With one of my stronger rosters, a HyperActive 2 orphan team from a couple of years ago, I had rostered only Andrew Luck at quarterback for most of the last two seasons. Finding a one-week fill-in was not difficult, but this season turned into a worst case scenario. I picked up Matt Cassel for a one-week rental, but Andrew Luck’s injury occurred, leaving the rest of the fantasy season in signficant doubt.
In addition to being squeezed on my own roster, I scanned the waiver wire upon injury to explore my cheapest options. Matt Cassel was set to give way to Tony Romo starting in Week 11 and only new quarterback starters were on the wire, notably Matt Hasselbeck, Blain Gabbert, T.J. Yates (pending Brian Hoyer’s concussion status), and Case Keenum. Colin Kaepernick was also recently dropped. My glaring error was not realizing Matt Hasselbeck, due to his Week 10 bye week in process, was not locked until the waiver period. Another owner snapped him up.
The trading deadline was looming days away and going solely with the waiver options is playing with fire for the rest of my title run. Also, allocating multiple roster spots for marginal options means dropping positional players heading into the offseason.
I proposed an offer to every other team in the league with multiple viable starting options. Quickly, discussions started with one owner – a team out of the playoffs – who had Cam Newton, Jameis Winston, and Marcus Mariota. I centered on Winston, my favorite of the three in terms of current cost and long-term appeal.
At first the discussion centered around Winston in return for rookie picks. In the end, the deal grew more components and a win-win for both teams.
The Trade
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