The following is an excerpt from the latest edition of Yahoo’s fantasy football newsletter, Get to the Points! If you like what you see, you can subscribe for free here.
The Cleveland Browns are giving us the biggest and most extreme example of The sunk cost fallacy. that has ever been played in any major North American sport, at least in recent memory.
It’s now brutally obvious that Deshaun Watson is not a quality starting quarterback in the NFL. He was a liability in each of the last two seasons and has somewhat regressed in 2024. Watson is averaging just 3.46 net yards per pass attempt through five weeks, an outrageously low rate, easily the worst in the league.
And yet, the Browns steadfastly refuse to bench the league’s least effective quarterback, presumably because the organization feels they have 230,000,000 reasons to keep signing him. Without a doubt, this team is doing a disservice to the fans, the employees, and all the non-Watson players on the roster. It is a wild, terrible and probably desperate situation.
However, the situation Cleveland went through can serve as a lesson in fantasy for the rest of us. Please understand that you are under (repeat: NO) any obligation to remain committed to your worst and most costly fantasy decisions.
We’ve reached a point in the season where this year’s stats tell a more compelling story than last season’s data. As managers, we must start making start/sit decisions based on current performance instead of our preseason desires. It’s time to let go of draft status.
If you make a habit of starting, say, Jaylen Waddle (or Sam LaPorta, Mark Andrews, or whoever) simply because he was your third-round pick and not because you think he’s about to break out of his 4-for-40 streak, then you are doing it all wrong. ADP is ancient history; in fact, it was irrelevant as soon as you left the draft room. Don’t compound an early mistake by continually making it every week.
Let’s not be the Browns, folks. That’s all we’re asking for. It feels like a low bar to clear.