Since virtually all Fantasy Football (FFL) leagues take place on the web, this article is directed at the various websites that offer FFL. We will divide the article into different sections, so if you are a R.cookieor a Sexperienced vetyou can go directly to the parts you need most.
newbies
1) Join a private or public league: A private league is a league that usually sets up a experienced vet and send invites to the people they want in the league. A public league is open to anyone to join. You can find them on Yahoo, ESPN, CBSSports, and about a million other sites.
2) Is this a Head-to-Head or Total Points league? – Head to Head means you play another team in your league each week and whoever has the most points for that matchup wins. Then you’ll have playoffs and even a championship game. A total points league simply calculates the total number of points all of its players accumulate throughout the season and the team with the most points at the end of the season wins the league championship. (Face to face is so much more fun. You get to talk some serious crap every week.)
3) Look at the scoring rules – This is very important, as the scoring in your league can be very different from the next. One league may have a 6-point passing TD, while another only 4. Some leagues award 1 point for each reception a WR/RB and TE make, while others only allow yardage and TD.
4) Pre-qualify your players – Each league will have a draft before the season starts. Once you’ve reviewed the scoring rules and determined which players and positions will be the most valuable in your league, you’ll need to pre-rank your players before the draft begins, preferably a few weeks in advance. Most websites actually pre-sort them and will allow you to modify the list to your personal settings.
5) Draft Time – After all your hard work and research, it’s time to get some guys on your team. If you’ve seeded your players correctly, you should have primarily QB and RB in the early rounds, followed by RB, TE, defense/special teams, and lastly, kickers. Be sure to check to see if a player was injured during preseason, is in a contract dispute, or is suspended. Players who will only miss a week or two will be fine, but don’t waste a draft pick on a guy who got hurt in a preseason game and will miss the whole year.
6) Week 1: Every guy you thought was going to have great years has a horrible first week and a RB you never heard of gets 200 yards and 3 TDs. Don’t worry, it happens every year. If you took guys who have produced in the past, they’re likely to have another good year, but if there’s a guy who comes out of nowhere and dominates in the first NFL regular-season game of his life, don’t worry. . you are afraid to drop a guy off and pick him up if you need him in that position. Just ask anyone in the last 5 years about Marques Colston, Eddie Royal, Willie Parker or “the other” Steve Smith.
7) The rest of the season: Evaluate the production capacity of your team. Don’t stay with a guy just because you like him. If you remove him from your FFL team, I’m sure he will survive. Good luck!
Experienced vets
So, you’ve been playing FFL for how long? Emmitt Smith was a freshman on my first FFL team. Since no website keeps track of these things, you’d have to get the Monday and Tuesday morning paper to check the box scores, then manually calculate all the passing, receiving, running, defending, and kicking stats for each team in my league and determine a winner each week. After 20 years of FFL, here are some of the things I’ve learned:
1) Select some second row guys. I have been the commissioner of a goalkeeper league in recent years. The first year, he was very weak at RB towards the end of the draft. I looked at the depth charts to see which 1st string RBs would likely get hurt first. I looked at these three guys — Ahmad Green (Houston), Lendell White (Tennessee) and Willis McGahee (Baltimore) — and decided to draft their backups. The three backups were Steve Slaton, Chris Johnson and Ray Rice. I need to say more.
2) Goalie leagues are overrated. Soccer is such a violent sport, guys get injured all the time. My guardians rarely stay the same year after year. The “new guy” last year, he had no goalkeepers and finished third in our league.
3) Don’t underestimate top-tier TEs. Most head-to-head leagues have 10-12 teams. That means every FFL team will likely have a top-tier QB and RB. In 2009, 10 quarterbacks threw for 4,000+ yards and 18 quarterbacks had 20+ touchdown passes. 15 RBs rushed for 1,000+ yards and 12 RBs had 10+ TDs on the ground. 20 WRs had over 1,000 receiving yards, but only three TEs had over 1,000 yards. You can land one of “The Big 3” TEs and still get a 1,000-yard receiver in the next round or two. Getting one of the “big 3” tight ends is like getting a fourth receiver out of 1000. The value of TE fanatasy really drops after the “big 3” are off the table.
4) Don’t overestimate WRs. Unless you’re in a receiving points league, don’t waste a first pick on a WR. Even if you’re in a receiving points league, look for a RB that gets thrown long before you pick a WR. They can have very high and low games.
5) Don’t underestimate defense and kickers. The best defensemen and kickers can generally be in the top 10 to 15 in scoring in many leagues. Not bad, considering that nobody usually picks them until hundreds of other players have already been picked.
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