Each week before the weekend of games, I’m going to share about one tough decision I need to make in one of my leagues. Why? Perhaps it may be helpful to see my thought process as I go about making the decision, and if any of you faithful readers out there would like to chime in, I’d be much obliged.
Here’s my “What to do, what to do?” for Week 7.
Standard Yahoo League 8-Teams, playing for steaks. Current record: 4-2.
I had it all set up a couple weeks ago. Here was my roster in Week 5 (and yes, it is good to plan weeks ahead and even strategically during your fantasy draft).
Looking at my lineup for Week 7, I knew that I would need some bye-weeks that I would have to account for: Michael Vick (QB-PHI), Hakeem Nicks (WR-NYG), Jeremy Maclin (WR-PHI), and Vernon Davis (TE-SF).
I was lucky to snap Ben Roethlisberger (QB-PIT) as a bye-week fill-in against Arizona’s porous secondary for Vick’s bye, which I was very happy about. To round out my WR’s, which would be my most glaring need, I had picked up Julio Jones and crossed my fingers that Andre Johnson would be back in time for this. Unfortunately, instead, Julio Jones also got hurt. Which left me with Dwayne Bowe (WR-KC) as my only starting WR. What to do, what to do?
The biggest ordeal was who I could or should drop in order to pick up two WR’s that would actually be playing this week. I had Ryan Torain and Mark Ingram as pickups because Week 8 would present yet another bye-week ordeal as Matt Forte (RB-CHI) and Darren McFadden (RB-OAK) would both be off. I saw Ingram’s matchup against St. Louis and Torain’s rise to #1RB in Washington as decent enough fill-ins. But again, every week is so important, and I had to make a move. So the decision was made. I would drop Julio Jones (WR-ATL) if he was too injured to play this week, even though I see long-term value for the season, and I would also drop Ingram (RB-NO) despite his soft opponents in St. Louis Week 8.
The choices in Free Agency weren’t all too attractive, especially to find two WR’s that I could start with any confidence. The biggest names that jumped out that were still available were Eric Decker (WR-DEN), James Jones (WR-GB), Darrius Heyward-Bey (WR-OAK), Doug Baldwin (WR-SEA), Torrey Smith (WR-BAL), Arrelious Benn (WR-TB), Denarius Moore (WR-OAK).
High Upside Youth: I thought about picking up Moore, Smith, Benn or Baldwin because they are youngsters, who have shown good upside. Especially with Smith, there’s always potential for a big-time play in Baltimore. Benn has been building rapport with fellow youngster Josh Freeman, and also has shown a knack for big-play. Baldwin seems the most consistent on the Seahawks and Moore, well, a lot of people got big on him and then he disappeared (though he clearly did show what he could do given the touches). I like high upside, but these guys are too inconsistent. In fact, I also throw Jones into this group, though he’s not quite so young anymore. He’s like a Devery Henderson type that can be “boom or bust,” and I’m not sure how many looks he’ll get this week.
Up-n-Comers with new QB’s: Could Heyward-Bey finally be panning out? Would the trade for Palmer help him to build on top of his most impressive three game streak? He has been very consistent the past few weeks, and that had my attention. Meanwhile, Decker, though having some good weeks, disappeared last week for NEGATIVE points. Not only that, he also has a new QB in Tim Tebow this week; would they mesh together?
Outcome: For the time being, I’ve opted to go with the latter group, Heyward-Bey and Decker. It’s not that I have the utmost confidence in them, but I feel that they are in the best position to succeed this week when comparing them to the others. So this week, I will have Dwayne Bowe (KC), Heyward-Bey (OAK) and Eric Decker (DEN) as my starting WR’s. Lord, help me, haha. Let me know your thoughts!
