Should You Avoid Risky Fantasy Football Players?

Should you avoid having risky fantasy football players on your roster?  The answer is no, not completely, but you should avoid relying on too many such players regularly.  It is ok to have one or two players on your roster that are high-risk but that offset their inherent riskiness with potential for giving you high returns. 

Fantasy football teams that rely on many risky players often experience wildly fluctuating production.  They may have one or two weeks when the team explodes and puts up huge numbers, but often then will experience times where the team has very low production. To avoid this, you do not want too many players that teams rely on sporadically, like WR James Jones of the Packers, or headcases like the Lions' Ndamukong Suh, whose explosive temper could get him suspended at any time (he really needs to visit an online Canadian pharmacy and get some medication to control his anger and anxiety).

Additionally, avoid relying on too many players that are injury prone -- even stars -- or at least mitigate the impact of their unavailability due to injury by bolstering your team depth in that position.  For example, if you opted to draft WR Andre Johnson of Houston, you should try to have quality depth behind him on your roster since Andre tends to get hurt and miss multiple weeks when he does.

So, yes, it's ok to have one or two risky players on your roster.  You want the type of risky players that you can occasionally plug into your lineup when the odds for a good day are favorable.  Also, limit your risk by limiting your reliance on such players and by having good depth in the positions where you have such players.

Out of Contention Fantasy Football Owner Obligations

By late in the fantasy football season, many leagues start to quiet down.  This is party because of league deadlines for waiver transactions and trades, but also partly due to owners that have lost interest in running their teams.

There are a few things commissioners can do to keep owners interested and engaged.  However, it is also incumbent on an owner to do a few things even late in the season and when out of contention:

How to Decrease Your League's Trade Turmoil

Economic progress, in capitalist society, means turmoil.
-Joseph A. Schumpeter

Many fantasy football owners and commissioners would say that in fantasy football, a team's success often means turmoil, especially when concerning trades.  Frequently owners not involved in a trade will have a hissy fit -- sometimes justifiably so, but usually without cause.  Fortunately, there are some ways to decrease the friction that often accompanies fantasy football trades.

When to Jettison a Player from your Fantasy Football Team

"Man, every time I start Joe Zero he hardly gives me any points!  Argh!"

"Gosh, is Mike Sprain ever going to play this season?"

Most fantasy football owners are familiar with those refrains; situations where a player continually flops or is always hurt can make you wonder if you should release them or not. Often it's tough to know when to release a player from your fantasy football squad, even when they will miss many weeks due to injury or are consistently performing poorly.  Usually what makes an owner hesitant to release a player that's hurt or that has burned them a few times is the fear that the player will start to produce after they've released or traded them.  Here's a few things to keep in mind when considering jettisoning a player from your fantasy football squad:

In Fantasy Football, It's Never Over 'Til It's Over

Just like like the St. Louis Cardinals' triumph over the Texas Rangers in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series showed, a contest isn't over until it's over.   Never quit until you are mathematically eliminated.  Also, never think you've got a contest or a season in the bag.  I've seen huge leads evaporate. I've seen official NFL stat changes a couple days after the week's slate of games change the outcomes of fantasy football contests (remember Kurt Warner's reversed TD pass a couple seasons back?)  I've personally experienced the following:

• Having my 9-4 team defeat the 12-1 team for the league title.
• Going undefeated all season, sweeping a division rival twice, only to see my team collapse in the playoffs vs. that rival.
• Taking a team that only had 2 wins and leading it to a division title with 6 straight wins to close the regular season.
• Recovering from a couple of missed/botched fantasy football drafts.  
• Losing a game where I led all weekend due to the results of an Monday Night Football game that went into OT.

As you can see, fantasy football is unpredictable.  That's is what makes it not only fun but also challenging and often frustrating.

Daily Fantasy Football Leagues

A growing trend in fantasy football is the daily fantasy football league (sometimes called a salary cap league), the little brother to traditional season-long fantasy football leagues.  You can join a daily fantasy football league at places such as Snapdraft.com or Fantasy Sports Live.com.  Unlike traditional fantasy football leagues, where you draft a team and then keep much of that same roster for the entire season (or even longer in keeper and dynasty leagues),  in daily leagues you keep that roster only for the day or week you are playing.  For instance, if you play in a daily league for week 7, you would assemble a team that is valid only for week 7.

Daily leagues are a nice complement (or perhaps an alternative) to traditional leagues.  They allow the participant to employ different strategies and own players they wouldn't otherwise.  Additionally, often there is a chance to win some money.

If you are interested in learning more about how to play in a daily fantasy football league, you should check out this article at RotoGrinders.com on how to operate under a salary cap in such a league. RotoGrinders.com (with which I am not affiliated) is a good source for learning how to play in daily leagues and which sites to consider using.

Fight Mid-Fantasy Football Season Doldrums

If you're the commish of a fantasy football league that is starting to suffer from owners losing interest, here are some things to consider implementing (if not mid-season, at least next year):

• Loser's Playoff Bracket -- Consider implementing a loser's bracket (aka, consolation bracket or toilet bowl).  Have that bracket actually play for more than pride -- maybe a draft pick, a trophy, or small monetary prize.
• In-season elimination game -- Entice the owners to keep coming to the league by picking NFL game winners elimination-style.  Again, dangle a prize for the winner.
• Bonuses for highest scorer, etc. -- Award bonuses for the highest scorer for the weak,  largest margin of victory,  etc.
• Make league private and for money -- Public leagues suffer greatly from absenteeism.  Make your league private and recruit responsible, enthusiastic owners.  Give them something to play for by making the league play for dinero rather than just for pride.  Even just $20 per owner at 12 owners creates a good-sized pot that can either go winner-takes-all or 60-30-10.