Well, it goes without saying that I’ve gotten a reputation for being the schemer. The guy that will end up trading half his team away. The guy you do not want to make a deal with… So in the name of full disclosure, I’m going to give you a look behind the scenes of what I do when I’m making three of the basic week to week moves in fantasy.
First. The waiver wire.
Our waiver wire is a FAB (Free Agent Budget) which, as we all should know, that means that you only $200 to spend on purchasing players for the season off the waiver wire. Now, after it processes Wednesday morning, you can pick up players for free.
Alright, now that the obvious part is out of the way, let me tell you how I look at the waiver wire.
The way I look at it, barring injury, I only have 2 starting spots (not including D/ST and Kickers) that I’d consider filling with someone from waiver wire. Here’s my team this year.
- QB Cam Newton
- RB TY Montgomery
- WR Julio Jones
- Flex Jordy Nelson
- Flex Kelvin Benjamin
- Flex Matt Forte
- Flex Eddie Lacy
The possibility of one of my main 5 players (Jones, Nelson, Benjamin, Newton, Montgomery) not being a starter, barring injury, is very slim. So, I’m not looking to replace those players. Now, for the bottom two and my bench. For someone to come from waivers, up all of my current players and land in my starting line… Pretty slim chance, once again, barring an injury. But every year we see someone like Ty Montgomery, Jordan Howard or Jay Ajayi make that jump. So what should you do when picking someone up? Look for those guys. Look at the upside. For example.
Robert Turbin VS Charles Sims. Both on wavier right now. One will score more points than the other, but one is a the right pick up.
Charles Sims will be the Bucs 3rd down back. He will catch balls, score a touchdown every once in a while, and probably score enough points to get picked up at some point this season.
Robert Turbin on the other hand, probably won’t score much this season. So why is he the smart choice? Well, he’s Frank Gore’s back up. Someone like Robert Turbin isn’t a sexy pick up but when I have to decide between two different players I want the guy who can start in one of those two spots. If Frank Gore gets hurt, Turbin would become a top 20 RB. He’s not someone who will score five points a week, he has the “not so crazy” chance of being a top 5 guy on your team. He’s the right guy in this scenario.
Second. Setting up your line up.
Another obvious thing but it feels like at least one person a week screws up. Let Mitchell help.
Back to my line up.
- QB Cam Newton
- RB TY Montgomery
- WR Julio Jones
- Flex Jordy Nelson
- Flex Kelvin Benjamin
- Flex Matt Forte
- Flex Eddie Lacy
Let’s solve my point by answering a question, who is match-up proof? For me, the top 5 (Jones, Nelson, Benjamin, Newton, Montgomery) are all match-up proof. It doesn’t matter who they are playing. I see someone get cute and try to “Play the match ups” with top 50 players almost every week. DON’T DO IT! Start your stars. They are top 50 for a reason and sure, you might make the right call once or twice but more likely then not, you will cost yourself points.
Now for the back end of the line-up. I want to structure my team with at least two more week-to-week start-able players. This year, on my roster, they are Paul Perkins and Duke Johnson JR. If one of my bottom two players have a bad match-up or if my top two bench players have an exceptional match-up, I start them. At this point with all of the information on the internet, it takes all of 5 minutes to find out who has a good Defense. Just give “2017 NFL Defensive rankings” a google. Works for me. And yes, that does mean everyone else on my roster needs to have “top 5” upside or I don’t want them on my team
I typically want 1 good QB on my roster and not have a back-up. I believe in today’s NFL a top 10 QB is match-up proof. So why do you need a back-up except for a bye week? You don’t. Now if you, for example, believe Marcus Marriota is going to have a break out top 5 season. Sure, draft him and maybe an old guy like Carson Palmer. I get that. If you have Aaron Rodgers, that other QB is wasting space on your bench. Trade or drop him. Speaking of trades…
Third. Trades.
The one you’ve all been waiting for. What am I looking for when I make a trade? Well, first we need to understand that fantasy football is star driven game. So, my number one rule in a trade, is that I need to be getting the best player in the trade. There are going to be dozens of guys that score 10 points on any given week on the waivers but the guy that will score 15+ almost every week? Much harder to find. So a general rule of thumb, don’t trade one of those 10 players.
Another thing, there is such a thing as an even trade, so don’t be scared to make a trade. Just make sure that you look at a couple things when making a trade. Is there any breaking news on the player? What’s their schedule like the rest of the way? Why would this person want to trade this player away? Does this player make my team extensionally better? The basics.
Think your trades through. Don’t accept a trade under a deadline and don’t accept the first trade someone sends you. That, for me, is typically the “Let’s get a conversation going” trade offer. I’m just throwing the bait into the water looking for a nibble. I’ll give more. Same goes for most of the other people in this league. Don’t accept the first trade.
Well, there you go. Now you know everything I know. You’re welcome
The MFL 