Fantasy: Fantasy Football advice, 2006 style

It might only be June, but it is time to start thinking about the upcoming NFL season! Let this be the official thread for giving/recieving/debating advice for this season.

For those of us in keeper leagues, the time is drawing near to make decisions on who to keep, and who to drop. I'll start asking ya'll for your opinions shortly...

In the meantime, feel free to jump on here with the questions that you have about the fantasy game, I'll be glad to give you my advice, though whatch what you get, LOL!

[Edited on 7/20/2006 by Gibbs Baby!!!]

I'm not too good with the Football analysis stuff. I usually just set up the pre-draft, and work with the team it gives me. Gave me a first Place win in our ESPN league, and 2nd in a Yahoo League last year. So are we going to actually do a league this year? I still am, after all, the reigning Fantasy Football Champ.

I'm gettin bored with my banner, I'm hoping to pass it on to the next winner. I need to think of something good for a new banner for my sig.

My brother already started his league in yahoo, talk about early. But i guess it is just around the corner. I don't get into the analysis part of it either, i'll take what i get and work with it as is. When do we want to get this ball rolling? If somebody wants to be commissioner go ahead otherwise i can set it up too.

The one league I'm in back home is a keeper league, but I'm gonna have to make some decisions on who to keep and who to drop. I forget all the dirty details right now, but I'll be asking for opinions from ya'll shortly...

OK, we are in the process right now of sending emails around to figure out what we will do as far as keepers in my league. I imagine that it will probably wind up that we will keep 15 players, and then draft 5-8 players in late August.

So I'm to the point of asking for advice.

The starting lineup is 1QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1TE, 1 K, 1 Defense.

Remember, this is a true keeper league, in that we can keep any player for his entire career, so the decision on who to keep also includes the gamble of what kind of career the guy will have.

But please give me any advice/comments on these guys that you have. It is appreciated.

My roster is currently:

Quarterbacks
JP Loseman
Aarron Rogers
Byron Leftwich
Chris Simms

Running Backs
Brandon Jacobs
Willie Parker
Ryan Moats
Kevin Jones
Josh Scobey
Chester Taylor
Eric Shelton

Wide Receiver
Darnerien McCants
Jerome Mathis
Antonio Chatman
Mushin Muhammed
Antwon Randle-El
Darryl Jackson

Tight End
Dallas Clark
Kyle Brady

Kicker
Shaun Suisham
Josh Brown

Team Defense
Baltimore Ravens
Miami Dolphins

I will likely be dropping 8 of those guys.

As of now, I think they will be:

RB Eric Shelton
RB Josh Scobey

WR Darnerien McCants
WR Jerome Mathis
WR Antonio Chatman

TE Kyle Brady

K Shaun Suisham

They are pretty definate drops, IMO. I'm not sure where to go from there. I have a grat batch of young QB's, a good mix of ages with talent at RB, 3 decent WR's (one is great, actually!), and a good kicker and 2 real good defenses.

Any advice form the wise sages out there???

Are we going to do a Fantasy league here this year?

Originally posted by truenorth
Are we going to do a Fantasy league here this year?

It looks like there will be a lot of interest. I see that Yahoo has it available to sign up already, I'll get on this this coming week...

No advice for me out there?

C'mon guys, help a brother out! lol

I'll be listing some position rankings here as I get myself into full "fantasy" mode, although lately I feel as though life has been a fantasy, can you fele the fantasy life?

Originally posted by Gibbs Baby!!!
can you fele the fantasy life?

That's pretty personal man.

Hey, I didn't ask when you're feeling it...

hey man ima do a nfl.com fantasy football and id like to join in on your guys if there is room... keep the fins there gonna be good this year.. .(coming frm a fin fan lol) anyways keep me updated

Gibbs looking at your roster, you really fancy your RB's to do a good enough job?

Originally posted by TRD
Gibbs looking at your roster, you really fancy your RB's to do a good enough job?

Well, remember, I am considering thier careers beyond this year, too. Also, there are 16 teams, and each team gets to keep 15 players, so it's kinda like we'll be starting the draft in the 16th round, the top players in each position will be gone.

But, to answer your question directly, yeah, I think that my top 3 RB's (Parker, Jones, and Taylor) will do me quite well. While all 3 will have some competition in camp for the #1 spot on thier team, they are by far the most talented at the position for each team.

The other 2 guys, Jacobs and Moats, I'm figuring on keeping on potential. Westbrook did an awesome job for the Eagles the last couple of years, but he's rather small, and all those touches are bound to catch up with him sometime, so Moats might have a chance to step right in. Plus, I have a lot of Eagles fans in my league, so he's good trade bait if/when that happens. Jacobs backs up Tiki Barber, who's no spring chicken. IMO, he's more of a question mark, but worth keeping at this point.

At this point, I'm thinking I might go ahead and drop JP Loseman too, but I jus thave a feeling that he'll wind up somewhere and have a great career, whether he stays with the Bills or not. Makes it hard fo rme to drop the guy, ya know?

Gearing up for fantasy football 2006, There are many choices out there, and those reading this probably have a wide variety of experience with fantasy football. So today I'll start my "advice" column (and remember, you're getting what you're paying for, LOL!) with some descriptions of what exactly Fantasy Football is.

Scoring

The first thing you need to find out is how your league keeps score. There is a wide variety of scoring methods out there. A "TD" league will only give your guys points if they score a touchdown, while a "yardage" or "performance" league will give you points for the yards that your players run/catch/throw for. Some leagues will give bonuses for hitting benchmark performances, such as 300 yard passing games.

While every league I've ever been in has given the kicker the extra point, Field Goals are another story. Some give 3 across the board, some provide incentives for the distance of the kick, while one went in 5 point increments for every 10 yards!

Defensive scoring changes even more from league to league. Traditionally, leagues lumped the whole defense unit as one, and scored on the states that the team defense produced. Lately it has become popular for "Individual Defensive Player" scoring, wherein you must draft a certain number of players at each, or just some of, the defensive positions. The statistics that they put up will give you points. Typically you get 1 or 2 points for sacks, fumble recoveries, interceptions, etc. Team scoring may also have performance bonuses for points allowed.

Knowing your leagues scoring system is the essential step in preparing for your draft. Which reminds me...

Drafting

Knowing your scoring system is the essential part of preparing for the draft. The other important ingredient for your draft day preparation is knowing how the draft is set up.

Some leagues don't even draft, but use an "auction"system in which each team is alloted a certain amount of "money" to auction for the players. I have never participated in an auction draft myself, but find the idea intriguing. It would be interesting to see is saving money to put into a team of slightly above average players would compete well against a team that blows all of their money on one or two big name guys.

If your league uses a regular draft,though, there is still room for variations. Some draft are "sinuous", so the order goes from #1 to # 12, then the next round #12 to #1, etc.

Another consideration of the draft is if the league is a "keeper" league. This means that the team owners get to keep a certain number of players from one year to the next. Other terms that describe this kind of league are "dynasty" and

Again, variety is the spice of the game here. I'm currently in 2 long-running leagues that are varying degrees of a “keeper” league. One keeps 15 players from year to year, while in the other one we keep 2 players we drafted the previous year, in round 4 or below, and we lose that position in the draft the next season. Both are interesting ways to play, and I've managed to be successful in each league.

Finally, knowing the number of teams in the league can give you an idea on who will be available when it's your turn to pick. Personally, that don't mean a thing to me, I have my cheat sheet ready, and I will select the best player available in the position that I need to address the most. It is easy to get caught up in a run, where everyone starts taking a particular position (like defense in the 9th or 10th round). DON'T let yourself fall into that trap. Take what you need for your team, let the other guys screw themselves. Of course, if there is that run on defenses, and the Ravens are dangling out there, well, you do what you gotta do!

Next up, I'll try getting some definitions in here for those of you new to the wonderful world of fantasy...

Here is a link to a site, which has links to many sites that can help you with your draft preparations. I'll be updating this thread, and keeping an eye out for questions, but if you need the info before I post it here, this is the place to start:

Fantasy Football Cafe

Lots of good stuff there. As I get myself prepped, I'll be putting my own two cents in here.

~Gibbsy

In lieu of re-creating the dictionary, I'll paraphrase these guys:

Fantasy Football Dictionary - LINK

Here are the basic terms that a new fantasy football owner should be familiar with, for more, click on the link above or below. Neither list should be considered all inclusive, there's always something new to learn.

Auction Draft - A type of fantasy draft in which owners are allotted a certain amount of fantasy cash to fill their roster spots by bidding on NFL players. Owners take turns introducing an opening bid for a player.

Basic Scoring - Fantasy points are only earned when your starters score touchdowns, field goals, and extra points.

Bench Players - Players which you choose not to start; you normally receive no points for their performances.

Cheat Sheet - A drafting tool that lists NFL players ranked in order of predicted fantasy points; however there are no accompanying stats, so it is possible that it isn't accurate for a league's scoring system.

Commissioner - The person who is responsible for maintaining the league, reporting the results of the fantasy games, running the draft, collecting entrance fees (if any), and generally keeping things running smoothly. It is important for the commissioner to be unbiased (fair) and honest.

Cut or Drop - To remove a player from your roster.

Depth Chart - An NFL team roster with players classified as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd string.

Draft - The meeting of owners and commissioner before the NFL season where owners select the players for their team. It can be done by auction or serpentine method. Some leagues give the top spots in the draft to the teams with the poorest records from the previous season. Most leagues only allow one fantasy team to own a particular NFL player.

Free Agent - A player who is not currently on any team's roster. If the league has a waiver system, free agents are players who have cleared waivers.

Keeper League - A league in which a certain number of players can be retained from the previous season by each owner, so that their whole team does not have to be redrafted. The number of players can vary. If you retain your whole team it is called a dynasty league.

Mock Draft - A fake draft that is used to practice drafting strategy and gauge where players will be drafted in actual fantasy football drafts. Some require the drafters to post a rationale behind their picks for additional insight for viewers.

Performance Scoring - A system where you receive points for yardage (as in 1 point for every 20 passing yards) in addition to the points scored in a basic scoring system.

Pickup - To add a player to your roster.

Sleeper - A draft term for a NFL player that an owner believes is going to have a breakout season. These are usually players who are not rookies, but they can be. For the most part they are not well known NFL players. For example, Edgerrin James would not have been a sleeper for the 1999 season, because many people knew he was going to have a good to very good season. However, Kurt Warner would have been because very few people expected much performance from him, yet he was the leading player in most leagues in 1999. Usually sleepers are drafted in the middle to late rounds of a draft.

Starters or Starting Lineup - The players that you select for a particular week that you will receive points for. A typical starting lineup would include one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker, and one team defense. Some leagues include individual defensive players (IDPs) in lieu of a team defense.

Stud - A NFL player who has proved himself to be a top scoring player at his position. These players should be started each week regardless of match-up and should only be benched during bye weeks and significant injuries.

Transaction - A roster change. Some leagues have a transaction fee. Also see Cut, Pickup, and Trade

Waiver - Some leagues have players recently dropped by teams to go into a "waiver" status for one or more days. When in this status, owners cannot immediately add the player. Instead they make a waiver claim for the player. When the commissioner processes waivers, usually the team with the least wins get first claim on players, then the team with the second least wins, etc.

source

Fantasy Football Toolbox

I was hoping to have my position prognostications posted on here by now. However, I have experienced some "technical difficulties" (ie, Open Office didn't run the macros!), so it might be a couple days until I can get them up here.

OK, I have my rankings done, but have a certain lack of time at the moment. I will get them up here shortly, thank you for your patience.