subject: Fantasy Football Data Sheet - Current Best Practices are Damaged [print this page] Fantasy football has gone from a fringe activity that a select few nerdy fans were involved in to a completely mainstream activity in which most fans take part - many with multiple teams. This has played no small role in the ever increasing popularity of the NFL. While the league became the most popular sport in the country with fans of teams and gamblers, fantasy football has appeal to the masses where everybody will want to watch their players on Sundays. As more people have flocked to the activity, a list of best practices has begun to be circulated as well. However, due to some errors in logic and changes in the NFL itself, these best practices are flawed. Let's examine:
1) You must draft running backs early. This made sense ten years ago. There were thirty teams in the NFL, which meant there were only 30 starting RBs worth having, actually less than that. But that was before Mike Shanahan ushered in the era of sharing loads. Most teams now use two running backs, which makes more RBs worth having, but less worth having early. If a guy is only going to get 10-12 carries per game, he is no more valuable to me than a WR who is a QB's favorite target. In fact, unless I have a top 3 pick, I'd rather take a quite WR and then build a stable to split carry RBs in later rounds.
2) Handcuff your top running back's backup to him. The logic behind this would seem to make sense: If your guy goes down, have his backup ready to step in. The problem with this logic is that it shouldn't just apply to you. If a star's back-up would put up great stats in the case that player gets injured, shouldn't every other team be willing to take a risk on that guy and not just the player that owns the star himself? Not to mention that odds of anybody bouncing back from an injury to one of their key performers are slim to none. Draft the guys who have the best chance of playing and performing, if that is one of your current players' backups, so be it - but don't aim for it.
3) Spread out your bye weeks. Bye weeks should be like band-aids, rip them off fast and at once. Loading up on players with the same bye week almost assures you of losing one game when that bye week rolls around, but it also allows you to go at full strength the rest of the season. Let everybody else bleed their roster slowly - take the hit once and once only.
4) Best draft wins the league. Last year, leagues all over the country were decided by Jamaal Charles of the Chiefs, who went off in a few meaningless games for Kansas City - but occurred during most leagues' playoffs. Shrewd waiver pick-ups can always overcome a bad draft. Do not be afraid to overhaul your roster if the team you drafted is consistently overmatched one-third into the season.
5) Don't draft your kickers and defense until the end. Actually, that is really good advice - don't do that. Personally, even if it is the last pick in the entire draft, taking a kicker embarrasses me. I'm not of the mind that fantasy football should drop them, it's just one of the many dimensions that makes the game great - but a kicker is still a kicker.
Fantasy Football Data Sheet - Current Best Practices are Damaged
