Viva Murillo!

There's been a lot of talk about mavericks in the Presidential election. The American people have always respected those who follow their own path and aren't afraid to go against conventional wisdom. So, of course, politicians want to latch on to that image to appear independent and appeal to voters. Makes sense to me; I just wish I didn't have to hear about it all the time.

In fact, it makes sense in almost all walks of life -- but not fantasy football. In this game, mavericks are dismissed, mocked...even insulted. Conventional wisdom is considered gospel. After all, how does that phrase go: Sometimes bench your studs? Rarely bench your studs? No, it's NEVER bench your studs. If you do, you'll regret it for sure. Kickers are unimportant, wide receivers gain some magical epiphany in their third year and Denver running backs are worth wasting roster spots on. That seems to be the conventional wisdom.

And every year, most owners follow these rules. They draft from different lists that all have the same three guys at the top of each position. They congratulate each other as they go down their lists and cross off the names in order. Then they start the guys they're supposed to start, pick up the hot names on the waiver wire and follow protocol throughout the season. You've seen owners in your leagues follow that pattern for years.

But what happens to the mavericks? The ones who "reach" for players? The ones who take a tight end "too early" or don't wait until the last two rounds to pick up a kicker and defense? What about the guys who bench a starter? They become a joke. They obviously don't know what they're doing, and they get ridiculed -- until they win the league.

See, the thing about mavericks is that they don't do what everyone else does. And in every 12-team league...11 teams lose. So if you strictly follow the herd, you're likely to go right over the cliff. Often it's the maverick who does something a little different to end up ahead of everyone else.

There's risk involved, of course. Not every contrarian's move pays off. If a fantasy magazine puts someone unusual on their cover (like, say, Tatum Bell), they'll hear about it if it doesn't pan out. But if that same magazine ranks a player much higher than everyone else (like, say, Jay Cutler), their readers will benefit greatly. There's risk in taking chances, but there's even more risk in not taking them.

We're past the halfway point in the fantasy season. If you want to be a maverick, now's the time. Somewhere out there, a maverick benched Brandon Jacobs because they didn't like his matchup against Pittsburgh. Another maverick benched a starting receiver and started Donnie Avery against Dallas -- and has reaped rewards for two weeks. Sure, the owner who threw a returning Anquan Boldin into their lineup looks smarter than the one who threw a returning Marques Colston into theirs, but taking a chance carries risk. Mavericks take (and manage) those risks throughout the season.

It's very, very easy to avoid being a maverick in fantasy football. Projections, suggestions and fellow owners will tell you what makes the most sense and chart the safest route for your lineup decisions. It's not hard to simply go with the flow and hope everyone is right. But at the end of the season, only one owner ends up being right and everyone else is wrong. If you want to be that owner, I think you have to do something a little different sometimes. Take some chances. Shake up your roster and make some unusual moves. You have to make the right moves, of course, and I don't know which ones those are. Nobody does. But a maverick will figure it out, or have fun trying.

That's being a maverick. A real maverick-y maverick. You sick of reading the word "maverick" in this column? I'm sick of hearing it on television, and by this time next week the ads and stump speeches will disappear, and hopefully we won't hear it as much. You'll still have plenty of fantasy games to play, though, so you can still be one. Good luck this week.

Youtube Clip of the Week: You want to see a maverick? Here he is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYrsDT02OcE

You can reach Michael Murillo at vivamurillo@gmail.com.

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