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Every week, fantasy football owners run into roster issues and conundrums that can leave them flat-out stumped. Unsure how to handle an injured starter? How long should you hold out hope for a disappointing high-round draft pick? We’ll help fantasy football owners navigate all of these questions and more in our series ‘Fantasy Football Roster Renovation.’ Our writers tackle your roster issues below.
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I’m already low on FAAB and have injury or performance concerns. What should I do?
If you find yourself in this situation, some of your options include trades, swaps, deals, bargain … my thesaurus ran out of words for trades. Make trades. Seriously. That’s how you will improve your team. Look for players who are coming off a bad game on a team whose owner might be getting antsy and annoy them with offers. Consider trading for FAAB points as well if your league allows for it – which it should.
– Elisha Twerski (@ElishaTwerski)
The first question I’d want to ask is what you spent your FAAB on in Weeks 1-3? Ideally, those new additions would help you compensate for injury or performance concerns. If not, then you’re probably feeling like you just fumbled the snap. Before you give up on the play and just fall on the ball, consider the possibility that you can still make a play here. The best FAAB adds off the wire typically come in the season’s first few weeks. Why? Well, those players have a longer period to contribute to your team throughout the season since you’ll get to use them for more weeks. Thus, have patience with your FAAB additions, even if they all busted in Week 3 after a hot first or second-week performance. The most obvious answer to this dilemma as others have mentioned here is to get aggressive with the trade market. Bye weeks officially start in Week 4, and injuries have already started to hit with marquee players like Tyreek Hill, Drew Brees, Saquon Barkley, and others out for extended periods. Examine where you might have some depth to deal. Find an owner with a matching need. Reach out in person and see if that owner wants to talk about a mutually-beneficial deal. Whatever you do, don’t just send a cold-call offer. Target some players bound for positive regression who are off to disappointing starts like Will Fuller, Devonta Freeman, or Le’Veon Bell. Honestly, has Stefon Diggs’ value ever been lower? I’ve seen many social media posts with owners considering outright dropping him. If you’re sitting on these players, don’t panic yet. If you sell now, you’ll be selling for pennies on the dollar.
– Paul Ghiglieri (@FantasyGhigs)
If you are low on FAAB this early into the season, it’s time to go bargain shopping. This all depends on if your FAAB was well spent on players producing. I would grab your handcuffs (you’re covered in case of injury) and take shots by bidding 1%-3% on players with upside who won’t cost a ton, mainly free agents ranked outside the top 10 and lower. Check out our waiver wire rankings article weekly and try to take flyers if you have the room on your roster. If you think ahead and snag these players earlier before they break out one week, you could possibly hit a home run in free agency at the fraction of the cost. Use My Playbook for its waiver wire tool to help with tough decisions and moves that would help your team.
– Brad Camara (@beerad30)
Congratulations on being an active fantasy football owner. Hopefully, you made the right FAAB moves in your league. It doesn’t make sense to hold onto FAAB, because you have to win to get into the playoffs! One of my favorite things to do when low or out of FAAB is to make a trade offer(s) dependent upon the other owner using their FAAB to get a player that I need or want on my roster. As the trading partner, it is up to you and your situation if you want to set the amount of FAAB the other owner has to use on the claim the waiver player or say it’s up to them to pick the dollar amount. It is important to stress that the deal is dependent upon them picking up the player needed from waivers to improve your roster. A great example of this is being an Austin Ekeler owner and Melvin Gordon possibly returning soon to the Chargers between Week 6 and Week 8. In one of my 14-team leagues, the Gordon owner doesn’t have another running back that I want so is it possible for me to make a deal that gets me Melvin Gordon and some FAAB? Another option would be to deal Ekeler to the same owner for a wide receiver and some FAAB. The possibilities are somewhat endless. Good luck and happy trading!
– Andrew Liang (@whenpigskinfly)
Speculative adds are the name of the game when you are running low on FAAB. Adding players before their blow-up week should now be the goal. Just this past week we had reports clue us into potential hot pickups for Week 4. We heard that Josh Rosen was taking over as the Dolphins’ starter. Based on preseason reports this could have clued us into a major target volume increase for Preston Williams. Diontae Johnson was named the starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers and proceeded to function as the Steelers number two receiver in Week 4. Darrel Williams was rumored to be the starter for Kansas City just ahead of game time. While that did not come to fruition, Williams took advantage of LeSean McCoy reaggravating his ankle injury to lead the backfield in touches and yardage. If you are low on FAAB and miss out on your top waiver wire targets this week, the suggestion is to pay close attention to this coming week’s news and to make speculative adds accordingly. You can check out our Waiver Wire Stashes article that Mike Tagliere writes each week for help in this area.
– Raju Byfield (@FantasyContext)
One reason I do not like to spend my FAAB dollars early in the season is that we do not know if some of these strong starts are outliers or if the production will carry over the rest of the year. Once we have five or six games to look at data, those FAAB dollars can be spent more wisely. If you have spent those FAAB already, you have four ways that you can still improve the roster. The first thing you can do is try to trade for players that have had a slow start to the season and have the potential to rebound. The second thing you can do is bid on players that have a bye. You won’t have immediate access with those players, but players on bye will not go for as much as players that have a game on the schedule, and it will allow you to add talent at a discount. The third way is to take your chances on players that are not at the top of the FAAB chart. Usually there are one or two players per week that will generate a lot of interest. The fantasy owners with a lot of FAAB left will use most of their budget on those player, which gives you a chance to add talent that is not as desirable, but at a fraction of the cost. Finally, take a look at the waiver wire after the bidding has ended. There is a lot of talent that will make its way through the bidding wars and those players do not cost anything to add. You won’t be adding the elite additions for the week, but you can still add some very good players.
– Derek Lofland (@DerekLofland)
I’m 0-3, and I already want to blow it all up. Help!
You have to ask tough questions when you are 0-3. I have always said that points scored is a product of how good you are and points allowed is a measure of your luck. You can be 3-0, but if you are the lowest-scoring team in the league, that luck of sneaking out wins against other lower-scoring teams will likely run out. You probably want to change some things in that situation, even if you are undefeated. If you are 0-3 but have the highest-scoring team in the league, you do not have a bad roster, you have had the misfortune of playing opponents that had great weeks against you. Look at your points scored, if you are losing and not scoring any points, that is a bad combination. That means that your losses are well deserved and that a turnaround is not likely with your current roster. That is where you need to look at trading players, waiving players, and going to the waiver wire and engaging in a major overhaul. If you are scoring points, you have to have faith that the schedule will even itself out and that you will start winning when you are not playing the highest-scoring teams in the league every week. Even if you blow up your roster, you will keep losing if you have a ton of points scored against you. Three games is enough to start thinking about a roster overhaul. As Bill Parcells once said, you are what your record says you are. However, that is only half true in fantasy football. I think in fantasy you are what your points scored says you are and you must look there rather than your record to decide how much of an overhaul is in order early in the season.
– Derek Lofland (@DerekLofland)
Unlike fantasy baseball, the playoff window is short for football. I would spend FAAB now on high-priced free agents and make trades to improve my starters. The fantasy season isn’t lost yet, but if you don’t act now, it will be over by Week 8. I would use (shameless plug) FantasyPros trade evaluator and make deals to help your squad. Also, if you are 0-3 but a top-six scoring team in your league, do not do anything drastic, eventually things will even out. Hang in there and don’t give up!
– Brad Camara (@beerad30)
First, take a deep breath and think to yourself, “At least I’m not a Dolphins fan.” If you are a Dolphins fan, consider giving up football and taking up knitting as a hobby. In this situation, it would depend on what you want to do. If you want to take your stars that are struggling and trade them for pennies on the dollar, then enjoy your last-place finish. However, if you need more starters or depth and you feel that you can get adequate value for your star players, then go ahead and do it. One thing to keep in mind when trading at 0-3 is that you need to look at the immediate schedule or the players that you’re trading for. Try trading for players with good matchups, because you need to start winning ASAP.
– Elisha Twerski (@ElishaTwerski)
Admittedly, an 0-3 start demands some sort of action. Now is not the time to practice patience and stay passive. You’re going to have to go 7-3 over the next 10 weeks just to finish over .500, and that probably won’t be enough to make playoffs in many leagues. However, blowing it all up isn’t the answer here. Most owners in this situation would identify their most valuable asset (e.g. a first-round stud like Alvin Kamara or Christian McCaffrey), dump the supporting cast, and try to rebuild around that anchor. However, you weren’t winning even with that stud leading the way. The better Hail Mary play here is to sell your most valuable asset for a solid return package of players that will help you plug holes. You’ll be down a star, but you’ll have a more balanced roster overall. And balance is what keeps you afloat and gives you a chance to win even when a stud player underperforms. Find the team with quality assets where you need them most and offer your best player in return, saying he or she is one player away and your first-round talent can make all the difference. Most folks will trade away depth, even quality depth, to acquire a star player they couldn’t land in the first round. You won’t have that elite player anymore, but you also won’t have any holes dragging you down in must-win weeks either.
– Paul Ghiglieri (@FantasyGhigs)
Starting a fantasy football season 0-3 is brutal, and it does not feel good. It is time to tighten the belt and get feisty because I am suggesting to make some large moves. I am including a personal detailed account of what I am currently enduring in one of my leagues this season. In summary, please consider doing the following to avoid falling to 0-4. First, continue to look for roster improvements sending 2-for-1 trade offers or package deals in the hopes to upgrade one roster spot. You cannot send enough offers! Don’t be afraid to deal one of your studs. If luck is on my side and I don’t get too out of sorts with my trade ideas hopefully I will come out of this bad start cleaner on the other side. Good luck and let the trades be forever in your favor!
– Andrew Liang (@whenpigskinfly)
If you have an 0-3 team and play in a redraft league, you do not have much choice but to be aggressive on the waiver wire and hope for some breaks. Selling low on your stars is rarely recommended. However, cutting bait on mid-round picks who just have not panned out should be strongly considered. Outside of deeper leagues, players like Latavius Murray and Donte Moncrief can be replaced by waiver wire adds with superior roles. Unfortunately, players like Stefon Diggs or Damien Williams should not be dropped. Players you spent early-round picks on should be benched until they have a strong game. At that time you have to decide whether the increased production is the start of a trend or if it is time to sell high.
– Raju Byfield (@FantasyContext)
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