Clearing Roster Fodder to Gain Backup RBs

Photo: Scott Galvin, USA Today Sports

One of the best parts about dynasty fantasy football leagues is the year-long commitment to the team. The ongoing nature of dynasty teams creates a lot of advantages for dynasty GMs who use good strategy and roster construction. Free agency, trades, the NFL Draft, and the different news cycles lead to different strategies for different positions. This series will focus on different moves to make this month.

Moves to Make: Clearing Your Roster Fodder

Spring cleaning is an important time for homeowners to clean up their houses in preparation for warmer weather. This may entail cleaning up the house, putting away winter supplies, and taking spring and summer supplies out of storage. The process can take some time, but once done, it leaves the house in a better shape for improving weather.

Spring is also a good time to clean your dynasty roster of roster fodder. Roster fodder is those players on your roster you do not expect to feel comfortable putting in your lineup and do not think will significantly increase in dynasty valuation in the next six months.

If these players are sitting on your roster without the prospects of producing in your lineup or facilitating a trade, they are just taking up space for more productive strategies.

If you do not have a rationale on how the player can start for your team nor how they could significantly increase in value, the player is taking up a roster spot. You need to either trade them or cut them to create roster space in the lead-up to rookie drafts.

Identifying Roster Fodder

What will qualify as roster fodder will change depending on the format and lineup settings. Let's take a quick position-by-position look.

Quarterbacks

Backup quarterbacks in Superflex or 2QB leagues may have some value, but in 1QB leagues, they are unlikely to make a difference and are likely roster fodder.

Tight Ends

Similarly, depth tight ends are valuable in tight-end premium formats, but are unlikely to help your roster in standard formats.

Running Backs

Typically, where running backs have a shot to be an injury away from a starting opportunity, you should be willing to hold them.

Wide Receivers

At the wide receiver position, roster fodder players are usually those players who have not lived up to the draft pedigree after two years in the league. Think of the type of wide receivers you see put on trade bait only to be cut in the following days that are common each April. Some current examples are Corey Davis, Laviska Shenault, Calvin Austin, Jalen Tolbert, Dyami Brown, and KJ Hamer. These receivers are unlikely to do much to change your dynasty team’s direction. If they can give you trade compensation, take the pre-draft opportunity to do so.