With the explosion of the NFL passing game combined with the deepest group of fantasy relevant WRs I can ever remember should I add a 3rd WR to starting lineups? Just curious what you guys/gals think. I still see a LOT of big names starting at WR 37. We are currently 1qb, 2rb, 2wr, 1fl, 1te. Thanks!
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How many people are in the league? To give an example, I was in two leagues last year, one with 6 players (redraft) and the other with 16 (dynasty).
The 6 player league had rosters similar to yours (plus K and DST), with 6 bench positions, and 2 IR allowed. As the season progressed, I discovered that streaming was a very profitable way to win every week (I picked up Stefon Diggs off the waiver wire early in the year). Needless to say, that league is getting overhauled this season.
On the other hand, the 16 team league became almost worthless for streaming, as it also had deep rosters and benches. After the first few weeks, the waiver wire was mostly bare. The commish of that league was talking about reducing it to 14 teams.
So where is the happy medium? My theory is it lies in making sure most of the NFL’s starters are being owned at any one time. There are 32 NFL teams, which means 64 top WR’s during any week (not counting bye weeks). Assuming a 10-team league, you’d need about 6 WR’s on each of your rosters, with roughly 3-4 starters and 2-3 on your bench. That still leaves a few on the waiver wire for somebody to grab, but most likely not ones in the top 10. Even if your players only carry the 3 for the starters and one on the bench, that still takes you 40 deep into the WR pool, which is over half of the starting WR’s.
The only real way to ensure they carry at least 5 WR’s is 4 starting WR’s, plus a bench deep enough to carry 1-2 WR’s. However, I don’t think I’d do that the first year. Start with 3 starting WR’s (and keep the flex position too). Then watch how the waiver wire looks for the rest of the year. If it seems to discourage (not eliminate) streaming, then you’re good.
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Thanks for the response. It’s a 12 team redraft league with 6 bench spots that is going into its 14th year.
I’m leaning converting to 3wr if for no other reason I can’t stand to see all that talent sitting on the waiver wire.
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I’d suggest adding a superflex just to tighten up the QB pool too.
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