Fantasy Football For Dummies. Martin A. Schulman

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ Every NFL team has one week of the season off (the bye week), all players face some tough Matchups, and injuries are sure to rear their ugly head, so your bench will play a huge role in deciding your fantasy fate.

      

Most leagues have roster rules that teams must follow during the draft. For example, you can’t draft only RBs and leave your roster without a TE. The common requirements state that each team must have a complete starting lineup based on league settings, but your bench players can play any position. Some leagues also set bench requirements. Usually, you can carry as many position players as you choose, but some leagues have restrictions to prevent collusion and unfair play. For example, some leagues may limit you to two QBs, two TEs, and two DEFs, with no limit on WRs and RBs.

      Rating players with the fantasy formula

      How do you know whom to draft and which players at each position are right for your team? Every league provider and fantasy expert site pre-ranks the players for you from top to bottom. These lists of players are also referred to as pre-rankings or cheat sheets. They’re quick reference tools you can use when deciding which player to draft next. (Check out Chapter 4 for more on cheat sheets.)

      

In order to excel at fantasy football, you need to become your own expert, study the NFL, and trust your own instincts. How do the experts determine their rankings and predict which players will be fantasy stars? They use an equation that I call the fantasy formula:

      Skill + Opportunity = Success

      When researching the NFL, you’ll be looking for the players with the talents needed to excel and whose teams give them chances to use those skills. I emphasize the fantasy formula in Chapters 5, 6, and 7, which explain how to scout the league and pre-rank all the best players by position. Chapters 8 and 9 discuss important strategies for you to undertake during the draft and help you pick the best available players for your roster.

Your New Day Job: Managing Your Team Week by Week

      After you draft your roster and talk trash about your league mates’ picks while proclaiming your dominance, you can’t just sit there and do nothing with your team. If you do, you’ll be the one on the butt end of the jokes. If you want to win your league, you have to be proactive and manage your team each week. This section briefly covers the important pointers to remember when managing your team on a weekly basis. Chapters 10 and 11 give you a rundown.

      Setting your lineup

      The most important responsibility a fantasy coach has is to field the best possible team every week. Even if the real world demands much of your time or your team has a losing record, your league’s integrity depends on each coach playing to win for the entire season.

      

The easiest way to stay in the game and in the championship picture is to make sure you have a complete and competitive lineup before the NFL games begin each week. Here are some of the common reasons why you need to change your starting lineup each week to stay competitive:

       Injuries: Injuries happen in the NFL each week, and they’re part of what makes fantasy football challenging. If your best player gets knocked out for the season, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a worthy replacement. However, with a little research and by counting on your draft depth, you can insert capable players into your lineup each week.

       Matchups: Each fantasy team has a core of star players that must start every week when healthy. But when making choices at your other lineup positions, you need to consider each NFL game and which of those Matchups are more likely to give your fantasy players the best chance to produce. Researching Matchups is the key to making the best possible lineup choices every week. (For more on playing the Matchups, see Chapter 10.)

       Bye weeks: During the season, each NFL team has one week off (its bye week); you need to bench a team’s players during its bye week in favor of active players on your bench. If you prepare for your draft correctly, these open dates won’t come as a surprise, and your bench players will be ready to contribute.

       Performance: Athletes tend to play in streaks, either hot or cold. When making the tougher lineup decisions, you can check the stats for the last few games and see who’s playing well and who needs to take a seat on your bench.

      Making changes to your roster

      The squad you draft won’t be perfect. It may not be balanced, and your players probably won’t stay healthy for the whole year; therefore, you need to make roster changes during the season. As a fantasy coach, you’re more like a virtual general manager in this way. Of course, the real question is when to change your roster in order to improve your team. The following sections let you know your basic options for changing your roster during the season.

      

Every league provider has different default rules governing player movement, but you can generally adjust your roster right up until game time. In addition, private league commissioners can add to or modify these rules as they see fit. For example, some leagues make all non-rostered players available only on waivers, and others stipulate that adds/drops must be done by using a blind offering system (see Chapter 11). More restrictive league rules make your job more difficult. Always know your league rules and settings before you draft your team and play the game.

      Adding and dropping players

      During the season, you can add or drop players to replace injured players or to upgrade at positions of need (where your draft left you thin or where players are underperforming). You can add or drop players in one of two ways (see Chapter 11 for more):

       The free agency pool: In Yahoo! default leagues, all undrafted fantasy players begin the season as free agents, which means they’re available to be added to your roster at any time. You can swap any player on your roster for any free agent player, using your league’s list of available players. Simply create an open roster slot by dropping one of your current players and then adding the new player. Many free agent pickups will surprise you and become staples in your lineup, so making good adds/drops is one of the keys to fantasy success.

       The waiver wire: If another team drops a player, the player goes on waivers for a limited time before becoming a free agent. This means all coaches have a set amount of time (usually two days) to decide if they want to add him to their teams. In order to add a player СКАЧАТЬ