Coming up on my first full year of working in the The Office, instead of working, I am learning that people spend their late August-early September days figuring out who they want on their fantasy football team. Whoever came up with this concept is a genius, not only because it has created a vested interest for the average man in each and every stat in a football game, but I'm sure it has resulted in at least a billion dollar loss in productivity during the season. So thank you, Fantasy Football creator.
My friend Niki the Body Laura Nicole (NOT pictured above) is one of the biggest football fans I know, male or female. And, more importantly to the guys out there, she's hot. (I know. Too good to be true. Post a comment with your picture and we'll see if she's interested . . .)
She will be departing these United States in a few weeks to head to Ecuador for the next six months, but before she leaves, I begged her to do a Fantasy Football 101 piece for Pleats 'n Cleats. To my delight, and hopefully yours, she agreed. Having just selected LaDainian Tomlinson ("LT") as my first pick in my league's draft, her tips are definitely going to come in handy as I wait for 23 more picks to go by before I can pick again . . . who came up with this system?! This is my first year playing fantasy football, so if I sound bitter, it's because I am.
But, ahem, I digress.
Laura Nicole will *hopefully* be posting here from time to time while she's in Ecuador, either giving us her NFL take or sharing her South American sports dish with us (check out her adventures in Ecuador on her own blog). Her posts will be titled "Laura's Linc," a nod to the home of her favorite team - the Philadelphia Eagles. When she posts, I'm going to let her have the entire post to herself, so today's post will be the only intro you'll see from me.
I bet you won't find anything this good written by a guy! Enjoy!
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FANTASY FOOTBALL 101
by Laura Nicole
Luck never fails to level the fantasy league playing field. Some owners will experience good luck in the form of a 5th round no name pick having a break out season (and yes this is luck no matter what the owner claims in terms of knowledge that player’s history) and some owners will experience bad luck in the form of their first round running back going down with an injury in game 3. Because of this, if you apply the following basic tenets to your fantasy football team, you have as much a chance of ending up in the money as anybody else.
- It’s all about the draft kit cheat sheets. Nobody shows up to a fantasy draft without print outs of the top players by position. Do yourself a favor. Go to espn.com or yahoo sports or whatever sports site you like or whichever one you can find. Look for the Fantasy Sports link on the site. With some browsing, you will find draft kit cheat sheets that rank players by position. Print these out and draft according to the next best player available for the position you need to fill. While some owners may try to outwit these lists, they are an invaluable guide and you can’t go wrong by following the recommended picks. They become especially useful as the draft gets into the later rounds and no owners recognize any of the left over players.
- Ok – you have the draft cheat sheets but you have no idea what positions to go for first. There are a couple variables to be considered here. Most leagues have point systems that make players who score the most the most valuable. In other words, first you want to draft positions that will score touchdowns. The other major variable is the number of high scoring players in this position that are available in the draft this season. Because of this, generally, the premier running backs go first. Running backs get a lot of yardage, they get the ball at the goal line, and there are usually only a handful of high scoring fantasy running backs. There are players like quarterback Peyton Manning that can shake up this formula. Some fantasy players prefer to grab him early as they see him as a sure thing season over season. I have been in leagues where he has gone first in recent seasons. But keep in mind, generally it’s the top running backs and top quarterbacks that go first. Then move on to wide receivers, which are valuable but also tend to be more plentiful. In standard leagues, you will also need to draft a tight end, a kicker and a defense. Here is the general order to keep in mind: RBs, QBs, WRs, TE, K, Defense.
Draft several of the first three positions before drafting the other positions. It’s more important to have depth in those positions than in the others because there isn’t much difference in value in who you draft in the latter three (whether you draft the top kicker or the 10th kicker won’t make or break your fantasy season).
- There are a couple of reasons to have depth at running back, quarterback and wide receiver; injuries and bye weeks. With these positions, it’s not easy to pick up a player who will provide enough points for a victory if your starter gets hurt or has a bye week. This means you need to plan ahead when you draft. Pay attention to your running backs’ backups and draft them if they are still available down the line. Don’t be afraid to draft the backup for someone else’s starter if yours are not available. Pre and post-draft it’s important to take note of who the backups are. It’s wise to draft them in the later rounds and to be ready to pick up un-drafted backups should they become starters or earn playing time mid-season. Quarterbacks are always under a lot of scrutiny and quarterback controversies are not unusual in the NFL these days. Many teams have obvious battles at quarterback, so be prepared to pick up a new starting quarterback in the event that someone gets benched.
Additionally, plan ahead for bye weeks when you draft. ESPN draft kit cheat sheets have the bye week of each player which is great. You don’t want your 2 or 3 starting wide receivers to all have the same bye week or that will be a very painful week of searching for un-drafted wide receivers who can score (there won’t be many). So keep that in mind for each position as you draft. It’s also a good reason not to draft too many players from the same team.
All this preparation for the draft will put you in a strong starting position, but don’t get lazy after draft day. Injuries, team changes and unforeseen performances (good and bad) will keep you on your toes every day throughout the season. Luck is definitely a factor in fantasy, but if you don’t keep up on NFL news consistently you won’t be able to make key changes to your team during the season that could make or break your season. Bookmark NFL.com and espn.com at the very least and check NFL news every day for news and injury updates. If you don’t have internet access during the day at work or at home you have a tough road ahead of you. On the weekends, be prepared to make last minute lineup changes because many times teams like to keep an injured player’s status under wraps so the opposing team can’t plan accordingly.
If this is your first fantasy season, enjoy! You will be surprised at how interested you become in every game each week (as opposed to just watching your team) and shocked at the devil inside of you that wouldn’t mind if another owner’s starter went down with an injury (not career-ending or anything!). Even if you don’t win, you’ll learn a lot, be able to talk a big game and you won’t need this article next year! 
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