WVUfan007

Playing the Waver Wire - The Fantasy Assassin Strikes Again!

Well, the dust has settled on week 1 and the FF ‘10 season is fully underway.  You did your research, drafted a great team and watched them dominate the opening game.  Now you can sit back, hit the cruise control and settle in for a nice long season, right?  Wrong. 

The most critical time in maximizing the success of your fantasy team is the first few weeks of the season.  I cannot stress how important this is.  You’ll see the cream rise to the top very quickly and you’d better pounce.  Already we’ve seen what WR’s are being heavily targeted (Austin Collie), what RB’s are earning the extra touches (LaDainian Tomlinson) and what players are getting to start due to injuries (Michael Vick, Brandon Jackson).

Making a successful waver claim takes patience, but you’re overall strategy should be relatively the same weather you’re in a claims process league or a bidding or auction league.  First, look at the players on wavers. Are there any available that have the potential to be solid players each and every week?  Are there any that could be useful bye week starters?  If so the time to add them is now.

This past week you saw Brandon Jackson, Austin Collie and Mark Clayton picked up in virtually all leagues due directly to to their outstanding performance in week 1 or as a result of an injury.  RB's usually start dropping in the middle part of the season and that's where your bench depth comes into play.  A good RB is usually more solid and dependable for points week in and week out than your average WR.  That's why the targets are so important for WR's.  Guys like Roddy White and Wes Welker are almost as dependable as a stud RB because you know they will get a lot of looks/touches every week.  If Eddie Royal, Nate Washington or Peyton Hillis are on your wire and you have some room on your bench you may want to stash one of them and see what happens.

One of the biggest mistakes I see a lot of owners make is wasting their waver rank picks on players with limited potential.  Example?  This past week I noticed a guy in one of my leagues who had added Laurent Robinson to the waver claims list and got him with the 7th selection.  This was a big mistake and it has nothing to do with Robinson as a player.  On the contrary, I think Robinson could end up having a decent year, but the owner could have waited the following day and picked up Robinson or another WR of similar value without losing his waver rank.  Now, instead of moving up to 3rd in the waver order next week, he’ll be all the way back at the 12th and final position.  Don’t be this owner.

Points from the Perch:

Watching Megatron get robbed of his TD last Sunday gave me a sickening feeling in my stomach – the kind you get when you know you’ve just been robbed or taken for a fool.  I suppose I could wax lyrical about how ‘this is a flawed sport, but it’s still just a game’ and all that garbage, but the fact of the matter is the rule simply needs to be changed.

I hope Vincent Jackson is traded soon.  The league voted in his favor today that he would only miss 4 games if he were dealt to a new club.  The Chargers organization puzzles me, it’s one thing to play hardball, but quite another to take a contract issue to such a personal and spiteful level.  Just let him go.

My spotter of the week is Kember of the Roar.  This is from the 2010 calendar shoot.  You can visit THE ROAR on Facebook at: The ROAR of the Jaguars

Fantrax Blogger Competition - Last Man Standing

I joined a 12-team league of fantasy bloggers at fantrax and periodically, I'm suppose to updated you all on my team - Last Man Standing (LMS).

Starting Roster:

QB:  Michael Vick

RB:  Chris Johnson

RB: Brandon Jackson

WR: Roddy White

WR: Wes Welker

TE: Jason Witten

WR/TE: Steve Smith (NY)

Week one and LMS was the highest scoring team in the entire league so we’re off to a good start.  I was lucky and got Brandon Jackson this week and snagged Michael Vick too (on auction wavers).  Carson Palmer put up some fantastic stats for me and many other fantasy owners this past Sunday, but watching the Ravens do their thing to the Jets has me thinking Vick should get the nod here.