Who Do You Stash to Win the Cash?

“But he’s a good player to stash on your bench.”

Gee thanks. What a brilliant piece of fantasy football analysis! Throw a player on your bench in case he turns out to be good! Phenomenal!

Speaking is such generalities can be less than helpful sometime. If a friend was about to buy a house for the first time and asked for advice, sure you could tell them “Make sure you can afford it.” But what good is advice that’s really just cleverly disguised common sense?

One of my good friends is also really into fantasy football. And he stays on top of it, just like I would recommend to anybody who is serious and has time to spare. He follows NFL beat writers on Twitter. He listens to multiple fantasy football podcasts. He checks out work by various fantasy analysts.

He’s the guy in my league who has picked up every player with snowball’s chance in hell of having fantasy relevance. I think he still has T.O. on his roster. That’s the guy who is constantly picking up Tashard Choice, Lance Ball, Keiland Williams, Demaryius Thomas, Chris Ivory and well, you get the idea.

Now there’s nothing wrong with this. You’re grabbing the flavor of the week and just hoping that you strike gold. But that’s really not what the definition of a “stash” is. Here is how I define a “fantasy stash”:

FANTASY STASH: Placing a player with excellent upside or possible future opportunity on your bench. Stash players should be held until you have no choice but to drop them or you can replace them with a player who has greater upside or opportunity.

So why would you cut Roy Helu for Chris Ivory? Helu actually has a shot at being a “featured” running back. Chris Ivory is part of a 4-RB crew that utilizes at least 3 different RBs each game. For Chris Ivory to have a shot at being a consistent fantasy stater, he needs at least two players to get injured. Even then it still would probably be a timeshare.

There’s a reason that you carry players like Michael Bush and Ben Tate for ten weeks, even if you never get to start them. But not every “stash” player has that kind of upside. So how do you figure out who to stash and who to drop or ignore?

It’s actually pretty simple.

1. A player needs to have a reasonable shot a gaining the necessary playing time. Stashing say Derrick Ward in the hopes that both Foster AND Tate get hurt is useless.
2. You want the best possible players, regardless of position. Just because you’re weak at RB doesn’t mean that you should fill your bench with mediocre RBs and ignore WRs with greater upside. That’s what trading is for.
3. Ideally, you would like the player to be talented. That’s the difference between a first round rookie like Jonathan Baldwin and a special teams player who has been around for years like Jackie Battle.

See, that’s it. How does it work? Let’s compare some relevant players from the past few weeks:

• Demaryius Thomas
• Eddie Royal
• Jonathan Baldwin
• Earl Bennett
• Laurent Robinson

All of these players have been recently or are currently, popular waiver wire options. So who do you want? Let’s break it down.

Laurent Robinson and Earl Bennett could both be started in deeper leagues in Week 10, especially PPR leagues. If you need help now, these players should be at the top of your list.

Both Denver WRs are worthless. You’ve seen Tebow play. Even if he wins, do you expect him to exceed 200 yards passing very often? Sure a Denver WR might have value each week. But there’s no upside and no consistency here. Why are you wasting your waiver priority on a player who you will never start?

Jonathan Baldwin is a more interesting player. You assume he has excellent physical talent from his draft pedigree and what we’ve seen on the field so far. But what is his upside this season? He’s the No. 3 target in the Chiefs passing game. One of the most run-heavy offenses in the league. Sure Baldwin might have a few big plays and therefore a few big games. But think more Torrey Smith than Mike Wallace. At least for this season.

Between Earl Bennett and Laurent Robinson, Bennett should have more long-term value while Robinson will lose most of his value when Miles Austin returns in 2-4 weeks. Jonathan Baldwin is the best keeper option and a player you would like to stash on your bench as a “boom or bust” play. Meaning when you’re facing a match-up where you’re an enormous underdog, you start Baldwin and hope for a couple of big plays. That’s something that Earl Bennett can’t offer you.

This is the old, look before you leap or stick a toe in the water philosophy. You should know WHY you’re picking up a player and WHAT your expectations are for that player. You can’t just cut a player because he didn’t replicate the spectacular game he had the week before. You have to look at schedules and match-ups. You have to evaluate what your other options are.

You know how many owners are pissed that they bailed on Victor Cruz or Antonio Brown after a few slow weeks? Or the McFadden owners who cut Michael Bush to pick up Montario Hardesty. I mean, it seemed like a good idea at the time to cut Brandon Jacobs for Alfonso Smith, right?

The one solid piece of advice I will give you is: NEVER EVER EVER EVER carry more than 2 players at any of the following positions (unless you’re in a unique league format like a 2-QB league):

• QB
• TE
• D/ST

And please, don’t be that guy who carries more than one kicker. If you have a top-5 kicker and you want to carry him through his bye week, ok. But there’s no need to carry John Kasay AND Sebastian Janikowski, okay?

I think last year, fantasy owners saw players like LeGarrette Blount, Steve Johnson, Peyon Hillis and Jacob Tamme carry fantasy teams. So even more so than usual, owners are hitting the waiver wire hard. You can use that to your advantage. Keep an eye on players BEFORE they blow up. Last week I picked up Jacoby Ford and Earl Bennett in a couple of deeper leagues. Now I don’t have to waste a waiver claim this week, at least on those players.

When in doubt, you want the player who has the best chance to make the largest impact on his offense. That could mean he’s a workhorse RB or that he is the No. 1 target in the passing game. That’s where you can win. Starting James Jones and just hoping his one catch each week is a TD won’t get you to the playoffs. Roy Helu might.

Good luck to all this week. Feel free to follow me on Twitter