Hey everyone! I’ve joined the pristine group of Razzball Fantasy contributors to shine a light on the Fantasy Football season in hopes that you heed my words of wisdom and win your leagues.
In terms of specific players and projections, I will leave that to the other writers who are doing a magnificent job. My focus today will be on the draft itself and why it is so very important for you to do adequate homework before you head into your draft lobby. Nobody likes sitting there in a draft when you’re on the clock and you are completely clueless as to who you should draft, forcing you to panic-pick someone overrated that will end up on the waiver wire after Week 2.
In the words of wisdom from a great fantasy football player:
“You can’t win your league in the first three rounds of a draft, but you can lose your league in those rounds.” – Myself, obviously.
So what do I mean when I refer to “homework”? Â This post is going to focus on topics you need to be privy to before draft day…
Scoring
This is kind of obvious. If you’re in a PPR or 1/2PPR league, then the value of certain players will obviously be higher. Make sure at least a week before your draft you understand how the scoring works. An underrated scoring bonus for RB’s is runs of 10+ yards. If you’re in a league like this, you should try and focus on RB’s who get those types of gallops. For reference, LeSean McCoy (BUF) and Ezekiel Elliott (DAL) were tied for the most of such runs (Although McCoy had roughly 80 fewer carries). Those would be players, if your league scores in this way, that should be moving UP your draft board.
Draft Position & Format
Another pretty straightforward concept that relates to the previous topic. Where are you picking in your draft? How many starters do you have? What is the situation regarding your flex position? Are you limited to a certain amount of waiver wire transactions you can make? These are questions you need thorough answers for instead of mere one-word responses. Someone picking 10th in a 10-man league will have a much different approach than someone picking in the top-3.
Gameplan & Strategy
If at any point I come off as bragging and smug, it’s because I am. All the rave three years ago was to load up on RB’s with your first several picks because they were the most reliable. I was picking 10th in that draft in a 10-man league non-PPR. I didn’t like any of the RB’s available to me and the draft lined up. Antonio Brown and Julio Jones were both on the board. So I drafted both with picks 10 and 11. I caught a lot of shit during the draft for that. As you can imagine, I ran train on the rest of the league and got by with scrappy 3rd down RB’s who didn’t lose me weeks and allowed my stacked WR corps (Also had DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins) carry the team to a title. Then everyone and their mother started to realize that the Zero-RB approach (load up on WR/TE/QB early and wait on RB’s) was actually very strong from a strategic perspective. So last year, if you look at draft results and ADP (Average Draft Position), you’ll find a high priority on WR in the early rounds. Last year was a great year to actually go RB heavy early on. These Zero-whatever approaches are only effective if you’re countering the flow of the draft you are in.
So how does this apply to your draft in the upcoming month? Well I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but the Zero-whatever strategy this season will be quite difficult to pull off. The first two rounds are very much 50/50 in terms of RB/WR value. A position-based approach is more likely to succeed if you’re picking later in the round and notice a trend. This is why you need to do your homework before the draft. Have a gameplan for your early picks. Researching where you can get value for your entire roster in instrumental in having a contending team come Thanksgiving weekend.
The Competition
If you play in a league with your friends, then you should know how they will likely act in a given situation. Is there a player in your league that loves a player you have your eye on? If so, then you need to anticipate that and determine how high you’re willing to draft that player to ensure that you get him. Is there a drafter who loves taking a QB in the first two rounds? If so, then account for that when projecting what other players might fall to your draft slot. Simple things like this can go a long way in winning your draft.
Thanks for reading everyone. I’ll answer any questions you may have in the comments section below. My next article will focus on the trades and suspension news from last Friday and how they should impact those players’ ADP…
You can follow Reid on Twitter @reidkash17!
