Table of Contents
- What is Fantasy Football?
- Preparing for the Draft
- The Draft
- Roster Changes
- Game Day
- Assessing the Results
- Questions?
What is Fantasy Football?
Fantasy football is the art of becoming a GM of your very own football team! It all starts with a fantasy draft where you choose your players from any team in the league to represent your team all season long. Usually leagues are played with anywhere from 4 to 20 teams and usually consist of 15-25 players per team. It is a very challenging game requiring vast knowledge of the game of football in order to make the right moves for your team. Competition is fierce and often rosters are hard to decide on, so stick around and read through the guide to increase your knowledge of the game and get prepared for your fantasy season!
Preparing for the Draft
The general idea of fantasy football is to build your own football team. You’ll want to plan for your draft based on the type of fantasy league you’re in. Here are a few general fantasy league types:
Points BasedNow that you know the different types of leagues, you should know what type of league you’re in. However there is more to take into consideration before draft day… that is the roster layout. Below is an example of a basic roster:
A points based league is based on exactly that, points. You set a lineup, your players earn points, and the points are added onto your total each week. The team with the most accumulated points at the end of the year is declared the winner of the league. This is not a very popular type of fantasy football, and I wouldn’t recommend getting into this type of league. Head to Head
In a head to head league you’ll face each opponent in your league throughout the season, depending on the size of the league. Whoever scores the most points in the match-up gets the win. The top few teams in the league will then face off in a single elimination playoff bracket and whoever comes out on top gets the title of league champion. This is the most popular form of fantasy league. Keeper League
In a keeper league the commissioner chooses a set number of players that you get to keep each year. These players are obviously removed from the draft pool and allows for teams to keep their best performers and build around them each year. This is an ever growing league type and is really fun to be a part of. Dynasty League
A dynasty league is much like that of a fantasy draft in the popular Madden videogame series. During the league’s first draft all of the players are in a draft pool, as they usually are, but after that, they remain on your team forever, unless of course dropped or traded. Each year a small draft is held to draft rookie players, but other than that all transactions are done via free agency/waivers and trades. This is the most in-depth form of fantasy football and requires a group of people who are willing to stick with it for a long period of time. Auction League
An auction league is a league where each player has a set dollar value and you’re given a specific amount of money to build a team. Player’s values fluctuate throughout the season which allows you to gain or lose money which could inevitably affect the performance of your team. There is no draft in these leagues, and the players can be on multiple teams in the same league. This type of league is much like a fantasy Nascar league. PPR vs. Non-PPR Leagues
Our writer Andrew Johnston did a good job of covering this area in his article,
“Points Per Reception (PPR) Leagues v. Non-Points Per Reception (NPPR) Leagues“. Enjoy!
QB, WR, WR, WR, RB, RB, TE, WR/RB, K, DEF, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN
The positions represent a starting spot, while BN represents a bench spot which can be filled by any position. One of the keys to fantasy football is to have good depth, because as we all know, injuries happen all too often in the NFL. Ok, now we know to look at what type of league we’re joining and the roster we’ll have to fill, however we have one more thing to look at before we begin researching the players, and that’s the layout of the scoring. Each league has their own unique scoring system set by the commissioner.For example, in some leagues quarterbacks get the default 6 points for a touchdown, but many leagues are only giving 4 points for a passing touchdown because they feel Quarterbacks have an unfair advantage due to how often they get the ball.Each league must have their scoring system shown, so make sure you check it out before drafting. Another way to check it out without having to look through a mess of numbers, at least on Yahoo!, is to click the players tab and sort the players by fantasy points scored in the previous year. If you notice someone on the top of the list who normally shouldn’t be there, then the commissioner probably has some unusual scoring system set up.
Just yesterday I did a fantasy draft where Josh Cribbs was ranked in the top 5 fantasy players based on the league scoring system. This was due to the commissioner cranking up the points earned for return yards and return touchdowns. Now this isn’t a league I would normally join due to the awkward scoring system, but I forgot to check the scoring settings beforehand, a mistake you’ll want to avoid in order to play the settings you want.Ok, so now that that’s out of the way let’s research the players! Now anyone who knows football should know who the best players in the league are, it’s a given, but who are the best fantasy players in the league? Here are a few things to consider when creating your rankings for your draft:
- Touchdowns are a key aspect to fantasy football. A lot of yards just won’t do.
- Turnovers hurt, be sure your players can keep the ball on their side of the field.
- Keep an eye on injuries. A lot of players are injury prone, be careful not to draft too many question marks.
- Don’t be a homer… you may think your favorite player is god’s gift to the world, but that won’t mean anything when they aren’t adding points to your score.
- Rookies are trouble, avoid them as starters, and use them for depth.
- A lot of players are hit or miss, be sure to draft adequate depth at every position.
- Defense and Kickers should be taken towards the end of the draft. Let other team’s waste their picks on these positions, fact is, they’re too inconsistent to take early.
The Draft
Ok you made it!!! All your research and hard work is about to pay off here… IT’S DRAFT TIME!!!
Grab a bag of chips and a soda/beer and sit back and relax. If you don’t know your draft position already, you’ll find out what it is now. Some people say that your draft position matters, but to me as long as you draft smart, it won’t matter what position you’re at. Now most drafts are done with a snake order to make things even, however some leagues use draft order as a reward for doing well in a previous year. Here are the two different order types:Normal OrderAs you can see a snake order is fairer because the last pick isn’t always at the end of the draft. Instead the first and last picks swap throughout. Many people enjoy being either the first or last pick because they get to choose two players in a row and therefore can plan out their roster easier. I’d recommend doing a few drafts on ESPN and Yahoo to get a feel for the different draft positions. Ok so what about draft strategies?? Well the most popular draft strategy is RB first then QB and WR afterwards. This is popular because the depth at RB is slim, and often RB’s are quick to go down with injuries and not recover. Therefore you’ll want to have a solid RB core to build your team around. The rest of the draft is really based on who’s available and where… I could easily say that you should target a QB in round 3 then some WR’s and more RB’s in the next few rounds but it all really depends on how the other teams have been drafting.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 … 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 … etc. Snake Order
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 … 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 … etc.
ScenarioIn the later rounds of the draft you’re going to want to look for any players with some upside. Players with upside include young up and coming players, players on new teams with new opportunities, new starters, rookies, and any sleepers you may have on your list. Again, adding depth is key, so be sure to have players who will actually play!! Once the draft is over you’ll want to gaze at your team and be amazed by what you think is the best team in the league… don’t worry, everyone does! That’s all you should do at this point… don’t make any significant changes to your roster right after the draft… stick with your team and allow time for news to develop and players to start breaking through rosters. Of course, you should fill any holes in your roster if your league doesn’t do enough rounds to fill your team, but other than that, stick with your team.
Let’s take a scenario into consideration. Say that you’re in round 3 and you managed to get Brian Westbrook and Joseph Addai with your first two picks… very solid RB core, but now what? Well you’ll want to go with a Quarterback or a Wide Receiver, but which do you take? That’s where the other teams’ drafts come in… if Randy Moss is available to you in round 3 by some blessed miracle; you take him without even thinking. Same goes for Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. If all 3 are available, which is nearly impossible… you go with Brady because he’s the one throwing it to Moss so that cancels Moss out, and Brady put up far better fantasy numbers than Peyton last year. However, let’s be a bit realistic here. In round 3 you should see the likes of Carson Palmer and Tony Romo available at QB. At WR you should see a platoon of WR’s including Braylon Edwards, Steve Smith, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Reggie Wayne, etc. etc. In this situation you’ll definitely want to go with Tony Romo. He put up very good numbers last year, despite what some considered to be a struggling season. Romo should only get better and would be the wisest choice here. So clearly it seems like a QB would be the logical choice here… and it usually is. However you’ll want to skip out on a QB if there’s an early run on them in rounds 1 and 2 and snag an elite WR. Sometimes drafts go really weird and 4-5 quarterbacks could go in the first 2 rounds while only 1 receiver goes. If that’s the case, start your receiving core off right with the best receiver available. As you can see there’s a lot of thought you have to put into the situation, and you usually only get a small amount of time to do so. Being prepared helps this process out a ton, so be sure to have notes ready in front of you.
Roster Changes
Once the pre-season and regular season start and players start to get hurt or lose starting roles, you’ll want to adjust your rosters through free agency and trades.
Free AgencyThere you have it… stick to free agency to fill up weak positions and get rid of dead weight. At the same time try to stick with your roster throughout the year, you’ll find that maybe your draft didn’t go as bad as you thought, and you could share a great amount of success because of it. So stick to your guns!
This is where championship teams are made. If you read through some success stories you’ll find that many of the greatest and most successful fantasy players run winning teams due to their ability to spot key free agents. Last year was a huge year for free agent pickups which included QB Derek Anderson, RB Ryan Grant, RB Kolby Smith, RB Justin Fargas and so much more! So how do you spot free agent wonders? Well, that’s the tricky part. Mainly you’ll want to watch teams with injury prone starters or keep an eye on under the radar rookies. A lot of it is luck, that’s as true as can be, but by watching just a little more football than you normally would, you could snag a diamond in the rough. If you find yourself with a few deadbeat players on your bench, take a chance on some players who you thought showed some promise in their limited playing time. At worst you’ll have to drop them to make room for someone else… so give them a shot! Insider knowledge is another good way to spot a sleeping fantasy star. No one knows their teams better than the fans, so browse around some forums here and there and see who everyone is buzzing about. A lot of the time you’ll snag a great addition to your team. Trades
Every once in awhile you’ll get offered a trade… but really it’s not common for it to be good lol. People are often looking to get something for nothing, I know that better than anyone, and I often try to do the same thing. If you’re new to the game of fantasy football, especially if you’re new to football in general, you’ll want to avoid trades altogether. Even seasoned veterans try to avoid trades as often as possible, but if you want to do it, make sure you’re adding depth to a position where it is needed. Now if you somehow ended up with Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger and Eli Manning on the same team, you’ll want to get rid of one of them to fill a weaker position. This is a great way to trade and would be the safest way to do so. Be very careful when trading, if you’re not, you’ll end up with a completely different roster and on your way to last in the league.
Game Day
It’s time to see how your team does!!! Game day is here and it’s just an hour or two before the final roster changes must be in… so what do you do? Well your roster should be set already, and the only thing you should really be looking for is updated injuries on your players. ESPN usually plays a lengthy Game Day show starting at like 8am, so make sure to have it on to get the latest news. If you have a player who is still uncertain to play, bench him, if you have no one else to replace him with, scour the free agents quickly, and if you still come up short, keep him in and hope for the best.
Last minute changes like this are what make or break a win… many times you’ll get really nervous about a player, take him out, and then he’ll absolutely tear it up and leave you crying. It’s hard to tell who’s gonna have a huge game, and who’s not, all you can do is research the best you can. Check all of your players match ups and try to pick out the players who have the greatest advantage.For instance, last year Miami had the worst rushing defense in the league by a long shot. It was almost a given to start any RB facing them… but be careful when starting rivals RB’s… you gotta remember that teams tend to play a lot harder against rivals than against regular opponents. Even so, make sure to keep an eye on your players matchups in order to spot advantages like this.Lastly, if you’re weak at a position due to a bye week or perhaps injuries, be sure to snag some backups to injured players… especially at RB. Backup RB’s tore it up last year and owners were not disappointed in their continuous ability to put points on the board week after week in some cases. This ties into talent evaluation as well, something covered in your preparation for the draft. So now that your roster is set and any last minute changes are done, sit back, relax, and watch some football!!!
Assessing the Results
Well it’s now Tuesday morning and your game is over… so you’re either in a super good mood or really pissed off… let’s assess why you had the good or bad game that you did.
Check the Optimal LineupThat’s pretty much all there is to it for assessing your results. Just be sure to continuously evaluate the talent pool in free agency and constantly tweak your roster to make it the best you can!
Your optimal lineup is the lineup created with your players that would have scored the most points. If you played your optimal lineup then you had a great week and you’re really good at this fantasy stuff. If you were way off, well you either had a really unlucky week, or you really just had no idea what you were doing. Sometimes your all-star players just don’t do well, that’s fine, it happens. What you need to look at is the players that are not “must start” players and assess how well they did, as well as check how their alternatives did. Simply just see who did well and who did poorly, why they performed that way, and then make roster and lineup changes accordingly. More Player Evaluation
Time to take a look at the unknown players who did well and try your best to assess whether or not it was just a one time thing or if they’re in a good enough situation to continue their success. If someone did extremely well (IE: Derek Anderson) and you have the roster room to add them, or drop someone in order to add them, take a chance and see how it goes. Avoid Getting Taken Advantage Of
Many times if you lose an all star player early on the trades will start flowing in from other teams trying to take advantage of your unfortunate situation. Don’t fall for this… instead scour the free agent pool once again…. You look long and hard enough and you’ll find a hidden gem. It’s not worth losing an array of great players to snag one all-star replacement.
Questions
Have any questions? Feel free to ask me any time and I’ll be sure to include your situation in the guide!
Loading ...