utilizing your bench (1 Viewer)

[prgromek]

This is an interesting strategy question. How does one best utilize their bench during the season? And does it depend on what kind of team you have and what your current record is? Obviously it depends on how many bench spots you have in your league.

1) I've always tried to keep at least one spot on my bench open to churn players, picking up the flavor of the week type guys and hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.

2) Do you use your bench spots to try and stockpile handcuff-type RBs? When is it important to make sure your RBs are handcuffed if you haven't done that already?

3) If you have very few bench spots, should you reserve those for high upside guys and leave the depth players on the waiver wire?

 

[mr blond]

I typically draft D/ST late, so miss out on the obvious top rated D's and play by committee. I map out the matchups forward a couple weeks and stash the good D's on my bench.

I always know who my last guy on the bench is. After our waiver wire cycles through our transactions open up to first-come-first-serve. If another team drops a player I value I always want to be able to jump in quick if needed and not have to analyze my whole team before making a pickup.

 

[Stinkin Ref]

for a few weeks this year there will be 6 teams on a bye...throw in an injury here and there and your bench will be very important several times this year.....in most of my leagues we can start 3 RB's so I drafted 4-5 solid options.....heading into those heavy bye weeks I think it is important to only carry one K and one D so you can add depth....I would try to make it so you only have two QB's....much of this could have been done when drafting....for instance I targeted the HOU and NYG kickers, defense, and TE....now I didn't land them all in all leagues....but with the late bye week it allows you to not have to worry about those positions until the bye weeks are essentially over....

I also feel that with some of those heavy bye weeks there will be a ton of quality players that may be dropped by owners who did not pay attention to bye weeks very much and all of a sudden find themselves in a jam to even submit a lineup....thus they will be dumping some players who may have some value....if you are prepared going into those bye weeks, you can then have the depth to go in and maybe scoop up some guys who should not have been dropped under normal circumstances....

I use my bench to stokpile as much possible talent at RB and WR....this does two things....it obviously adds depth to my roster, but more importantly it keeps those guys off of other teams and out of their lineup....

also look ahead to your upcoming matchups.....for instance I play a guy next week who only drafted Warner and Leinart as his QB's (bye week next week)....and his strategy is to just pick up the best one on the WW to fill in for the bye week....well I just beat him to the punch and picked up a couple of guys that I think he was hoping to pick up next week ....he waited too long, he should have done it this week.......now he will be lucky to find a serviceable guy to start against me or he will be forced to trade.......he took a risk by not drafting more than one QB at the draft and tried to load up on talent at other positions.....ok strategy I guess at the time, but I am hopefully going to make him pay for his gamble....so look ahead at your opponents, assess their weaknesses, anticipate their moves, and use your bench to beat them to it.......

always improve your team....take a look everyday.....don't overdue it, but always look to improve...

eta:..I am not a big handcuff guy...I try to have guys on my bench that I think I can plug in and have score anytime....not guys that will only score if a guy in front of them gets hurt....basically if he is normally a bench guy in the NFL, I don't want him on my bench too.......

 

[drmcpa]

Kudos for a very good topic C'mon all you sharks and whales teach us little fishies how to do this.

 

[zoobird]

In a very shallow league or 'shallow positions' like quarterback in a 1 QB format. target players with high upside, since adequate fill-ins will always be available anyway. In deeper leagues (or at deeper positions) it's more important to get steady performers and use handcuffs, since you don't want to be killed by an injury to a star player.

Also (primarily in the shallow leagues), try to structure your roster to stagger the bye weeks of your players at different positions, so that you'll only need 1 or at most 2 bench positions to stash your star players when they're not playing.

 

[Mystery Achiever]

1) I've always tried to keep at least one spot on my bench open to churn players, picking up the flavor of the week type guys and hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.

-----> May happen based on dissatisfaction with a player's performance, but I don't generally chase hot picks.

2) Do you use your bench spots to try and stockpile handcuff-type RBs? When is it important to make sure your RBs are handcuffed if you haven't done that already?

-------> I have never handcuffed a RB. I focus on getting decent depth during the draft and not worrying if Coffee will play as well as Gore.

3) If you have very few bench spots, should you reserve those for high upside guys and leave the depth players on the waiver wire?

------> Not sure what you mean by depth players, but if it is your basic back-up/bye week player, I do favor those over upside with smaller roster sizes.