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Tips for a FF rookie needed?
- Thread starter LondonTex
- Start date
infantrycak
Hall of Fame
Look at the thread Fantasy football sources/credibility.
281
Veteran
A simple, yet extremely effective tip that's coming from someone who has won multiple championships: Draft players that will score a lot of touchdowns... don't get cute thinking about yards, or catches, or any of that jazz. Think of players that are on good teams that will score often. It seems obvious enough, but you'd be surprised.
pissknocker
Waterboy
you need to put in 20-25 hours a week just to be competitive. 30 hours or more if you wanna go deep into the playoffs. You need to research every player on the waiver wire who made a splash the previous week. put like 100 or more players on your watch list and be ready to pull the trigger on some sleepers before someone else snatches them up. know everything about every players life the week before each game, be ready to make last minute changes to your roster. Oh and while your at it go ahead and analyze your opponents team, you know start justifying how many points each player can be expected of.
company internet usage policies? just tell your boss to shove it
football season is here!!!
company internet usage policies? just tell your boss to shove it
football season is here!!!
LondonTex
Waterboy
Haha thanks guys ! I'll certainly take the advice to pick those who score regularly. I'm better off keeping it simple as I'm still quite green when it comes to the NFL.... Not sure my wife would let me spend 30 hours or so lol ..will have to see how much time I can spend ... Can't wait to get into my first season!
dc_txtech
All Pro
Do some mock drafts before the real thing, it will help you figure out where players are being drafted. You can do them on Yahoo or ESPN, here is a link to another site that I like.
http://fantasyfootballcalculator.com/
I think the biggest mistake I see rookies make is not drafting for value. For example, I have a friend that is playing for his first time this year and he told me he wanted to get Peyton Manning in the first round. Even if you are certain that Manning is going to break every QB record this season you still shouldn't take him in the first because he's not being drafted until at least the 5th or 6th round in most leagues.
Obviously there is the risk that someone jumps up ahead of you and takes that guy you love so you have to manage risk.
Another example, in 2010 I (as did many Texans fans) really thought Arian Foster was going to break out. At the time we had our draft he wasn't going until around the 8th round in most drafts but I really liked the guy and was worried one of the other Texans fans in my draft would take him before me. So I took him in the 5th round, 3 full rounds ahead of where he was going in most drafts. By the groans around the draft table I could tell it was good that I didn't wait any later.
Hope that helps and good luck.
http://fantasyfootballcalculator.com/
I think the biggest mistake I see rookies make is not drafting for value. For example, I have a friend that is playing for his first time this year and he told me he wanted to get Peyton Manning in the first round. Even if you are certain that Manning is going to break every QB record this season you still shouldn't take him in the first because he's not being drafted until at least the 5th or 6th round in most leagues.
Obviously there is the risk that someone jumps up ahead of you and takes that guy you love so you have to manage risk.
Another example, in 2010 I (as did many Texans fans) really thought Arian Foster was going to break out. At the time we had our draft he wasn't going until around the 8th round in most drafts but I really liked the guy and was worried one of the other Texans fans in my draft would take him before me. So I took him in the 5th round, 3 full rounds ahead of where he was going in most drafts. By the groans around the draft table I could tell it was good that I didn't wait any later.
Hope that helps and good luck.
LondonTex
Waterboy
Thanks mate, that's awesome....just the sorta thing I needed to hear...really helps a lot. All the advice on this thread has been great!
Also, I did some mock drafts on yahoo, ESPN and NFL.com already...still leaning towards the ESPN one but yahoo seems good too. (in terms of being user friendly)....One things for certain...barring injury, if I'm fortunate to get first round pick, Foster is coming to Moi! I don't know much about NFL and even the Texans yet, but I've watched him and he's a beast!
Thanks again
LondonTex
Waterboy
Thanks man, will remember that too.
Dutchrudder
Hall of Fame
Kickers score a lot of points, so get one early.
b0ng
Bad Hombre
Is. . . is that for real? Kickers and Defense are both positions that work fine going with waiver wires for match-ups if you want to horde a lot of skill position players while you see what shakes out with preseason.
My advice: ALWAYS follow whats going on the NFL. Who's hurt, who's playing and plan accordingly. Don't be the guy starting two dudes who are definitely not playing that Sunday/Monday/Thursday. Watchout for teams resting their good players for the playoffs.
PapaL
Loose Screw
That's just not true. Remember, you're in it for fun and to win. If this were your real job then yeah spend 40 hours a week doing it.
My best advise...watch lots of football games.
Make notes.
Know who is hurt and who is injured; big difference.
Be aware who is on the waiver wire.
Know your league settings and scoring system.
Can you pick up a player during a game and stash him for next week? (think Arian week 1...I dropped some bum by the end of halftime and had Arian loaded into a spot for next week)
Have your mobile device of choice ready and near by.
And please please please don't offer up ridiculous trades. They will get vetoed and you will lose credibility.
Have fun, pick a good team name, and talk trash. Hahaha!
I haven't played much fantasy football for the last 6 years (played in one league 2 years ago) but I used to win my league routinely. If you want to really have a good draft you need a system. I've got a spreadsheet that I built (somewhere) that I'll look for that will calculate points by every player from last year based on your scoring system. The next thing that it did was calculate the opportunity cost of picking every player (based on how many you start at each position) vs picking other players. It only worked for the previous year's stats but it gave you a great idea of how valuable each position actually is in your league. Everyone will tell you that "must have a top flight QB" or that "RBs are over valued" or that "Receivers are the most important" but in reality it varies based on several things. If you are in a league that puts a premium on different types of yards (rushing vs passing) or rewards special teams performances (some leagues don't) then the most valuable commodities change. The nice thing about the calculator was that it would update as people were drafted to give you the most valuable player (and the most valuable player based on who you had). For example(situation not realistic just for illustration purposes) if you have Foster/Johnson/AD and in a 1QB 2RB 2WR system and had to choose between MJD and Brees it would tell you to go with brees but if you had Foster/johnson/manning and choose between mjd and brees it would tell you to take brees.
Of course it wasn't perfect but it was really helpful I drafted using it exclusively one year and won the league with only one trade (traded for a new rb when edge went down).
Hopefully even if I can't find it the process it went through will help you build a draft strategy. If you were able to go in and modify for predictions (older players regress, younger most likely progress, for example [I had a program to calculate standard deviations for that too]) then you could develop a killer tool. I've thought about turning it into an Android app before.
Mike
Of course it wasn't perfect but it was really helpful I drafted using it exclusively one year and won the league with only one trade (traded for a new rb when edge went down).
Hopefully even if I can't find it the process it went through will help you build a draft strategy. If you were able to go in and modify for predictions (older players regress, younger most likely progress, for example [I had a program to calculate standard deviations for that too]) then you could develop a killer tool. I've thought about turning it into an Android app before.
Mike
What kind of league were you in in 2010 when Foster didn't get drafted? He was going 5th or 6th round in most leagues.
Hagar
Drink up yall, its the Texans!
There are very few every down running backs anymore. The majority of the teams today either split carries like the Texans or has a thunder/lightning combination. If you can get a back that will carry the ball 275+ times, take him. I've had LT twice and I rode him to a first and a third place in my FFL.
Late in the draft, when things are starting to look thin on your draft board, take a flyer on an unknown or broken player. If the player doesn't work out, its no big deal, you can always get rid of him. A few years back I took a flyer on Kurt Warner and it paid off big. I had watched a Cardinals preseason game and knew Leinart was struggling. Warner had a couple of miserable seasons with the Giants and had just started with the Cards. Warner was capable of big numbers if he could get the starting job. Kurt got me a second place that year.
Late in the draft, when things are starting to look thin on your draft board, take a flyer on an unknown or broken player. If the player doesn't work out, its no big deal, you can always get rid of him. A few years back I took a flyer on Kurt Warner and it paid off big. I had watched a Cardinals preseason game and knew Leinart was struggling. Warner had a couple of miserable seasons with the Giants and had just started with the Cards. Warner was capable of big numbers if he could get the starting job. Kurt got me a second place that year.
PapaL
Loose Screw
In my 3 leagues that year he was undrafted. Picked him up in 2. One was a winners league in yahoo; gotta win a public league to be invited the next year. The other 2 were leagues I'd been in for years.
b0ng
Bad Hombre
Depends entirely on when your draft was held that year. Early in the preseason he was undrafted, by the time the regular season was coming on he was a later round flyer pick.
I can understand him being undrafted in early july and all of that, but i'm surprised he was still on the waiver wire by week 1 in his league. Foster was the toast of the town in all the fantasy articles leading up to the season.
PapaL
Loose Screw
Goes to show, different strokes for different folks. We as fans of a team tend to overvalue players just because we know more about them than nonfans. I try to make it a goal not to take any Texans players. I'd rather have my real team win than my unlucky curse ravished ff team(s).
I would suggest to play with in one of the legues advertised by memebers on this board. Most are 'private" leagues on NFL, yahoo, fleaflicker, etc. also, you get to play with people you "know." making trading more likely, but still be able to get legetimate advise from someone in the league. there is also more general banter which is fun for some people.
The public leagues on any of those sites are fine for helping you learn the game, but are pretty faceless.
Texecutioner
Hall of Fame
The biggest thing that I can tell you is to learn how to use the waiver wire and the free agent wire to improve your team all of the time. That is where FF is won in many cases. It's very seldom that a player has such a great draft that he can win a FF league or have the best team with a draft alone. Well not in any league where a bunch of vets are playing that know the ins and outs and if there are 14 members playing, than talent will be spread thin. 10 team leagues suck, because any dumbass can read a mock draft list and pick stars and get lucky. A 14 man league requires a lot more knowledge and research though.
1. DOn't pick your favorite players because you like them. Pick guys on great offenses that get a lot of touches.
2. Play your match ups from week to week depending on what defenses your guys are going up against.
3. Drafting a high end QB in many cases can carry your team to the post season. Brady, Rodgers, and Manning have done that many times for poor teams.
4. Handcuff your RB's.
LondonTex
Waterboy
Sounds great. Tho I'm still getting to grips with the NFL in general so maybe this would be awesome for me after a rookie season in FF, getting used to how it works and getting the basics down pat. A lot of FF seems overwhelming at the mo....all the different ways to score points, stats, players etc. I'm going to have a hard time keeping track of players and filling my starting places in correctly each week ...(I'm guaranteed to make a dumb move by putting an inactive or bye week player in at some point LOL).... I have a feeling my first year will be a 'groping around in the dark' kinda year for me lol....hopefully my second year will be more competitive....having said that, I may surprise my league and win it! Thanks for this tho...I'll keep this in mind
LondonTex
Waterboy
I have a spot free in my rookies ESPN league...I created it and so far have 5 spots (Including me) filled...one left. Give me a message if you want an invite
LondonTex
Waterboy
Thanks ...I wish there was a way to practice waivers and free agency etc...I guess by the end of the first week I'll have a better idea
Dutchrudder
Hall of Fame
Ok, some real advice. Don't put a lot of money on your team your first year. Learn the ropes, learn from your mistakes, learn from others successes, and most importantly have some fun. You probably won't do well your first year or two, I know I didn't, but once you get a handle on things, dive right in with some bigger buy-ins. Personally, I don't spend more than $250 on a single league, because I don't like to gamble that much, but I'm in several 20-50 dollar leagues and they are fun. Only 1 big money league for me to pay close attention too, and the others are mostly for fun.