Skip to main content

Waiver Wire Advice: Week 9

Hi all. I'm sitting here getting easily distracted by the leaves that are falling like snow at our house in Knoxville. Between the unreal quantity of leaves we'll soon have in our yard, the many, many HTTR posts in my Facebook feed from last night's game (remember, I grew up in northern VA!), and the Halloween prep going on in our house, fall has finally arrived despite the fact that our thermometer reads 74 right now. If this is fall in the south, I'll take it. Winter's cold will be here soon enough. Anyway, this week will bring us many more guest posts and today marks another one from guest writer Michael. Read on for his helpful waiver wire tips to aid your squad in Week 9.

I have a six year old daughter that, as many kids are wont to do, will slyly make sure we make a pass through the toy section at the store when we’re out shopping. When I tell her that we can “just look,” that goes in one ear and out the other. No sooner are those words out of my mouth than she’s grabbed a $90 Barbie castle off the shelf and asked if we can buy it. I will quickly dash her hopes by reiterating my earlier “just looking” proclamation. Having that wonderful quality of persistence that many children have, she will continue to pull items of decreasing value off the shelf in hopes that I will change my mind and buy her something. By the time I’ve rebuffed her pleas multiple times, she’s literally just pulling the first thing she sees off the shelf and asking me to buy it, because at this point she wants to come away from the store with something, anything. Being well past the point of asking for anything that she might actually need or use, she’d be satisfied with a box of staples by the time it was all said and done.

I wouldn’t dare compare fantasy owners to petulant children, but the lesson here is don’t treat your waiver wire this way. Many fantasy owners simply can’t resist the allure of the waiver wire, and they feel they must get something every week, without too much thought of why they’re doing it.

I have nothing against being aggressive on the waiver wire, but owners should be selectively aggressive and make each move for a reason. With 8 weeks in the books, we are coming down the home stretch of the regular season in most fantasy leagues, and owners should be constructing their rosters with an eye on the future. Examine which weeks you will need to replace players on bye weeks and which players you’ll likely be plugging in.

When you’re looking at making a waiver wire move, ask yourself if it really helps your roster. Are you likely to ever feel good about starting this player? Is the player any more valuable than the one you’re dropping him for? Is this a player that I want to keep out of the hands of an opponent? If the answer to all these questions is no, then what’s the point?

Don’t forget, as obvious as this might sound, your goal is to win your league. Think ahead and construct your roster with only winning your championship in mind. Eschew depth for upside, and feel comfortable dropping players with low ceilings that offer nothing more than emergency depth.

Two quick tidbits, and we’re on to the links:

Josh Gordon is only owned in 16% of ESPN leagues. He won’t be eligible to return until week 12, but if at all possible, I’d suggest making room for him and picking him up now. It will be hard to expect the video-game numbers he put up last season after all this time off, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he does. Even if you’re stacked at WR, I know I wouldn’t want to see him in my opponent’s lineup in the playoffs.

This rookie crop of WR’s might be the best ever. Martavis Bryant and Donte Moncrief will both be popular names on the waiver wire this week after breakout performances, but don’t forget about Davante Adams. The Green Bay rookie is only 2.4% owned in ESPN leagues. He hasn’t had that one big game yet that makes everyone take notice, but he has a consistent role (7 catches on 9 targets last week) in a pass-heavy offense with one of the best QBs in the league. He has value now, but if Jordy Nelson or Randall Cobb were to miss any time, his value would go through the roof.

And now on to the links…..

Brad Evans of Yahoo thinks Bobby Rainey will soon be back to being fantasy relevant.

Doug Coutts of Fantasy Sharks recommends grabbing another Buccaneer, rookie Charles Sims.

Nik Bonaddio from Numbersfire advises we take a second look at Denard Robinson, who has performed well in back-to-back games, if he wasn’t claimed last week.

Christopher Harris of ESPN sees Jonas Gray stepping into Stevan Ridley’s role in New England.

Adam Levitan from Rotoworld lists Donte Moncrief as the top WR pickup of the week.

Find me on Twitter for any questions or feedback!

Here’s hoping your week 9 transactions are fruitful.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Labor Day FF links

Happy long weekend! Here's hoping most of you are free to enjoy the 3-day weekend and the relaxation and fun that comes with it. I spent my Sunday participating in 3 fantasy football drafts scattered throughout the day and night, but I think I've finally wrapped up my drafts for the year. So like many of you I'm now turning my attention to the Week 1 games! But before we get to some player rankings and prep for Week 1, I want to make sure that all you experts out there are aware of the upcoming deadline for the annual accuracy contest that I run with the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. I compare preseason positional rankings from experts to the final outcome of the fantasy season to see which site had the most accurate preseason rankings, and this year's deadline is fast approaching: September 9th by kickoff. Check out the info on the FSTA site for more details and be sure to e-mail me your submissions. Now, onto Week 1! First up, let's get to some of this

2010 Week 2 consensus start/sit

Greetings and happy weekend. I've got this week's consensus start/sit for you which is a tally of all the start/sit votes that players received in the various start/sit articles that I linked to earlier in the week. So while these aren't my personal recommendations, I do think knowing what the consensus is could be of help when making lineup decisions...so enjoy! Note: the players are listed in no particular order. QB Start: Michael Vick, Kyle Orton, Matt Ryan, Jason Campbell Sit: David Garrard, Alex Smith, Jay Cutler, Vince Young, Carson Palmer RB Start: LeSean McCoy, Darren McFadden, Ahmad Bradshaw, Brandon Jackson Sit: Tim Hightower, C.J. Spiller, Beanie Wells, Ronnie Brown WR Start: Santana Moss, Legedu Naanee, Malcolm Floyd, Mike Williams (TB), Dez Bryant Sit: Randy Moss, Michael Crabtree TE Start: Chris Cooley, Todd Heap, John Carlson, Jermichael Finley Sit: Jermaine Gresham, Owen Daniels, Tony Scheffler, Jeremy Shockey, Bo Scaife Kicker Start: La

Start/Sit Week 4 and a smattering of rankings

It's been awhile, my fantasy football friends. I have lofty intentions of getting several posts up here each week, but life is busy and I will do my best. So in the intervening 6 years since I've posted regularly on here, our family added another child (now there are 3!), moved back to Boulder for a sabbatical year and then returned to Knoxville, and we have basically been chugging along like many of the rest of you. My two boys (who turn 12 and 9 soon) are in a fantasy football league for the first time this year with their buddies, which ostensibly is the just the dads (and mom!) playing one another of course. But my oldest is taking it super seriously and what kind of Fantasy Football Librarian would I be if I didn't step up my game for him? So I'm back - and am interested in the fantasy landscape - lots of the same awesome sites out there, but many new ones as well. I'll try to incorporate a mix. Please be sure to let me know if my 2006 ways aren't working i