Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2001

A backup boon

If you packed it in after drafting your starters, you probably missed out on drafting prime depth that could be helping you now

By Andy Hanacek, Associate editor

But, as this year has once again proved, shrewd analysis of NFL teams’ backup situations can bring a boon to your fantasy team, especially if some of your starters are in a slump.

Take, for example, these two situations.

One of the owners in the league I run drafted Ravens QB Randall Cunningham as his backup to Elvis Grbac, which seems like a simplistic idea — take your quarterback’s true backup, just in case he gets hurt. It makes sense.

But there are a ton of options, obviously. He could have taken another starting quarterback, such as a Rob Johnson or Jay Fiedler type — guys who weren’t ranked very high at the beginning of the year but are starters. Instead, he did his homework and took Cunningham, with the belief that Rocket Randall still had the juice to put up solid fantasy points.

Well, that move has helped him tremendously over the past two weeks. Randall has helped him win two straight games after starting the year at 1-5. So, truthfully, Cunningham didn’t just keep his team afloat during Grbac’s injured stretch, he led his team to victory.

Another example comes from the team I own in the league. While these players were actually keepers and not drafted, the same theory applies. My league, as I’ve said before in this space, is what I call a "franchise league" in which teams keep roughly 10 players per year. Among the 10 my team kept heading into this season were RBs Jerome Bettis and Eddie George. I figured I had a great one-two punch at running back, but I was not comfortable. George was coming off toe surgery and no one knew how well he’d do this season. So I also kept RB Garrison Hearst, figuring he was worth a risk.

Well, it hasn’t paid off yet, simply because I’ve been attached to starting George every week. But that will definitely change this week, as George is going up against the Ravens, against whom George has not done well in recent years. Hearst will start, and I hope that my foresight as far as depth pays off. Hearst could turn into a major plus for my team now that George is having quite an off year.

Other players have gotten more time than expected because of injuries. Seahawks RB Shaun Alexander was likely drafted because of his skills more than RB Ricky Watters' injury history, but he has definitely panned out for anyone who’s drafted him. If you drafted Rams RB Trung Canidate, Jaguars RB Stacey Mack or, the supersleeper of them all, Colts RB Dominic Rhodes, kudos to you for taking a chance and lucking out. Of course, the flip side is Jets QB Chad Pennington, Broncos QB Gus Frerotte or 49ers RB Kevan Barlow (or, for that matter, 49ers RB Paul Smith), each of whom hasn’t gotten enough playing time to be a real fantasy threat because the starters have remained healthy, which many fantasy owners didn’t believe would happen this year.

Of course, you don’t have to rely on drafting to find these gems. Recently I signed Raiders RB Zack Crockett as a safety net in case Hearst doesn’t work out either. In fact, there’s a possibility that I will start Crockett this week instead of Hearst. So, you can rely on the waiver wires to help your team at midseason. But your best bet is to not hang it up during the draft but instead stay focused and make some good, educated guesses about whom you want as your backups. The season is long, and those guys could come in handy later.

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2001 - 2002 Season