Keeper Football Advice

[Axeman33]

So I have recently joined a Fantasy Football Keeper League. I have always done 1 year leagues through Yahoo (been doing it for over 10 years) but this is my first Football Keeper league.

I have taken over a team that is plain and simply terrible. 0-9 is my current record. The league uses a standard lineup for offense but incorporates defences players as well (ie DL, DB, etc). I love a challenge and definitely have my work cut out for me here.

My defence is pretty good. My offense is brutal. My RB's are all basically backups through out the league. I need an upgrade there and am looking at trading off defensive players to acquire a RB.

My question, do RB's hold more value because they are RB's? Basically, if I am trying to trade away a DL who has as many points as a RB (both in total points and avg PPG), are most people expecting more in return because they are dealing the RB?

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[Who Dat]

You're never going to get a RB for a DL. The reason for that is the DL guys are traditionally the last round picks, are picked up and dropped throughout the season depending on byes and matchups, and are just viewed as less valuable in pools. D players are normally plentiful in pools with guys on the wire only having a slight dropoff in value. With O players, the gap widens dramatically.

I'm in a pool with Tillman on my team this year. He's one of my most valueable players point wise, finishing 2nd on my team in pts each of the last 2 weeks. Would I keep him? No. If I really wanted him next year, I'd just beat the D rush a round early and grab him a round or 2 early. There's not a chance I could trade him for a RB unless it was for a low level backup with little upside.

Hope this helps!

[Axeman33]

You're never going to get a RB for a DL. The reason for that is the DL guys are traditionally the last round picks, are picked up and dropped throughout the season depending on byes and matchups, and are just viewed as less valuable in pools. D players are normally plentiful in pools with guys on the wire only having a slight dropoff in value. With O players, the gap widens dramatically.

I'm in a pool with Tillman on my team this year. He's one of my most valueable players point wise, finishing 2nd on my team in pts each of the last 2 weeks. Would I keep him? No. If I really wanted him next year, I'd just beat the D rush a round early and grab him a round or 2 early. There's not a chance I could trade him for a RB unless it was for a low level backup with little upside.

Hope this helps!

This certainly helps. I appreciate the reply. Rep to you!

I am surprised a little that D players who are just as valuable to your team (points wise) dont have the same love as O players. I guess they arent as sexy.

[TheWhale]

Their value is relative to the talent pool. The RB pool is full of guys but only a few will consistently produce and be given an opportunity. You'd be hard pressed to make a straight up trade.

However, since you are 0-9 and have no shot at making the playoffs you should still try. I've been in your spot and what I like to do is go after players that are having awful years or better yet, injured. A perfect target would be MJD. He probably has a lisfranc injury and is a holdout threat for next year. His owner is a perfect target right now.

[DerekReese]

In fantasy football it is very hard to trade Defense for Offense even if the their values are the same or even better for that matter. The only way to get better on offense is to draft offensive players (sounds like you will have the 1st pick in the draft next year) and to trade offensive players for offensive players.
Now if you were stacked on offense and you wanted to shore up your defense you would be able to get a really good return on your offensive players.

[Axeman33]

Its a full keeper so its not like anyone is going back into the pool to be drafted next year. Thats why I am surprised D players arent worth as much as O players.

I fully expect to get the top pick next year but I dont see me taking a RB with that pick. Right now, I dont see any RB's worthy of that pick coming out of college.

[Pengwin7]

Just curious... do you actually have defensive players... not teams... players?
Like JJ Watt or AJ Hawk?

Everybody is talking about defensive teams (most common) but I believe there are pools with defensive players (that count tackles, sacks, FF, etc... for individuals).

Anyways, RB are scarce in any league because they are the goalies of their sport.
There are only 32 #1 RBs (to go with the 32 teams).
And in most fantasy leagues, teams start 2RB... so in a 16-team league, every team might have 2 #1 RBs.
This means that no team even has a 3rd #1 RB... which makes them scarce (and THAT is the value-spike they get in trade-discussions).
Any back-up RB should have a huge statistical drop-off.
In other words, maybe 32 #1 RBs have a 200+pt value (say)... then the best back-up RB might be a 120pt value. Huge gap.

WRs rotate in and out... QBs are mostly a start 1, so they're always there, same with TEs.
If you have defensive "players", well since each team has 3-4 starting LBs, 3-4 starting linemen, 4 starting secondary... there's just a lot to pick from.

Scarcity of RBs = scarcity of goalies in hockey.
Treat them a bit the same way.

[Axeman33]

Just curious... do you actually have defensive players... not teams... players?
Like JJ Watt or AJ Hawk?

Everybody is talking about defensive teams (most common) but I believe there are pools with defensive players (that count tackles, sacks, FF, etc... for individuals).

Anyways, RB are scarce in any league because they are the goalies of their sport.
There are only 32 #1 RBs (to go with the 32 teams).
And in most fantasy leagues, teams start 2RB... so in a 16-team league, every team might have 2 #1 RBs.
This means that no team even has a 3rd #1 RB... which makes them scarce (and THAT is the value-spike they get in trade-discussions).
Any back-up RB should have a huge statistical drop-off.
In other words, maybe 32 #1 RBs have a 200+pt value (say)... then the best back-up RB might be a 120pt value. Huge gap.

WRs rotate in and out... QBs are mostly a start 1, so they're always there, same with TEs.
If you have defensive "players", well since each team has 3-4 starting LBs, 3-4 starting linemen, 4 starting secondary... there's just a lot to pick from.

Scarcity of RBs = scarcity of goalies in hockey.
Treat them a bit the same way.

We have actual Defensive players, and yes I own JJ Watt. He is the top ranked DL on ESPN. He is probably one of my best assets (points wise). We start 2 DL, 2 LB, 2 DB and 2 DP (defensive players which can be any flavor like a flex). Carson Palmer is actually my best player fantasy points wise (avg about 11 ppg).

In my league, JJ Watt avg's about 9ppg which is equivelant to a 10th ranked RB. The top RB (Foster avg's about 15ppg).