| In most leagues, fantasy football is fundamentally over for
all those teams not blessed with a playoff berth. That leaves two options for those
people playing in keeper leagues.
First, you could spend the last two weeks contemplating what should have been the end
result for your team. Obviously, you deserved a much better fate, and the other guy just
got lucky. But starting sentences with, "If (insert name of injured player here)
hadn’t got hurt, I’d have won the whole thing," isn’t really helpful
at this stage of the game.
Secondly, you can start strategizing right now.
It might not benefit you all that much., but maybe it will. You have a chance to figure
out what direction you want to take your team. Planning ahead isn’t always done, but
those who do always seem to benefit.
Take a close look at your league’s makeup. Will there be numerous running backs
protected? How’s the QB situation? Will the league’s top receivers be protected?
Check the depth everywhere. You might have a few good players to keep, but if they
don’t match up with what others are keeping, you might be keeping the wrong guys.
Concentrate on locking up players at a position where there is little or no depth. If
you have part or all of a position accounted for, then you won’t have to overpay or
rush picks in the draft. You can concentrate on the areas that best suit your needs and
have the best available talent for you to choose from.
Quarterbacks
Players to keep
Kurt Warner, St. Louis — This one is quite obvious. Warner came cheap in
every league, and his return is a must if you have him in a keeper league. Don’t
concern yourself with the Trent Green scenario. He’s going to be football’s
version of Wally Pipp.
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis — The best is yet to come for this second-year
guy.
Players to drop
Brett Favre, Green Bay — He’s just not the point-scoring dynamo he
used to be. One man can only take so much.
Running backs
Players to keep
Edgerrin James, Indianapolis — The Colts are quickly aligning themselves as
a superpower in the NFL. James will be along for the ride, guaranteed.
Stephen Davis, Washington — I say this mostly out of sheer joy that I had
the guts to pick him. Davis is a hard worker and a throwback; he’s going to be a good
player for years to come.
Players to drop
Ricky Williams, New Orleans — He might not be all that bad eventually. But
the Saints don’t seem to have any sort of plan to get any better. Williams will have
a hard time reaching his potential in his current set of circumstances.
Players to watch
I don’t know what to tell you on the returns of Terrell Davis and Jamal
Anderson. Monitor whatever progress you can in the offseason before making your
decision. Also keep an eye on Giants RB Joe Montgomery. I’m not quite ready to
put him on the keeper list, but he’s definitely worth inspection.
Wide receivers
Players to keep
Joey Galloway, Seattle — Odds are that your investment was low, with the
holdout and all. He’ll reap a big return with a fresh start next season, and you can
be the guy to enjoy it.
Kevin Johnson, Cleveland — He’s young and makes mistakes, but Johnson
knows how to get to the football. The Browns probably won’t be much better next
season and will be forced to pass quite a lot. Johnson will be on the other end of many of
those tosses.
Players to drop
Terrell Owens, San Francisco — Like many 49ers, I would not strongly
advocate picking them up in your draft. The likely absence of Steve Young is going to have
a rippling effect.
That’s about all I have on the keeper situation, but I haven’t forgotten
about those still involved in their fantasy league’s postseason.
If your league still allows claims in the postseason, snatch up a third kicker. There
is nothing better than winning a tiebreaker because you got Kris Brown’s eight points
tucked away on your bench.
Here are some hunch plays:
Quarterback — Jake Plummer, Cardinals.
Running back — Warrick Dunn, Buccaneers.
Wide receiver — Michael Westbrook, Redskins.
Best of luck. |
