In "Monday Morning Brew" and "Wednesday Night Hype," I will write a journal of my fantasy football team and my journey through a 12-team league. In "Wednesday Night Hype," I share my thoughts and predictions on the fantasy week ahead, as well as my lineup for the week. In "Monday Morning Brew," I reflect on the choices I made and how well (or terribly) they panned out.

 

My starting lineup for Week 8:

QB- Tom Brady

RB 1- Jamaal Charles

RB 2- Darren McFadden

WR 1- Brandon Marshall

WR 2-  Reggie Wayne 

TE- Antonio Gates

FLEX- Marshawn Lynch (pending)

DEF- Oakland

K- Matt Prater

 

Bench:

Kenny Briit (WR, TN)

Randal Cobb (WR, GB)

James Jones (WR, GB)

Donald Brown (RB, IND)

 

As I write this, a trade that would send Alred Morris and Aaron Hernandez from my roster in exchange for Marshawn Lynch is pending. It took me awhile to decide it was time to go after Lynch. He’s just too good of a running back to pass up at this point. 

Alfred Morris has been nothing short of spectacular this season, and I have full confidence he will finish out the season with solid numbers.

The reason for me taking this trade is based on a simple rule in fantasy football: at the end of the season, leave no value on the bench. Instead of jockeying between Gates and Hernandez at TE, I used one of them and paired him with a solid RB to bring an upgrade to my starting lineup. 

As buy weeks come to an end, there is little need for depth on your roster. If you have extra value on your bench at this point, it’s time to start thinking about trading that excess value before the trade deadline in your league.  If you’re like me and have extra value at TE, make a move. There is absolutely no need for two TEs at this point in the season. 

All this talk of trades brings me to my main and final focus—those of you with bad to downright atrocious fantasy records need to shift into panic mode. Right now. 

No more excuses, guys and gals. If your record is worse than 3-4, you need to make moves and make them fast. There are some things you need to keep in mind as you make trades if you want to win right away:

Trade based on weekly matchups, not overall potential.  So you’re at the point where you need to win a week any way you can. When making a trade, make sure the players you are getting in return have a favorable matchup that same week you are acquiring them. I don’t care if they have a bad matchup three weeks from now. If you have a bad record, you live and die week to week. That’s how it’s gonna be from here on out. 

Empty out the bench.  As I mentioned earlier, the bench is becoming increasing irrelevant—especially if you need help now.  Target a team that has what you need, and offer them your bench talent where they need.  Group a decent starter and good sub from your team and flip it for a great starter from another team. 

Trade elite level talent on your team for help in your problems areas.  Let’s say you have Tom Brady on your team, and your RBs having been killing your deam. Deal Brady for Andrew Luck and help at the RB spot. Why Luck? He has the softest schedule for a QB for the next eight weeks and he has proven to be a capable fantasy option. His number could be close to Brady’s for the second half of the season. This tradeoff allows you to keep similar production at QB and upgrade your problem areas. Remember, trade for favorable matchups. Don’t worry about what players did in the first half of the season or where they ranked in the draft. 

 

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