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Get in the game and start building your dream team
Millions of people worldwide play fantasy football, and you can join the fun with Fantasy Football For Dummies. We’ll teach you the basics and give you the skills you need to create and manage your ultimate fantasy team. Learn how to scout and draft players, use the best strategies to compete against other fantasy owners, and win your fantasy league championship. You can easily manage your team and stay up to date on player stats with the how-tos and insider tips in this book. Check out this fun and entertaining guide to fantasy football and you’ll be on your way to becoming a successful fantasy team owner, manager, and coach.
This Dummies guide—updated with the latest apps and rule changes—is for the millions of people who are already playing fantasy football today and want to improve their fantasy league performance, and it’s perfect for beginners interested in joining a league and learning the basics. Yes—that means you!
Martin Schulman is an experienced entertainment executive overseeing production teams that distribute over 5,000 pieces of original digital content each year. He is VP of Video Production at Industrial Color Studios and is a fantasy football fanatic.
Introduction 1
About This Book 2
Conventions Used in This Book 2
What You’re Not to Read 3
Foolish Assumptions 4
How This Book Is Organized 4
Part 1: The Xs and Os of Fantasy Football: Just the Basics, Please 4
Part 2: Advanced Scouting and Drafting Secrets 5
Part 3: Let the Games Begin: In-Season Strategy Guide 5
Part 4: Daily Fantasy Football – A New Draft Every Week 5
Part 5: The Part of Tens 6
Icons Used in This Book 6
Where to Go from Here 7
Part 1: The Xs And Os Of Fantasy Football: Just The Basics, Please 9
Chapter 1: The Reality of Fantasy Football: What’s It All About? 11
Understanding Fantasy Football: A Quick Overview 12
How fantasy and the NFL differ 12
How to play fantasy football 13
How scoring makes you a winner 14
How important fantasy terms keep you in the loop 16
Recognizing That Fantasy Success Starts with the Draft 18
What draft? Am I joining the Army? 18
Identifying the two types of drafts 19
Drafting the Right Players for Your Roster 21
Breaking down positions 22
Rating players with the fantasy formula 23
Your New Day Job: Managing Your Team Week by Week 24
Setting your lineup 24
Making changes to your roster 25
Striving for the fantasy championship 27
Are You Ready to Play? 28
Chapter 2: Just Score, Baby: The Name of the Fantasy Game 29
Scoring 101: Only the Basics 30
The Proof’s in the Points: Offensive Fantasy Scoring 31
Running backs 31
Wide receivers 33
Quarterbacks 34
Tight ends 35
Kickers 35
Shooting for Shutouts: Scoring with Defense 36
Dissecting team defense scoring 37
Getting advanced with IDP scoring 38
You versus Who? Knowing the Scoring Format 40
Head-to-head leagues 40
Points leagues 41
Chapter 3: Finding a League Right for You 43
Understanding Your League Options: Public or Private 44
Entering the public domain: Anyone can play 44
Joining the private sector: An invitation required 46
Identifying Other Important Considerations 48
Picking Your League: The How-To 50
How committed are you? 50
How much do you know? 52
Why are you playing? For love or money? 54
Starting Your Own League: You Want to Be a
Commissioner? 56
What a commish does: The basics 57
Chapter 4: Preparing for Your Fantasy Draft 63
Dissecting the Two Main Draft Types 64
Riding the snake: The standard fantasy draft 65
Going once, twice: The salary cap draft 68
Mastering Your Domain: Focus on League Rules and Settings 70
Roster requirements 71
Size matters: How big is your league? 71
Checking your league’s discard pile 74
Scoring system: Look for loopholes 76
Cheat sheets: Fantasy’s version of crib notes 78
Identifying and Preparing Your Draft Venue 83
Drafting online 83
Drafting offline 84
Practicing with a Mock Draft 87
Joining a Practice League 88
Researching the NFL: The Real Key to Fantasy Success 89
Part 2: Advanced Scouting And Drafting Secrets 91
Chapter 5: Scouting Running Backs and Quarterbacks 93
Running Backs: Riding the Workhorses of Fantasy Football 94
Recognizing the importance of RBs 94
Rushing to find the good RBs 96
Other dilemmas when pre-ranking the RBs 101
Quarterbacks: Counting on the Arms of the Field Generals 103
Contemplating the value of a good quarterback 104
Uncovering a good QB 105
Chapter 6: Scouting Wide Receivers and Tight Ends for Starters and FLEX 111
Eyeing the Go-To Guys: Wide Receivers 112
Finding a few good WRs: Don’t miss the “target” 113
Capitalizing on a WR’s breakout year 118
Blocking Bore or Big-Time Threat? Picking Tight Ends 119
TE fantasy production: Feast or famine 120
Digging for gold: Finding useful TEs, not just the elite ones 120
Mr Versatile: Consider the FLEX 123
Chapter 7: Scouting Kickers and Defenders 127
Nailing the Field Goals and Extra Points: The Kickers 128
Going with a kicker: The deepest position 128
Eyeing a kicker’s chances 129
Selecting just one kicker: No more, and not early 130
Guarding the Gridiron: The Team Defenses 131
Spotting the important factors 132
Identifying the starting 11: Look for the superstars 133
IDP: The pursuit of tackles, sacks, and picks 135
Chapter 8: Incorporating Important Draft Strategies into Your Game 141
Why Strategy Is Important in Fantasy Drafts 142
Identifying the Most Popular Draft Strategies 144
Taking two RBs: The star-RB theory 144
Drafting for best value: The best-available-player theory 145
Taking elite WRs ahead of average RBs: The star-WR theory 147
Punting the other positions to the mid to late rounds 149
Applying the Draft Strategies: Who to Pick and When 152
Building your core early 153
Moving and shaking in the middle 159
Finishing strong late 163
Manipulating Your Budget during a Salary Cap Draft 168
Preparing for a salary cap draft 168
Eyeing key salary cap strategies 171
Chapter 9: Considering Other Draft Tactics to Build a Winning Team 175
Avoiding Personal Biases 176
Don’t overdraft your favorite team’s players 176
Do consent to drafting players you dislike 177
Don’t live in the “fantasy” past 178
Drafting Your Stars’ Backups as Insurance Policies 178
Backup Insurance Policy strategy by position 179
Knowing which insurance policies are worth drafting 182
Considering Rookies: Are the Top Rookies Worth Drafting? 183
Rookie running backs 184
Rookie wide receivers 185
Rookie quarterbacks 185
Rookie tight ends 186
Rookie kickers 187
Thinking Ahead to the Fantasy Playoffs 187
Knowing what to look for 188
Getting the edge: The how-to 189
Part 3: Let The Games Begin: In-Season Strategy Guide 191
Chapter 10: Setting Your Weekly Starting Lineup 193
Why Reviewing Your Roster Is Vital 194
Reasons Why You May Need to Adjust Your Lineup 194
Checking the injury reports 195
Replacing players on their bye weeks 199
Making the NFL matchups work 199
Taking managerial advice from Mother Nature 202
The How-To: Making the Actual Adjustments 204
When to bench your stars 205
When to start your scrubs 206
Replacing RBs, WRs, and QBs 207
Replacing TEs, Ks, and DEFs 208
Meeting Your Lineup Deadlines 209
Hitting the Film Room: Using Media to Your Advantage 210
Watching the games on television 210
Turning to the printed word 212
Surfing the Net 212
Chapter 11: Acquiring Players via Free Agency, Waivers, and Trades 215
Investigating Free Agency 216
Open access: Diving into the free agent pool 216
Restricted free agent access: No diving allowed 218
Walking the Waiver Wire 219
How to use the waiver wire 219
Using your waiver moves wisely 221
All the Right Moves: Tips for Adding to Your Roster 222
Is he a breakout player or a one-week wonder? 223
Fishing or cutting bait (trading or dropping underachievers) 224
Making a Trade Offer: The Art of the Deal 225
Determining trade values 226
Trading from strength 227
Reviewing the basic types of trades and how to make them 227
How to make a trade offer 230
Offering trades, off your provider 232
Getting league approval for a trade 233
Understanding your fellow coaches: Trading to your advantage 234
Working the trade deadline 237
Chapter 12: Finishing Strong: Down the Stretch to the Fantasy Playoffs 243
Welcome to the Show: The Fantasy Football Playoffs 244
Getting in and going forward 244
Timing and structure of the playoffs 246
Playoff action by league 246
Aiming for the Playoffs: Ways to Improve Your Roster 250
Zeroing in on the matchups 250
Adjusting your bench after the NFL bye weeks 251
Continuing to coach 252
Setting Your Playoff Starting Lineup 253
Reaching the Big Kahuna: The Fantasy Title Game 255
Help! My star is resting up for the NFL playoffs 255
Taking the booty: Prizes and pride 256
Part 4: Daily Fantasy Football: A New Draft Every Week 257
Chapter 13: Place Your Bets: Fantasy Football Style 259
Legalized Gambling? Not Quite 260
Understanding What Makes Daily Fantasy Sports Different from Standard Fantasy Football 261
Using the Daily Fantasy Big Two: DraftKings and FanDuel 263
Getting Started 263
Signing up with a provider 264
Setting up your bankroll 264
Getting through your first few games 264
Guaranteed contests 265
Multi-entry contests 266
Single-entry contests 266
Bankroll Management 267
Understanding the 70/30 Rule 268
Growing your bankroll 269
Improve by studying the crowd 269
Surviving coldstreaks 270
Gambling Responsibly 270
Chapter 14: Finding Your Game: Standard Contest Types 273
Playing the Big Three Classic Contest Types 274
The bread and butter of DFS: 50/50s 274
A familiar favorite: H2H 277
Using Strategies for Winning Cash Games: H2H or 50/50s 278
Quarterbacks 279
Wide receivers 279
Running backs 280
Tight ends 280
Kickers 280
Defense/special teams 281
Guaranteed Prize Pool Tournaments: Big Payouts and Bigger Challenges 282
Entering multiple lineups 283
Embracing variance 284
Stacking players 284
Chasing high ceiling/low floor players 285
Doing your research 285
Employing Draft Strategies for Winning GPPs 286
Wide receivers 286
Running backs 287
Quarterbacks 287
Tight ends 288
Kickers 288
Defense/special teams 289
Other Popular Contests Worth Checking Out 289
Tiers 289
Satellites and qualifiers 290
Private friends only 290
Showdowns 290
Key strategies for showdowns 291
Chapter 15: Virtual Salary Cap: Advanced Play Strategies 293
Understanding Value 293
Using points per dollar 295
Knowing opportunity costs 296
Understanding positional scarcity 297
Using the stars and scrubs strategy 298
Controlling Exposure 299
Being Contrarian 300
Fading 302
Stacking 304
Employing Hedge Lineups 305
Chapter 16: Scoring the Right DFS Provider: FanDuel versus DraftKings and More 307
Playing on DraftKings: A How-to Guide 308
Finding the right contest or tournament for you 311
Entering a contest or tournament 313
Tracking your winnings and losses 314
FanDuel in the Sun: A How-to Guide 314
Entering a contest or tournament 316
Tracking your winnings and losses 317
DraftKings versus FanDuel: Which Is the Victor? 317
Playing on Yahoo! Fantasy 318
Monkey Knife Fight: Fantasy for the Rest of Us 319
So Which Service Is for You? 320
Part 5: The Part Of Tens 321
Chapter 17: Ten Quick Fixes to Make the Day after Your Draft 323
Look for Bye-Week Problems 323
Replace Injured Players 324
Assess Your Team’s Strengths 325
Know Your Team’s Weaknesses 325
Swim in the Free Agent Pool 325
Trading from Surplus 326
Find Trading Partners 326
Know Your Opponents’ Rosters 326
Upgrade Your Kicker and Defense Positions 327
If It Isn’t Broken, Don’t Fix It 327
Chapter 18: Ten Rookie Mistakes to Avoid 329
Taking a Kicker Too Early 329
Drafting a Team DEF Too Early 330
Picking a QB Too Early 330
Selecting Players with the Same Bye Week 331
Ignoring the NFL Schedule 331
Trash Talking Too Much 332
Failing to Create or Neglecting Your Cheat Sheets 332
Ignoring Injury Updates 333
Missing the Draft Entirely 334
Believing the Fantasy Hype 334
Chapter 19: Ten Daily Fantasy Tips and Tricks 335
Picking Your Provider 335
Knowing the Differences between Cash Games and Tournaments 336
Your Bankroll Is Your Lifeblood 337
Drafting for the Moment 337
Understanding Value Is Key to Winning 338
Multi-entries Can Be a Powerful Multiplier 339
Stacking Is Your Friend 340
Guaranteed Contests Can Guarantee Profits 340
Gambling Responsibly 341
Watch Out for the Taxman! 341
Index 343
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