Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing
How to take the right steps to become a Fantasy Football Champion
You might think that fantasy football is just a silly game of luck. You probably also envision that it’s played by a bunch of 30 year-old men who frankly have nothing better to do with their lives. While you're partially right, you’re also terribly mistaken. With over 60 million participants in 2019, fantasy football has taken America by storm in the past 10 years (McCormick). It has pitted husband against wife, nerd against jock, friend against foe, and boss against that weird guy in HR who talks to himself. No matter who you are, you can play fantasy football. The goal, however is always the same — prove that your football knowledge is superior and win your league. Sounds simple? Not so fast.
There are many factors to consider when assembling a championship team, but a few stand out as the most important. By nailing your draft, staying up to date on the latest NFL news, and correctly maneuvering the waiver wire, you'll have a great chance to come out on top.
Step 1: The Draft
The draft is where champions are born. It is without a doubt the most important day of the year for any fantasy footballer. The men get separated from the boys and the unprepared look — shockingly — unprepared. Whether your leagues’ draft is held in a hotel ballroom in Las Vegas or in your parent’s smelly basement, there’s a ton at stake and even the smallest miscues could prove to be extremely costly. Draft days might be the first official day of the fantasy football season, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start much earlier.
Preparing for the draft is almost as important as the draft itself. Just like you wouldn’t go into a final exam without studying, you do not want to enter your fantasy draft cold. Doing research and coming into the draft with a gameplan, is the best way to set yourself up for success. Research can be done a number of ways -- listening to fantasy football podcasts, reviewing player rankings, and following free agent signing are all important tools that can be used to assemble a championship roster. Once you’ve done preliminary research, you can begin experimenting with mock drafts. Think of mock drafts as a practice test before the final exam. Sure, not all the questions will be identical and the numbers probably won’t be the same, but it’s the best way to simulate the real thing. Mock drafts are easily accessible across a number of fantasy football sites like Yahoo or ESPN, and allow you to figure out how you want to attack the draft, which players you want, and what round you might be able to draft them at (Tagliere). The more mock drafts you do, the more prepared you’ll likely feel. The more prepared you feel, the more likely you’ll win, and trust me you want to win.
Now that you’ve done your research and logged countless hours running mock drafts, you’re ready to tackle (no pun intended) your fantasy football draft. While you may be headed into the draft with a strategy in mind, the best strategy is one that is flexible (FantasyPros). If you expect to get your favorite quarterback in the sixth round, but someone else snatches him in the fourth, you need to adapt. Understand that you’ll likely be forced to deviate from your initial plan. That being said, you should have a pretty good idea of who you want to pick in the first two rounds. Inevitably someone else in your league will probably draft that player you really want right before you can. At that point you should initiate some smack talk and call them every expletive in the book for ruining your draft plans. All jokes aside, you should target a running back with one of your first two picks (Kirby). Runnings backs are the most valuable asset in fantasy football -- the difference between elite and average running backs is the greatest for any position. In fact, they’re so valuable that I’d recommend grabbing two running backs with your first three picks. Do not take a quarterback with your first three picks. Quarterback is a position with less variance and more quantity, which is why you should hold off taking one early on. You should also target players that have consistently proven themselves in the past and that will get a lot of playing time. Regardless, throughout the draft you should implement “the best player available” strategy. No matter how good or bad the draft has gone so far, you should almost always take the next best player on the board -- not necessarily the one that you need. This ensures that you get the most value out of the draft (Israeli).
Step 2: In-Season Moves
I nailed my draft and got a great team, so I should win my league, right? No, you’re wrong. The other half of becoming a fantasy football champion is dependent on the moves you make during the season. The more that you stay up to date with the NFL, the better chance you’ll have to win. This means watching games, reading news articles, and following injury alerts. Keeping up with the players on your team is integral to your teams success. For example, if you know that your star running back gets is hurt and might not play, you want to make sure that you stash his backup on your roster. This is known as a handcuff. Handcuffs help hedge against the risk of key players getting hurt (Kirby).
Following your players and the NFL is also important so that you know how to execute the waiver wire. Waivers are the process by which fantasy owners can select available players not currently on a team in the league. Owners can put a claim for that player, but will only officially add the player if no one with higher priority has also claimed that player. Knowing which player(s) you want to use your waiver claim on can sometimes make or break a season. If you had not known that your star running back just got hurt, then you wouldn’t have known to put in a waiver claim for his backup. Suddenly you’ve lost your star without any replacement. Waivers can also be used for breakout players that went undrafted. So if you’re combine a solid draft with great in-season moves, then you’re sure to win.
So Why Do I Want To Win again?
It might be for money, it might be for a trophy, or it might even be for tickets to the Superbowl. Last year billions of dollars were wagered on fantasy football alone. Now I’m not saying that you’ll become a billionaire if you win your fantasy football league, but you’ll certainly feel like one. Having bragging rights and knowing that your knowledge of football is better than everyone else in your league is priceless. It also doesn’t hurt if you made some money along the way. No matter what the prize is, there is nothing better than the pride that comes with being crowned a champion.
Works Cited
FantasyPros. “Best Expert Tips for Fantasy Football Draft Prep.” FantasyPros, 15 Aug. 2019, www.fantasypros.com/2019/08/best-expert-tips-for-fantasy-football-draft-prep/.
Kirby, Courtney. “11 Tips and Tricks To Win Your Fantasy Football League.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 2014, www.espn.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/11419496/11-tips-tricks-win-your-fantasy-football-league.
McCormick, Bret. “Rise of Fantasy Football Played Big Part in League's Growth.” Sports Business Daily, 2019, www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2019/09/02/Media/Fantasy.aspx.
Tagliere, Mike. “10 Tips to Win Your Fantasy Football League.” FantasyPros, 27 July 2019, www.fantasypros.com/2019/07/10-tips-to-win-your-fantasy-football-league/.
This was pretty cool. Really appreciated your strategies and your focus on keeping up with all the relevant information. For the longest time I never wondered why people followed the draft, and now I know why! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete-Bhaskar
Thank you for sharing all of this information about Fantasy Football! After listening to my brother and guy friends talk about it for so long, it's nice to actually know what they're talking about.
ReplyDelete-Taylor Berry
I like the method that you explain the game of football starting from the draft to the motive and purpose of playing the game. There are so many intricate parts to the game that people don’t see going on behind-the-scenes, and to get a glimpse of that from your article is very eye-opening.
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