Fantasy Football has grown from a niche game played by a small number of fans to a billion dollar industry with millions of fans and support from every major sports news and entertainment company. Although fantasy football has gone mainstream, there are plenty of people who are still sitting on the sidelines eager to join in on the fun but aren’t sure how to play or where to start. The goal of this article is to provide a beginner’s guide on how to play fantasy football for those people who are close.
What is fantasy football?
Fantasy Football is a game that is played in conjunction with live NFL games. If a player on your fantasy team scores a touchdown or gains yards in a real life game, you receive points for your fantasy team. The game enhances the overall appeal of watching NFL games because each game becomes more exciting if your fantasy player is playing. Also, many leagues are played for money or prizes, which adds another element of excitement.
Fantasy owners play a set number of players each week in a head-to-head contest against another owner, with the winning team getting the most points that week. At the end of the regular season, the top four or six teams participate in a playoff to determine the winner. A typical team includes a quarterback, two or three wide receivers, two running backs, a tight end, a kicker, and a defenseman/special team.
How to join a league
The exponential growth of fantasy football over the past decade has resulted in the creation of hundreds of free fantasy football websites, including ESPN, Yahoo, NFL, CBS, and Fox Sports. Most of the bigger sites, like Yahoo and ESPN, offer completely free leagues, including premium features like live drafts and real-time stat tracking. Although all websites require you to create a profile that requires certain personal information, most allow you to decline email requests, limiting the possibility of spam.
When you sign up for a league, you have the option to create a private league with friends or you can join an existing public league. Leagues typically have 8-14 teams, with most websites using a standard 10-team format.
draft tips
There are two common draft types used by most fantasy sites: the snake draft and the auction format. With a meandering draft, owners take turns choosing concession players, with the first owner getting the first overall pick in the first round and the last pick in the second round. This format is by far the most common type of draft; however, it tends to reward those who are lucky enough to get a high pick in the draft. To combat this problem, some leagues opt for the auction format, which gives each owner the same amount of draft money to use on players. Any player can be drafted as long as the owner is willing to spend the money, however the finite budget prohibits any team from racking up top-tier players. Although auction drafts are fun, they are somewhat of a challenge and I don’t recommend them for beginners.
When drafting, the most important rule is to use your first picks on featured players who provide consistent points. These players should be proven stars who will form the foundation of your team. The middle rounds are where an owner can pick support players, including second and third line running backs and wide receivers to complement their star picks selected in the early rounds. The final rounds of the draft should be used to fill in gaps on your roster, or to use picks on potential value picks or sleepers. Sleepers are unknown players who are low risk as bench players but can become studs.
Bank transfer/free agents
Players who are not drafted are placed in the free agent/exempt transfer pool. Free agents can be chosen throughout the year by any owner; however, that owner must remove another player from their team to free up roster space. If a player is released, he is placed on “exemptions” for a few days, per league rules. The best player in exemption priority gets the first claim on that player. Relinquishment priority is usually set in reverse draft order, with the last player receiving the first relinquishment priority rank. When an owner uses his relinquish pick on a player, he is moved to the bottom of the relinquish list for future picks. Waiver priority can become crucial if a star player goes down creating a lucrative player available on the wire.
Trade
One of the most entertaining aspects of fantasy football is trading players and negotiating deals with other owners. Depending on how you select, you may have a surplus of players in a position that will give you the advantage to make a trade to strengthen your team by improving a weak point. Also, picking available players on the waiver wire when their value is low and then trading them when they become valuable is another great way to improve your team.
Many new fantasy owners are afraid to negotiate because they are worried about going wrong with the deal. The truth is that most deals are lopsided due to injury or bad luck; however, this should not prevent a person from making a trade. It’s fun to roll the dice in a trade hoping to come out on top, and it’s a great way to strengthen your team by taking advantage of depth to improve areas of weakness.
