Tis the season for fantasy football drafts. The NFL is right around the corner and to millions that means the return of fantasy football. For some fans, the only chance they have at seeing their team win a championship is in fantasy. I would know being a Cowboys fan, so I take fantasy football pretty seriously. Probably a little too seriously.
Anyway, if you're actually trying to win your league this year there are some steps you should take before your draft. I've put together 6 simple things you should know before your fantasy football draft that will give you a better chance at not being a loser this year.
Here's what you should know:
1: The Rules- You won't be successful if you don't know the scoring rules in the league you're in. Are passing TDs worth 4 points or 6? Is it a PPR league? Do kickers get 15 points for field goals of more than 35 yards? (I actually played in a league like that. Kickers routinely went for 50 points. It was ridiculous.) You can't put together a draft strategy until you're clear on what the rules for your league are. Know them inside and out before draft day.
2: The Projections- Matthew Berry said in his Draft Day Manifesto that over the past 3 years, teams that make the playoffs average 93 points per week. If you head in to your draft knowing what players are projected to do for the season, and then just divide that by 16, then you at least have an idea of what your team is going to do on a week-to-week basis. Is that an exact science? Not even a little bit. But if you draft with an idea of what players are going to average weekly you've got a better shot at making the playoffs.
3: The Schedules- That's great that you drafted Cam Newton, Adrian Peterson, Kelvin Benjamin, and Lamar Miller. That's a solid starting squad. Problem is all of them are on a bye in week 4. You need to stagger your lineup so your top QB, RB, and WR aren't all on byes the same week. Same goes for your bench. If you end up with multiple positions on byes in the same week, you're going to have to pray you find some waiver wire miracles. Take a look at the bye week schedule before the draft and have them handy while you're drafting.
4: The Depth Charts- No one expects you to know the depth chart for every team, but you need to have an idea of who the top targets are for WRs and who the handcuffs are for RBs. Otherwise you run the risk of having a whole team of guys who aren't going to see the majority of the action. Not only that, but if you know who the backups are, you can be prepared for when someone gets hurt. And someone always gets hurt. Having an idea of who is next up on the depth chart will help you get that waiver claim in as fast as you can.
5: Defense Matters- So many people wait until the final rounds to draft their defense. I like to call those people idiots. Last year, in a standard scoring ESPN league, the difference between the top scoring defense, Seattle with 187 points, and the 10th scoring defense, Baltimore with 109, was 78 points. We'll round up, so it works out to 5 points per week between the top defense and the 10th defense. Are you telling me you can afford to just give away 5 points per week? And that's assuming you get the 10th best defense by waiting until the last few rounds. You can wait on a kicker, The top kicker last year scored 138 points and the worst scored 101. We're talking about an average of 2 points per week. That's using every kicker from last year. The difference per week between the top kicker and the 20th kicker was less than 1.5 points per week.
6: The Date, Time and Location of your Draft- If you're not sure when and where your draft is, ask the commish. If it's an online draft you really have no excuse to be late. If you have to autodraft because of some extenuating circumstances, so be it. But if you autodraft because you forgot when the draft was, then you forfeit all bragging rights for the season. You don't get to gloat about wins because you didn't draft your team. Also, if the draft is being held at someone's house, don't show up empty handed. Bring some chips and dip. Or a 12-pack. Or both. Both is best.
There you go. 6 simple things you need to know before your fantasy football draft. Good luck this season, unless you're in a league with me.
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