victory for the Tide, a future first round draft pick runs right past another future first round draft pick. The Cleveland Browns should absolutely pass on both of them.

B19K spelled out why not to draft Trent Richardson in a previous article. Continuing with that theme, here's why not to draft the other guy, Morris Claiborne.

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It's playoff time, the real ones, which means it's time for the ultimate fantasy football clash. It's time to see who's really the best of the best and which DBN fantasy league is truly superior! There's only one way to find that out, The DBN Three League Showdown. We pit each of the winners from the three leagues, whether Official, Unofficial, or Rebel, when the smoke clears only one man is left standing.

Here are the rules: Each winner selects their lineup, which includes 1 QB, WR, RB, TE, K, defense, and 1 flex (W/R/T), from the participating playoff teams in the Wildcard Round. Standard Yahoo! scoring will apply. Lineups must be set before kickoff of the first NFL playoff game, 4:30pm Saturday.

To the competing teams: simply review your choices, then post a comment with your selected lineup. As they come in, I will update this FanPost to reflect each team. If you wish to make a change, simply say so, as long as it's prior to kick off. As far as scoring goes, you can score your own team just to be sure, but I will update the scoring here as well. Good luck!

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The first thing I'd like to do is thank all of our participating teams, new and returning, in the UDBNFL. You guys made for another great season. Once again, the competition within the league was fierce all the way to the end. There's really not much more you can ask for from a fantasy league than that. I hope you all had fun, and I'd love to do it again for a third time next season. I would also like to thank Chris and everyone else at DBN for allowing us to organize, and talk a little smack through Dawgs By Nature.

And now on to the awards! I decided to change it up for this season, to keep things interesting...

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It's that time again! The fantasy football playoffs begin this week for the Unofficial DBN Fan League. Two of the league's top teams last season ended up as the bottom ranked two this time around. London Silly Nannies and Husker's_Hounds, both coming off 2010 playoff appearance, suffered abysmal records this season due to injuries, underachievers, and a general lack of effort. New UDBNFL entrant, golan, dealt with the Simms Syndrome (circa 2010), where as he scores a ton of points (third in the league), but has the worst fantasy luck. Outside of that, the Unofficial league was pretty competitive throughout, battling for playoff positions up until the bitter end. The final standings are as follows:

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It's back! After a three week hiatus, just in time for those last-ditch efforts to make the fantasy playoffs. Welcome to Week 14 of the 2011 NFL season, and the latest edition of the Fantasy Football Feature. If you’re not yet familiar, this is a fantasy football mash-up open thread. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have.

Working the Wire - Playoff Push Edition:

As the season goes on into the later weeks, the waiver wire gems tend to taper off. But now were just one week away from most leagues' fantasy playoffs. A lot of teams should be looking for the last second move that might just save their hopes for a fantasy post season. Keep in mind, owners vary in every league so some of these guys are going to be harder to grab than others. The UDBNFL waiver wire, for example, is less fierce than it was a few weeks ago, but still rather rough. (*The ownership percentage is going up on these guys every minute, so they are not exact.)

1. Seattle (DEF-104.00) - Owned in 19% of Yahoo! Leagues - MUST - This Seattle defense has been up and down all season, but they are taking on St. Louis, a team that gives up the fantasy most points to opposing defenses in the league. If the playoffs are on the line, swing for the fences.
2. Marion Barber (Chi-RB-59.90) - Owned in 36% of Yahoo! Leagues - DEEP - Chicago has some less than ideal matchups coming up, but with Forte and Cutler out, I've got to think there's going to be a ton more of Barber who's hasn't been too shabby anyway.
3. Malcom Floyd (SD-WR-62.90) - Owned in 40% of Yahoo! Leagues - DEEP - This guy has been a terribly inconsistent fantasy option, but so have a ton of other WRs this season. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and that's the kind of situation that calls for playing Floyd.

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Welcome to Week 10 of the 2011 NFL season, and the latest edition of the Fantasy Football Feature. If you’re not yet familiar, this is a fantasy football mash-up open thread. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have or even have live trade negotiation.

Week 9 Big Surprise Performers:

Once, someone who shouldn't be surprising us, at 99% owned, did just that. Easily the most overrated WR in the league, Vincent Jackson finally did something noteworthy since Week 2. He dropped a whopping 32.10 fantasy points on the still undefeated Green Bay in a loss, in 141 yards and 3 TDs. Young up and coming rookie receiver Julio Jones (28.40) caught his first career TD then followed it up with another one, but it was against the Colts. Quietly one of the most consistent fantasy backs this season, Willis McGahee put up his best fantasy performance this season rushing for 163 and 2 TDs. Lynch, Bush, and Tolbert each dropped around 20 points. Mean while for QBs, Tim Tebow and Matt Moore where the surprises, both putting up acceptable 20+ fantasy games. 

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Welcome to Week 9 of the 2011 NFL season, and the latest edition of the Fantasy Football Feature. If you’re not yet familiar, this is a fantasy football mash-up open thread. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have or even have live trade negotiation.

Week 8 Big Surprise Performers:

All the major performers this week came from exactly who you expect to have major performances. Guys like Shady McCoy, Steven Jackson, AP, and Ray Rice. Cam Newton is continuing is monster rookie season, which is a surprise to some. Curtis Painter, 11% owned, had an acceptable week with 15.90, but still isn't worth having. 0% owned San Diego running back, Curtis Brinkley had 10 carries for 43 yards and a short TD for 14.70 points as Ryan Matthews suffered from a groin injury. 

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Welcome to Week 7 of the 2011 NFL season, and the latest edition of the Fantasy Football Feature. If you’re not yet familiar, this is a fantasy football mash-up open thread. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have or even have live trade negotiation.

Week 6 Big Surprise Performers:

For a player who's 96% owned, Ahmad Bradshaw still managed to do something pretty surprising. Prior to this week, he was fairly consistently scoring around 10 fantasy points a week. This time around, he made into the endzone 3 times, rushing for 104 yard, dropping a total 31.00 against Buffalo. The only other real big surprise performance came on a team that has had long running WR issues, something Browns fans are all too familiar with. But this week, Devin Hester caught 5 passes for 91 yards and a TD. The x-factor came on a 98 yard kick return touchdown which awarded him another 6, for a total of 21.10 fantasy points. Overall, it was a pretty slow week for fantasy football scoring. 

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Welcome to Week 6 of the 2011 NFL season, and the latest edition of the Fantasy Football Feature. If you’re not yet familiar, this is a fantasy football mash-up open thread. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have or even have live trade negotiation.

Week 5 Big Surprise Performers:

Continuing his weekly climb in points, Green Bay's James Jones (20.00) topped had another personal best fantasy week of this season, with 140 yards and a touchdown, 65% of which came on a single reception. Doug Balwin (19.60), who's sharing Seattle targets with Sidney Rice, got the bulk of them this week. On 8 catches, he put up 136 yards and a TD. The Jag's number two WR, Jason Hill, also had a big TD reception, that accounted for almost all of his 17.80 points. The Pitt receiver we all love to hate, Hines Ward (17.40), finally had a respectable outing this season catching 7 passes, including 2 TDs. Steve Breaston (17.00) was a big part of KC's comeback victory against the winless Colts. Oakland's shocking 2010 first round pick, Darrius Heyward-Bey (15.90), seems to be on the rise, following up last weeks decent game with another, as they upset Houston. The only real major surprise as far as quarterbacks this week, came from 32% owned Matt Cassel (27.48). As I mentioned before, KC fought there way back down 7-24 to Indy, behind Cassel's 4 total TD passes. 

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Welcome to Week 5 of the 2011 NFL season, and the latest Breast Cancer Awareness edition of the Fantasy Football Feature. If you’re not yet familiar, this is a fantasy football mash-up open thread. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have or even have live trade negotiation.

Week 4 in Review:

The quarterbacks are back! Well, at least a few of them. Aaron Rodgers leaps to the front of the pack with an awesome performance against Denver, dropping 408 passing yards, 4 TDs, and rushing for 36 yards, 2 TDs for a whopping 46.92 fantasy points. Rookie phenom Cam Newton (33.46) is right back on pace, putting up 374 passing yards, 1 TD, and rushed for another 2 TDs in Chicago. Finally having numbers worthy of his draft position, Mike Vick had 31.14 fantasy points and did it without a rushing TD, but passed for 416, 2 TDs and rushed for 75. A QB surprise this week came in the likes of Tarvaris Jackson, 6% owned, who dropped 24.36 points. Cincinnati rookie, Andy Dalton (21.12), has been up and down fantasy wise. There's a handful of other guys that have been back and forth, and some lower profile 15ish-20ish (weekly) guys, which actually includes, our very own, Browns QB Colt McCoy (18.60). The last QB I'll mention is, number 2 overall fantasy QB, Tom Brady, who had a down week with only 16.94, which seems for this season is as bad as it gets for him. 

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Welcome to Week 4 of the 2011 NFL season, and the latest edition of the Fantasy Football Feature. If you’re not yet familiar, this is a fantasy football mash-up open thread. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have or even have live trade negotiation.

Week 3 in Review:

I think the biggest shocker of Week 3 came in Buffalo's upset of New England to remain undefeated and top the AFC East. Another big surprise were Tom Brady's 4 interceptions in that game. Despite that, he still threw for 387 yards and 4 touchdowns, totaling in a season low 27.98 fantasy points. Other big weeks for a few lower profile fantasy quarterbacks included Joe Flacco's 28.26 point outing vs. the Rams. Also, Mark Sanchez dropped 369 yards and 2 TDs on Oakland, with an additional rushing TD, scoring 27.96 points. Drew Brees topped the QBs this week with 28.70, staying consistent with the best tier. Matt Schaub (25.92) and Eli Manning (25.86) had solid fantasy weeks, just need to see those numbers more often. Aaron Rodgers (23.18), as well as two guys you might night expect to see lumped in with him, Matthew Stafford (23.02) and Ryan Fitzpatrick (20.16) are all QBs yet to have a week under 20 fantasy points. Last note, Cam Newton (15.02) may have fallen back to Earth, at least for now. However, if that's what a bad day is for Cam, we've seen the good days, this kid is still a worthy fantasy starter. Overall, it was a fairly tame week from our QBs.

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Welcome to Week 3 of the 2011 NFL season, and the latest edition of the Fantasy Football Feature. If you’re not yet familiar, this is a fantasy football mash-up open thread. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have or even have live trade negotiation.

Week 2 in Review:

I've got to open this segment recognizing our league leading fantasy scorer, Tom Brady. As I've mentioned in comments before, this guy is inhuman, or least he's playing like it. In two weeks of football, Brady has thrown for 940 yards, 7 touchdowns, and only 1 interception totaling in 65.20 fantasy points. He's doing with this without an elite deep threat like the 2007 Randy Moss. Some around here argue Wes Welker isn't even an elite WR. Outside of that, he's making an all star out of Deion Branch and both his tight ends. These are things that only make Brady's performance up until now even more impressive. Right behind Tom in overall fantasy scoring, is the real fantasy shocker so far, rookie QB and first overall draft pick, Cam Newton. He actually just barely topped Brady this week with 29.58 fantasy points on 432 yards, only 1 TD, and a staggering 3 INTs (-6 pts), also rushing for 53 and another TD. This time it wasn't facing the likes of Arizona, he was taking on the Super Bowl defending Green Bay Packers. In his two weeks, he absolutely looks like the real deal. Sure, he's making rookie mistakes, but numbers like that are undeniable. He is a must buy in any league. Another surprise, also mentioned last week, is Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. He kept up his performance in a game against Oakland, passing for 264 yards, 3 TDs, and 1 INT totaling 23.86. A middle of the road fantasy quarterback, yet still a surprise, is Rex Grossman (17.14), whose Redskins are now 2-0. Veteran Matt Hasselbeck (17.32) and rookie Andy Dalton (21.58) are two other lesser QBs that are unexpected solid fantasy performers. 

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Welcome to Week 2 of the 2011 NFL season, and the latest edition of the Fantasy Football Feature. If you’re not yet familiar, this is a fantasy football mash-up open thread. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have or even have live trade negotiation.

Week 1 in Review:

Starting at quarterbacks, not all that surprisingly, Tom Brady (35.98), Drew Brees (29.06), Aaron Rodgers (24.58), and Michael Vick (23.28) all had solid-to-fantastic opening games. But of course, in almost every league, all those guys are well owned. The shockers came from the likes of Chad Henne, running ex-Browns OC Brian Daboll’s offense. Henne threw for over 400 yards, 2 TDs, only 1 INT and rushed for another TD, totaling an astounding 35.54 fantasy points. What seems to be an even bigger headline is rookie Cam Newton’s record first outing, who put up very similar numbers to Henne, but rushed for a little less yardage, still putting up 31.68 points. The Bills QB, Ryan Fitzpatrick was on the back end of the surprises. He only passed for 208 yards, but 4 of those passes were touchdowns and he didn’t throw a single pick, finishing with 24.62 points. Fitzpatrick showed he was a legit fantasy threat last season, but clearly not a lot of people had much faith in him going into this season. All three of those guys (Henne, Newton, Fitz) are free agents in our UDBNFL 12-team league. 

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This is sort of just a fantasy football mash-up open thread for at least this week. Considering we haven’t had any actual fantasy scoring yet, there isn’t exactly a lot to talk about. Luckily, that’s all about to change tonight. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have or even live trade negotiation. 

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Here’s how I opened this piece last season:

Like I mentioned before, the online live draft through Yahoo! Sports was a huge success. We had all 11 out of 14 teams show up which is a great turnout. We had a lively discussion as well as smack talk (which is what fantasy football is all about) throughout the hour and a half it took, which seemed to fly by, other than the occasional team that decided to use all two minutes of their clock time for a pick, but we all ran it down a few times. Overall, it seemed pretty much everyone enjoyed it, is happy with their team, and is ready to get to the real fun! Most of it still applies. 

But, before we reach that fateful Thursday evening on September 8th, here is a recap and analysis of the Unofficial DBN Fan League fantasy football draft 2011... :(now with 99% less pictures)

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Welcome to the Unofficial DBN Fan League for 2011. This is for anyone who loves fantasy football and is also active on Dawg's By Nature, but didn't get the opportunity to play in the official league. The Unofficial league will be ran on Yahoo! Sports with the default scoring system, and a live draft! The league's main page can be found here: http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/dbnfans2010 (I understand it's 2011, but the link still works.)

The current date for the live draft is set to Sunday, August 21st @ 9:30pm. But this is subject to change if most want it to. By the way, I'll be keeping Yahoo! default settings that make it so the draft order is electronically randomized approx. 30 minutes before the start of the draft. 

I will be active commissioner for the league, but the power is still in the hands of the players as a whole. Trade veto's will be done by league-wide vote, and any action I make is entirely visible to every player. 

I also plan on having occasional write-ups about the state of the league and fantasy football in general every so often. There will definitely be a playoff preview as well as a season re-cap. 

If you're interested please leave a comment below. Priority will be given to regulars and returning active teams to promote the most active league. Currently the maximum is set to 12 (But don't forget there will likely be The Rebel 3rd League looking to fill 12 slots shortly as well, don't feel down if you don't make it in one of the few remaining spots). Remember, this league is completely free, and you will be playing for only bragging rights, but who doesn't love bragging rights?

After you've been selected, I'll email you the password as soon as I can, and when your team is created I'll add your name to the list:

1. Simmsinns - (simmsinns)

2. SpecialBrownie - (The SpecialPeoples)

3. Kimble_79 - (WV Brownies)

4. Brownie's Year - (110lbs Of Kosar)

5. Joey_D - (Y-Town Dawgs)

6. Browns town - (TXChainsaw Massaquoi) 

7. golanbatrac - (golan)

8. doggrad87 - (Husker's_Hounds)

9. StuckInPa - (London Silly Nannies)

10. emily522 - (Brownie the Elf)

11. bross09 - (RandallPFloyd QB)

12. brownsboy14 - (Colt's Cowboys)

I've decided to expand it from 10 to 12 in order to allow for the most fair end of the season interleague championship. There's also been higher demand to play than last season as well. I'm certain the Rebel 3rd League will have no trouble filling up 12 slots as well. Which brings me to the following point: the 3rd league still needs a commissioner! It's not a difficult job, however fantasy football experience is recommended, most preferably, a regular (not yet in a league) that doesn't mind making the FanPost. Having no commissioner could potentially derail this third league, which wouldn't be any fun. 

Congrats to The Brown Note for winning last seasons UDBNFL championship and being promoted to the official league.

If you have any questions or comments whatsoever (i.e. scoring, drafting, scheduling ect.), let me know. Plenty of this is subject to change if there is a large enough request for it. Also, feel free to continue discussion of the 3rd league and the details of this final championship. 

Lastly, active players only, please.

http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/dbnfans2010

[UPDATE] - We are now full. If you didn't get again but still want to play, remember to express interest in the Rebel 3rd League. 

Yes, it's almost that time of year again, time to start thinking about your fantasy football plans! (Assuming we actually have a full, normal NFL football season in 2011.)

This FanPost is essentially a place for brainstorming everything fantasy football related. I'd like to start with where we left off at the end of last season, firstly in terms of the league distribution of managers (teams) that are avid DBN fans. Two important things I learned last year are, 1: the demand is pretty high, though, 2: 14 teams is far too many for a single league. Another important factor is that you want EVERYONE to be fairly active to maintain balanced play. With these things in mind, my thought is to lower the teams for the "Unofficial DBN Fan League" (UDFL for short) to 10 teams, than allow for a possible 3rd league of DBNers, which based on last years number of requests, is doable. Having 3 leagues could make for some kind of awesome showdown at the end? 

More after the jump...

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