Picking up the backup when somsone is hurt

[The Guru]

I'm officially changing my opinion on picking up RB backups when someone is hurt or can't play for some reason. Usually I won't pick someone up if I don't need him, but now I'm changing. Even if I don't need him, I'm going to pick him up.

J. Jackson is going to be a solid RB the rest of the year, and I wish I had him on my team. From now on once someone gets hurt, I'm going to pick up his backup right away.

Just this year backups that have really turned into solid RB's:
D. Davis
J. Jackson
Rudi J
Shipp

[dgroundhog_ffc]

It's definitely worth the gamble. You just never know. There's been too many back-ups who excel after the starters go down, and it's not just this year.

If I don't have a droppable player or 2 churn the flavor of the week in I try to make a 2 for 1 deal to accomodate.

[Paladyr]

James probably will not be a solid backup. CLE has a tough schedule the rest of the way. They have played some crappy teams, and that is the reason Jackson has been able to score. His YPC has been pretty low.

[veritasdefender]

I'll pick them up just to piss off the owner of the starter....then if he does good i'll trade him to the owner (assuming i dont need him) for one of his other players....

[DUKE]

I like to pick the backups of some of the stud rb's for that "just in case" scenario, or very talented backup runningbacks. It depends on the size of your roster to depend on the extent of stashing away backups, but in one of my leagues I've stashed Deshaun Foster, Larry Johnson, and Maurice Morris.

[M_Zimm_ffc]

If you ahve room on your roster I don't see why not. You could do it just in case he does good, and if for no other reason just to piss off the owner who has the guy that got hurt. I am currently holding quite a few backups on my roster. At one point I had like 4 backups, but because of injuries to my WR corp I have had to drop them to pick up other WRs.

[The Super Freak]

i unfortunatly didn't even consider going after those guys WHAT AN IDIOT!!!!

[altproject]

A while ago there was a long, debated thread (there's probably been a few actually) about the merits of drafting two stud RBs with your first two picks.

If you look at how backups play (and score) historically when a star running back goes down, I think in a strange way, it proves how much more stable RBs are than WRs. This might take a minute to explain...

My theory has always been this about RBs: Sure, some of them have more talent than others, but if you give an NFL-level runner the ball 30 times a game in a system that at least fundamentally knows "how to run the ball", that player is going to put up close to stud-like numbers. I don't care who it is. It can be priest holmes, ickey woods, christian okoye, tyrone wheatley, barry sanders, james brooks, jerome bettis... it doesn't matter. It's a "plug and play" position. And success is 90% based on opportunity -- and 10% based on talent. Don't get me wrong, that 10% of talent is what separates the good RBs from the great ones. And no doubt, the great ones have really earned it.

On the other hand, if a leading WRs goes down with injury, there is no telling how this will affect his replacement. I can't remember one circumstance where a WR came out of nowhere to put up stud-like numbers JUST BECAUSE he got the opportunity to start on the wing as opposed to in the slot. Shaw hasn't done anything with Moulds out. No one stepped up in SD when Boston was suspended and hurt. No one's turned in good numbers since Charles Rogers went down. The reason for this is because WRs don't have true backups -- like RBs. Sure, there's a guy's name behind theirs on the team depth chart -- but it doesn't work the same way. Once a leading WR goes down with injury, the ball just gets "spread around" some more to fill the void. No one really fills in to replace him.

So, here's the logic: If, when a top WR goes down, the ball just gets "spread around" some more to fill his absence, what's to stop that from happening when he's in there?! That's what makes the WR position so undependable. There's no guarantee that any WR will get the ball a consistent amount of times per game. First, the amount of looks he gets depends on the gameplan for that week, then the QB has to have time in the pocket to throw to him X amount of times a game, then, the WR has be open X amount of times to have a chance to catch X amount of passes, then the WR has to make sure he actually catches the ball (and doesn't drop it a la Darrell Jackson)! There's too many damn variables in there that can go up and down from week-to-week.

With a RB, just take a step back and hand him the ball 30 times. Easy. Consistent. Simple. And if your stud goes down, there's another potential stud right behind him waiting to fill in that can do something close to the same thing for you. That's why I always draft RBs 1/2, because more times than not, I always know what to expect.

[M_Zimm_ffc]

I agree with you alt. That is a good point. I have been thinking the same thing. The only problem is rbbc. That is where RBs get killed. The only WR that I can think of that became the number one and is doing awesome is Santana Moss. I think that his though is party because of Penny.

[altproject]

I agree with you alt. That is a good point. I have been thinking the same thing. The only problem is rbbc. That is where RBs get killed. The only WR that I can think of that became the number one and is doing awesome is Santana Moss. I think that his though is party because of Penny.

well.... RBBC throws everything out the window as far as RB prediction goes. But I try to never draft a RB that's in a potential RBBC situation. When I think of stud RBs, I really only consider them studs if they are the main RB on the team (regardless of how many points they might be scoring). I'll always take a Dom Davis over a Moe Williams or Brian Westbrook -- even though those two have put up bigger numbers than him this year.

As for Moss, he is having a good year. But it's not as a fill-in for a reciever in front of him that went down with an injury. He is the only potential-stud on the team, and he's responding. There's nothing wrong with that -- it does happen from time-to-time. If Moss went down with an injury, I seriously doubt Curtis Conway or Jonathan Carter would start putting up Moss-like numbers.