Friend or Foe?
We are 8 weeks into the NFL season, and if you have been playing Fantasy Healthball, you are already certainly noticing an improvement to your health. Maybe you have dropped a few pounds, maybe as many as 10. Your calories per day have likely dropped. Your days without any exercise has certainly dropped. And, 8 weeks in, you may be looking over your fantasy football team and wondering who to drop too. Is it finally time to let go of some of those fantasy players you may have drafted but just aren’t putting up the scores. How do you know if it is time?
There are always players that underperform and knowing when to drop them can be tough. Yet, it is extremely important if you want to become the top team in your league. There are many ways to approach this, but the way we do it starts out by identifying the position your underachiever is.
Quarterback: If your underperformer is a quarterback, then your main reason for dropping him should be if there is a better quarterback in free agency. There is a limited amount of quarterbacks in the NFL and dropping quarterbacks are usually rare. Also, there are usually not many good quarterbacks in free agency in the middle of the season. You should only drop your underperformer if the player in free agency is getting consistently more points than your player. Try to avoid dropping your quarterback for another that had only one good game. Look for consistency, and you are more likely to have a better pick-up.
Running Back: If your underachiever is a running back, then you should be very cautious dropping him. Especially in the deeper leagues, running backs that get consistent points are very valuable. The main reason why you should drop a running back, other than getting injured, is if there is another running back taking his place on his team. Other than that, you should usually keep your running backs.
Wide Receiver/Tight End: Unlike quarterbacks and running backs, wide receivers and tight ends are very replaceable. If your underachiever is a wide receiver or tight end then it is very common to drop them. Although, we recommend that you don’t drop a player just because they have a bad game. Even elite wide receivers and tight ends are sometimes inconsistent. But, if your wide receiver or tight end has multiple bad games, you should seriously consider dropping them. Picking up wide receiver and tight ends while their hot, and dropping them while their cold is a very effective strategy to use. Now, there are always exceptions such as Plaxico Burress. Burress averaged about 3 points per game in weeks 4-6. Yet, in week 7 he got over 20 points. With players like that there is nothing you can do but do your best to judge what they’ll do next. You can do this by looking at the amount of receptions, amount of balls in the red-zone thrown to them etc.
Kicker/Defense: Kickers and Defenses are also very replaceable. There are usually good kickers available throughout the season because teams rarely look to see if any kickers are doing well. Even so, kickers are very hard to predict as to when they’ll do well. If you feel there is a substantially better kicker in free agency, take him. Otherwise, as long as your kicker is getting solid points you shouldn’t fret if another kicker has 4 more points than him. Defenses however are a bit more challenging. If you have an elite defense you should never drop them and usually never consider starting another defense when they don’t have their bye-week. However, if you don’t have an elite defense, another strategy is just to pick up a different defense each week depending on their matchups. Defenses are all about matchups, so if you have a defense that is underachieving make sure it is not due to harder matchups earlier in the season. — Fantasy Healthball (the book)
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