IDP Sleepers - Week 17
Posted 12/24 by Anthony Borbely, Exclusive to Footballguys.com
This article is a weekly look at players generally ranked around the edge of those considered "startable". For the purposes of this article, I will define startable as all players on the edge of starting on a team that starts 2 DL, 2 LBs, and 2 DBs. Therefore, about the middle of DL2, LB2 and DB2 range are usually where the choices begin to get tough. Each position is covered in descending order beginning with the players who have the most prime matchups to those with more risk and less upside to those who are complete reaches. Your mileage may vary, but the idea is to discuss these players and provide you with some analysis that might help you make those difficult lineup decisions a bit easier. I hope that your expertise as an owner has filled your team with enough players that you don't need to consider players outside of the prime cuts discussed here. Good luck and always keep in mind that your feedback and comments are welcome. I also want to thank and give credit to Bob Henry for creating the format for this article.
Note: There are not a great deal of people who play fantasy football in week 17, but whether you do or not, I'm sure you are aware of how unpredictable week 17 is because many teams will not play their starters for all or part of a game.
Instead of trying to find sleepers, I am going to offer some suggestions that could help you in week 17. In addition, since I am not listing any specific players, I will offer my advice to anyone via e-mail. Just send the e-mail. to borbely@footballguys.com and you will get a response. I only request that you send them as early as possible. I will guarantee an answer to any e-mail. that I receive before 11:00 AM Eastern Time on Sunday morning.
As for things to look for, the obvious thing is to know who is locked into a specific seed. Many of these teams will not play their starters long. The Colts are a prime example. They have clinched a spot early several times and they tend to rest their players. They are likely to do that again this week, so playing any Colts is a major risk. There are other teams in the same situation and playing them is very risky.
Next on the list are the 4:00 PM games. We have no idea if any of the teams that play at 4:00 PM will have a playoff spot or a specific seed clinched. Some will clinch as a result of the earlier games. Since we don't know who will clinch and who won't, it makes it tough to count on any players on those teams.
One more thing to be leery of is playing any players on a contender that are battling an injury. Unless a team is in a must win situation to make the playoffs, these players represent a big risk. Be careful.
This leaves a few different situations that we can use to help us with our lineups. Basically, the contenders who play at 1:00 PM and have something to play for will play their starters as they do any other week. This would include teams like the Patriots, Bears, and Vikings.
The teams that are out of contention offer a mixed bag, but for the most part, then tend to play their starters more often than not. The Lions are one team that is guaranteed to play their starters because they are desperate to get a win to avoid an 0-16 season. Their defense is so bad that they are likely to be on the field for an extended period of time. That is usually a good team to look for in a week like this.
As I stated above, since I did not offer any specific players, I will answer any questions that you have for week 17. Please be specific and give the important things that are needed to answer lineup questions, such as league scoring, number of starters, and any other important fact. Send the e-mail. to borbely@footballguys.com and I will guarantee an answer to any e-mail. that I receive before 11:00 AM Eastern time on Sunday. I believe there are too many circumstances that will arise this week to give a general list and this is one of the few times that answering specific questions is better. If you happen to play this week, I want to wish you good luck in bringing home a championship.
