the    sides

It’s coming close to the end of Fantasy Football (I’m 11-2 in one league contending for the championship, 6-8 in the other with a chance to get to 5th place) and there are major decisions to make…like who to keep for next year.

There are lots of things to consider – how does your league do scoring, roster limits/requirements, age of players, and of course what does your keeper cost you. In one of my leagues, an owner only kept 1 keeper instead of 2 and got the first pick of the draft. He thought he could get a better player than anyone else he had on his roster. He was right. His team sucked.

But that’s not what is important right now.

What is important is figuring out who the heck to keep and why.

Here’s a sample roster, you have to pick 1.

Peyton Manning, QB
Derek Anderson, QB
Brian Westbrook, RB
Adrian Peterson, RB
Marshawn Lynch, RB
Greg Jennings, WR
Brandon Marshall, WR

I think there are three key questions to answer when selecting a keeper.

1. League Scoring – if you are in a league with a point per reception – Brandon Marshall and Greg Jennings stock just went up huge. If not – then the WR position doesn’t produce as many points as the QB or RB. Both players are young – 1st and 2nd year players – and on teams that throw the ball well.

2. Roster requirements – If you are required to play 2 RB’s but only 1 QB and 1 WR – obviously the RB becomes the most valuable position because of the demand is greater than the supply. If you are required to play 2 RBs, 1 QB, and 2 WR – that changes the scenario a bit but not much. Every NFL team in the league starts at least 2 WR’s and more often than not plays 3. The wildcard in all of this is the “flex” position that some leagues have. If your flex is any position, then you might want to think about keeping a QB and draft RBs in your first two or three rounds of draft.

3. Age of Player – I love Brian Westbrook. Anyone who has played fantasy football over the last 8 years will tell you how golden he is on a team. But he’s also had the injury bug and he’s getting older. Do you take him over Adrian Peterson – a rookie phenom who could be the next Westbrook on steroids? (Figuratively speaking…not really.) Do you lock up a rookie/younger player and sacrifice points on the front end for long term security?

3b. Uniforms – I have no Bengals on team for this reason. Although given the events of the past year, stripes are appropriate for that team.

My Situation
We must start 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB/WR, 1 ALL FLEX. The All Flex can be either a QB, RB, WR, or TE. I played 2 QBs – Anderson and Manning – and went 11-2 in the regular season. So you can see the advantage of keeping a QB. Manning is always a good pick. Anderson had a phenomenal year – will it continue?

The 2 RB, 2 WR, and 1 RB/WR Flex position eats up a lot of players but since there isn’t a point per reception, WRs still aren’t as valuable as RBs…generally speaking.

So honestly the wrestling match with me is Manning or Peterson. Westbrook gets bumped out only because of his age and durability.

Who would you pick?