(September 25, 2013 at 12:29 pm)sarcasticgeographer Wrote: (September 24, 2013 at 7:47 pm)Texas Sailor Wrote: I am a fantasy football Guru! What are your questions sir?
Ok, I am complete novice about fantasy football. Should I use ESPN to start a league? Also, are there any good rules of thumb to remember when doing fantasy football? How does it work?
Well, you better hurry! Each week you wait, there's one less game to play. I play on Yahoo. I am familiar with the way they do it, and like the app. They're all pretty much the same.
Leagues vary according to how points are awarded. I play in a PPR league. PPR stands for Points Per Reception. If the league you are in does NOT award PPR, then RBs and QBs tend to outscore most of the other players by a pretty big margin. PPR balances out the scoring and makes WRs and TEs a bit more valuable. This allows the guys that don't happen to have a Top 5 QB or RB to stay competitive.
The Draft:
You can arrange an Auto-Draft or Live-Draft.
Auto draft will assign players to the different teams in the league according to rankings. This is not ideal. You can end up with too many players on your team at one position, and have holes in other positions. Live draft is ideal. There are 16 rounds. Everybody takes turns drafting available players. Depending on the league, the roster you draft for will look something like this:
QB
RB
RB
WR
WR
WR
(Possible Flex Spot) [ Could be an Extra WR,TE, RB or possibly a QB ]
TE
K
DEF & Special Teams (If you select SEA for this slot, you get points for the things Seattle's Defense and Special Teams does during their game)
Scoring:
The commissioner (Guy that starts the league) determines how players are awarded points. There's a standard format, but you can change a lot of the options.
Each week during the NFL schedule, you will get points for the things the players on your starting rosters do during ther respective games. Scoring may vary, but generally, it looks something like:
QB-4 PTS a TD, 1 PT per 20 yds.
RB- 6 PTS a TD, 1 PT per 10 yds.
WR- 6 PTS a TD, 1 PT per 20 yes.
You get the idea. As the players on your team accomplish these things, the data is sent to your league, and the points will start tallying. Each week you will play another Manager's Team in your league. Whichever team has the most points after the Monday night game has played, wins.
You can also lose points if your player turns the ball over, or gets negative yardage. Defenses get points for forcing fumbles, Interceptions, TDs, Safeties...all that stuff.
Advice...Get a Top RB. Right now Matt Forte is a beast. Especially in PPR leagues. Any feature back that has sole rights to the spot is a money maker. You want to shy away from RBs that are on teams that utilize multiple RBs. Trent Richardson may be pretty interesting if he can eliminate Bradshaw from being a factor in Indy. Adrian Peterson went No.1 in most drafts. RBs in an offense that tend to pass to their RBs are usually really valuable in PPR leagues.
Pay attention to injuries and match-ups. If you have an awesome RB, but he's playing against a top rushing defense that week, you may want to consider benching him for a RB that is playing a weaker Defense. So pay attention to what teams your players are facing each week before you start them on your roster. Once their game starts, and you have them on the roster, you can't subsitute them for somebody else. They're locked in. You don't get credit for the points on your bench.
In the draft, don't reach for QBs too early in the draft. Most QBs will get you about 15 pts a week on average, and there are plenty of them that will be available in as late as the 6 or 7th round. Stock up on RBs and top recievers. They go fast. Here's a few good ones to look for.
WRs
Dez Bryant
AJ Green
Calvin Johnson
Brandon Marshall
Desean Jackson
RBs
Adrian Peterson
Lesean McCoy
Matt Forte
DeMarco Murray
Trent Richardson
TEs are really only worth getting in the first 5 rounds if they are an elite TE. One of these types of guys:
Jimmy Graham
Jason Witten
Tony Gonzalez
Vernon Davis
Julius Thomas
That kid in Cleveland is pretty good, but I can't remember his name.
Anyway, that should get you started. Do your homework, try and get good players in the draft, the rest is luck.
