Draft strategy with an IR spot (1 Viewer)

[themeistersinger]

So our league adopted an IR spot last year (i.e. you can move one of your own players to your IR spot if he is officially listed as out for a week - guys listed as questionable or doubtful cannot be placed there). One obvious use for that this year would be for a guy like Arian Foster.

Let's say for example that you have Foster ranked 50th on your board assuming non-IR leagues. How much earlier might you pick Foster if you knew you could stash him on your IR spot before the first game of the season and pick up somebody else on waivers?

(Or feel free to offer any other examples - Kevin White, Joique Bell, Todd Gurley)

 

[We Tigers]

I would say it's a very minor consideration. All you're getting is one extra roster spot, which doesn't seem like something worth reaching to "purchase" during the draft. This kind of IR spot is really most useful for getting through bye weeks--you're not going to want to cut an injured starter for a one-week rental at tight end.

 

[tangfoot]

Personally I love the idea of drafting a guy to stash on the IR until he's ready. Not sure if do take Foster any higher than 50th (when he's going in the 7th-9th in other reports), but I'd happily take him at his ADP or just a bit earlier in my league that has an IR like this.

 

[Run It Up]

I think the only time it would really be considered is in leagues with short benches.

In deeper leagues (17-20 players), with or without an IR spot you still consider stashing players in the draft.

 

[blake]

Personally I love the idea of drafting a guy to stash on the IR until he's ready. Not sure if do take Foster any higher than 50th (when he's going in the 7th-9th in other reports), but I'd happily take him at his ADP or just a bit earlier in my league that has an IR like this.

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more with this. In the mock drafts that I've done, being able to stash Foster in my league's IR spot has been a heavy consideration for me. And it makes me much more likely to take Foster in the 6th-9th round. But I wouldn't take him earlier than that just because of an IR spot. But Gurley, J.Bell and Kevin White are now considerations for that too, but they would have to be heavily discounted in their current ADP for me to consider that.

 

[themeistersinger]

Thanks for the replies. Ranking him at 50 is just a number to throw out.

Let's say you had Foster at 90 if there was no IR spot. How much higher would you go if you did have an IR spot - 80? 70?

And we do have only 14 roster spots, so we can't stash guys in the deep bench. Personally I'd rather drop the IR and have a deeper bench, but that's the rules we currently have.

 

[tangfoot]

It depends on how confident you are he will return to elite PPG when he plays. I'd go at least one and maybe two rounds earlier if I think someone else in my league has the same idea.

 

[TDorBust]

I never worry about bench space, a elite player is still elite in my mind and I consider the likelihood of him coming back at 100%. If I were to assume Foster would be a RB1 when he comes back I would be drafting him wherever I thought he was about to be taken. If that were in the 4th round or 10th round its based on WHO I am playing and not because of an IR spot.

I attack a league always from the position of knowing I will make the playoffs. You are GOING to miss on someone during the draft so I would rather have a guy who's value dropped 100% because of injury compared to someone who just has upside to be average-good.

Is your bench that short that you couldn't stash a very good player even without an IR spot? Think about the last player or two you drafted last year and ask yourself if they were really worth much more than any other waiverwire replacement?

PS - benefit of a short bench is that there is always going to be players on the waiver wire

 

[Arodin]

Why should taking Foster in a 5-bench, 1-IR setup be any earlier than where you'd draft him in a 6-bench setup?

If you can stash him on IR, or stash him on the end of the bench, no difference. Only way it should matter is if the player you stash would otherwise be the guy cut to trim the bench from 6 to 5. I doubt Foster is worse than whoever your last draft pick is.