It's that time of the year again. Time to tailgate every weekend with friends and family alike. Time to scream at your television in anger or elation. Time to travel to hostile lands, and to watch spectacular battles among the giants of our time. Football is back.
And with it comes another form of entertainment: fantasy football, the game that can make or break you during football viewing season, ruin friendships, and make you root for your least favorite team, as long as they get you enough fantasy points to win.
To guarantee these wins, however, you have to make sure that you have the best team possible -- and that all starts with having the best game plan come draft day. To help ensure you assemble the best possible squad, here are some dos and don'ts for your upcoming fantasy draft.
Do's:
- Do your research: One of the easiest and most obvious ways to prepare for your draft is to do some research beforehand. You don’t have to print out the depth charts and stats of every team and player in the league, but try and watch some preseason games or read some articles on NFL.com or ESPN.com. Most people draft solely based on last year’s stats and information, which means they miss out on relevant information about this season.
- Have a mock draft: Mock drafts are essential to a good fantasy season. Jump into one, and see how your draft strategies play out in real time. Not only can you see how effective your potential team could be, but you also can realistically draft without any of the consequences.
- Draft with bye weeks in mind: Come draft day, it's tempting to pick whoever you want, regardless of their bye weeks. But you’re going to hate yourself if your entire starting line up isn't even playing come week six. When every week in fantasy counts, you have to plan around the weeks when your best players don’t even play.
Don'ts:
- Draft with your heart: I love the Steelers, but come draft day, I’m not going to draft their entire roster. Your team needs to be as flexible as possible, and when your entire fantasy team consists of one team, you’re going to be missing out on a lot of other good players. Drafting with you head lets you pick the best players possible, even if they are on your least favorite team.
- Draft a quarterback too early: It's very, very tempting to immediately draft Andrew Luck or Aaron Rodgers. But in a league with around 15 fully capable starting quarterbacks, you can afford to wait until at least the sixth round to snag your starting QB. Your early round picks are much better spent on a quality running back or wide out, especially considering how few exist by the end of the second round.
