I compete in fantasy leagues every season and throw a few bucks into
DFS contests every week. I love the
competition, but it’s more than that. When
writing fantasy columns every day, I need to connect to what I’m saying on a personal
level. I need to care about what I’m
saying. Otherwise, it’s simply advice
for the sake of giving advice.
For example, when I realized after Week 1 that Jeremy Langford was
severely overvalued—and since I had Langford on my team—I was able to share my
efforts to unload him. I was “all in” on
this advice not only because I believed it, but because I was actually acting
on it.
With news this morning that Rashad Jennings is out Week 3, my personal
attention turns to a guy I’ve been pushing all week here and on WRAL SportsFan’s
website: Paul Perkins. As I’m writing
this (9:30 a.m. Eastern), we don’t yet know if Perkins will be declared “active”
today. But with a league member dropping
him earlier this week, I made the move this morning to drop a WR4 (Cole
Beasley) to take a chance on Perkins. If
he doesn’t do anything these next couple of weeks, and if Jennings gets healthy
and somehow reasserts himself as a viable NFL starter, then I’ll replace
Perkins with another WR4 or someone similar.
But because I believe Perkins’ upside is higher than Beasley’s, I’m
taking the risk—a short-term loss for the chance at a longer term gain.
This process, repeated dozens of times each season, is fundamental to
turning a middling team into a great one.
In isolation, each move doesn’t guarantee success. But collectively, dozens of such risks likely
will improve one’s team.
Switching gears, here are some RBs who are vastly overrated this
weekend, using average “expert” Week 3 rankings compiled by Fantasy Pros:
- C.J. Anderson (5th ranked) – I continue trying to trade
for Devontae Booker in anticipation of his potential ascension to a “time-share”
role. Anderson has never been a bellcow
for a full season, and he’s on pace for a nearly 400-touch workload. Looking short term, while people would
(justifiably) be hard-pressed to bench C.J. today, I don’t like his matchup and
don’t believe he’ll clear eight points in standard leagues.
- Matt Forte (7th ranked) – I’ve written enough about Forte
to make this call obvious (though many of you probably disagree for good reasons). Forte is painfully overvalued and is about to
crash back to earth in a tough road matchup.
- LeSean McCoy (11th ranked) – This ranking makes no sense
to me. Buffalo is simply awful this
season, and there’s only so much McCoy can do to keep them in the game. I’ll be surprised if he cracks 60 yards.
- Latavius Murray (14th ranked) – There were rumblings of Murray
losing his bellcow status all summer. I
don’t think he’ll get enough touches to warrant this week’s ranking.
Good luck, today.