Your Team Isn’t “That” Great

I get it, you took a lot of time coming up with a team name that incorporates a witty pun like “Forgetting Brandon Marshall, or Ponder This.” Now that you have your team name and you drafted a team that you feel will take you to the post season, what do you do next?!

Like I’ve said before, this is only my second season playing, but what I can tell you from fact is that not all teams are stacked. You have to consider players getting injured, players you thought were going to be huge sucking, and the fact that you have to sacrifice a good player for two mediocre players to bring depth to your team, especially during bye weeks.

Team Loyalty

From what I’ve found playing this game is that you grow a loyalty to your team. It’s a loyalty almost as strong as your loyalty to your College or Pro Football team. I don’t know where the relationship comes from but I find that if you drafted your team yourself, not auto draft, that you feel that your choices will lead you to victory. I feel that this relationship is the root of it all. You now have invested emotion, thought, and most of all “HOPE” into a team.

Your loyalty can make or break your season. Say you drafted Chris Johnson, a once notable running back, but this season is a Fantasy Bust. You have faith in this player to go off at any given Sunday, when do you sit him or consider trading him? I say quit putting your fantasy team on a pedestal, put your pride aside, and do what’s best for your team by considering a trade.

When trading a player you have to take into account several different factors, so here are my tips of trading:

1). I know it sounds stupid, but ask other players in your league what they think of the trade. The last thing you want is to get “trade raped,” because you lack the knowledge of common sense. (Note: some leagues make it to where you vote on trades. This tool can help you out, but if your league friends are a dicks, they can deny you the trade because they just don’t want you to trade)

2). Look into bye week scenario. Always check your bye weeks, especially when your star players are going out. You don’t want to be caught with you pants around your ankles scrambling to grab low end free agents to make it through those games.

3). Finally, consider the trade and how much it will really benefit you. Honestly, don’t trade just to trade. Value the weight of the trade hard before you click yes. Also, don’t feel scared to send them a counter trade.

Trade Hating

I can see you now are having mixed feelings about this, so do consider the idea that your team isn’t the greatest. I have BYE weeks coming up and know for fact I need to trade, this might involve me trading a good player for two lesser players in order to get through the death of BYE weeks. Also, don’t send people garbage… honestly send me a trade worth something of value, I hate getting a random trade proposal that I just think to myself… really? On the opposite of that, if I do send you two decent players for a star player, you need to consider it and accept that damn trade.

My Name is Anthony and I was “Trade Raped”

I admit it. I fell for it. I let my trust be too trusting, and allowed myself to be “trade raped”. I just drafted my team, felt I had a legit team as you saw in my recent post. I did draft AJ Green as my third round pick. I was pumped about him, but for some reason I thought Wes Welker held more value, because of last year. It was before the season even started and I traded AJ Green to my brother for Doug Martin and Justin Blackmon. Damn, do I feel butt hurt each week as I play week in and week out. The trade was awesome the first week, but recently the past 2 weeks Justin Blackmon has done nothing, while Doug Martin continues to spiral down as LeGarrette Blount gets healthier. I just can’t express my frustration as AJ gets a blowout week, while Blackmon gets 0 receptions, and Martin gets a handful of carries and no touchdowns. All I hear now is how stupid I was for trading a #1 veteran wide receiver for two rookies. All I can say is, I know how you feel. It only hurts at first, but once you relax you get use to it. Just learn from me, and your mistakes.

As always stay strong and play on,

Anthony Micco