If your team is anything like mine, injuries are wreaking havoc on your roster left and right in week 2. I don’t recall seeing so many injuries this early in a season before, but I also wasn’t playing fantasy football during the last season that followed a lockout. Anyone who says that they don’t affect players’ football readiness is on something. Michael Vick is concussed, Dez Bryant out with  quad injury, Aaron Hernandez out with an ankle injury, Felix Jones with a separated shoulder; my team is starting to look like a big injured reserve list. But this is where the men are separated from the boys. Now, finding players to start in my injured players’ stead is one thing. In my opinion, the hardest part is deciding who to drop in order to pick up a player who you may not need for the whole, but could prove invaluable for the time being and maybe longer. In my case, it’s Dallas RB DeMarco Murray.

For obvious reasons I couldn’t drop the guys who I’ve listed. Their injuries are not season ending, and they are integral pieces to their respective teams’ success. If you’re worth your salt as a fantasy owner, you should expect to make the playoffs, and should start planning on it early on. I will need each of these guys in the future. So what options am I left with? Calvin Johnson, Percy Harvin, Beanie Wells, Jimmie Graham, Willis McGahee, Jonnhy Knox, Daniel Thomas, Cam Newton, and Denarius Moore. As you may have noticed, my team weakness is at RB, therefore I’m not going to handicap myself further by dropping one. That leaves Johnson, Newton, Harvin, Graham, Knox, and Moore. It would be crazy to drop Johnson, Graham, or Newton. They’re all having good to great seasons thus far, and they can fill in for the hurt players I have.

So that leaves Knox and Moore. Knox had a great season last year, but for some reason is behind Roy Williams on the depth chart thus far. I don’t expect it to stay that way all season, but aside from that, there are just so many mouths to feed in that Mike Martz offense. I don’t expect a lot of huge games out of him. Moore, on the other hand, had a momentous coming out party this week to the tune of 150+yds and a touchdown. That being said, Jacoby Ford and Darrius Heyward-Bey were both out with injuries, so who knows if he will repeat those types of numbers when they get back. But I say when in doubt, especially with receivers, go with the guy who as the most upside. Moore is a natural born play maker, and has imho a better chance at making a big impact in his offense than Knox. It was a hard decision to make, but in the end I dropped Knox. I think he’ll be good this season, but i’m not sure when, and Felix Jones is too important to my team than to not get some insurance on him in Murray. Hopefully this process gives some insight into how one might go about choosing who to hold onto and who to lose when it comes to fantasy football.