Everyone has their favorite Mario Brothers level. It is a tough call but I have to go with the water level on the original game. My cousin and I used to play it all the way to the end then die on purpose so that we could just play it over and over.
There are a lot of things I like about Fantasy Football. I think I am in love with the bye week the most, however.
Any time you add more factors into the mix “cageyness” becomes increasingly important and the effect of luck diminishes.
“Cageyness” is a term my friend the Eradicator and I talk about constantly. It is a combination of knowledge, tactics, and the “little things” people pick up over the course of time with experience.
Bye weeks are like Tequila; both are catalysts for ill-considered decisions with potentially long term consequences. The most common and devastating blunder is making a bad trade to shore yourself up when one of your starters is off on a bye week.
Last week I almost made a stupid trade because I had Fitzgerald out on the bye. Luckily I consulted some trusted advisors who set me straight and I avoided self-inflicted disaster and instead made a much better trade.
I highly recommend bouncing trades off people you trust before pulling the trigger on anything. This has saved me on several occasions from making bad deals.
A great bye week strategy is to look at your opponents rosters each week and see if the bye week is leaving them thing somewhere. This is a great situation to take advantage of someone, especially if they are down in the standings or facing a particularly tough match up.
Learn to love the Bye week; it’s going to be there like it or not. Look at it as an opportunity to let your “cageyness” be a factor and give you an edge over your league mates.
Week 5 Notable Bye Week Players
Chicago
Jay Cutler: I can’t see the discount being enough to offset the hype from his recent solid play.
Matt Forte: It is relatively tough to buy on him because of his high ADP preseason. One consequence of Cutler for Forte is that he doesn’t dump it off to the backs nearly as often and throws a good deep ball. Overall the offense is more explosive which helps him. If his owner is wiling to give a discount considering the bye week and him being a relative disappointment I’d make a trade.
Green Bay Packers
Aaron Rodgers: He is playing incredibly considering the pounding he’s taken because of his porous offensive Line. Like Cutler he has played really well and I think it’ll be tough to get enough of a discount on him. I am really worried about Rodgers getting hurt.
Greg Jennings: Now here’s a great trade target. Jennings hasn’t delivered on his “elite” status tag fully. You might be surprised what people are willing to give him up for.
Ryan Grant: Has no room to run and just doesn’t look that explosive to me. He has played fairly well so far but I’m not buying him.
New Orleans Saints
Drew Brees: After two weak games he is now attainable. I expect him to bounce back and contend with Peyton Manning for the top overall fantasy quarterback in all scoring formats this season. Playoff schedule is also fantastic for Brees.
Marques Colston: Production has decreased with Brees’s output. When it rebounds, which it will, Colston will be back to the touchdown-per-week pace he started with at the beginning of the season.
Devery Henderson: Hasn’t been huge yet either. He is a relatively cheap player to acquire considering his potential and acquisition cost.
Pierre Thomas: His value has increased as he’s gotten healthy and ran the ball well the past few weeks. If his owner needs a running back badly for this weeks matchup you might be able to get him.
San Diego Chargers
Phillip Rivers: He has some nice matchups the rest of the season, particularly for the fantasy playoffs. Don’t expect a discount because he’s played well but it still might be worth it to make a play for him.
Vincent Jackson: This is a great opportunity to get this emerging star in a trade. He looks like a true break out player at wide receiver this season that will probably end up with elite stats.
Darren Sproles: Huge decrease in his value over the past few weeks. It seemed like he got tired from the excessive work load. I doubt that Tomlinson will stay healthy all season and he played poorly on Sunday.
LaDanian Tomlinson: I’m flat out not man enough to trade for LT. It’s hard to even estimate what his value is. If you are brave and feel like taking a gamble this could really work out for you.
