“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” Michael Jordan
The more you play fantasy football, the more you notice that the better players are always making something happen. Whether that be through trades, scouting the waiver wire, or tinkering with their starters and bench players, one of the biggest keys to winning fantasy football involves movement. Brad Pitt said in World War Z that “Movement is life”. While we aren’t fleeing for our lives from reanimated flesh eaters in the fantasy football world, the NFL is not only changing week to week, but day by day. A good draft will get you far, and there are occasions where it will let you make the playoffs. I drafted a team on NFL.com to test out the site(it is great by the way), but I couldn’t keep up with that team. I checked in half way through the season and modified some of my lineup, but the next time I checked in was during the semifinals. I had made it, but I ended up loosing by a few points even with having two inactive players in the game. Of my eight years of playing fantasy football, I have never had a team make the championship without making any moves on the waiver wire or trading.
Sadly, there is a large percentage of fantasy owners who will dip out on their season because they drafted Trent Richardson with their first pick, or Aaron Rodgers was hurt for half of the season. If you are reading this, whether you are an expert or 2013 was your first year playing fantasy football, I want you to realize that this is an unacceptable attitude. I ensure you that you can be better than that mindset, and you can still have a great season even with your high draft picks under performing or injured. The waiver wire isn’t easy. You have to be very active on it to get the most out of it, and there will be a lot of trial and error, but playing the waiver wire is one of the most important factors for not only making the championship, but for winning the whole shabang.
You may be saying to yourself, “Jack, that is all well and good, but I don’t understand how waiver wire players could replace a Julio Jones or an Aaron Rodgers”. Well, I am sure glad that you specifically brought up that Julio Jones example! One of my fantasy football drafting strategies was to have two elite wide receivers on the same team. I drafted Randall Cobb and James Jones(you can argue about his “eliteness” but he is still a very strong player), Julio Jones and Roddy White, and Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker. Can you guess which team or teams didn’t make the playoffs? If you said the team with Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker, than you would be correct! Surprisingly, my Bronco wide receiver lead team finished 7-6. I am currently in the championship with my Randall Cobb and James Jones team with a 10-3 regular season record, and I am playing for third place with my Julio Jones and Roddy White team that finished the regular season 9-4. So when I say that your season isn’t screwed after loosing key players, I hope you are starting to believe me. I am going to go through what it took to make these teams a championship contender to further my belief in the importance of the waiver wire.
10-3 Team With Randall Cobb and James Jones
Randall Cobb looked like he was off to a strong start scoring 49 points in four weeks in standard scoring leagues, but his injury in Week 6 would remove him from playing the rest of the 10 games left in the fantasy season. James Jones wasn’t having a bad season either with 42 points in the three weeks he touched the ball, but having an injury in the same game as Cobb, Jones was sidelined for several weeks. Even though Jones was able to play for fantasy owners in the later part of the season, Jones could not be considered a reliable fantasy starter as he was still getting over his injury, as well as the loss of Aaron Rodgers. Jones had two touchdowns in the first four weeks that he played, but he has only had one touchdown since. David Wilson was my second overall pick for this team and Randall Cobb was my third, so if I told most people those two guys were in my first three picks, they probably wouldn’t believe I would be playing for the championship right now. Here is a look at my team and the order it was drafted in.
| Adrian Peterson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| David Wilson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Randall Cobb | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reggie Bush | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| James Jones | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Andrew Luck | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Montee Ball | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T.Y. Hilton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ben Tate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Josh Gordon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Golden Tate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Packers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kenbrell Thompkins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jordan Cameron | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Justin Blackmon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mike Nugent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Yes. Having Adrian Peterson as your first pick does help, but there are eight other players that you need to score you points. As you can see, Randall Cobb, David Wilson, Montee Ball, T.Y Hilton, Ben Tate, Golden Tate, Kenbrell Thompkins, the Packers defense, and Justin Blackmon did not have the greatest of seasons for fantasy purposes. So of my 16 picks, nine players were essentially busts. Of the 16 players I drafted, only four of them were still on my Week 16 roster which is listed below.
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As you can tell from my chart above, the waiver wire is one of the biggest reasons for my success. My key pickups were Keenan Allen, Nick Foles, the Chiefs defense, and Jordan Cameron. Close to 60% of my team in Week 16 were picked up from the waiver wire. While I didn’t necessarily have anyone match the production of Julio Jones, I formed a more well rounded team that helped puck up the slack. I also traded under performers like Roddy White, and I cut people I had received in trades like Lamar Miller. While my 10-3 team appears to be more about trading picking up the right players, this team cultivated a strong record through removing dead weight. I wasn’t going to wait for Roddy White to be the third overall pick I expected him to be, and receiving Eric Decker helped my season. I may have lost the Bengals defense at the time, but the person I traded them to dropped them two weeks later, and I picked them back up. I just dropped them this week to play the Lions because of their matchup with Minnesota. Sure, it would have been great if I could have went to a championship with my second and third rounds picks, but you can’t get over attached to a name. If someone has been under performing for you, you need to do some research and try and figure out if they will bounce back. If you don’t think they will, you need to trade him or cut him before he has no value at all. To summarize my season, these were most important lessons I took away from the waiver wire and trading.
1. Even if you have a great record or even a loosing one, constantly play and observe the waiver wire
2. Don’t be too attached to a name. If your stud is a dud, don’t be afraid to drop him
3. Compare a players risks to his rewards, and don’t be afraid to make a decision.
I hope this can inspire those who need it for the 2014-2015 season. Just remember. Movement is life. I would also like to give a special shout out to James Blews of The Fantasy Football Toolkit for his great book that he has published. As you saw, I have become a big fan of the charts you can create from Google docs because of James advice!
Coach Jack
Categories: Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Strategy
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