The beginning of August has come, the lingering smell of buffalo sauce and bud light starts again as the NFL is back on. More specifically, Fantasy Football approaches, the best form of entertainment any American can receive. Fantasy Football is more than a game for some Americans, people play for fun and there is other people who will drop thousands of dollars just to be part of a league. The reason people are willing to pay this much to play is because the winning outcome will be 10x more than the money you put in at least. Sundays are dedicated to fantasy football because most of the games are aired on Sunday.
The format of a fantasy football team is very straightforward once you understand. Each player is given points based on their statistics but certain stats give you different points. Some of the way points are received are:
- 6 points for a receiving/rushing touchdown
- 4 points for a passing touchdown,
- 1 point for every 10 receiving/rushing yards.
- 1 point per reception (in PPR leagues only)
- 3 points for a field goal
- 1 point for an extra point
So this is a general basis on ways to receive points in most leagues. Logically, the more points you get the higher each player will be in the draft order, players that are more likely to score more points in the upcoming season will be ranked higher on the draft order. In most leagues this year LeVeon Bell, Todd Gurley, and David Johnson were listed as the top three projected picks hence making them the most valuable.
Once you have a general understanding of how points are received you must acquire a strategy to draft your team because you cannot just always pick the next best player on the board because you have in most leagues: 1 quarterback (QB), 2 running backs(RB), 2 wide receivers (WR), 1 tight end (TE), 1 FLEX (RB/WR/TE), 1 Kicker (K), and 1 team’s defense (DEF). This is why picking the top available guy is not a good strategy because say your first three picks were all great wide receivers then you are stuck with below average players at your RB 1 spot or even your TE spot. Generally, you draft your first few picks based on the prevalence of a players’ position also giving them value. An example is that within the first few rounds of the fantasy drafts the best running backs will be taken that is why it’s smarter to pick up two back to back running backs because they are more “rare” than a wide receiver or a tight end. Everyone will have a different strategy but a strategy can only take you so far. During drafts there are a lot of “WTF” moments as fellow drafters pick absurd picks throwing off the whole draft for you. In those times is best to remain calm and make sure you cover all positions with the best available players.
A rough rundown on how I would draft is based on what draft pick you get your first instinct should be running back because there is a finite amount that are worth drafting. After your RB1 has been selected you should aim for another running back to secure the RB2 spot. This might not always be the case though because one of the people drafting could have passed up on a player that should have been a reach. So as an example say that player that fell to you was a top three wide receiver your RB1 and WR1 spots are solid but for the third round pick a running back is essential because after a certain point they are so bad in contrast to wide receivers because there are good receivers later on in the draft. A common mistake a lot of rookie drafters do is they draft a quarterback way too early, in my opinion a quarterback should not be picked up until the 6thround at earliest. People get distracted by big names like Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers but in reality you can get an equally if not better quarterback later on. For example, I drafted my starting quarterback in the end rounds because he fell so low was because he was a rookie, Patrick Mahomes who’s putting the nation on edge as he is averaging around 40 points a game. To put that in perspective, QB’s average 25 points so this is clearly worth waiting for but this is not always the case. Your last two rounds should be dedicated to your kicker and defense as those are usually subject to change. This seems like a lot but if you are invested in football then it’s really worth it.