Taking advantage of your IR slot

 

 Due to Covid-19 the league made a few changes. They changed IR designation to just 3 weeks to give teams more flexibility with thier rosters. Fantasy Football as a community properly reacted as well. Yahoo defaulted to 2 IR slots per team and fantasy commissioners might have even added more to your league. 

    IR slots were always common in dynasty leagues but players in dynasty formats are already savvy enough to navigate and use them properly. Now that IR spots have become the norm in redraft I've noticed a some gross misuse of them by casual managers or not using them at all. If you haven't been using your IR slots this blog will give you a marked advantage moving forward. 

        I've noticed casual managers with guys like Blake Jarwin and Marlon Mack in their IR slot... IN REDRAFT!!! Honestly the competitive side of me loves to see it. That tells me that they have no idea what it's for. I mean... What are you waiting for??? A medical miracle??? 

        The IR slot allows you to insert guys that are "out"(O). They don't need to be on IR in real life to be on IR in fantasy. Then, pick up other players and you won't have to drop guys you don't want to just to be competitive each week. We can use this to our advantage basically by hoarding handcuffs and flyers. Stash your "out" players in your IR slot and pick up a handcuff that could step into a lead role due to injury or player you think will have a big game. Like we talked about in stock up stock down you can take a player that just had a big game (Especially in primetime) who's precieved value is inflated and trade him for more than he's actually worth. I LOVE doing this with QBs because in 10-12 team single QB leagues we all know QBs are overvalued in general. If you can trade almost any QB for any viable starting piece do it immediately. 

     Start taking advantage of your IR slot if you haven't been you are putting yourself at a disadvantage. It literally costs you nothing (unless your league charges for transactions) and you can luck into a starting RB or add a valuable piece to your roster. At the very least you can keep your opponent from picking up and starting players against you. 

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @Chris_Cianci I'm happy to answer any questions you have there. Streamers and start/sit will be out over the weekend.