I’ve been roped into a fantasy football league with some friends. Any advice? I don’t want to become that smelly unshaven guy watching Headline News at 1:02 AM on a December Monday, but I don’t want to get my butt completely handed to me either.
What league are you in, Yahoo, NFL.com? What are the basic rules of your league? Who are your players? Once we have this info. we can go from there.
My draft strategy is as follows. Note, this is vaguely fluid based on rules of the particular league. Also, everyone is different so what I like may not be what you want to do. But, let it be said I have won my league 3 out of 5 years.
I go heavy on statistical comparison. My first 3 rounds I tend to pick either 2 QB/ 1 RB or 2 RB/1 QB. I pick based on recent history. I look for the players that have outscored the average for their position by the greatest amount over the past couple of years. But, I also take into consideration outside factors that no number can tell you. Injury history, team factors, bye week, rookie, etc.
Rounds 4-7 tend to be picking a 2nd RB/QB, a pair of receivers, and either a mid level tight end or a top defense.
Round 8-whatever are used to finish up the receiving core and the rest of my backups, mainly looking for sleepers or those who will step in when the oft injured starter (such as a backup to fred Taylor or Steve McNair) gets injured.
The last round is my kicker. Those guys are usually a dime a dozen and there is a lack of consistency year over year.
I can give you a few tidbits of what I learned last year when I was a rookie:
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[li]You will make bad picks, accept it and never discuss it to avoid ridicule.[/li][li]You will get one or two sleeper picks. Carry on at length about this to show what a football genius you are.[/li][li]Someone at the draft (if you have it in-person) will get drunk. Laugh at all his picks.[/li][li]There is always a home towner in every league. He’s the guy that has to have all the hometown players even if they suck.[/li][li]A great source of info is at the ESPN Fastasy Football Page[/li][li]Very few rookies have good years. Consider every rookie a caution pick.[/li][li]To keep it safe: your first 5 picks should be RB, RB, WR, QB, WR. There are 29 other combinations but this is a fairly safe option. Make sure you get 2 RBs, 2WRs, and a QB for your first 5.[/li][li]Don’t jump on your first (K, D, TE) just because someone else picked one. The worst is taking them too early. Depending on the league scoring, wait on these positions until the 8th round or so.[/li][li]Familiarize yourself with every team (even Detroit and Cincinnati). You don’t want to miss out on a good player because you never heard of him.[/li][li]Take everything objectively. Just because you hate [insert hated team] doesn’t mean they have bad players. I can’t stand the Giants but I still drafted Tiki Barber.[/li][li]Friendly trash talking makes the league more enjoyable (for us anyway)[/li][li]When you’re drafting, pay attention to the bye weeks. You don’t want to be stuck playing a #3 QB because your top 2 are off that week.[/li][/ul]
Hope that helps. If you can give us a little more info about the league we may be able to offer some more advice.
Mullinator, you’ll pick up two QBs in the first 3 rounds?!? Who in the world do you play with, and how much to join?
Wolfian, how many are in your league, and what is the lineup? Those are the most important details you’re dealing with when you draft. Here are a few guidelines:
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You’re not drafting for fantasy value, you’re drafting for relative value. In other words, despite the fact that QBs consistently outscore all other fantasy players not named Priest Holmes, there are 32 starting QBs in the NFL, and a 12 team fantasy league only starts 12 (usually). There are 32 starting RBs, but your league starts 24-36 on a weekly basis - making them the gold standard of fantasy football. Tampa’s defense was ranked in the top 30 fantasy-wise last year. That doesn’t mean that it should be the 30th pick of your draft. For more info on Value Based Drafting, head over to www.footballguys.com .
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Don’t be a homer. Just because you’re from Oakland doesn’t mean you should pick Rich Gannon in the first round. It also means you shouldn’t pick him up in the second or third round.
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Fantasy football magazine mock drafts are a joke. I can’t stress this enough. If you show up to your draft with a fantasy magazine, you will finish last at the end of the season. These people make money by making 100 outrageous picks, and then flaunt their 2% success rate. Online rankings and mock drafts are much more accurate and informative. Espn.com has a good fantasy page, and has good descriptions by position. Get acquainted with the players and their fantasy history (as much as you can).
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Get used to drafting. Mock drafts are your friend. antsports.com and xpertleagues.com have fantastic mock drafts, and they’re free. Both have message boards where you can ask for advice and feedback on your drafts, to see where you went wrong and where you made good decisions.
Remember, Running Backs are the lifeblood of fantasy football. Picking a QB in the first two rounds is dangerous - there’s always a good one left in round 7.
Hey Munch, I was most recently in a 12 team league starting 2 QBs per week. So, every starter would be drafted and a decent number of backups/QB controversy participants. Hence, it was pretty vital to try and get a Garcia/Vick starting combo rather than wait around and get stuck with Kitna/Plummer.
Another thing I have learned. Quite often the difference between a good team and bad team has little to do with the stud players. Rather, it has more to do with how informed an owner is in picking his backups late in the draft.
It is also vitally important to pay attention to free agents. Heck, the first year I played I won because in the course of the first couple weeks, I picked up James, Jett, Germaine Crowell, Wayne Chrebet, and Marcus Allen as free agents to replace what were turning out to be poor draft picks. All 4 players had great years and I did quite well because of it.
That makes a huge difference. That’d make QBs the gold standard with starting 2.
Um, its’ going to be on Yahoo. There will be six of us in the league. As for everything else (lineup?) I’m clueless. Thank you for all your advice and if you have any other tips, by all means let me here it.
Er, hear it.
Darn homonyns.
In a 6 player league winning will be random. Look at the set of players at or near the top of the list the Yahoo Drafting Supercomputer is recommending and pick the guy whose name you like best or who plays for your favorite team. Drink a bunch of beers and have fun. Unless you go out of your way to draft poorly what you do at your draft won’t matter one bit.
It depends on the scoring, but a top RB and a top QB are key. However, they are not essential. At RB, look more for a could combination, if you use 2 as most leagues do. One great RB and others that are mediocre or poor won’t help. Who you draft first depends on who is available and, again, the scoring, but if passing TDs are worth 6, same as running TDs, a top QB is much more valuable than a top QB. However, balance is the key. Last year, I won one league with a combination of Brian Griese and the new Steelers QB starting most weeks. I had no great players except for Marvin Harrison, but it was well balanced. I also got lucky and beat a really better team in the semifinals
Look at the TEAMS a player is on and how good their offense is when drafting. If it comes down to two close players and one is on a higher scoring offense, pick them. There are some great players on low scoring offenses. Shy away from them.
Kickers and Tight Ends, unless you get one of the top three, are to be drafted last, as you stated.
My best advise is that the draft is only half the story. I am big on watching waiver wires, looking at weekly match ups and making changes weekly between my middle teir guys based on what team match ups are occuring (Is one team playing a poor defense? Who has a bye? Is there a strong back up that will be playing this week that no one has? [Hit it back a few years back with Trung Cadidate on that one] Who is coming on strong? Can a pick up a sleeper that might do well one or two weeks down the line without sacrificing much?) each week. I probably move more players than most other people. Its risky. You don't drop your top core of four or five players, but many of the others, depending on how many are allowed on your team, can be interchanged based on weekly match ups. Kickers, tight ends and receivers are key in this area because, again, they are often interchangeable because there is little difference between them week to week. So say you aren't really getting much out of that fourth receiver or back up kicker/tight end.....drop them and look for a guy available that may be due for a big week later on. There will always be guys with bigger years than expected, so early on its especially important to watch for players that may emerge from the pack but that have't quite yet been discovered by the other owners.
A good draft only gets you so far. You have to keep up each week or someone can outmaneuver you.