In fantasy football, the avenues to acquire players are drafts, auctions, trading, and the waiver wire. This post by Katie Flower (@FF_Skyler399) outlines key waiver wire strategies to maximize your team value.
We have all done it. You get a free game app for your smart phone or tablet and get engrossed as you beat each level. At some point you get stuck and the power up boost or diamonds or whatever it takes to get you through, it only costs $4.99 so you click “buy”.
A little later the boosters are gone and there you sit, stuck again. Just one more bundle of diamonds and you can buy a power up that will get you to the next level. Click buy, click buy and so on until you come to the realization: you just spent $49.99 on a “free” game.
What is worse is after a while you get bored with the game and move on to another free game only to repeat the same pattern of indulgence.
It has been a long summer and many leagues have opened the waiver wire. In the majority of leagues I play in we get a blind bidding allotment of $100 which is meant to last for the entire season. Many owners are pent up after not being able to do anything but trade since the rookie draft ended.
[bctt tweet=”I have witnessed many budgets blown in the first couple of weeks of preseason.” via=”no”] The ones that have to do with replacing an injured player, those I understand. But I see the same owners pay $6 or $11 bux on a guy and turn around the next week and cut him for another player and spend even more.
Avoiding the Waiver Wire ‘Go Round
If your league allows roster expansion in the off-season it is even more critical that you don’t line the bottom of your roster with a lot of new acquisitions that will need to be cut shortly. At the very least you should need to make cuts to make room for a kicker and defense.
Using discretion at this time can go a long way. Here are a few tips to help you stay focused:
- You spent time scouting and drafting each player on your roster, how does this new player really compare to the one you are about to drop? At the very least, go through the same process on the new player as you did the one you will drop.
- Has anything changed for the player you are going to drop ie: injury, depth chart change etc, have you given them enough time and patience?
- Does the new player really have a better chance of making an impact on your team and if so by what percentage more than the player he is replacing?
- If you pick up this player now, who else will you need to cut in 2 weeks when adding kicker/defense or general cuts to make roster limits?
- Does the player look great in preseason but really have no chance of unseating the starter? Or, is he looking really good against the 2nd team defense?
If the answer to any of the questions leads you to realize you are chasing the shiny new toy, hold firm.
Does your league have first come first serve period after the blind bidding? If so, what if you let your league mates bid their dollars on players and then pounce on a select player they drop for free?
Have you looked at the other teams in your league and how many players they will need to drop in the next couple of weeks? Is there anybody on their anticipated cut list that you would rather have than any player on the waiver wire? If so, exercise patience and save your waiver wire capital.
@ChadParsonsNFL you have no idea… I could start a team just from waiver wire guys and finish top 5 pic.twitter.com/AapqfCpO45
— Shaugn Watson (@TheWat1734) August 19, 2015
Having a bigger bank in season could help you snag a guy like Odell Beckham Jr. who was dropped early last season due to his injury when the owner got impatient. It may not happen often, but when it does, you would like to be in the bidding and not on the sideline looking in.
