Betting Talk

What would you do? (Fantasy)

GoatsGoats Head Moderator
edited October 2013 in Sports Betting
My team is a total fraud, sitting at 4-3 mostly b/c I've gotten extremely lucky with my matchups (I have the 2nd lowest total points scored and the least points scored by my opponents). As you'll see from my roster below, assuming Spiller and Harvin are OUT, I can't field a full team this week due to bye/injury. My dilemma is that I really don't want to drop anyone who isn't playing this week b/c my team is so mediocre, I'd rather miss the playoffs than make it there with even less of a chance to beat anyone.

Other info: I'm a small favorite this week playing down a man and the best players available to pick up are guys like Hillis, Ellington, Stevie Johnson, Durham, etc. In other words, no one great.

I'm currently leaning towards rolling the dice and playing down a man. If I dropped someone, I would be leaning towards Spiller or Harvin. Thoughts?

Starting:
QB - Stafford
WR - Antonio Brown
WR - Blackmon
WR - Boykin
RB - Ridley
RB - Stacy
TE - Cameron
FLEX - EMPTY (assuming Spiller/Harvin out)

Bench:
WR - Hilton
WR - Allen
WR - Harvin
RB - Woodhead
RB - Spiller
TE - Gates

Comments

  • nucoffenucoffe Senior Member
    edited October 2013
    I would drop spiller and see if there is anyone else to pick up for the week but thats just me!
  • nyjets1532nyjets1532 Senior Member
    edited October 2013
    I would drop Allen. Imo spiller is too talented when healthy and it looks like he is gonna get some much needed time off. Brown, blackmon, and Hilton (now that he's indys #1) seem like a solid group of WRs to roll with.

    I don't like the idea if playing this week a man down.

    GL
  • DieselDiesel Member
    edited October 2013
    I would trade a WR
  • GoatsGoats Head Moderator
    edited October 2013
    Diesel wrote: »
    I would trade a WR

    Agree that would have been optimal, but failed to mention this is a dumb extended family league with almost no trades ever made.
  • groovinmahoovingroovinmahoovin Senior Member
    edited October 2013
    I think you have to drop Harvin or Allen and claim Ellington or Hillis. I would personally prefer dropping Harvin and adding Ellington. Ellington is a bit of a crapshoot this week, but I think it's very reasonable to project him for at least 6 points (45 yards and 1/4th of a TD) and I could see optimistically projecting him for 8 if he's getting a heavy workload.

    Giving up 6-8 points of EV is a lot. Looking at the marginal returns, if you drop Harvin, he isn't that much better than someone like a Steve Johnson, and that difference only matters if someone claims Harvin AND you need another WR later. AND, you would need to use said WR several times to make up that 6-8 point difference. Brown already had his bye, Blackmon's is next week, Boykin's value is obviously transitory, but you still have Hilton and Allen available with their bye completed. If we assume Boykin still has value next week, eating that zero would be giving up 6 or more points of EV in exchange for your 5th receiver, who isn't really substantially better than some of the stuff on the waiver wire. Even if we assume Harvin is 2 points better than random waiver wire receiver, you need to use him 3 times to make up for that 6 point hit of EV.

    I'm no fantasy football expert so I may have completely missed something, but unless I missed something I don't think this decision is particularly close (aside from who to add and who to drop, but I like Ellington's potential upside.)
  • Chisox6Chisox6 Senior Member
    edited October 2013
    Drop Allen add Ellington. If the goal is to win in the playoffs, harvin has a ton of upside once healthy
  • BigItaly42BigItaly42 Senior Member
    edited October 2013
    Allen for Ellington. Word is he will be getting the bulk of the carries this week. I think he has a big week. GL!
  • MustangMustang Senior Member
    edited October 2013
    Mendenhall is doubtful and Ellington is going to start. I was debating either Stacy or Ellington and given a new QB for the Rams and going against Seattle I think I am going to go with Ellington.
  • Clark GriswoldClark Griswold Senior Member
    edited October 2013
    I would drop Harvin and pick up Hillis or Ellington for the week.
  • DieselDiesel Member
    edited October 2013
    Goats wrote: »
    I'd rather miss the playoffs than make it there with even less of a chance to beat anyone.


    This sentence makes Hillis and Ellington completely useless. Dropping anyone on your team and picking up one of these guys goes completely against what you said your goal was.
  • groovinmahoovingroovinmahoovin Senior Member
    edited October 2013
    But he isn't guaranteed to make the playoffs. This isn't a boolean either/or--he's not 7-0 and playing for seeding.
  • DeadMoneyDeadMoney Senior Member
    edited October 2013
    ahh thats tough. I LOVE Allen the rest of the year. I'd take the 0 but if you dont wana do that, I'd drop Harvin for Hillis and hope to grab him back next week.
  • DieselDiesel Member
    edited October 2013
    But he isn't guaranteed to make the playoffs. This isn't a boolean either/or--he's not 7-0 and playing for seeding.

    But he's saying he doesn't care about making the playoffs unless his team is good enough to win it all. Dropping future points for points this weeks doesn't follow this line of thinking. If your goal is only to make the playoffs then I agree with dropping a WR for points this week. Maybe I'm missing understanding because typically I agree with your lines groovin
  • groovinmahoovingroovinmahoovin Senior Member
    edited October 2013
    I didn't interpret the statement the same way, probably because fantasy football teams run close enough in value that any team can realistically win against any other team in any given week. I interpreted his statement as meaning that he didn't want to weaken his team by dropping someone solely because they aren't playing this week, because his team is mediocre and he needs the depth. I believe that the marginal returns in future games of keeping his worst receivers aren't worth taking a FLEX 0.

    If instead of talking about Allen, Harvin, and Spiller, we were talking about something like Forte, Foster, Marshall, Andre Johnson, and Torrey Smith, then yeah, you'd probably be forced to take a 0 because those guys are all too good to drop. But Allen and Harvin, whichever one prefers dropping:

    1) Might not even be needed in a future game.
    2) Are not a particularly large upgrade over the random WRs on the waiver wire.

    Just to use something publicly accessible, on FantasyPros, for the rest of the season rankings of their top 20% people, they have Stevie Johnson ranked around 30th among WRs for the rest of the season, compared to Allen 26th and Harvin 35th. I think that Harvin rating is a bit low, but either way, we're talking about pretty fungible commodities here. Taking a 0 because you don't want to cut Torrey Smith, fine. Taking a 0 because you don't want to cut a Harvin or an Allen, I don't think the math works out there.
  • GoatsGoats Head Moderator
    edited October 2013
    Was hoping this would inspire some interesting discussion if nothing else. Just got back from a beer festival and in no shape to respond beyond thanks for the input and I'll decide sometime between tonight and tomorrow. Could see dropping or keeping Allen at this point. I keep going back and forth.
  • GoatsGoats Head Moderator
    edited October 2013

    1) Might not even be needed in a future game.
    2) Are not a particularly large upgrade over the random WRs on the waiver wire.

    #1 is 100% correct, even after factoring in byes, although given the state of my RB's and the potential for injury, I can easily see needing/wanting one of them as my flex.

    #2 is of course subjective. FWIW, I think they're both significant upgrades over WW WR's, especially if Harvin gets to 100% and is utilized to his full potential at some point, but that's a mater of opinion. I want no parts of Stevie Johnson over either Allen or Harvin.
  • GoatsGoats Head Moderator
    edited October 2013
    So the short version is here are my two options:

    1. Drop Allen so I can use Ellington today and roll with Boykin the rest of the season and drop Ellington after today b/c I need a QB for my QB (Stafford) being on bye.

    2. Keep Allen and play down a man this week and drop Boykin next week for the QB.

    For the next several weeks, I think Allen and Boykin are close enough to not matter much (although Boykin will take a hit once Jones comes back), but when/if Cobb comes back at 100%, Boykin likely receives a big downgrade. However, by that point, I'm banking on Harvin being good enough to start over both of them anyway.

    I know the consensus seems to be to drop Allen, but just wanted to sum up the situation as I'm thinking out loud. Any last thoughts/opinions?
  • DieselDiesel Member
    edited October 2013
    Cobb is out until a minimum of week 15. I wouldn't factor him into this. I didn't factor in Stafford's bye into my earlier thoughts, which I should have because I have him in 3 leagues. If you're dropping one of these guys next week regardless I would drop Allen this week to fill your roster spot, then likely drop that player next week to fill your QB spot.

    Option 1 makes more sense factoring in Stafford.
  • GoatsGoats Head Moderator
    edited October 2013
    Diesel wrote: »
    Cobb is out until a minimum of week 15. I wouldn't factor him into this. I didn't factor in Stafford's bye into my earlier thoughts, which I should have because I have him in 3 leagues. If you're dropping one of these guys next week regardless I would drop Allen this week to fill your roster spot, then likely drop that player next week to fill your QB spot.

    Option 1 makes more sense factoring in Stafford.

    I should have specifically mentioned the Stafford aspect in my initial post, more my fault than yours. Thanks for the input. I'm beginning to lean that way myself.
  • groovinmahoovingroovinmahoovin Senior Member
    edited October 2013
    Other thing I didn't mention is in a free league, whoever you drop may still be available next week. In free leagues, people are more likely to pick up players who had good weeks, and whoever you drop won't play this week.
  • GoatsGoats Head Moderator
    edited October 2013
    Other thing I didn't mention is in a free league, whoever you drop may still be available next week. In free leagues, people are more likely to pick up players who had good weeks, and whoever you drop won't play this week.

    Agree, unfortunately I'm 98% sure Allen will be claimed if I drop him (I'm spending the weekend with half the league).
  • DieselDiesel Member
    edited October 2013
    I guess we could have asked your waiver spot as well to gauge your likelihood of getting that player back if you wanted to
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