Welcome back. In part one of this breakdown, we looked at the first six rounds of a mock draft, determined some winners and some losers, and decided that the starters we ended up with weren’t half bad. But starters are only part of the game.

Handcuffs:  Not Just for the Boys in Blue

Depending on the size of your league, you have anywhere from five to fifteen bench spots available for your use. These are important spots and should be used wisely, not on the handcuff to the handcuff. Well wait; what’s a handcuff? A handcuff is a viable fantasy backup to one of your studs. For instance, Chester Taylor (RB, MIN) is a prime example of a good handcuff. We know Taylor is talented, and when given the opportunity in the past, performed well. So should Adrian Peterson be stricken by the Almighty, you have Taylor ready to step in and save your squad. That’s the point of a handcuff.  Be aware that if you are targeting a talented handcuff, such as Felix Jones or Jonathan Stewart, be prepared to draft that player a full round ahead of his average draft position.

Now, what you don’t need to do is handcuff a bad player to your stud. For example, if you draft Steven Jackson, like we did, you will not be drafting Antonio Pittman. Even if Pittman gets a start, and with Jackson’s spotty injury history there is a good chance he will, Pittman is not a talented enough runner to succeed on a regular basis. So there is no point in having him on your roster.  He will be available on the waiver wire.

So what do you do if the backup to your stud is not a potential stud? Go find one that will flourish given the opportunity. Pierre Thomas of 2008 is a good example. Marion Barber of 2006 is another. What you should be looking for are guys that have proven their worth at some point, but are currently backups, or guys with great potential that are currently in a timeshare. You want to avoid guys that are backups because they’ve proven that they cannot be starters.

Sleepers:  Everyone’s Got One, and They Usually Stink

Sleepers aren’t even sleepers any more. Before everyone was riding the wave of the internet, successful fantasy footballers had to scour rosters, look for trends, and identify players that he knew others in the draft would overlook. All you have to do now is hop on the Google, search for fantasy football sleepers, and voila! List after list, after list. And they look pretty much the same. That’s because there are simply a limited number of guys with the potential to make an impact on any given football team. And most of that potential rests in opportunity. A guy can’t make a difference if he’s sitting on the bench.

Leading up to the beginning of fantasy football draft season, we will delve much deeper in to the topic of sleepers and how to identify them. But for now, to find some of your own sleepers, go look for guys that are in new situations. The player doesn’t necessarily have to be on a new team, but in a new situation (new head coach, new offensive coordinator, new quarterback, anything that has significantly changed). If a former bench player is now starting, due to the starter’s departure, but has not preformed impressively thus far, go take a look at his college scouting reports. See if the people that get paid millions to make these decisions seem to think he has what it takes to succeed. Maybe all he needed to get it going was the chance to fight for the starting job. Who knows. The point is simply that if you’re looking for that edge, you need to go look where other don’t. And in all reality, 90% of your sleepers won’t pan out. But when one does, like Chris Johnson or Eddie Royal, it’s all worth it.

And now on to the show…

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