Fantasy Football – A Look Back at the Playoffs!

Fantasy Football – A Look Back at the Playoffs!

Having recently returning from a deployment to help clean up Puerto Rico after it was decimated by two storms, I had the idea to publish this fantasy football article. I would have loved to put this out to be seen, when it should have been seen but that just wasn’t possible given the circumstances. Being an active duty military member comes with its benefits, but also has its down side. I was told that I would be going to Puerto Rico and left less than a week later. I had barely enough time to pack, let alone get my family ready and especially being around the holidays added extra stress. The last thing on my mind was making sure my fantasy teams were ready to go.

At the time of my departure it was midseason for fantasy and in the heart of the byes. Luckily I had been undefeated up until my departure so I had a bit of a cushion to help offset not being able to set my lineup while being without internet. I looked over my roster and started the best lineup that I could going forward, crossed my fingers and closed my lap top. I returned shortly before playoffs started (and just in time for Thanksgiving) and came back to a nice surprise. I was second place heading into the playoffs and only lost three games while I was gone, all of which where due to starting Jameis Winston at quarterback. Luckily, while I was out there I was able to finally get into contact with my league commissioner and I was able to tell him to add a player for me. That player being Philip Rivers, who turned out to save my season.

Because I was gone for so long I didn’t get to do as many articles and waiver wire suggestions as I would have liked, and also that is to blame for this coming out so late. Also, the holidays and welcoming a new edition to my family into the world, but that’s a whole other story. I apologize for not getting this out when it needed to, but I figured better late than never. This article is how to construct the ultimate playoff roster to not only contend for a championship but take it down. I will go position by position, some going more in-depth than others, and break down what to look for in adding a player. Rather you need to just fine tune your roster, do some major tweaking or you just need some reassurance that your roster will succeed after reading this article you will be set to take your league by storm and grab a championship.

Fantasy Football – Quarterback, defense and kickers

Streaming quarterbacks is a very popular thing to do in most fantasy leagues. If you are unfamiliar with the technique it is just finding the quarterback on the waiver wire with the best matchup and using them for that week, then dropping them and moving onto the next best matchup. This strategy is also popular with defenses and in some cases kickers, if your league hasn’t abandoned them already that is. This strategy is very affective when done right however, there is one big flaw to it, it seems like everyone is doing it. You have to be a step ahead of everyone in your league or else you’ll get stuck using the Browns quarterback of the week. If you utilize this strategy, you must start prepping a few weeks in advance and projecting which players will be added by others in your leagues in order to get who you want.

There are a few variable to consider when selecting who to add for the playoffs. The first being who is going to be playing in the weather. When selecting a player rather it be quarterback or kicker, taking the weather element out of the equation is crucial in finding the best matchups. Think about it this way, would you rather have someone playing in a dome or someone playing in Buffalo in December? I think the answer to that for almost every position is in the dome. Playing inside or in fair weather climates (Los Angeles, Miami, eat…) isn’t the only thing to consider, and depending on the player it may be just as important, that variable is who is playing at home. To put it in better context, would you rather have Ben Roethlisberger in Miami or would you rather in play at home? I think it is common knowledge now that he plays a lot better at home than he does on the road. Now combining those two factors whenever possible will give you an even better edge, even if it isn’t the most high-profile player. Again to put it in better context, would you rather have Tom Brady at home, in New England in late December where it could be a blizzard or would you rather have Case Keenum at home in a dome? Even though most people would choose Brady over Keenum, the smart answer because of the weather and the fact that Keenum is at home gives him the edge over Brady.

The indoor variable is just as important, if not more important for kickers than it is for quarterbacks. Eliminating the wind, rain and any other weather factors for a kicker is a huge advantage. Any kicker kicking indoors should automatically jump to the top of your list. The only exception to that is a kicker in Denver, but the weather would still need to be closely monitored to make sure the wind doesn’t exceed 15-20 mph. The home element is the biggest factor for defenses, in fact bad weather actually plays to the defenses advantage so you don’t have to worry about anything other than are they at home or not. The home field advantage allows the fans to get behind them while the opposing teams offense is on the field and make it that much more difficult for them. Choosing your streaming is going to use a combination of these rules to separate a few players you had picked out from your favorite rankings source. These rules are just to help you separate between two or three players that are really close in ranking and you are looking for an edge.

Choosing the best players to be on your roster at the skill position players is a little different from the positions that are typically streamed. It is very rare that you are able to be successful by changing out your running backs and/or receivers each week. I know what you are thinking, ‘tight end is another commonly streamed position’. You would be right there, however in the playoffs I feel the best strategy is to take a different approach.

Fantasy Football – Running Backs

When it comes to choosing a to add during the playoffs, it is a completely different approach as it would be during the regular season. During the regular season you are looking for bye week fill-ins or players that will get you enough points to survive an every week starter being out. During the playoffs, you have already had all of your byes and you already have your starters all but set in stone, so you aren’t looking for the same player. The ideal player you are looking for from the running back position in the playoffs is someone who would walk into a workhorse role if the player in front of them were to get hurt.

The best example of this would be Derrick Henry and DeMarco Murray. For some reason, the Titans are still treating Murray like he is the starter and giving him the most reps while sprinkling in Henry here and there. But, if Murray where to get hurt Henry would step right into a workhorse roll. With that being said, most teams don’t have a clear answer as to what would happen if their RB1 where to get hurt, which makes it all that more important to lock up the back ups to the ones that do. It is becoming more and more the norm for teams to turn to the committee approach if the starter goes down. Also it is becoming more common for teams to even use a committee approach even when the ‘starter’ is healthy, making a backup who would walk into a workhorse roll that much more important. The earlier you can do this the better, because the closer you get to playoffs the closer your league mates are more likely to have a similar strategy. Another good strategy for playoff roster construction is to grab the backup for your ‘stud’ running back(s). This is the only time I will advocate owning the backup (also referred to as handcuff). Owning a handcuff during the regular season while you are still going through byes is just dead roster space, during the playoffs its C.Y.A.

Wide Receiver 

Wide receiver is a whole different beast compared to running back, and it could drastically swing from one player to the next any given week. By this time of year you have probably already got your receiver rotation down, in most cases if you don’t have at least one stud receiver you probably aren’t making it to the playoffs anyway. Receiver has a lot more players to choose from which tends to make a position less prioritized which in my opinion will hurt you this time of year. Yes, you need your stud running back and you have to get him early, but just as important no matter what format is a stud wide receiver. As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot more receivers to choose from, which can be a good and a bad thing. It is good, because there will be more to choose from on any given week if one of yours gets hurt or just isn’t getting the job done. But, that is also the bad thing. There are so many to choose from that it almost makes it a crap shoot trying to pick the one that will be worth adding.

My strategy for acquiring a receiver from the waiver wire for my playoff roster is simple, I look at three key things. The first being stability at the quarterback position, I am not looking for a receiver from a team that keeps changing quarterbacks or from a team that just lost their starter. There is just too many variables to keep track of in that situation and that is not something I am looking to deal with during the playoffs. The second thing I am looking for is target share, I am looking to see how many targets the player gets per game and how many of the teams targets that equates too. The more targets he gets the more opportunity he will have to produce and like I have said many times, opportunity leads to production. Also the higher the percentage of team targets a player gets will tell you how much a quarterback likes and/or trusts a player, giving you an idea of who he will look too when he needs a play. And finally the last thing I look for in a receiver is production. I am looking for a receiver to put up decent production for more than just one game, one game is a fluke more than that it is becoming a trend.

Fantasy Football – Tight End

Tight end is the most frustrating position in all of fantasy. A lot of people have joined the movement of trying to eliminate the kicker position from fantasy but I have joined the lesser known movement of eliminating the tight end position instead. At least kicker is pretty easy to predict who will score points, if you are on a team with a good offense their kicker is going to score points. Tight end there is literally now scientific way to figure out who is going to score, you are just hoping for a touchdown. Now, before you freak out the movement isn’t to eliminate the tight end position all together, so you will still be able to have Gronk on your roster. The idea is to combine tight end with the flex position instead of having its own position, and maybe even adding another flex position in place of the tight end slot.

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Now for what you have been waiting for, what I look for in adding a tight end during the play offs. This is the time of year where there always seems to be a quarterback that gets hurt, or a team that is out of the hunt decides to make a quarterback change in order to see what they have. That is a big part of what I look for, when there is a new quarterback a lot of time they tend to develop a relationship with a security blanket type of receiver. One that doesn’t stray to far away and that will always be in the area if the pocket begins to collapse around him. That player more often than not tends to be the tight end, rather that be because they are usually big and easy to see, they don’t tend to go too far down the field so they can be a quick dump off or maybe it’s something else. Like i said before, there is really nothing scientific to picking a tight end. Sure, if there is one that is just tearing it up and no one seems to trust still you can add that player, but who is to say next week he will put up a goose egg. Let’s face it, there are really only four or five tight ends that will put up numbers with any sort of consistency, and anyone other than them is just hoping for a touchdown.

As I stated before, I would have loved to put this out there a lot sooner, but unfortunately life got in the way. I am still putting this out there for you to learn from, to compare to your strategy this year and to hopefully get out there next year (coupled with my drafting guide) and win another championship. Hopefully this isn’t too soon for some of you who just missed out on a championship, but if it is file this away for next year and use it to avenge your loss. I hope all of you had a great holiday season and happy new year to you all!

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