Thursday, July 4, 2013

Determining Who To Draft In Fantasy Football

By Andre Belton


When deciding who to draft in fantasy football there are many variables: projected points, the position, what individuals you've drafted up to now, and who your competitor likely to draft. In early rounds you need to focus on obtaining the most value by choosing the best overall players. Don't become so concerned about having several running backs or wide receivers. Simply draft the highest scoring available player. There are a several constraints with this however, it's not merely who will likely have the most fantasy points. You will want to look at all the available players and consider who will get chosen soon AFTER your pick. You need to be sure you're choosing the highest scoring player based not simply who is left, but who might be remaining. For example, if Calvin Johnson is the best player you can draft round one, but AJ Green might be available in the 3rd round and he's merely a handful of points worse, then you should hold out and select AJ Green. Right now there is a useful fantasy football tool which shows you just who to draft for fantasy.

In later rounds things get more challenging. You will need to consider your team's structure, and also upside opportunity of your next pick. You must be positive you're minimizing your own risk while improving your upside. And also ensure that you don't waste any draft choices.

The fastest way to waste a draft pick, would be to draft someone that will never start on your team. For instance, if in the first two rounds you picked two outstanding running backs, say Ray Rice and Trent Richardson. After that don't select an average running back in future rounds, like Matt Forte. There isn't any point! It is best to draft running backs with a ton of upside and handcuff your team's great backs. This is because, the only way the persistently average RB plays more than bye weeks is if one of your terrific RBs gets injured. Think about this, when would you ever start Matt Forte above either of your starting running backs? So you need to just grab the backups (this is called handcuffing) in much later rounds and start that player in case your key running backs gets hurt.

The difference between Forte and the common running back will likely be minor and there is an small probability the back-up running back will be higher scoring. For example, if Ben Tate or Bryce Brown ever received the starting job I'd definitely start them above Forte every day of the week. And if you select RBs with upside if they explode, you've got a very valuable trade commodity or a player spot start in lousy matchups. Keep this in mind when drafting your team.

There are plenty of things to consider whenever deciding who to draft in fantasy football. It's much less straight forward than you may believe. And when you may believe it's too challenging or too much to look at, you still ought to do it to be able to stay very competitive. If you do not analyze that intensely, bear in mind your competitors will be. So if you do not do it, you will be at a massive disadvantage. Basically spend time choosing your squad, consider each of the variables, and do your best. And first and foremost don't forget to have a good time!




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