Board 8 > Doing a fantasy football draft tomorrow

(+) Yeah! (+)

Does anyone have any recommendations to read up on draft priorities and the such? I've never done fantasy football before.
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Shaduln posted...

Does anyone have any recommendations to read up on draft priorities and the such? I've never done fantasy football before.

Draft defense and kickers last (unless your league does individual defensive players, which I have no experience with)

Don't take a QB in the first few rounds. Newbies tend to overvalue them and the advantage of having the #1 QB compared to the #12 QB is smaller than the relative advantage of having the #1 RB or WR compared to the 2nd tier.

I'm no pro but that's some basic advice that's probably helpful.

Another very important thing is does your league do Points Per Reception (PPR) scoring? Usually it's 1PPR, 0.5PPR, or 0 ("Standard")

It has a big impact on the value of RBs and WRs based on how their offense utilizes them.

turbopuns2 posted...

Shaduln posted...

Does anyone have any recommendations to read up on draft priorities and the such? I've never done fantasy football before.

Draft defense and kickers last (unless your league does individual defensive players, which I have no experience with)

Don't take a QB in the first few rounds. Newbies tend to overvalue them and the advantage of having the #1 QB compared to the #12 QB is smaller than the relative advantage of having the #1 RB or WR compared to the 2nd tier.

I'm no pro but that's some basic advice that's probably helpful.

This is all good advice.

I wouldn't worry about bye weeks early on in the draft. The goal is to stack up on the best talent available. Your team may look completely different with injuries and trades by week 10, so don't worry if both your RB have the same bye week.

If you're interested in doing some reading, Yahoo has a hub article that links to all of their rankings and other potentially interesting articles on sleepers/busts, etc.

https://sports.yahoo.com/yahoos-2018-fantasy-football-draft-kit-rankings-sleepers-busts-221650878.html

I just did my first (of three) drafts earlier tonight for a money league, and the above link definitely helped me out.
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turbopuns2 posted...

Another very important thing is does your league do Points Per Reception (PPR) scoring? Usually it's 1PPR, 0.5PPR, or 0 ("Standard")

Yahoo actually has started using 0.5 PPR as their standard, however if you're in a league that has been going on for a few years, they still might be using 0, or a different amount altogether.

This also assumes you're playing on Yahoo.
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davidponte posted...

Your team may look completely different with injuries and trades by week 10, so don't worry if both your RB have the same bye week.

On that note....seek external advice before accepting any trades.

oh yes. absolutely take Kickers/Defense last 2 picks. theyre all basically the same and you can swap them week to week based on matchups
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I have pretty much solely used fantasypros.com tools with a bit of my own knowledge mixed in. I usually play in 3 leagues a season (but have done 4 before) and I'm easily the most successful player in all my leagues.

Don't even need to pay for it, just using the tools available for free is enough to beat the vast majority of players

Also it's hard to judge in a draft but be careful about having too many boom or bust players. It is far better to consistently score above average than it is to bounce up and down in scores each week. That's more in season advice than draft advice

I see it every year where people complain about missing out on the playoffs despite having a higher weekly average than some teams in the playoffs. Then you look at their team and it's because they are yo-yoing between like 80 points and 180 points whereas a steady score of 130 points each week would have seen them win far more matches. You don't get bonus points for blowing out your opponent.

It's also hard for a boom or bust teams to string together the required number of wins in the playoffs (depending on playoff format)

As far as tight ends go, I'm pretty sure prevailing wisdom is that you either take Gronkowski in like the 3rd or 4th or you put it off until you have your RB and WR cores in place. Which iirc is basically the way people treat QBs (with Rodgers as the Gronk equivalent)

Somebody else can correct me if I'm wrong <_<
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Kelce has put up consistent WR like numbers for years so he's usually picked high too. But with a new QB this year, not sure I'd take the risk

This year in particular I would not even think about drafting a QB until very late. The QB class is incredibly stacked and it will be easy to get a great one even after 10 have been taken. Definitely focus on getting RB and WR filled out first.
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Reg posted...

As far as tight ends go, I'm pretty sure prevailing wisdom is that you either take Gronkowski in like the 3rd or 4th or you put it off until you have your RB and WR cores in place. Which iirc is basically the way people treat QBs (with Rodgers as the Gronk equivalent)

Somebody else can correct me if I'm wrong <_<

Yeah that's typically how it goes. Someone will take Gronk early (typically 3rd round, but I've seen him taken in the 2nd before), and a run on TEs will start. Ditto with defense; the top unit will often go late 3rd-mid 4th, and it'll start a run on Ds.

Get a solid defense, but a strategy I've found effective is to keep an open roster spot and pick up a defense off the wire that has a particularly good matchup: maybe versus a rookie or back-up QB. Also keep in mind: the special teams contributes points to your defense's score: so if there's a squad with a returner lighting up teams on punts/kickoffs take that into consideration while scouring the waiver wire.
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I considered mentioning Kelce and Ertz there, but both of them have QB question marks unless you expect Wentz to both be 100% healthy and put up the numbers he did last year.
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Always check your lineup Thursday morning/afternoon.

You don't want to get caught sleeping and have someone locked into your bench or into your starting lineup because they played the early game that week and you weren't paying attention.

As far as drafting goes, just go read some big boards as to who is going where on average, and get a feel for who you want. Also keep in mind how soon your draft room actually opens on draft night. Some leagues don't have the draft order set until the room is open, so if you can get there soon after it does, you can see where you pick and kind of formulate your strategy based on what you've read before the draft actually starts.

If you aren't familiar, most drafts are snake, which is 1-10, 10-1, 1-10, etc. So if you pick like 8th-10th, don't be afraid to reach for someone with that 2nd pick in the pair within reason, because it's gonna be a while before you can pick again. IE if you pick 10th, you have picks 10, 11, 30, 31, 50, etc. So if you see someone at like #20, don't be afraid to reach for it with that 11th spot pick, because chances are he'll be gone by the time pick #30 rolls around.
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If you're not in a keeper league, do not be afraid to drop/trade underperformers. People are always afraid to drop so-and-so because of their name and "They might get hot!" but if they're continually underperforming by a noticeable amount and you see somebody better, go for it. Potential doesn't mean crap in fantasy football.

This especially comes into play as you near the playoffs, where big names tend to sit out some if they're not playing for a playoff spot, anyway.

EDIT: That said, the real big names tend to make fantastic trade bait, 'cuz you almost always have atleast one guy who doesn't care how badly X is doing and wants them because they're X.
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I started Mike Evans for something like 12/14 games last year

It was bad.

Listen to SEP
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be active on the waiver wire. you can look up a few waiver wire articles (Its good to get a lot of different opinons for these) each Tuesday after the games are over for recommendations at positions you need
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Never draft a QB before the 8th round. Wait even longer and youll be better off. Same goes for TEs but just make sure you get one of the last of the good ones (ex: Rudolph, Burton, Njoku).

Prioritize RBs over WRs in the first 5 rounds. There are a bunch of good WRs you can get late.
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Also, listen to the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Best of luck!
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I think I did ok! 8 didn't draft my qb until 10th round and got Stafford which seems fine.

I probably took a TE too soon but everyone else was taking them and there weren't going to be any decent ones left.
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