It's almost that time of the year again! You can always tell fantasy football is just around the corner when everyone in the NFL starts crying about their contract. Now to the fantasy part... In my opinion, my favorite and I feel best style of fantasy football is the head-to-head leagues, with the basic scoring 1 point per 10 yards, 6 points for a td, -4 for a turnover. This will be the scoring I base my drafting off of. I will be explaining the offensive side of the ball only, for every league has different defensive scoring and lineups. Example - if my quarterback were to throw for 320 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 turnovers, he would have 30 points. Also, this is not for a keeper league.
When getting ready for a fantasy football league, the first thing you need to is preparation. Never ever go into a draft without all the essential tools and knowledge. The very first thing I will do to get ready, is write myself a list of players off the top of my head I think are going to be productive and possibly explode and list yourself your top 5 rookies. After just making this list, just place it to the side because we are now going to be doing real research and will come back to that later.
What to look for in players
* Are they new to a team? Just traded?
* New additions to the team? (Team drafted a running back or Running Back by Committee system)
* Contract Year for the player?
* Coming off an Injury?
* Was a teammate of theirs injured? (Your interested in a WR and the teams QB tore shoulder last year)
* SERIOUS off-season issues? (T.O. in philly)
* Age / Years in League
Okay, so you just realized that half of those players on that list you wrote up get scratched off for reasons on that list. It's okay, there are tons of players out there other then the ones on your list. Now to check out my favorite website for Fantasy Football FFToolBox. This website will help provide you with cheat sheet's and all(well most) of the "what to look for in players" list. Now produce yourself a cheat sheet according to your scoring system, print yourself out all the contract year players, 3rd year WR's, free agents, etc etc... Now compile yourself the Ultimate List.
So for the last 2 weeks you have studied and modified your Ultimate List day in and out, waiting for draft day. You get in the car and think you forgot something. Here's your list...
What to bring to the draft
* Money for draft
* Clipboard / pen and paper / Highlighter
* Always have with yourself 1 or 2 fantasy football magazines with all the rankings of players by position and overall, also please make sure the player's aren't injured if your draft is during pre-season.
* Cheat Sheet aka Ultimate List
* Have with yourself a schedule with all the teams bye-weeks (check your playoff system too)
* Blank Roster
Alright, you get to the draft and start nibbling at the pretzels in the middle...Lets move on. Its Draft Time, how do you start? First things first, a)don't draft a kicker and pick him up in FA and b)Unless your picking the great ravens defense or former chicago defense, wait till the end of the draft for one and c)many times your draft spot influences your drafting decisions, if you have back to back picks that could be a perfect time to grab your QB and WR dominating duo. My preference is STACK myself with running backs, I like to draft 3 dominating running backs in the first 5 rounds. In round 3, a QB, and round 4 a WR. Many people feel differently then this, but thats how I have been doing it for years, and come in the top 3 every year. Now after 5 rounds, you have 3 RB's, 1 QB, 1 WR. One thing to consider when drafting, choose your QB and WR from the same team if possible. Double the points(or double less the points if they dont produce), but it's usually worth the risk. Now I do the "Best on the Board" method from here on out, If a player slips down this far and you can't pass up it never hurts to grab him. Even if its a running back.... Having to many just gives you more trade power and injury insurance. Start preparing your backup quarterback, but make sure your positive he has a different bye week then your starter. Bye week's are tricky sometimes, you may end up having all your starters out in a certain week, and your basically just conceding that weeks loss... try not to do it, but sometimes it happens. While your doing Best on the Board, start considering possible breakout rookies(RB's are the only productive rookies on offense) and Kick Returners(!). Kick returners could save your season if you draft the next Devin Hester, last year Hester had 934 return yards and 6 td's, thats 130 points to your team. Now your on your last pick of the draft, take a risk... Draft yourself your favorite player that never plays... You can always drop him tomorrow morning.
Last but not least, start talking as much trash as possible after the draft even if you know you do not have the best team! Enjoy yourself and have as much fun as possible this year in Fantasy Football.
Enjoy Your Season; http://www.bleepingidiots.com/2008/06/how-to-fantasy-football-draft/
Gregory Egan http://BleepingIdiots.com
