DLF’s New Year’s Resolutions

Ken Kelly

resolution

Welcome to 2015!

It’s a new year and a quiet time for fantasy football on most sites – that means the calendar turns right into the wheelhouse of DLF. While we enjoy the regular season, we love this time of year even more because we really don’t consider any time of the year the off-season. DLF enjoyed a banner year in 2014 as we posted 1,040 different articles. That’s just pure insanity and a testament to the dedication of everyone here within our doors. However, we won’t stop there. It’s time to start looking forward!

I asked the group about what their fantasy football New Year’s Resolutions would be. As you can imagine, I received a wide variety of responses. Feel free to post yours in the comments below and share with the community as well.

Ken Kelly

My New Year’s Resolution will be to stop trading away my future rookie picks. It’s such a rookie mistake, but I find myself so engulfed in the current year that I inevitably sell out and try to win in some leagues where I shouldn’t. Unfortunately, that makes April and May very uneventful for me and I fear I’m losing my chance to really build something special because I’m impatient.

Ken Moody

My New Year’s resolution will be to work the waiver wire more diligently at the beginning of the season.  I missed picking up numerous under-the-radar players who could have helped me win a championship. I also resolve to never trade Odell Beckham, Jr. for future draft picks again.

Nick Whalen

My New Year’s Resolution is to go with my gut more in 2015. I found myself second guessing myself too much in 2014 and the indecision cost myself wins, players, and wrong analysis. I would try to gather too much information and over think my decisions. This year I will research, make my decision and not think about it further.

George Kritikos

My New Year’s Resolution is to stop undervaluing veteran players. Anquan Boldin, Frank Gore and Antonio Gates are just a few examples of players who can still be key contributors to a championship dynasty team. Sometimes it is better to hold onto a solid player regardless of age instead of trading him away for a young player with upside. I need to utilize players that contribute instead of being caught up by youngsters with good measurables.

Scott Peak

[inlinead]My New Year’s Resolution is never to invest significant draft capital or other resources at the tight end position. As expected, Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham finished as the top two tight ends in 2014, but TE3 to TE12 included names like Gates, Martellus Bennett, Travis Kelce, Coby Fleener, Delanie Walker, Larry Donnell and Heath Miller. The average ADP for TE3 to TE12 (per MFL data, PPR scoring) was 96, or 8th round start-up value in 12 team leagues. Meanwhile, more expensive options finished outside the top 24 TEs (Eric Ebron, Jordan Cameron, Vernon Davis, Jordan Reed, Kyle Rudolph, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Ladarius Green and Tyler Eifert). Whether it’s due to scheme fit, blocking responsibilities, injuries or bad luck, tight end is very difficult to predict, and gambling valuable resources on them is not worth the risk. How much would Bennett, Fleener, Kelce or Donnell cost before the 2014 season? Not that much, even in dynasty. Now, Kelce is red hot, and could have been acquired for very little value before the 2014 season. As such, my New Year’s Resolution is to forget about drafting the trendy top 12 picks at tight end for 2015 and instead focus on the lower tight end tiers for much better value.

Eric Hardter

My New Year’s Resolution is to stop investing heavily in the running back position.  It took me longer than most to learn this lesson, but I’ve finally come around and realized cheap ball carrier production is relatively easy to find.  Be it undervalued veterans or waiver wire darlings, fantasy-viable running backs are simply easier to find than their peers at other positions – spend accordingly.

Jaron Foster

My New Year’s resolution is to focus on players with proven on-field production over speculation and potential. Though we all have had our good trades as well as our bad, trading TY Hilton for Cordarrelle Patterson last off-season represented a strive for unproven upside over 80+ receptions and 1,000+ yards. In dynasty, more often than not consistency wins out over flashiness. It is difficult to avoid the hype train, especially when it occasionally comes to fruition and those players are no longer available at a relatively low cost, but I resolve to build my teams around proven commodities as much as possible.

Matt Caraccio

My new year’s resolution is to be more patient with prospects. From Ryan Tannehill to CJ Anderson, I gave up too quickly on several players this fantasy football season. Although hindsight is 20/20, I realize now if I had been more prudent handling several players, I might have been rewarded with a championship. While these players are certainly extreme examples, they speak to an inherent flaw that I realized I have in my game this year; be “the first” to aquire a prospect. I learned this year that this mantra cuts both ways. On the one hand it yielded Jarvis Landry and on the other, Charles Sims. While Sims may still find success as a fantasy commodity, he certainly did not win me any close matches this fantasy football season. As I enter this new year I will try and keep the lessons of 2014 in the forefront of my mind. In fantasy football the 2014 season taught me that sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. Happy New Year!

Ty Miller

My New Year’s Resolution is to stock up on more proven commodities.  Though it is boring not being able to participate in the rookie draft, I’d rather cash in on the perceived value of the picks during the draft than take a shot on a player that may never succeed.  People get blinded by the incoming class, to the point of sacrificing established players just to get their hands on a rookie pick.  This year, I’ll be taking advantage of that.

Luke Wetta

My New Year’s Resolution is to try and read and understand more about coaching and offensive situations rather than get caught up on player’s measurables, combine workouts and college stat comparisons.  Players may possess off the charts strength and speed but that does not simply translate into NFL success.  Players like Ladarius Green or Stephen Hill may be physical specimens, but we should take more note of proven players ahead of them as well as coaching decisions.

James Simpson

My New Year’s Resolution is to eliminate personal bias from my dynasty world – that means keeping my emotions in check and not allowing love or hate for individual players to cloud my view of them and others. If I enjoy the way “Player A” plays the game, it doesn’t mean “Player B” can’t have similar or even better output even though they may not excite. Similarly, Player X may be one of my ‘favorites’, but do the things I like about them translate to fantasy points? Performances, rankings and values are so fluid that it is important to be a detached observer – follow talent and production, not just your heart.

Those are just a few different words of wisdom from the crew here at DLF. What would your New Year’s Resolution be?  Post it below in the comments and get the conversation going.

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ken kelly