Fantasy Football is back!
Yes it is! If you are new to fantasy football I will try to give you a better understanding of what it is and what is involved.
So What is Fantasy Football? Fantasy Football consist of a competition in which you and fellow team owners in a fantasy league compete against each other for every week of the NFL season. At the end of the season the two teams that make it through the playoffs battle it out for the championship, which results in bragging rights and a prize of some kind {monetary, trophy, plaque, ring, etc}. The last place team on the other hand may face a different kind of award, but we will get to that later.
Fantasy football leagues come in many flavors, but based on my experience and familiarity I will be focusing on “Head to Head” and “Keeper” leagues. The Head to Head league is when one team in the league is matched up to different team each week. Whichever team finishes the week with the most points win that weekly match up. A Keeper league allows you to keep a certain number of players from one season to the next and the rest of the team roster spots will be filled up at draft time. The match ups in the Keeper league format is usually the same as the Head to Head.
What is a draft? A draft is when each team owner takes turns selecting available players to fill up their team roster spots. The most common type of draft in a fantasy league is the snake draft in which a player is selected in each round in a snake method in which the owner who picks first in the odd rounds ends up picking last in the even rounds. The draft order is usually randomly selected by the league commissioner with the use of a manual or automated method for example, numbers drawn out of a hat or a random number generator. Now some leagues setup the draft order hours, days, weeks and sometimes months before the actual draft date. This can be very beneficial for each team owner no matter where they make their pick. This is where the preparing and strategizing comes in.
Draft time is coming and it is time to prepare for it even if there is no draft order yet. Some team owners begin their prep at the end of the last season and others may not prep till the last minute or just wing it and not prepare at all. It just depends on how serious the owner wants to take it. There are many sources to pull from to get the information needed to build a drafting plan, for example Fantasy Football magazines, fantasy sports websites, podcast, fantasy sports television or radio shows. There is also the sports section of the newspaper, but like the magazines they can become outdated very quickly. To miss out on the news of a player injury or life circumstance of which causes the player to miss some games or possibly the entire season can really be detrimental on the performance of your team. Once a player is selected in the draft there are usually no take backs, but depending on how lenient the league is you may luck out and won’t have to face the ridicule from other team owners. Some typical comments from other team owners might be like “You know that guy is suspended four games, right?” or “That guy just tore his acl and is out for the season.” or “That guy has been out of the league for three years!”. The point is don’t be that guy or girl.
So now the data has been gathered and it is time for the player rankings to begin. The team owner now has the option to evaluate and rank the players they are interested by himself or download pre-ranked player cheat sheets from one or many fantasy football websites and then can plan on which round to draft their players in.
In a draft you are allowed to pick a certain number of players based on the available positions on your roster. The positions to fill are Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Wide Receivers, Tight Ends, Kickers, Defense and individual defensive players {IDPs}. Some leagues don’t use IDPs and may even use two quarterbacks. The coach of an NFL team can even be drafted. That is what makes fantasy football so challenging.
Depending on the number of positions to fill for each team in the league the time from beginning to end of a league draft could take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours with 12 team owners in a league. That is why there are usually time limits for each team owner to make their pick, otherwise it could last longer.
So now that the draft is over and the teams have their rosters filled it is time to set your line up for the week 1 match up. Most leagues have bench spots on the roster to fill in the draft so not all players on the roster will be active from week to week. To reiterate that in a head to head league each weekly match up is decided by how many combined total performance points for each player on your team versus the other team. The team with the most points at the end of the that week wins that match up and move up in the league standings. The decision to make a player active or not in your line up can make or break your team for the week or for the entire season.
In most fantasy leagues the regular season ends by week 14 or 15 and the playoffs begin. The teams that make it to the playoffs need to set there lineups just right in order to make it to the next round. One of the main obstacles to deal with are injuries to top performing players. These top players have elevated the team each week throughout the season and are now injured and adjustments need to be made. The decision to activate a mediocre player from the bench or wire can be a big factor on the outcome of the playoff week. The waiver wire is a list of available players that either were never selected in the draft or dropped by other teams in your league. As for an advantage that could improve a team during the playoffs a top rated player could be returning from being injured earlier during the season. This could improve the total team performance point totals and give the team an edge to move onto the next round in the playoffs.
Championship week is here and the two top teams that have made it through the playoffs will be competing for the League Championship. The winner of the Championship game will win the agreed upon prize that the league has decided on at the beginning of the season. There are also additional prizes for other team owners such as total points in the regular season or total wins during the regular season or both. Many more prize categories, but unable to list them all here.
Last place team in the league is another story. Some leagues do not have an award for coming in last, but some do and there are many examples of that. I have seen examples of the loser having to go on a busy street corner with a sign saying things like “I am a loser in fantasy football” or “I suck at fantasy football” or some other degrading phrase. Then there is the dress. If the draft is held in a public location like a sports bar or something, the loser would have to where a dress into the sports bar at the next seasons draft. Now I did not lose this past year, but I still have a Mrs. Doubtfire or Mrs Brown’s Boys dress from a losing season a couple years ago in the closet. Photos fortunately not available. Some leagues have gone as far as the losing team owner having to get a tattoo of whatever the league voted on in the beginning. As for me that is where I would draw the line.
A little history about myself getting involved in the Fantasy Sports World.
About 15 years ago I was asked to join a fantasy baseball league so not knowing what was involved I blindly joined and after a couple rough seasons I then moved onto fantasy football. One thing to note as a newbie in fantasy sports your fellow league owners will not help you. You are on your own. Google became a great resource which lead me to other sources for research that I mentioned above. It just takes time and dedication and how serious you want to make it. One of the many things I like about fantasy football besides the competition, reviewing stats and getting more familiar with the players are the friendships built with the other league members.
I hope you have enjoyed this article and since this is my very first article on Medium I am open to any critiques you may have. I chose to write on here so I could read more in depth articles pertaining to my interest and develop new interest along the way. I also hope to improve my own writing skills and share many more articles to my future followers. As for this topic I plan on submitting a weekly article throughout the fantasy football season covering my strategy and moves for each weekly match up and topics related to football.
Thank you for your time
Kraig Greenly
