Last Week’s Question: What’s
the best procedure for expanding a keeper league?
My column for Week
6 featured Tom’s question about how to expand a keeper
league along with a rough outline of what he and his league-mates
expected to do.
As it happens, a similar question was addressed to ESPN’s
Matthew Berry at around the 29-minute mark of yesterday’s
Fantasy Focus podcast. In case you’re reading,
Tom, I’m not directing you to Berry’s remarks because
I expect you to find them especially helpful. I just think that
if you listen to him trying to let his mouth catch up to his brain
only to discover that his brain hasn’t gone anywhere, you’ll
have good reason to feel confident about your own approach—since
it’s far more clearly articulated than any of Berry’s
sputtering.
In the best of all possible worlds, I would have received feedback
from folks who tried something similar to Tom’s suggestion,
found unexpected problems, and could offer advice on what modifications
Tom might want to consider. Unfortunately, none of the answers I
received engaged Tom’s question with that level of detail.
I did, however, receive some links to online discussions of similar
problems. Ernesto said his league found this
thread from RotoWorld helpful, and a couple of FFToday posters
reminded me that the difficulties of expanding keeper leagues were
covered in detail on our
own forums back in 2007.
I hope those threads are helpful, and if you’re looking for
a live discussion of the topic, you might be able to stir up a new
one on the FFToday boards. Good luck with your expansion.
This Week’s Question: Are you suddenly
more concerned about handcuffing WRs than RBs?
Handcuffing RBs isn’t just a time-honored tradition in fantasy;
it’s strategically sound. As someone who handcuffed Devonta
Freeman (9th round) to Tevin
Coleman (6th) in my primary league, I’ll testify that handcuffing
RBs can pay ridiculously high dividends.
But what about handcuffing WRs?
That’s not nearly as simple a proposition because WRs don’t have
clear-cut backups in the way that RBs do. Rueben
Randle may be listed as a backup to Odell
Beckham Jr. on the Giants’ depth chart, but in the absence of
Victor
Cruz, he is a mainstay of New York’s passing attack. Nevertheless,
if Beckham had missed the Monday night game with his hamstring injury
(as he might have), then Randle would have been especially valuable
to Beckham owners (if only because a late scratch of a Monday night
player limits the options of owners who must scramble to complete
their lineups).
Hamstring problems turned lots of WRs into game-time decisions in
Week 6, and I suspect that owners of Atlanta’s Julio Jones
who also had either Leonard Hankerson or Roddy White on their rosters
might have been tempted to start Hankerson or White ahead of more
talented alternatives on other teams if Jones had been declared
inactive.
A study of Alshon Jeffery owners who also picked up Marquess Wilson
from the Bears would probably reveal that they had fewer ulcers
than those who didn’t—just as a study of Julian Edelman
owners would probably show that those who already had New England’s
Danny Amendola on their bench were less likely to curse when they
saw the injury to Edelman’s finger.
Handcuffing isn’t a big enough concept for what you might need to
do with the Buffalo Bills receiving corps, where the principle of
“chainganging” applies. If you wanted a handcuff for Sammy
Watkins, you apparently needed Percy
Harvin, Marquise
Goodwin, Robert
Woods, and Chris
Hogan—in the hope that somebody would take the field for more
than a few quarters at a time this season.
With so many receivers banged up this year, I’ve taken a different
approach to my bench. I used to distribute wideouts across as many
teams as possible because that gave me minimum trouble on bye weeks
and maximum opportunity to exploit matchups. This year, I find myself
piling up receivers from the same teams.
Like a lot of folks, I noticed Minnesota’s Stefon Diggs a
couple of weeks ago. But I only went after him in the league in
which I already owned Mike Wallace. In years past, that’s
the league in which I would have been least likely to target Diggs.
How about you? Has the rash of injured wide-outs prompted you to
start handcuffing WRs? Have you been doing it for years? Or do you
still focus primarily on handcuffing RBs? Email
me your responses.
Survivor Pool Picks - Week 7 (Courtesy
of Matthew Schiff)
Trap Game: NY Jets at New England
The best news for Jets fans is that Mark Sanchez is now an Eagle,
so he shouldn’t get a chance to bounce off his center and
fumble the ball in a tight game. But I digress.
Tom Brady and his posse are heavy favorites at home. That alone
should set off alarms. New England has been clobbering most of their
opponents while the Jets have been struggling to put things together.
But now Eric Decker is healthy, Chris Ivory is running with authority,
and Ryan Fitzpatrick is managing the game and leading his offense
efficiently. That should be enough to worry a Patriots team that
really hasn’t been pressured this season.
Call it my gut, my experience, or just witchy intuition. But even
if I hadn’t used New England this season, I wouldn’t
want to bet my Survival pool on this game.
#3: San Diego over Oakland: (3-3, Cin, Phi,
AZ, ATL, KC, SEA)
The Raiders have been so bad for so long that San Diego fans
may expect their team to coast to another easy win over the black
and silver. But the Oakland team of 2015 shouldn’t be underestimated,
as it features a strong nucleus of young players in Derek Carr,
Amari Cooper, and Latavius Murray. In fact, if the Raiders were
playing at home, they might be a sneaky upset pick against a Charger
team that has spent three weeks coming up just short of victory.
However, since Philip Rivers has Antonio Gates at his disposal
once again . . . and since Keenan Allen has surpassed the 130-yard
mark in receptions in three games out of six . . . and since it
makes no sense to bet against the Bolts in a shootout at home,
I’ll take San Diego as my third-best option in Week 7.
The Cardinals have left me high and dry this year when I’ve
felt that they were the clear favorite. The only reason I can
justify picking them again is that the Ravens are a mess. Remember
when Baltimore was synonymous with defense? It used to be that
if you said the Ravens-Cardinals match-up only featured one good
defense, everyone would assume you meant the good defense belonged
to Baltimore. That’s not the case any longer. The Cardinals
are better on both sides of the ball, and the Ravens are riddled
with injuries. As the season lingers on, there are going to be
games in which one team will be happy to get through regulation
without any significant injuries. Unfortunately for the Ravens,
I think that mentality is already settling in. Take the home team
and maybe this time my “lock” will actually click
shut.
Image by Tilt Creative (Ty Schiff)
#1: St. Louis over Cleveland: (4-2 NE, Mia,
SEA, AZ, Atl, GB)
OK, I have officially lost my marbles. There has to be a better
choice for my survival pool pick than the lowly Rams against a
Cleveland team that is only a few plays away from being a division
contender in the AFC North. But since I’ve already used
New England, Miami, Seattle, Arizona, Atlanta and Green Bay, my
options are extremely limited. Do you really expect me to take
a chance on the New York Giants winning against a Dallas team
that beat them back in Week 1?
If you saw how terrible the Giants looked on Monday night, then
you know why I can’t pick them.
No way. Not even against the Matt Cassell-led Cowboys.
So I’m taking the Rams. They defeated some solid divisional
foes in the first few weeks. Now they have to prove that they
can beat the teams they are expected to beat. It’s time
for Todd Gurley to put his team on his back and plow through a
rush defense that has given up a league-leading 149 yards per
game. Throw in St. Louis’ top-10 defense, and you have a
recipe for a solid lock. This won’t be a pretty game, but
style points count for nothing, so gimme Gurley!
Mike Davis has been writing about fantasy football since 1999--and
playing video games even longer than that. His latest novel (concerning
a gamer who gets trapped inside Nethack after eating too many shrooms)
can be found here.
