How a Hot Seat Coach Can Help Your Fantasy Team

There are some coaches feeling some serious pressure right now. Up until they are actually fired, how can we use their tenuous situations to our benefit in the fantasy world? Here a few coaches rumored to be on a VERY hot seat and a few suggestions for how to best exploit their current state of misery.

Jim Zorn, Washington Redskins

Coach Zorn is an offensive guy. He was brought in to design and implement his offense and it ain’t going so good. Some media outlets have him being shipped out as early as two weeks from now. That leaves two games to make the most of Zorn and his tendencies. Specifically, that means don’t be afraid to start Jason Campbell. Zorn loves to throw. He was hired to throw. He is a former quarterback himself, and his main job in D.C. was to groom Campbell. If he gets fired, he is going down swinging for the fences. I don’t see Zorn hiding behind a conservative play-calling regimen in the next couple weeks. Especially with Chris Samuels out, the running game is going to be hard to establish. Samuels’ absence does hurt the passing game too, but one thing we know about Zorn is he is not afraid to dial up passing plays behind a shoddy offensive line. Campbell is a high risk/high reward fantasy player right now because of this. Redskins receivers are not necessarily as valuable because God only knows where the ball is going to end up. But one thing we do know--the ball will be put in the air.

Dick Jauron, Buffalo Bills

He fired his offensive coordinator weeks before the regular season began. Trent Edwards responded by looking downright bipolar the first five weeks. He has looked poised and sharp at times, and he has looked incompetent at times. What Buffalo does have is a very good running back combo in Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson. If Jauron is smart, he will lean on Edwards to get those guys the ball as often as possible. They were already good players to start, but my thinking is Jauron could care less about making Terrell Owens happy at this point. Lynch and Jackson should be even more valuable for a coach trying to keep hold of both his locker room and his job. Jauron has been around long enough to know that while it might not be pretty, a game where you hand it off 45 times is a game they can win. And wins will keep him employed.

Eric Mangini, Cleveland Browns

Uhhhhh...hmmmmm...this one is tough. First of all, Mangini keeps shipping in draft picks and former Jets, leading one to theorize he will be given a longer leash than common sense would dictate. Even so, the Browns have stunk out loud this season so far, mustering a 6-3 win over only the woeful Bills last week. Maybe there’s your answer: Phil Dawson. He has a dinged up right calf, which sounds like it would be a factor for a kicker. But he still might be their most valuable player.

There are of course a few other coaches not doing so great, but with so many first-year coaches out there it is hard to imagine the same kind of turnover occurring again next season.

Who do you think will get fired and which fantasy players will see a spike prior to their removal?