Fantasy Football: Labor Day Weekend Should Be Known As 'Draft Weekend'
BOSTON (CBS) -- Like in real life football, in fantasy your season could go from promising to dead in an instant.
When the Panthers' Kelvin Benjamin and Packers' Jordy Nelson both tore their ACLs in preseason games, thousands (millions?) of fantasy owners who already drafted them had their rosters severely damaged before a single regular season snap took place. Season-ending injuries to high draft picks are huge blows to fantasy GMs who likely pegged the likes of Nelson or Benjamin as their top receiver, and leave them hoping a sleeper pick can have a breakout year with similar production.
But wait...it's not even the end of the preseason yet. There's still another week of meaningless games in which most starters around the league will be benched to avoid exactly what happened to Nelson and Benjamin. Why have any fantasy football leagues already drafted?
This coming weekend, which happens to be Labor Day weekend, will be the time when most fantasy football leagues across the country have their drafts. It's smart and sensible, if not essential, to at least hold drafts after the third preseason "dress rehearsal" game, and ideally as close as possible to the start of the regular season.
Why, you ask?
For one, there are still position battles that haven't yet been decided and may not be until the start of week 1. You will want to see who gets starting jobs, especially at running back, for certain teams, as well as who gets cut or benched. Second, freak injuries like those of Benjamin and Nelson can happen at any time; there's no reason not to minimize the potential damage a significant injury could deal.
One argument I've heard in favor of early drafts is to "have more time to find a replacement" if your player gets injured. This is nonsense; first of all if you drafted late you wouldn't have to worry about replacing Nelson or Benjamin in the first place. Second, you don't just go out and "find a replacement" for a player of that caliber. They won't be available in the preseason, and your best shot at "replacing" them will come after week 1 when you're bidding against the rest of your league.
By this logic, you can just scoop up Panthers receiver Devin Funchess and plug him in and expect the same production as Benjamin. It's not that simple; you'll likely have to depend on a bench receiver to deliver a big ROI. Scouring the waiver wire during the preseason is the ultimate crapshoot.
Of course, external factors can limit a league's ability to hold a draft close to the start of the season. Most people's lives don't revolve around fantasy football and have families to take care of or greater obligations to fulfill. I'm not asking GMs to forsake their family for a chance to avoid drafting an injured player; just that leagues should do their best to make their drafts as close to the start of the season as possible.
Above all else, Labor Day weekend just feels right for fantasy football drafts. It ushers in fall and signifies the start of football season. Not to mention the countless marketing and cross-promotion opportunities for "Draft Weekend."
Most importantly, GMs will be able to avoid dealing with season-ending injuries to elite players in meaningless preseason games. In a perfect world, literally every fantasy football league would be required to draft this weekend at the earliest. That's obviously not reasonable or realistic, but it's the best idea for maintaining balance in leagues, and sanity in GMs.
Still waiting for your fantasy draft? Congrats, you're doing it right. But those who already drafted the likes of Nelson and Benjamin just learned a tough lesson: every league should try as hard as it can to make this coming weekend a draft weekend.
Matt Dolloff is a writer/digital producer for CBSBostonSports.com and reigning champion of some slappy league with his buddies. Read more from Matt here and follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff.
