Fantasy Football: Post-Draft Strategy
When I was a young lad, I constantly wondered what it was about the NFL that had adult males glued to the television every Sunday. Now that I am in my roaring twenties, I understand it. But what makes our generation even bigger NFL guru’s is the fact we all get to be General Mangers of a Fantasy Football team, or twelve. Of course it’s necessary to sit all day in front of a big screen TV that gives off the highest definition of viewing quality! My quarterback is out there man! That’s my running-back too!
Over the next season, myself, as well as other Rant Sports writers will be sharing our knowledge and opinions regarding Fantasy Football and seeing that Rant Sports Fantasy Football Mock Drafts have also been going on, I feel it’s fitting to write some post-draft strategy.
Fantasy Football is a lot like poker. For years I played poker semi-professionally and I see several similarities to FF. There are factors you can control, and factors that you can’t control that will go awry at some point in your season. The key is to make as many correct decisions as possible to sway the edge in your favor.
Have Value In More Than Just Your Starters!
Drafting is obviously important but with all the pre-draft rankings and draft strategy content out there it’s more difficult to have an edge against opposing General Mangers. I am generally one of the more active GM’s throughout the season when it comes to waiver-wire acquisitions and/or trades. Continually filling your bench with valuable players throughout the season is important. Even if you’re not using a player in that particular week, you can pick this player up off the wire, keeping him out of other GM’s rosters. I am constantly trying to acquire solid, or hot players on the wire. Don’t leave dead or injured weight on your bench!
Plan Ahead!
Make sure you know what weeks you will be shorthanded due to player bye-weeks, and also be aware of favorable free-agent match-ups. Take a look at your opponent’s match-ups as well. If your weekly opponent has a RB or WR on a bye-week, go take the best RB or WR off the free-agent wire. Make things difficult for opposing GM’s at all costs.
Think Outside The Box!
Like I said before, with all the draft strategy content out there, it’s become more difficult to really dominate your draft if there are adequate General Managers in your league. With that said, I am always trying to come up with new ideas or trends that could put me ahead of the pack in my draft.
For example, the key to my success in a 13-1 fantasy season I had was a unique risk I took during the draft. ( Yes, the one loss I took that season came in the Championship, ALA New England Patriots) I was the first GM to take a defense off the board with the Baltimore Ravens. A couple rounds later, I took the second defense off the board by drafting the Pittsburgh Steelers. Depending on match-ups, I started one of the two monster defenses each week and it paid off greatly. Of course it’s not “standard” to take two defenses of such power, but I did it, and it worked. Depending on how much gamble or accurate intuition you have, it’s sometimes worth a shot to do something out of the norm.
Check out some of the Mock Draft squads I drafted along with analysis.
Rant Sports Mock Draft Team One
Rant Sports Mock Draft Team Two
Paul Bentley is a contributor to Rant Sports
Follow Bentley on Twitter at @KKingBentley
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