OK, I gotta keep it real. I don’t like fantasy football. My Herald team has begun 0-2, and it hasn’t been close. I have Patrick Mahomes, I made the right call on Kareem Hunt last week, and on CeeDee Lamb, and …
In my pay league, I also have Saquon Barkley. Correction: Had.
Not. Happy. Whatcha got?
AI: OK, real talk … I am convinced the universe had something against football and fantasy this week.
Not only were there injuries galore league-wide — my condolences to you on Saquon — but my fantasy team in the Herald league injured my ego BIG TIME this past week.
I have a feeling the injuries this week are a result of no preseason play — but I have no reasoning as to why my team performed so poorly … basically at Pop Warner level.
My team was projected 107, which was the highest in our Herald non-PPR league, (another reason to add to my argument that projections are stupid and mean nothing), but my star guys did absolutely nothing this week and one got hurt to boot.
Derrick Henry: 8 points.
Kenyan Drake: 8 points.
Julio Jones: 2 points… I don’t even want to talk about this one. That dropped TD pass still haunts me.
Drew Brees: 16 … just not at all what I expected from him.
Raheem Mostert (who you admitted yourself at the beginning of 49ers game is a damn good pick in the 6th round) — got 16 points before he got injured … and left the game. Hopefully it’ll only be for a few weeks, but a loss for sure.
So injuries and off weeks happen. But how does one bounce back from that?
BC: Last year your team lost Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger I think on the same day. Some teams skimp on positions … my QB is Patrick Mahomes, I’m not starting anybody not named Patrick Mahomes except on the bye week. Why would I carry a backup QB? You can always find a serviceable QB. You almost have to win the Lotto to find a quality RB even just two weeks into the season.
And we have no preseason intel whether any of these guys are any good. Who is Myles Gaskin? I’m gonna find out because an entire crew of new guys are coming. If they’re still on your waiver wire, grab anyone who is healthy and in line to get more than half of the total rushing attempts coming up. The Herald league is deep, 12 teams, so the field has been picked over. But still available were Gaskin, who caught six passes and had seven carries for 46 yards in Miami; Chargers RB Joshua Kelley, who had 23 carries; Christian McCaffrey’s understudy Mike Davis, who is not Christian McCaffrey; and a combo platter of marginal 49ers choices, Jerick McKinnon and Jeff Wilson Jr. And right now there are New York Giants players who will line up at running back Sunday against San Francisco.
I love Kelley. Anthony Lynn likes using two RBs. Imagine Kelley with Melvin Gordon usage, and what that does for Austin Ekeler too.
Somewhere on some bench is a guy no one has heard of who will lead the NFL in rushing in the last six games of the season.
AI: Don’t remind me about my personal QB curse last season… every QB I picked up seemed to get injured for a few weeks or had a season-ending injury. Therefore, in my other fantasy league (where there’s significantly more bench spots) — I drafted Daniel Jones as my backup *JUST IN CASE* something happens to my starter Kyler Murray. Daniel Jones has not looked promising the past few weeks, so that may not have been the best decision, but he’s better than the other guys on waivers right now.
Injuries are inevitable — just didn’t expect that many significant losses all in one week.
It’s why I draft handcuffs for my bench — not too many — but a few to make sure I’m covered in both the RB and WR positions. In our league, since it’s non-PPR, I took RB handcuffs because they’re worth more as a loss and a gain.
It’s also why I picked up Devonta Freeman on waivers this week — since he’s now Barkley’s replacement and Giants lead RB.
I won’t start him this week — but after Week 3, he may be my flex option while Mostert is out with an injury.
BC: Generally OK with the idea of handcuffs, problem is, they take up a roster spot. In the case of Barkley, no way could anyone have predicted Freeman as his. Insurance only pays off in a disaster. So if I’d clogged a spot on Wayne Gallman …
AI: No absolutely no way to predict that — but I stayed on top of who they replaced him with and got lucky to claim him this week.
