At what point do you sacrifice depth for your starting roster?

[Wsn21]

Ill try to keep this short, 12team ppr, shallow starting rosters(1qb/1rb/1wr/2flex/1te) 20man roster

My team in sig

I believe i currently have a top3 team with great depth in my major league, i have been going back and forth in my head and with other owners for weeks about whether I should sacrifice my depth to improve my starting lineup

-Would you rather have a juggernaut starting lineup of all young studs but almost no depth(but shallower rosters anyway)

OR

a young top3 team with great depth...

I can sacrifice snead/ martavis/ gillislee/ perkins/ picks etc, but I'm afraid I might not be selling at full value when I didn't even need to sell in the first place

[Kramer]

With how shallow those starting requirements are, I would want as many studs as possible. So for your league, I would be okay sacrificing depth to have a stronger starting lineup. I just wouldn't over do it.

[jeffster]

That is a very shallow starting requirement, but I'm not sure you're actually that deep. Particularly at TE you're Ertz-or-bust, and your QB situation isn't very inspiring in a league where you'll probably need studs everywhere.

At WR, Evans and Arob should be every-week starters, while Keenan, Snead and Martavis all have the potential to be every-week starters, but it's likely at least one or two of them isn't at some point. That seems like adequate depth if you're going to start 3-4 WRs. Then at RB, Miller and Crow should provide you with two solid starters, which more or less covers your starters since you need 5. Then I expect one or two of your other RBs will be worthy plays. Actually that's a fairly reasonable level of depth at RB/WR, and doesn't seem excessive.

If I was going to sacrifice some of that depth, I would put it into TE and QB.

[ImaRounder]

I will always sacrifice depth for better players. Depth has never helped me in the playoffs when you can only start a certain amount of players. I'd rather have the better player and gamble that they don't get hurt. After all, there is a good amount of luck in this game.

[dlf4lyfe]

I will always sacrifice depth for better players.

I came here to post this!

[Tsunami]

I would trade my rookie picks before my depth.

[maxhyde]

in 16 team leagues I like having some depth but in smaller leagues I am all about the starting lineup as a priority

[KREsketch]

Just to play devil's advocate, why would you want to sacrifice depth if we are all aware of injuries? It's hard for any player to actually make it through all 16 games. If you reduce your depth, you will be improving your starting line-up....until the injury bug pops up. It always comes back...just like herpes...not like I know anything about that

[DLF3000]

Depth is like insurance. You don't need it till you need it.

Or said another way, how much of a gambler are you?

[maxhyde]

depth is insurance. However how much more does a replacement cost when you need him than he does as insurance? I am fine in smaller leagues running without quality depth. I will buy it when I need it rather than let insurance weaken my starting lineup

[ImaRounder]

bleep insurance

[Weeman]

Just did a start-up & traded down to get more depth. I prefer depth & to trade rookie picks for assets if all else fails. Injuries are a part of the game, we all need to prepare for the inevitable.

[smallxl]

This is a great topic.

I took over an orphan this year with a number of good players and two supposed studs in Alshon and Jimmy Graham. I made two significant 2 for 1 trades:

One: carlos Hyde and Terrell Pryor for Jordan Howard
Two: ty monty and crowder for watkins

I have accumulated what I believe are 5 cornerstone pieces but after that I have little. Since February, I made about 10 trades give or take....now my focus will be on depth.

I too will take the studs over depth...but injuries do become compounded if they hit you

[Cameron Giles]

It really depends on the league size.

But, for the most part it's a lot easier to build depth than it is to acquire a star. You can buy low on players and hit the waiver wire. If you have a chance to consolidate bench pieces and maybe one starter into a game-changing player, you do it. It's nice having depth, but when you're in the home stretch of the regular season and in the playoffs, it loses importance.