When is it right to sell bench depth? (1 Viewer)

[FakeAudible]

My approach:

The easy situation is when you're in a must win situation. If I'm in this situation or think that it's really likely to come up, then I'll exchange bench depth for roster value. At the other end of the spectrum if you've already locked up a win there's no reason to trade off your depth.

How do you decide the middle cases. If you think you have a good shot of making your finals, should you sell depth because you expect to need it come the finals?

I'm curious what general guidelines people use in facing this question.

 

[Exile]

I will always trade depth to improve my starting lineup unless that lineup is already full of studs. Yes, an injury can hurt you if you don't have the depth, but the playoffs (in head to head format) is 1 and done so you need to give yourself the best chance of winning every week and this is by getting the best starters you can get.

 

[SSOG]

Agreed with Exile. Hold your depth until you approach the trade deadline, because you never know where injuries will strike (and where you're about to get thin at in an awful hurry), but then after that, make sure you have a palatable "worst case scenario" plan and then firesale your depth for starters. My favorite move is to package a depth guy plus a starter in exchange for an even better starter (essentially trading your depth as an upgrade fee).

 

[NeverEnough]

I will always trade depth to improve my starting lineup unless that lineup is already full of studs. Yes, an injury can hurt you if you don't have the depth, but the playoffs (in head to head format) is 1 and done so you need to give yourself the best chance of winning every week and this is by getting the best starters you can get.

I had Romo & Big Ben (start 1 QB) I sold off Ben for a RB that I needed due to SA sucking, LJ hurt, Maroney worthless, etc

 

[football-mom]

I agree with Exile...and in years past it always worked great. It does depend on your fellow owners though.. This year, I have tried every week to trade depth to get better studs (i.e. a RB like FWP or Edge with a WR like Galloway - or even C. Johnson when he was struggling for the endzone to get a Moss, T.O. or even Fitzgerald) and the other owners are not receptive.

 

[Das Boot]

Depends on whether redraft or dynasty.

I assume you mean dynasty because in redraft you often can't trade that late in the season, and if you can you'd only be able to trade with teams that are already in the playoffs - I assume your league wouldn't let you trade with teams that are out of the playoffs.