Fantasy Football For Dummies

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.

• Understand how fantasy football works
• Learn about the various fantasy league options
• Draft and manage your fantasy team, and change your roster effectively week to week
• Maximize your chances of winning with effective tips and strategies

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

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.