Best Mistake Ever

[Pullo Vision]

Curious what lessons people have learned for the fantasy mistakes we've all made.

In my case, sold Steve Smith Senior in 2009 for a 1st and 2nd. I fell for the "Smitty is getting old" narrative. He struggled in 2009 and 10, but he was useful the next 4 years, setting high marks in yardage and TDs in 2011 and 2012.

Neither rookie was ever useful. The first became Gartrell Johnson, and I thought he would be LT's heir.

What I learned-
1) don't overvalue apparent opportunity. Johnson wasn't objectively that talented, though LT ended up leaving next year.
2) don't easily dismiss aging players. Production is production, and you don't get less points for a 32 year older getting a 10 yard catch instead of a 22 year old.
3) factor league and roster settings into valuations more accurately. This trade happened in a 12x45 league, so rosters were very deep. Even as Smith aged, he'd continue to be startable/usable, even if not elite.

At the same time, I was in a 12x21 league. In that league, production was lying around all over the wire, so selling an aging player there would have made more sense.

Rather than complaining about mistakes you've made, what errors have you that helped you in the future, whether trades, waiver moves, lineup decisions, bad lines in trade discussions, whatever.

[MEuRaH]

I’ve been talking about it like crazy these past few days: listening to coach speak.

As a result of listening to coaches talk up players out of the blue, I bought in several times and made offers for these guys. It never panned out. The reverse is also true. I owned David Johnson in a league. I even called him the best rb in the draft. But the coach, during mini camp called him a work in progress and didn’t think he’d ever see the field at this rate. So I traded him away really low.

Learned my lesson. I’m not doing it again.

[knotts4372]

best lesson ive learned was 2014 draft going it i made my big board and had several good wr before bishop sankey, but then sankey went to titans and i loved the spot so with the 1.8 pick in my drafts i elevated sankey over guys i had ranked higher with brandin cooks and obj. still hate myself for it

morale of the story, its ok to move players after the nfl draft a little but i never move my big board all that much regardless of where players go. this year was REALLY bad for this imo with ppl elevating rbs that should be late 1st/2nd rd picks into the top 5 for whatever reason

[Orenthal Shames]

I've had a few of these over the years. They've all come from rejected trades I proposed that, in hindsight, would have set my team back in a major way.

Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make.

[slaughterrt]

This may be the Jose talking, but I think you just have to go with your gut. Listen to the “analysts”, the coaches, and the media, and any other source to gather information...but in the end, you gotta go with your gut. You may be wrong 50% or more of the time, but you won’t kick yourself as much as if you listened to someone else and missed on a player.

I would rather go with my gut and strike out 4/5 of the time than go with the “consensus” and strike out 3/5 of the time. Truth be told, scouting is a VERY imperfect science and even the best get it wrong most of the time. All you can do is base YOUR opinion on a player by gathering as much info on said player and see if they pass the eyeball test.

I would rather hang on to my guy too long and whiff on them.

God damn I’m drunk. Apologies to those trying to make sense of my ramblings. Will try to sort it out in the morning.

And I know this isn’t the place, but that Spain/Portugal match was one for the ages.

#EndDrunkRambling
#SleepDeprived
#BurningTheMidnightOil

Mods, please don’t hold this thread against me.