Hey Ya'll, its 2013 and it is fantasy football season again. I don't know how many people on this site follow American football or how many of that subset play fantasy football, but hey I didn't closely follow football or care about fantasy until I got roped in to a fantasy league with my college roommate. I found that, once I got into fantasy football, a healthy appreciation for game systems and stat min-maxing can make up for a lack of general football knowledge. It is with my own early days in mind that I decided to write this guide for my fellow bombers who might not be gridiron positive, but have an interest in trying out fantasy football. In this post I will lay out some general resource management tips to consider. I hope you find this post useful, or at the very least entertaining.
Now on to the football!
Resources
In fantasy football there are really two different ways your resource management skills will be tested, during a draft/auction and during week to week roster changes. I'm not going to go into drafting because there is a cottage industry dedicated to helping people draft, and honestly if I step on their turf I think some guy named Mondo is going to come break my thumbs. If you are looking for draft advice I recommend stepping outside or turning on a tv.
I will, however, venture bravely into the field of week to week roster changes. In week to week fantasy football you really only have three resources: players, roster spots, and time. Deciding on which players to start and bench every week is better discussed when the season is actually happening, so I'm gonna skip it today. Instead, I'll discuss trading players. Remember that trades are some of the best ways to make your team better, as most of the great players in the NFL will be drafted, and therefore unavailable via any other means. After your fantasy draft is over I advise that you keep a mental note of who owns the players that you like, but were unable to draft. Then keep a tally of which of your players are providing starter quality output:10-20 points per week for running-backs and wide-receivers and 15-25 points per week for quarterbacks (no one will trade anything good for defenses or kickers I promise you). You should routinely offer any surplus starters you have for any starter you like and need from other owners. Remember, most leagues only allow 1 qb, 2 2b, 2 wr, 1 rb/wr, 1 defense, and one kicker. If giving up your fourth best running back gets you a start-able wide receiver then why not make the trade. There are no bonus points for having the strongest bench in the league.
Now let's talk about the two more esoteric aspects of fantasy football ownership: roster spots and time. Put simply, each owner in fantasy football has a finite inventory; yes, fantasy football has encumbrance. In a standard league each player only has 16 roster spots, meaning that simply having an available spot is a really valuable commodity. I like to have at least one or two roster spots be "free spots." Now a free spot is not literally empty, but it is occupied by an unproven player who I am betting will do well this year, but have no real long term commitment to. I will drop players in "free spots" like a testicle during puberty. Breaking news: this year there will be some back-up running back or wide reciever that blows up like mentos and diet coke a few weeks into the season. It is at this point that the value of a "free spot" becomes obvious, the player who does not give an f about dropping players will pick up that flash in the pan player and run with him. On the other hand, the owner who treats their roster as a set commodity will be too reluctant to part with their precious players to pick up the hot new shit. Just make peace with the fact that 2 spots on your roster should be completely fungible.
The last aspect of today's lesson is time. Fact: the NFL season is 17 weeks long. Fact: that is not a long time. Considering the fact that most fantasy football seasons end in week 16, there is even less time that you need to worry about. With that in mind ask yourself, is it worth waiting 6 weeks for an injured player to come back from their ruptured spleen. Now if the injured player is your number 1 running-back or quarterback then sure, by all means wait. But if the injured player was a bench guy, then why wait for them? Chances are you can get a guy with two working legs who has similar talents off of wavers. The football season is short, so accept that you should not wait for your injured player to come back and be 10% better than a player you could get for free.
Tomorrow I will go over player archetypes to look out for. Peace.
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