Don't Just Play, Win! Have you ever walked into your fantasy football draft unprepared? Carrying a Every fantasy owner goes through this dilemma on a weekly basis. This question becomes especially stressful when you have studs who are under performing or performing inconsistently. Matt Forte, Steve Slaton, Ladanian Tomlinson, Anquan Boldin even Steven Jackson, all studs who you spent early picks on and now every week they give you sleep loss and plenty of it.
The question is, if you are sitting on one of these pro bowlers and they happen to have a terrible match up, or they have not yet performed up to expectations, do you sit them and play someone unproven in their place? The answer to this conundrum seems very hazy with no clear answer…on the surface. If you play them and they do nothing, frustration builds. If you don’t play them and they explode for 25 points, you are an idiot. What do you do?
The answer to this “question for the ages” is actually more simple than it seems, it comes down to simple math. If you sit your stud, you need to have 2 things fall into place in order for you to not feel stupid. Your stud has to lay and egg, a big one and what ever marginal player you started in their place, has to come up big. In case you are a little slow, these two events happening at the same time are not as easy as it sounds. The reason you drafted Steven Jackson when you did is because (when healthy) he performs more often than he doesn’t and the reason you didn’t draft Austin Collie at all is because he is a complete unknown. If you start your stud only one thing needs to happen for you to feel validated, your stud needs to be his studly self, if he does..you are golden!
Here is meat of it. If you play your Matt Forte and he does nothing, you can blame it on Matt Forte. If you play Mike Wallace and he catches 2 balls for 18 yards while you sat Anquan Boldin who caught 6 balls for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Don’t be a dummy, start your studs!
First published on Lockhaven.com
