Fanstasy football team #1 - advice needed

[Goop]

This is my 2nd season playing fantasy football and I'm in 3 leagues this year. I don't follow football nearly as much as I do baseball, so I need a little help.

Team #1, standard Yahoo league scoring non-keeper. It was an auto-draft and I think I did decent. Here is my team:

QB - Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer
WR - Steve Smith (Carolina), Antonio Bryant, Anthony Gonzalez, Derrick Mason, Domenick Hixon
RB - Adrian Peterson, Clinton Portis, Derrick Ward
TE - Owen Daniels, Kevin Boss
K - Rob Bironas
DEF - NYJ, Tampa Bay

I think my strong points are WR and RB. I think QB is pretty decent too, but it all depends on if Warner can perform like last year and if Palmer can bounce back from his injury. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I think my weak spot is defense/special teams, IMO. Maybe Rex Ryan will help the Jets defense.

My question is that there are some good players left un-drafted. They include Joe Flacco (who I think is going to have a good season), Le'Ron McClain (ditto), Issac Bruce, and Justin Gage. If I were to add any of them, it would be McClain and Flacco. Do you see anyone I could drop to add either one of them? I just hate to see them sitting there on waivers. Thanks for any help!

[Icterus galbula]

I would drop Hixon for McClain. Your WR depth is fine without him, but just 3 RBs is not enough.

[MemphisOsFan]

QB - Kurt Warner (4), Carson Palmer (8)
WR - Steve Smith (Carolina)(4), Antonio Bryant (8), Anthony Gonzalez (6), Derrick Mason (7), Domenick Hixon (10)
RB - Adrian Peterson (9), Clinton Portis (8), Derrick Ward (8)
TE - Owen Daniels (10), Kevin Boss (10)
K - Rob Bironas (7)
DEF - NYJ (9), Tampa Bay (8)


I have placed the bye week in parentheses behind each player since this will impact your roster.

Based on the bye week of each player, I would consider dropping Hixon and Boss to pickup one or two starting RB off of the WW. Portis is on the decline so you will want to have good decent back up him plus, Portis and Ward have the same bye weeks so you need to cover yourself in week 8. AS well as, Daniels and Boss also have the same bye week. Daniel is pretty good so you might want to take a chance on Heap, if he can stay healthy, or another TE.

I would also consider dropping the Tampa Bay DEF to pickup another player that can help your team since the bye week for the Jets DEF is in week 9 and you should have plenty of time to pickup another DEF off of the WW when someone gets in a bind and drops a pretty good DEF.

I would not consider picking up Le'Ron McClain, Issac Bruce or Justin Gage unless there are no other 'starting' options on the WW.

[Phantom]

This is my 2nd season playing fantasy football and I'm in 3 leagues this year. I don't follow football nearly as much as I do baseball, so I need a little help.

Team #1, standard Yahoo league scoring non-keeper. It was an auto-draft and I think I did decent. Here is my team:

QB - Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer
WR - Steve Smith (Carolina), Antonio Bryant, Anthony Gonzalez, Derrick Mason, Domenick Hixon
RB - Adrian Peterson, Clinton Portis, Derrick Ward
TE - Owen Daniels, Kevin Boss
K - Rob Bironas
DEF - NYJ, Tampa Bay

I think my strong points are WR and RB. I think QB is pretty decent too, but it all depends on if Warner can perform like last year and if Palmer can bounce back from his injury. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I think my weak spot is defense/special teams, IMO. Maybe Rex Ryan will help the Jets defense.

My question is that there are some good players left un-drafted. They include Joe Flacco (who I think is going to have a good season), Le'Ron McClain (ditto), Issac Bruce, and Justin Gage. If I were to add any of them, it would be McClain and Flacco. Do you see anyone I could drop to add either one of them? I just hate to see them sitting there on waivers. Thanks for any help!

I really like your team. I wouldn't drop any of your WRs yet, as all have good upside, but all are risks as well (even Steve Smith is an injury risk with a shaky QB situation). You do need another RB though, and should immediatly drop Kevin Boss. Keeping a backup TE is foolish as waiver wire TEs will be available (and alost as good as Boss) for the one week you need to start one. Also, drop your backup defense for the same reason. There will be plenty of decent, tampa bay quality d's on the wire. Right now you want to hoard assets with upside potential, and backup TEs and defenses are not that. Grab McClain and whoever you like second best.

Keep Flacco in mind if something happens to Palmer, but right now you are set with a top 3 QB (if healthy) and a backup with huge upside. Can't ask for much more than that.

[Goop]

Thanks guys for all the help, especially with the bye weeks, I completely for got to check those! Rep to you all for the help.

EDIT: except you Icterus, says I need to spread it around some more...sorry man.

[Icterus galbula]

Keeping a backup TE is foolish as waiver wire TEs will be available (and alost as good as Boss) for the one week you need to start one. Also, drop your backup defense for the same reason. There will be plenty of decent, tampa bay quality d's on the wire. Right now you want to hoard assets with upside potential, and backup TEs and defenses are not that.

I agree that backup TEs are rarely worth a roster spot, unless you get a guy who you think is a top 2/3 starter in your league in that second spot. Feel free to drop Boss, he is not that guy.

The defense bit, I disagree with. I always draft and hold two defenses. Its important and useful to play matchups with your defenses. I have the Bucs as my #11 defense and in fact they are the backup D on my current fantasy team. If my options were holding a less than top 16-18 D as my backup or no backup at all, I would go for no backup and the roster spot. In this case I say hold on to the Bucs.

[Phantom]

The defense bit, I disagree with. I always draft and hold two defenses. Its important and useful to play matchups with your defenses. I have the Bucs as my #11 defense and in fact they are the backup D on my current fantasy team. If my options were holding a less than top 16-18 D as my backup or no backup at all, I would go for no backup and the roster spot. In this case I say hold on to the Bucs.

The difference between a #11 defense, and a number 16-18 (i.e. a waiver wire D) defense is a little over a point a week (and that is if you perfectly predict things in a very unpredictable category). That can't be worth a roster spot considering the rare amount of times you will start your backup defense.

The best way to handle a defense is to draft one and play it. If you don't want to play your starting D due to a bad matchup (or they are playing bad) play the matchups on the waiver wire, and always feel free to drop a struggling D to ride a hot streak. Remember, after the top 5ish D's, there is really no difference. At the beginning of the year, I'd much rather speculate on potential sleepers at skill positions, as they pay off so much more if they hit.

[Goop]

Ok I added McClain and dropped Hixon. But I just realized that Ray Rice is also sitting there on waivers. I've read he could be a real sleeper this season. Thoughts?

[MCL1021]

Grab Ray Rice and drop Ward....Cadillac is creeping into his carries and they want to go with a 3-man RBBC....plus, I'm not sold on Tampa Bay whatsoever...

[MCL1021]

My defense strategy is simple, I take a decent one in one of the last 3 rounds, and that's it.

I play that D until the bye week and then I go with the best match-ups from there on out. It works every year, and the extra roster spot goes to a position player whether its bye weeks or injuries.

[Goop]

Grab Ray Rice and drop Ward....Cadillac is creeping into his carries and they want to go with a 3-man RBBC....plus, I'm not sold on Tampa Bay whatsoever...

I also have TB defense that I could drop to make room for him. What do you think about that?

[Fan of Newhan]

I've seen Rice's name on more "sleepers" lists than anyone else this season. I would definitely grab him if you can. People are expecting big things.

[Phantom]

I also have TB defense that I could drop to make room for him. What do you think about that?

Do this in a heartbeat.

[Goop]

Do this in a heartbeat.

Done.

Letters.....

[backwardsk]

Grab Ray Rice and drop Ward....Cadillac is creeping into his carries and they want to go with a 3-man RBBC....plus, I'm not sold on Tampa Bay whatsoever...

I don't like Ward or Graham. But I do like Carnel Williams. He'd be a good guy to have over Ward.

Peterson and Portis is a sick 1-2 punch at running back. That's the #1 and #4 leaders in rushing yards last year.

How many teams are in the league.