What Do You Do With These Players?

(I’m on vacation for the next 10 days, but still have some thoughts, will be posting intermittently.)

There are the players you like, and the players you definitely don’t want, and that for the most part makes or breaks your fantasy football season. There are also players you feel are being more or less correctly valued by the market and who you’ll take if they slip a bit, but you don’t care much about them one way or the other.

Finally, there are players you just don’t know what to think about — they are interesting, but pricey, in unstable situations or at a career crossroads. You won’t mind getting them, but you don’t want to pay up. You can’t decide if you like them or not.

Here are a few for me below:

D’Andre Swift — I was out on Swift last year at his second-round price because he’s a player that has not demonstrated he’s built to last in the NFL. He’s got the skills, and now he’s in an ideal situation in Philly, but can he survive as more than a third-down back that shares snaps with Kenneth Gainwell, another third-down back that knows the system better? Swift’s ADP has dropped to early eight (No. 84.5), and that’s an easy buy for me there, but in my leagues he’s gone earlier, and I didn’t pull the trigger.

Derrick Henry — I feel bad passing on him in the early third, as he even caught passes last year, but he’ll turn 30 January 4, has 1,906 career carries including the playoffs and has crept into to the late second round (ADP 22.83.) Backs with 1900-plus career carries are almost uniformly washed up, but it wouldn’t surprise me if 6-3, 247-pound Henry turns out to be an outlier.

Jonathan Taylor — No one knows what’s really going on there. I think I’m in right around his mid-third ADP (29.58), but that’s an expensive pick to waste if he’s not really healthy or he sits out due to a contract impasse.

Najee Harris — Is he good? Did he get overworked as a rookie two years ago? At 34.58, the price is good for an ostensible three-down back, but I’m not entirely feeling it.

Jerry Jeudy — He’s being drafted like a No. 1 receiver (28.25), but why has it taken him so long to break out? Sure, he was in a bad passing offense his first two years, but Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave were too last year, and they had no problem showing who they were out of the gate.

DeAndre Hopkins — Does he have another near-peak year in him, or is he done? Treylon Burks’ injury means Hopkins should have massive volume early on, but at pick 39.92, you’re paying for it.

Jameson Williams — I drafted him in two leagues and was all the way in, but now he’s hurt his hamstring, and while he’s got a six-game suspension to heal, it makes me less enthused. There’s little doubt about the talent, but is Williams a pro, or just a jackass that does stupid things and doesn’t know how to take care of his body? Don’t get me wrong — anyone can get hurt — but not everyone puts in the effort to mitigate the risk.

(Incidentally, here’s our first stop in France, at a friend’s house, looking out on Lake Annecy and the French Alps)