One of my hobbies is scrolling thorough the free agent list in my dynasty league and seeing if there is anyone worth adding. I don't do it every day, mind you, that would be ridiculous. Just every other day, or every day and a half.
The site at myfantasyleague.com lets you sort by percent owned and percent added. You can see, for example, that Bruce Ellington has been added in 6% of leagues this week. Understandable, people taking a flier on a young rookie wideout with a hazy depth chart at the position.
But what struck me was the fact that Rashard Mendenhall, who retired last season, is owned in 30% of fantasy leagues. That means he is on a roster in almost 1 of every 3 leagues.
My suspicion (and hope) is that a large portion of these leagues are either inactive, or just haven't gotten ramped up for 2014 season yet. No doubt many of those rosters are the 2013 teams, and when they get renewed for 2014, Mendenhall will be immediately dropped.
There may also be some people hanging onto Mendenhall in hopes he'll be another Brett Favre, coming out of retirement to bring his stirring 3.2 yards per carry average to another team. That's not a fantasy commodity you want to cast aside lightly.
But there are probably some active leagues out there where some team counting on Mendenhall last season had an awful year and just threw up their hands in disgust and quit. And there are others where the owners simply quit, period, and don't even know they have a team somewhere that's still got Mendenhall calcifying in their lineup.
I'm in a couple of dynasty leagues, and it's clear that an owner or two in each one has given up. Sometimes they are simply absent, period -- no movement on their rosters for months. Sometimes they put in token appearances to reject trades and (if we're lucky) cut retired players.
But sometimes they simply don't show up for anything, and nothing is a bigger buzzkill in a fantasy league than somebody who's in the league just because he's too lazy to actually quit the thing.
I run several leagues myself, and they're generally composed of friends and/or friends of friends. It's easier on me if everyone returns from year to year, at least initially -- I don't have to find new owners or send out invites and whatnot.
But in the long run, if you're not going to contribute to the league regularly, that's fine. Quit! Please. Tell me, Sorry man, I am in too many leagues, or Sorry man, I don't like your attempts at "humor" on the message boar, or Sorry man, I'm tired of getting clobbered every year.
It's OK to leave a league. In fact, it's preferred. If the league isn't for you anymore, say goodbye. If the league isn't for one of your league mates, organize an intervention to help show him the door. If he's not into it. If he's not contributing.
And if he's got Rashard Mendenhall on his roster.