Short bench strategies for next year

[Thews40]

There’s a lot of add/drop decisions to make when you have a short bench, which includes more potential on the waiver wire. Of the 4 teams I have, my main is the hardest to strategerize because we use a 9 man team with a 5 man bench. To complicate this, we changed to a keeper last year which adds the element of future investment in who is kept. While specific rules change different leagues, patterns in the main positions are fairly consistent IMO. Other things like importance of defensive scoring may warrant having two defenses, which also limits bench space. Things that I’ve lernt over the years…

 

QB – You really only need one stud and IMO it’s worth an early pick. Of the 4 teams I have, my QB’s are: Rogers, Brees, Brady and Palmer. I don’t pay much attention to the back up QB slot and it frees up bench space. Since there’s only 12 QB’s that can start in a given week, there’s usually someone on the wire you can use for the one bye week. This year, Cassel is on the wire in most leagues, and while the numbers aren’t stellar, they’ll do for one week. If tragedy strikes and your stud QB goes down, there’s probably someone with a very good BU QB they’ll actually part with.

 

RB – This is usually the place for depth as it’s most volatile, but look at the RB’s you’ve kept all year and haven’t started once. Normal if it’s a cuff RB, or might be kept for next year (it’s why I kept Wells), but this aspect of traditional fantasy football strategy is key in where most teams invest bench space. For this reason, if you intentionally avoid taking your second RB until later (and maybe your first), it will actually cause a shift in RB’s taken early as players will drop to places that weren’t expected.

 

WR – One thing that’s certain every year in the emergence of WR’s after the draft. Since there’s three per NFL team, there’s always something on the wire. But, if you do go for stud WR’s early, having a solid set of 4 will free bench space. On one team I have, having lucked into Sidney Rice and paring him with Fitz and H. Ward with Breaston as a flex, I’ve only carried the 4 WR’s all year. Not only does this free up bench space, but it gets rid of agonizing over who to start each week. This works well when you pick up a top tier WR you have to play every week, take your second WR fairly early, and then pick up a solid starter off the wire. Main point of contention in that a lot of teams carry a load of WR’s and still there’s usually enough depth on the wire to cover an injury.

 

TE – No secret here, but in mandatory TE leagues with PPR this position is the most neglected IMO. There are so few stud TE’s that having just one is all you need. While Witten hasn’t panned out thus far, Gates has been worth the high draft pick and so has D. Clark. Both Cooley and Olson are out, which leaves a lot of teams hoping for more than two catches and 25 yards most weeks.

 

Conclusion: IMO it makes the most sense to neglect the RB#2 slot early in the draft and assume it’s going to be a weak spot. If you luck into a waiver wire injury fill or a surprise you can have it all, but even if the RB2 is weak all year, you have to be weak somewhere and if it’s your WR3 or TE it’s the same net. This all assumes your fellow drafters follow a predictable pattern, which will probably be dictated by this year’s stats. Another thing to note this year is the RBBC position being the norm in the NFL now, which makes more possible out for a weak RB2 you neglected to draft until very late. One thing you can probably count on in next year's draft is the traditional mindset that you must have two stud RB's to win... point are points.

 

What have you learned this year that you think will change how you draft next year?

Edited November 20, 2009 by Thews40

[Big Country]

I still won't draft following the stud TE theory, as it really won't affect my opponents decisions that much.

[Thews40]

I still won't draft following the stud TE theory, as it really won't affect my opponents decisions that much.

Sound logic

[MrTed46]

It is different league to league with different roster requirements, starters, point system etc..

[Shorttynaz]

I kind of followed that strategy this year in a 10 team PPR, and it's actually worked out pretty well! Not gonna go through my whole draft, but I'm in first with a 300 point lead going into week 11.

 

#1 - AP

#2 - R Wayne

#3 - G Jennings

#4 - TJ Housh

#5 - T Owens (thought I had the steal of the draft here)

#6 - P Rivers

#7 - K Smith

#8 - R Rice (this seemed to be the steal of the draft)

#9 - O Daniels

#10 - Baltimore's D

 

Move #1 (week 3) - I traded G Jennings and K Smith for MJD

Move #2 (week 3) - picked up Steve Smith (NYG) off the waiver wire

Move #3 (week 7) - picked up Ricky Williams and dropped T Owens - (my opponent that week dropped Williams in favor of L Maroney)

Move #4 (week 8) - picked up Saints defense and dropped Baltimore's D

Move #5 (week 9) - picked up G Olsen and dropped O Daniels

[montster]

i play in a 14-team league with 17-man rosters. however, there are roster requirements -- each team must carry two QBs, two TEs, two Ks and two Ds. this leaves nine guys, which must be either five RBs/four WRs or four RBs/five WRs. even though it's a 14-team league, there's a ton of decent guys on the waiver wire, and so far there's been roughly a trade per week. i like to hoard sleepers, so i've cursed the roster requirements plenty of times, but they've allowed me to recover from drafting LT with my first pick and losing ronnie brown last week.

[Thews40]

even though it's a 14-team league, there's a ton of decent guys on the waiver wire, and so far there's been roughly a trade per week.

This is pretty cool. As far as trades go, it's been my experience that one sides will want far too much to make it even. In most of my leagues, there have been very few to no trades all year.

[JustDoIt]

There’s a lot of add/drop decisions to make when you have a short bench, which includes more potential on the waiver wire. Of the 4 teams I have, my main is the hardest to strategerize because we use a 9 man team with a 5 man bench. To complicate this, we changed to a keeper last year which adds the element of future investment in who is kept. While specific rules change different leagues, patterns in the main positions are fairly consistent IMO. Other things like importance of defensive scoring may warrant having two defenses, which also limits bench space. Things that I’ve lernt over the years…

 

QB – You really only need one stud and IMO it’s worth an early pick. Of the 4 teams I have, my QB’s are: Rogers, Brees, Brady and Palmer. I don’t pay much attention to the back up QB slot and it frees up bench space. Since there’s only 12 QB’s that can start in a given week, there’s usually someone on the wire you can use for the one bye week. This year, Cassel is on the wire in most leagues, and while the numbers aren’t stellar, they’ll do for one week. If tragedy strikes and your stud QB goes down, there’s probably someone with a very good BU QB they’ll actually part with.

 

RB – This is usually the place for depth as it’s most volatile, but look at the RB’s you’ve kept all year and haven’t started once. Normal if it’s a cuff RB, or might be kept for next year (it’s why I kept Wells), but this aspect of traditional fantasy football strategy is key in where most teams invest bench space. For this reason, if you intentionally avoid taking your second RB until later (and maybe your first), it will actually cause a shift in RB’s taken early as players will drop to places that weren’t expected.

 

WR – One thing that’s certain every year in the emergence of WR’s after the draft. Since there’s three per NFL team, there’s always something on the wire. But, if you do go for stud WR’s early, having a solid set of 4 will free bench space. On one team I have, having lucked into Sidney Rice and paring him with Fitz and H. Ward with Breaston as a flex, I’ve only carried the 4 WR’s all year. Not only does this free up bench space, but it gets rid of agonizing over who to start each week. This works well when you pick up a top tier WR you have to play every week, take your second WR fairly early, and then pick up a solid starter off the wire. Main point of contention in that a lot of teams carry a load of WR’s and still there’s usually enough depth on the wire to cover an injury.

 

TE – No secret here, but in mandatory TE leagues with PPR this position is the most neglected IMO. There are so few stud TE’s that having just one is all you need. While Witten hasn’t panned out thus far, Gates has been worth the high draft pick and so has D. Clark. Both Cooley and Olson are out, which leaves a lot of teams hoping for more than two catches and 25 yards most weeks.

 

Conclusion: IMO it makes the most sense to neglect the RB#2 slot early in the draft and assume it’s going to be a weak spot. If you luck into a waiver wire injury fill or a surprise you can have it all, but even if the RB2 is weak all year, you have to be weak somewhere and if it’s your WR3 or TE it’s the same net. This all assumes your fellow drafters follow a predictable pattern, which will probably be dictated by this year’s stats. Another thing to note this year is the RBBC position being the norm in the NFL now, which makes more possible out for a weak RB2 you neglected to draft until very late. One thing you can probably count on in next year's draft is the traditional mindset that you must have two stud RB's to win... point are points.

 

What have you learned this year that you think will change how you draft next year?

 

I am in a 12 team league with small roster space (14). I would have to disagree though. IMO it is easiest to back into some solid options late in WR's than RB's so it seems that having a solid RB2 is a better investment than a WR 2 and 3. In my league, we can only start 2 RB's, but 4 of my first 6 picks were RB. (LT, Brees, Brown, Colston, Rice, Felix). Due to small roster space someone had enough with Marshall and dropped him week three and I got Sims-Walker off waivers. Even Breaston has been on and off the waiver wire... But it is still very difficult/impossible to grab a decent RB off the Wire.