Fantasy Football Guidebook: Ask the Expert Question: Has this injury-filled season changed your draft strategy for next year?

Friday, December 18, 2015

Ask the Expert Question: Has this injury-filled season changed your draft strategy for next year?

It seems to have been an especially injury-filled season. Have all the injuries caused you to change your draft and in-season strategy going forward, or do you believe it's just one season, or not much different than normal?

No not one bit. My draft strategy is generally to avoid handcuffs. No guts, no glory is my motto. My philosophy is to use the extra roster spot (and often the mid round pick) for the long shot player who "could" be a season maker. The kind of boom or bust player who can lift a team into the playoffs or give them that critical championship win. Sometimes it pays off with a difference maker. Most times the player is a dud and is cut mid to late season. In almost every winning case though the "extra" puts my team head and shoulders above the others. It is a strategy that tries to "buy" an advantage. Drafting a handcuff is playing to lose in my opinion unless the handcuff is great. An example of a losing handcuff gamble this year was Jamaal Charles (1st rounder) and Knile Davis (12th round), who everyone thought was his clear cut handcuff. Now if 2016 is just as injury plagued then I might have to reconsider but until then I am swinging for the fences and avoiding handcuffs in most cases.

ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly at http://www.fantasyindex.com/ with answers to a new question posted Thursday morning.

Sam Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics , all available at http://www.ExtraPointPress.com/, at all major bookstores, and at http://www.amazon.com/ and www.BN.com. He is a 20+ year fantasy football veteran who regularly participates in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC), Fantasy Football World Championship (FFWC) and finished 7th and 16th overall (out of 228 top players) in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC). He won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013.

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Fantasy Football Tips (2nd Edition): 230 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($12.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635151

Books from Extra Point Press:

Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-football-guidebook-sam-hendricks/1008633837

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-football-basics-sam-hendricks/1030680433

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