Welcome to week 10 of last-minute moves to make. This article is intended to give you late-week waiver and free-agent advice based on late-week news and gameday inactives. Injuries and other late-week developments can have a huge impact on lines and rosters, and being up-to-date on these, especially before waivers and free agency locks before kickoff, is a huge advantage.
Look Ahead
The NFL is going through a bye gauntlet, with Kansas City, Miami, Philadelphia, and the LA Rams all on byes in week 10. Week 11 will have Atlanta, Indianapolis, New England, and New Orleans all on byes before everyone plays week 12 (Thanksgiving). Now is a good time to think ahead on your byes. With everyone playing in week 12, be careful of holding onto backups who have a week 11 bye. If you do not play the player this week, then they have a bye and do not make your lineup in week 12, and you have lost 60% of the regular season on a player without any usability taking up a roster spot. Van Jefferson, Cordarrelle Patterson, and Foster Moreau are types of players who have been on rosters that fit this definition.
Week 11 Short Weeks
Cincinnati and Baltimore play on Thursday night this week. This creates a good opportunity to make sure key backups are rostered with a quick turnaround time. Rostering backups like Trayveon Williams and Tyler Huntley are highly optimized opportunities this week. Buffalo and Denver also play on Monday Night Football. In deeper leagues, Samaje Perrine, Jaleel McLaughlin, Leonard Fournette, and Latavius Murray may all be available, with potential opportunities on a short week.
Scrub Your Roster
This is a critical time of the season to maximize every roster spot. With half the season gone and a bye week gauntlet upcoming before the fantasy playoffs, make sure your roster is optimized.
Evaluate your teams for roster fodder. Players are roster fodder if you do not see a scenario when you would feel comfortable putting them in your lineup and do not see a scenario where they are a valuable piece in a trade package. With this late time in the season, you should be extremely selective about your roster spots and make narrow definitions of these players. If you have a player you do not think can change your team’s trajectory, cut them for a player who could.