10 Commandments of Fantasy Football
If you can’t tell which league this is, you’re probably going to want to take our suggestions seriously. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Everything you need to know this season
By Bigoa Machar, Publishing Editor
Much like Apple’s terms and conditions that nobody reads, everything in the world that matters has a set of rules. Fantasy Football is no exception. If you’re like me, Fantasy Football season is bigger than Christmas, with many beers to be had and hundreds of dollars to be won. But if you’re being peer pressured into playing Fantasy Football because everyone else is doing it, fear not. I am your shining beacon of hope on what you should and shouldn’t do when drafting the perfect team.
1. Running backs and Wide Receivers are thy god and thou shalt have no other gods before them
RB and WR are the single most important positions in all of Fantasy Football, and if anyone tells you otherwise, they’re a damn fool. Always focus on finding the best of these two positions early on in the draft. Dedicate your first three or four rounds to these gods, and you will reap the blessings of the Odell Beckham Jesus.
2. No, seriously, draft lots of running backs
Whenever I watch the show Hoarders, I can’t help but cringe a little bit when I see just how much of one thing a person can have. This concept is thrown out of the window completely when it comes to running backs in fantasy football. In the NFL, RB’s are by far the most prone to injury out of anyone else. One or two of your RB’s are more likely than not to go down during the course of the year, so be sure that you have at least four or five on your roster at all times.
3. Quarterbacks are the faces of a team, but not the backbone
Despite a QB’s pretty boy looks and swagger, they aren’t the best value picks. Although QB’s are the highest scoring position in Fantasy Football, there’s 32 of them in the league and only one spot on your roster. Depending on the size of your league, the Eli Mannings and Jameis Winstons of the world are still gonna be there in the later rounds, so feel free to stock up early on other positions and take a QB later.
4. Thou shalt not take the name of any player in vain
“Latavius Murray? Never heard of him, so he must not be worth my pick,” said the idiot that took Matt Forte in the third round. Seriously, you casual fans will crush your office pools if you do a little bit of research on lesser known players. Sites like ESPN and Yahoo all hire Fantasy Football experts for a reason; because these nerds know their shit. Advanced stats, projections and expert advice can be your best friend when it comes to finding hidden gems in the depths of the free agent pool.
5. Remember the waiver wire day and keep it holy
Fantasy Football doesn’t end on draft night. In addition to changing your roster on a week to week basis, camping out on the waiver wire can make or break your team during the season. Finding players on hot streaks or replacements for injuries is one of the things that separates the good fantasy football players from the bad. Last year for me my waiver darling was Austin Seferian-Jenkins and the year before it was Odell Beckham Jr. Both of these fellows single handedly won be some matchups, so be sure to camp that waiver wire harder than the line for parking passes at the school.
6. Draft Tight Ends playing for rookie Quarterbacks
Speaking of Austin Seferian-Jenkins, one of the tricks I learned about Fantasy Football is that Tight Ends are a lot like pacifiers. In the same way that a baby finds solace in a pacifier to stop crying, Tight Ends help rookie QB’s deal with the jitters of playing in the NFL. Seferian-Jenkins, Gary Barnidge and Delanie Walker all put up crazy numbers because young QB’s needed that safety net to help them out. This year, Tight Ends like Lance Kendricks, Zach Ertz, and Virgil Green could be guys primed for big years, so keep an eye out for them.
7. Kickers and De- fences can wait
While they are still very important parts of a team, kickers and defences both only take up one spot each on the team, much like Quarterbacks. With a small difference in points between the first and twelfth best kickers in the league, you can usually find quality in rounds 10-12 at that position. Same goes for defence.
8. Good quarterbacks make good players
In some instances, certain players will be the benefactor of a good system. With someone like Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, and Carson Palmer all throwing for more than 4,500 yards last season, someone has to be catching those balls, regardless of how good they are. That means that guys like Brandin Cooks, Keenan Allen, and Michael Floyd could be worth way more than what they’re valued at. Hell, someone like Chris Hogan or Marvin Jones Jr. could pop off all because they play for throw-happy teams.
9. The pool gets deeper when more people go swimming
In larger leagues around 12-14 people, waiver wire Wednesday gets more lit than a Knoxville’s party bus. Quality players are harder to come by in the later rounds and if you’re not careful, you could be stuck with a scrub for the first few weeks. Keep that in mind as you draft and always try to stay ahead of your opponents.
10. Handcuff wisely, my friends
As good as Adrian Peterson is, he’s not the running back he once was. Now sitting at the ripe age of 31, Peterson’s body, more importantly his legs, don’t seem to hold up to the once pristine standards they were once held at. That beings said, his backup, Jerick McKinnon, is primed to get a decent amount of carries if you’re short at running back and could get some work on third down. Drafting backups to injury-prone players may feel like a dirty strategy, but it is a good one. Guys like CJ Spiller, Alfred Morris and Spencer Ware are fantastic picks in deeper drafts and should be considered accordingly
