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Have you noticed the commercials recently? I’m seeing more “Jake from State Farm” ads with an NFL player more often. Also, the NFL promos are now being featured to remind us that the regular season will begin in a couple of weeks.
As the television advertising experts ring the bell, we (the sports enthusiasts) start to salivate every year about this time. They really do know our weakness!
Yes, football time is near.
Within the next week, it will be time for many football fanatics to participate in their late summer ritual known as the NFL fantasy football draft. This special night brings millions of football fans together along with abundant stress about making all of those crucial player selections.
The Fantasy Football draft reveals a lot about individuals. Some people study for weeks attempting to get even the smallest edge on the other participants. Others will simply show up and let the computer draft a team for them.
Regardless of whether you grind every pick or sit back and let the computer pick for you, the chances of winning your league generally are equal parts of good fortune and smart decision making throughout the season.
Some fantasy football team owners prefer to play in leagues which requires a bit of cash on the line for the overall winning teams.
Not me.
Four decades ago during the pioneer days of fantasy football, I was roped into playing in a cash league at our company. Though the fantasy draft night was a blast, I quickly found it extremely stressful watching the Sunday NFL football games on television. Instead of celebrating a terrific 70-yard touchdown pass shown during the highlights, I quickly realized the quarterback or wide receiver was “owned” by my opponent!
In order to restore my enjoyment of watching NFL games, that would be the first and last year which I participated in a cash league. However, I was lured to return to playing fantasy football (without any cash involved) in another league back in 2011.
Now entering my 12th season, my fantasy football team is the definition of mediocre. I finished in a less-than-stellar 7th place (out of ten teams) in 2021.
The good news was that my fantasy offense scored like champions and finished #3 in the league in points scored.
However, the word “defense” was missing from my vocabulary again in 2021.
As a former high school basketball player, my forte was shooting the ball and scoring points. As many of my coaches will attest, I detested playing long stretches of defense. Like James Harden today, my game was defined by shooting the basketball as often as possible. Defense? I preferred to save energy for the other end of the court.
So, just like their defensively-challenged team owner, my fantasy football team was woeful on defense last season. We gave up the second-most points in the league in 2021.
Nearly every other fantasy football team which played against my defensively-challenged squad seemed to have one of their highest scoring weeks of the season. Apparently, my former reputation as being a weak defender resurfaced again in 2021.
My fantasy football team apparently served as a weekly inspiration for the other nine teams. Though the spirit of giving may be terrific at Christmastime, I am hopeful that this year’s fantasy football team will give up fewer points this season so that I have a chance.
We participate in the Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football league. My former boss and several of his college classmates got it started a long time ago. One of teams featured his 12-year old grandson running the draft and weekly player decisions. It was his first year handling ol’ Grandpa’s team in 2021, and he did a terrific job. (Note – Just don’t beat me this season, kid!)
My Yahoo Sports fantasy football team’s composite record over eleven seasons currently stands at just 82-86 with 1 tie.
I have become my league’s symbol of fantasy football prognosticating mediocrity. Personally, I don’t like being considered “average”, but I have a lot of room to improve in fantasy football.
I have a theory about most fantasy football owners. Watch their weekly player moves and roster changes. I believe that it possibly mirrors their personal investing and risk-taking habits.
Some will buy and sell players frequently. If they sense that a player is off to an early slump and not likely to turn things around soon, that player is quickly dumped by some fantasy team owners.
Other owners prefer more of a “Buy and Hold” strategy. Just as some people do when selecting stocks for personal investments, some fantasy football team owners remain patient with their initial roster of players and try to give them every chance to gel before making any changes.
They know that some players on the roster may require several weeks to “remember” how to score a touchdown. Those owners are believers in long-term statistics. They find that their original group of drafted fantasy football players will produce more points than the most of the leftover “dogs” in the kennel of undrafted available reserves.
When the dust settles on the fantasy football season, your team’s success is more likely to be affected by pure luck than your glorious decision making during the league’s draft and any subsequent player adds/drops you have made during the regular season.
If you have not played in one of a fantasy football league, here are my Top Ten suggestions to enjoy your upcoming 2022 NFL fantasy football Season:
- Team name – make sure that you are happy with the sound of your team’s name. You’re going to live with that name for the entire fantasy football season!
- Research players and teams – In several prior years, I paid about $10 at my local drugstore to buy one of those Fantasy Football magazines. With your purchase, you are afforded the chance to learn how other so-called experts see the upcoming NFL season as they provide their own advice about making your fantasy draft picks. Sadly, their advice is usually no better than your own. Save the money, read a few online articles, and trust your gut!
- Determine a draft strategy – For example, my personal strategy is to (for the most part) select the best offensive players from the NFL teams which generally score the most points every year. This year, I will likely stockpile a lot of players from the Bills, Saints, Chiefs, Chargers, Rams, and Packers. I might grab one of the best players from a mid-level team, but I suggest that you refrain from taking more than one player from any habitually bad team (such as the Jaguars, Lions, Giants, and Texans). Consider yourself warned.
- Do – pick players from NFL teams which you personally like and root for. In my case, I am a longtime New Orleans Saints fan. You can count on my fantasy football team including two or more Saints players on the roster again this year. Follow your heart with a few of your picks.
- Don’t – pick any players from any NFL team which you personally despise. In my case, I avoid Dallas Cowboys players like the plague. Perhaps, you’re a Chicago Bears fan and can’t stand Green Bay. Do not force yourself to root for players on your least favorite NFL football teams. The object is to win, but you want to have fun, too!
- Don’t waste picks on your kicker and a defense until your last few picks. Last year, I utilized a different defense every weekend. I would look at the NFL schedule and see which teams were playing against one of the NFL’s worst offensive teams (usually the teams with the lousiest records). I would then check to see which of the available undrafted team defenses was playing against one of the crumby teams that week. I personally enjoyed trying this as it required a little extra research each week.
- Injuries happen. By Thursday, make sure to check to see if any of your starting players have been injured in the previous weekend’s games and not expected to play this weekend. Make substitutes from your roster. If the player’s injury is season-ending, drop the player and find an undrafted player from your league’s free agent list.
- Keep an eye open for rookies in Week 1 and 2 – Look for any rookies who seem to be making an early impact for their team. Grab them early in the season and dump a lukewarm benchwarmer in the same position. This can pay dividends for you down the stretch as many teams in your league are hesitant to draft rookies.
- Start slow but finish fast – Set-up your fantasy team to have a positive finish toward the end of the season. In a nutshell, you will not win your fantasy football league unless your team gets “hot” during the final four or five games at the end of the season. Stay focused on having a great squad assembled by midseason. You can rally down the stretch to win!
- Just have fun! Sometimes, your team will perform well and other times, not so great. That’s the nature of the game, so don’t despair if your team stinks. You can become a spoiler down the stretch and beat one of the other teams striving to make the playoffs!
Best of luck this season from “Mr. Mediocrity of Fantasy Football!”