who to pick up? (1 Viewer)

[shootnscore26]

Right now I have Vilma and Bulluck in a 6 man league. 4 rounds of waivers for FA.. Who to go with? Ryans looks like a beast and houston should be facing a lot of running in the second half of most games...Merriman is proven and had a great 1st game, but will it be consistant? Please help!

 

[Jene Bramel]

Scoring system is important to this decision. Ryans if sacks < 3x tackle, Merriman if not. And if you're thinking of dropping either Vilma or Bulluck, I wouldn't.

 

[Keg]

Merriman is going to be a beast in the NFL but IMO not when it comes to fantasy football.

Unfortunately he wont get to face the Raiders on a weekly basis.

it comes down to scheme and merriman is playing a position that just wont allow him to get enough tackles to become a stud that you start every week. I am sure that there are many that will not agree with me but thats their right. I expect to see Merriman end up being about the #40-#45ish LB at best in standard scoring leagues this yr

last yr in one of my leagues he finished the 64th best LB and our scoring is very aggressive:

2pts/tackle, 1pt/assist, 1.5pts/pass defened, 3pts/sack, 3pts FF

Merrimans weekly scores last yr:

1- 0

2- 2

3- 4

4- 4.5

5- 10.5

6- 4.5

7- 13

8- 18

9- 19

10- BYE

11- 14

12- 3.5

13- 10

14- 5

15- 17

16- 10

17- 8.5

Total 143.5

Now if you want to remove his 1st 4 weeks and go from there we can look at it that way.

Points scored weeks 5-17=133 133/12wks=11.08pts/wk 11.08*16wks=177.28

177.28 would have landed him the #43 LB last yr in that league...so with an extra year under his belt you could garner a bit of optimism but make sure that you dont overlook the limitations placed on him by scheme.

 

[shootnscore26]

Scoring system is important to this decision. Ryans if sacks < 3x tackle, Merriman if not. And if you're thinking of dropping either Vilma or Bulluck, I wouldn't.

I wouldn't think of dropping vilma or bulluck, but I start 2 LB's and looking for a third..2/tackles, 1 ast, 3pt sacks, 1/ff, 5/fr, 1/pd,5/intI figured merriman might have a couple good games, but not be a great fantasy player...people in my league are drueling and calling him the next ray lewis..

 

[Asinine]

Also consider consistency -- Ryans is the MLB on a team with a bad O, meaning he'll rack up 8-12 tackles weekly. Merriman will be inconsistent, posting 15 points this week and maybe 3 the next just because he plays outside in the 3-4 on a team that can control the clock.

 

[WhoDat]

These observations are not discounting either Ryans or Merriman's talent so please take them as such.

Ryans appears to be a 3rd down LB on a very bad football team.

Merriman is an absolute monster OLB in a 3-4.

As was stated, you are going to have to take a LONG look at your scoring system and make a decision. That 4-3 MLB is going to have far more opportunities for tackles than the 3-4 OLB.

Ryans is going to have steady weekly scoring and be on the field early and often.

Merriman is going to have a series of HUGE games and low scoring games over the course of the season. The Raiders looked Tampa Bay mid 70's bad last night. Temper your expectations.

Personally, I would prefer the MLB unless, as Jene wrote, sacks are weighted to a degree that Merriman cannot be ignored.

 

[Jene Bramel]

Scoring system is important to this decision. Ryans if sacks < 3x tackle, Merriman if not. And if you're thinking of dropping either Vilma or Bulluck, I wouldn't.

I wouldn't think of dropping vilma or bulluck, but I start 2 LB's and looking for a third..2/tackles, 1 ast, 3pt sacks, 1/ff, 5/fr, 1/pd,5/intI figured merriman might have a couple good games, but not be a great fantasy player...people in my league are drueling and calling him the next ray lewis..

As good as he looked last night in all phases of the game, assuming Ryans makes 125 total tackles (95-30), if I'm doing my math correctly Merriman would have to make 90 total tackles (75-15) and 18 sacks (or some equivalent) to equal Ryans production assuming an equal number of big play points outside sacks.Ryans is a slam dunk in that system.