Fantasy Football: Amari Cooper or Carlos Hyde

Who Do I Start? Amari Cooper or Carlos Hyde

The toughest thing for me in fantasy football is always the battle of who to start in my flex spot. Usually I have a few guys who I think will really throw down some good numbers and have a great week. There are a lot of factors that go into making the final decision and it is my goal to share some of what I have found to be the most helpful.

More from Fantasy

The first thing that you have to do is understand how the players are used in the offense. What most successful fantasy football players like to talk about is the amount of touches that a player will receive in a game. Touches are how many times the player will touch the ball, thus giving him a chance to rack up fantasy points for your team.

Another major determining factor is what type of league you are playing in. There are as many different scoring formats as there are players any more and you really need to study your league’s setup so you can use that information to make the best choice possible. For the sake of this article we will just talk about two of the main formats. One format is considered to be standard scoring and it is usually pretty basic. What you have is usually one point for each ten yards gained. You also receive six points for each touchdown scored. The other type of league is PPR which is called point per reception. The basis of this leagues is the same as the standard league and you also add one or one-half of a point for each reception the player makes.

In PPR leagues I usually find myself leaning to a WR and in standard leagues i lean to a RB. The biggest determing factor for me is touches and understanding the big picture of how the player is used in the offense. You will learn this information right here on Fantasy CPR and also by tuning into the local newspapers and beat writers for the teams of the players you own on your teams.

For my conundrum today I find myself stuck between Carlos Hyde and Amari Cooper. For the backdrop the league that I am stuck here with in a PPR league and it is one point per catch. Both of these players are new to their position as even though Carlos Hyde was a 49er last year he was the backup and not the featured back. Of course we all know that Amari Cooper was a rookie so we don’t know what from history he will be capable of.

After all the study that I do often times I find myself going with my gut and this time my gut says to go with Carlos Hyde. I think that Hyde has a great match-up and I am bit worried about Derek Carr having a bad game and hurting the value of Amari Cooper. There is a good chance that will not happen and Cooper will have a beast of a game, but I feel that Hyde is the safe option which I like early on in fantasy football seasons.

Next: NFL FanDuel Picks For Week 1

More from FanSided

Home/Fantasy