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Thread: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

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    Default First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    Hi all, this is my first year playing fantasy football and looking for some advice on what to do/look for, any sites for information or podcast that are good for advice and updates. I would appreciate it.

    My yahoo league set up is
    1Q
    2 Rb
    2 WR
    2 TE
    3 Flex
    5 Bench
    1 K
    DST
    3 IR

    I just completed my draft , I drafted 3rd overall and the results are:

    QB: A. Rodgers, lawrence
    RB: Barkley, D. Henry, N. Harris, M. Carter, M. Gordon III
    WR: AJ Brown, A. Robinson II, D.J Moore, C. Sutton, DJ Chark, J. Jeudy, M. Thomas (IR)
    TE: Hockenson, R. Tonyan
    K: J. Tucker
    DST: Pittsburgh

    a few question i have would be:
    1. in my league you only have 1 QB Slot, and assuming I'm always playing Rodgers, should i drop Lawrence and whenever GB bye week is, pick up someone whom is available on FA at the time for that week. or keep Lawrence on the bench

    2. is it more important to have more RB then WR?

    3. what's the best way to evaluate a player - best advice to figure out who your weakest/droppable player would be?


    As I have always played and watch a lot of hockey, I just know who is who and what they do, as with football not so much - this will be my first year really getting into it so I'm coming in fresh. Any advice is greatly appreciated thank you.

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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    Welcome to the wild ride that is fantasy football. Unfortunately I find the biggest factor with fantasy football is luck. Is your team healthy? Did your WR3 randomly get 3 TDs? Did your opponent's RB1 put up a dud? DST score a few TDs? All of this is very hard to predict but that's the beauty of it.

    Fantasy Footballers is a good podcast. There are plenty though. You can get pretty overwhelmed with all of the rankings. Let the 2nd guessing begin!

    Team looks good. One of the biggest differences for football is that your player's matchups is almost as important as the player you own. Matchups are HUGE. If your WR1 is facing a great CB....I'm not saying sit him, but you definitely can't be expecting a massive week. Matchups matter in hockey and baseball, but not to this level.

    1. I generally don't carry 2 QB but it depends how many are in your league and what everyone else does. The good news is you can usually just use a QB with a good matchup and he'll give you a decent day.

    2. All depends on your first few rounds. I find WRs are A LOT harder to predict. It's always nice to have 1 or 2 backup RBs because you know if that starter goes down then you could have a stud. Late round WR studs are a lot harder to find.

    3. Also depends on your lineup but you always want to look at their usage (touches/targets) and their upcoming schedule. If you're stacked at WR and are considering dropping someone who is playing 2 great defenses followed by a bye....maybe he is your drop.

    Anyways. We're here all year. I like to keep the football forum busy so post with any questions or lineup decisions.

    Goodluck

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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    A big thing in football is the physical set up of the league.

    So if you can answer a couple of questions it'll lay out the league a lot better for us:
    - How many teams are in the league
    - Is it a "Point Per Reception" (PPR), 0.5PPR, or "Standard" league (no points per reception)
    - Is it a 1yr or keeper league


    When those get answered we can learn a bit more about the league, and who is droppable and how well you did in the league. Seeing Henry and Barkley makes me think either everyone is new and you did very well in 2 rounds, or it's a league with limited teams.

    To Answer your questions:
    1 - Typically I do 1 QB if I've invested draft capital into a QB and the league is 12 or less teams. If I draft young QBs, or just QBs late I might go 2.
    2 - This depends on PPR/0.5PPR/Standard format, what you've invested in heavily, and if you believe in the "Handcuff". Handcuffing an RB to me is bigger than having a fringe WR. Even if the WR will outscore the RB, I don't care.

    Handcuffing is when you have one of your starting RBs backup. Think Dalvin Cook and Mattison, or Zeke and Pollard. Here's a link about ranking the top handcuff RBs.

    3 - NFL football is about starters, and injury replacements. Your 2QB is an insurance policy, not an "off night replacement" like a 3G in fantasy hockey. So I evaluate who to drop in, who is less likely to impact your team. It's a bit of a personal preference almost. This is kind of a hard question to answer.



    If this is a 10 team or more league, Your draft is stupid good.
    12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
    G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
    W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
    2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA

    C: Horvat, Trocheck
    LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
    RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
    D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
    Util: Meier (LW, RW)
    G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll


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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    1. Drop Lawrence. I'm assuming it's a 1 year re-draft league, so his value THIS season is going to be pretty minimal on that awful Jags squad. You'll be starting Rodgers every week minus his bye, so just grab a fill in during that week.

    2. *Usually - RBs get hurt more often that wideouts, so having the ratio you currently have is a good start. You didn't mention if its a non-PPR, 1/2 PPR or PPR league, which would reflect the amount of WRs I'd have. In a full PPR league, there's a better chance of flexing a WR than a RB in which case I'd look for an extra wideout over RB.

    3. You'll know. There's usually 2-3 players who sit on your bench every week until they have a favourable matchup. Take a look at those 2-3 players targets/carries over the previous few weeks, and barring any injuries to other players on that team which may increase your guy's workload, those will be your options. Yahoo will show trends on players as well, so if you see a bunch of people dropping one of those guys, chances are you should follow suit. (Yahoo also shows % of leagues each player is owned in, this can help make a decision too)

    Other points;

    Flip Thomas to your IR right away and grab a FA ASAP if you haven't done so already.

    I usually don't keep 2 TE's when I have a solid option like Hockenson. Just like QBs, usually you're going to play your top TE every week minus the bye (where you can just stream one). TE's rarely get flexed as well, so chances are your TE2 will just eat a spot on your bench that could be used for an extra RB/WR.

    Make a twitter account strictly for following beat writers for each team. Twitter is usually the fastest way to find info on players statuses going into each week.

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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by saucelife90 View Post
    1. Drop Lawrence. I'm assuming it's a 1 year re-draft league, so his value THIS season is going to be pretty minimal on that awful Jags squad. You'll be starting Rodgers every week minus his bye, so just grab a fill in during that week.

    2. *Usually - RBs get hurt more often that wideouts, so having the ratio you currently have is a good start. You didn't mention if its a non-PPR, 1/2 PPR or PPR league, which would reflect the amount of WRs I'd have. In a full PPR league, there's a better chance of flexing a WR than a RB in which case I'd look for an extra wideout over RB.

    3. You'll know. There's usually 2-3 players who sit on your bench every week until they have a favourable matchup. Take a look at those 2-3 players targets/carries over the previous few weeks, and barring any injuries to other players on that team which may increase your guy's workload, those will be your options. Yahoo will show trends on players as well, so if you see a bunch of people dropping one of those guys, chances are you should follow suit. (Yahoo also shows % of leagues each player is owned in, this can help make a decision too)

    Other points;

    Flip Thomas to your IR right away and grab a FA ASAP if you haven't done so already.

    I usually don't keep 2 TE's when I have a solid option like Hockenson. Just like QBs, usually you're going to play your top TE every week minus the bye (where you can just stream one). TE's rarely get flexed as well, so chances are your TE2 will just eat a spot on your bench that could be used for an extra RB/WR.

    Make a twitter account strictly for following beat writers for each team. Twitter is usually the fastest way to find info on players statuses going into each week.
    It's the ONLY league I've ever seen that is a 2TE league lol.
    12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
    G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
    W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
    2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA

    C: Horvat, Trocheck
    LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
    RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
    D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
    Util: Meier (LW, RW)
    G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll


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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by 2014olympicgold View Post
    It's the ONLY league I've ever seen that is a 2TE league lol.
    Good catch lmao!

    OP - don't listen to me on that point, you need 2 TEs!!

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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by 2014olympicgold View Post
    It's the ONLY league I've ever seen that is a 2TE league lol.
    Haha seriously. Never seen that either.

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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    Agree with a lot of what was said here. Most important questions to me right now are:

    (1) league settings (including whether it's PPR or not; how many points per passing TD; confirming this isn't a "super flex" league (i.e., where you can play a QB in a flex spot); and
    (2) number of teams in the league.

    With that said, I'd stay put with your team right now. As others have noted, that looks like a killer draft. While there certainly is merit to the rostering 1 QB and only picking up another when needed, here I think is an exception. We've seen recently that rookie QBs can do quite well. And, depending on league settings, Lawrence may be capable of putting up very strong numbers this year.

    True, the Jags are still a work in progress and may fare relatively poorly in the win/loss column this year. BUT, the main problem with them from a real football perspective is their defense. Their offense, now with the additional of a supposedly once-a-decade type QB prospect, is legit.

    As shown last year, they have a capable running attack (Robinson). They just added another quality RB, who's also got very good pass-catching chops (Etienne). Their receiver corps, as a unit, is probably one of the better in the league (Chark, Marvin Jones, Shenault). And ... they should be playing from behind quite a bit; a good thing in fantasy football.

    Couple all of that with a bit of a mess going on in Green Bay, and I'd stand pat for the moment and see how this all pans out the first couple weeks. Rodgers is an All-Pro and should be fine. But, the Packers still lack pass-catching talent outside of Adams (making it even more remarkable what Rodgers typically does season-in and season-out). If Rodgers doesn't continue to play otherworldly this season (not just good, but insanely McDavid-type good), Lawrence could end up being useful for more than just a one-week bye week replacement. And that's assuming you don't get hit with the injury bug at QB.

    Just some random thoughts.....
    14 Team H2H Dynasty League (14 keepers, no farm)
    Weekly Starts (3C, 5W, 5D, 1Util, 2G)
    G, A, PPP, SOG, BS, +/-, GAA, W+OTL, SV%


    C: MacKinnon/Eichel/Kopitar//Pinto/Wright
    W: Ovechkin/Toffoli/Necas/Giroux/E.Kane/K.Johnson(IR)/Schmaltz/Bjorkstrand/Drouin
    D: Dobson/Trouba(IR)/Mintyukov/Gostisbehere/Martinez/Edvinsson/York/Gudas(IR)/Tanev
    G: Saros/Demko(IR)/Askarov/DeSmith

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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by 2014olympicgold View Post
    It's the ONLY league I've ever seen that is a 2TE league lol.
    I wonder if this is like a 6 or 8 team league.

    That would explain the 2 TE position.

    It could also explain how the team was able to get Henry and Barkley and N. Harris.

    Be sure to check out Fantasy Pros and Fantasy Footballers (for their podcasts and website information) .
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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by PenguinHunter View Post
    I wonder if this is like a 6 or 8 team league.

    That would explain the 2 TE position.

    It could also explain how the team was able to get Henry and Barkley and N. Harris.

    Be sure to check out Fantasy Pros and Fantasy Footballers (for their podcasts and website information) .
    Yup that was my thought.

    I haven't been in a league that's less than 10 (with a large bench), but I wonder how effective it is to hold handcuffs in this league would be if it's aa 6/8 team league because of what would be available on the WW.
    12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
    G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
    W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
    2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA

    C: Horvat, Trocheck
    LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
    RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
    D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
    Util: Meier (LW, RW)
    G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll


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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by 2014olympicgold View Post
    Yup that was my thought.

    I haven't been in a league that's less than 10 (with a large bench), but I wonder how effective it is to hold handcuffs in this league would be if it's aa 6/8 team league because of what would be available on the WW.
    Not very effective in shallower leagues since I think you would miss out on so much of the early breakouts because you're holding onto handcuffs.

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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    I appreciate all the responses and the feedback already!!! thank you.

    I'm going to try and answer all the questions hope I don't miss any but here we go!

    How many teams are in the league?: 8 team H2h

    Is it a "Point Per Reception" (PPR), 0.5PPR, or "Standard" league (no points per reception)?:
    Fractional Points: Yes | Negative Points: Yes
    Passing Yards: 25 yards per point
    Passing TD: 4p
    Interceptions: -2
    Rushing yards: 10yards per Point
    Rushing TD: 6p
    Receptions: 1p
    Receiving Yards: 10yards per point
    Receiving TD: 6p
    Return TD: 6p
    2pt conversions: 2
    Fumble lost: -2
    Offensive Fumble return TD 6
    40+ yards receiving TD: 2p

    Kickers: 0-19yrds: 3p | 20-29: 3p | 30-39yards: 3p | 40-49yards: 4p | 50+: 5p | Point after attempt made: 1p

    DST:
    sack: 1p | interception: 2p | fumble recovery: 2pt | TD: 6p | block kick: 2p | kickoff and punt return TD: 6p
    Points Allowed 0 points 10
    Points Allowed 1-6 points 7
    Points Allowed 7-13 points 4
    Points Allowed 14-20 points 1
    Points Allowed 21-27 points 0
    Points Allowed 28-34 points -1
    Points Allowed 35+ points -4
    Extra Point Returned 2

    Is it a 1yr or keeper league: Yes this is a 1yr draft, 4 of the 8 members are all first timers, but iv been a member with dobber for hockey and love the community and the support I have received for hockey! I'm just as happy there's the same for the NFL! trying to get a leg up, as in hockey i generally compete in the finals or win just from the advice an help iv received and dobber's yearly guides.

    Flex are: WIDE RECEIVER/RUNNING BACK/TIGHT END (W/R/T)

    TE: I honestly have no idea why theres 2, didnt know there was a standard for that position.

    All in all, its been full so far iv been researching a lot, watching/listening to some of the suggested podcast - I genuinely only know A. Rodgers on my team just because of headlines and who he is - similar to TB. The rest of my team i have no clue what and who they are.

    Regarding the roster: Henry was my first pick and barkley was second - N. Harris i read a little prior to drafting so I made a point in getting him (draft him in the 5th round) I picked up Thomas, Jeudy and M. carter in FA after the draft just because Iv read alot and their names kept on popping up, Thomas is in the IR slot now.

    As for the QB my thinking on this is, i only have 1 QB position open and typically majority of games are played on Sunday - Lawrence will be benched a lot unless GB and JAX play offsetting nights (not sure if that even happens, havent looked at the NFL schedule) but that's where I'm thinking why keep Lawrence fill him in with other players. I keep reading names like: T. Sermon, R. Penny, M. Pittman Jr, Gus edwards, D. Mooney, Marvin Jones Jr. - do i take any of these for anyone on my roster.

    To give you an idea of what's available, I will insert below the top players in each position:

    QB: D. Watson, K. Couins, D. Carr, B. Roethlisberger, C. Newton, B. Mayfeild
    WR: M. Jones JR, C. Samuel, C. Beasley, W. Fuller V, M. WIlliams, M. Pittman JR
    RB: N. Hines, D. Singletary, T. Sermon, J. White, T. gurley, D. Johnson

    Last but not least trades!! because there's a lot of new guys - is there players I should target and try and trade for. names people may not really know of and might take a player on my team whos name sounds good but really isn't that good! don't want to rob someone but!! we all want to win, right!!!

    Much appreciated once again thank you for the advice!

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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    Pick up Trey Sermon RIGHT NOW.
    12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
    G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
    W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
    2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA

    C: Horvat, Trocheck
    LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
    RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
    D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
    Util: Meier (LW, RW)
    G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll


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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    For me, in-season fantasy football is like the stock market.
    1. Fall in line with what everybody else is doing = good enough.
    2. Don't make any stupid stupid moves throughout season.

    re: #1. In Yahoo, I just go to the section that shows most picked up players. Some leagues allow pick-ups on Mon,Tues... ours does Wed... so by late Tuesday, I can see which player everybody else is picking up at a given position. This tells me who to pick up. That said, I often times will look at the 2nd & 3rd most popular player - because the masses/lemmings do tend to magnify that most popular player... so if there is significant numbers (say 1530 pickups of top RB... but still 430 picks of RB2...), then I might do research on RB2. The "masses" will often pickup a player based on a huge most recent game from a day ago. But the "keeners" are picking up a RB because of future opportunity - i.e. RB1 on a team got injured or was gimpy... and the "keeners" know damn well which guy is getting the carries NEXT week.

    re: #2. Every once in a while, Yahoo makes some error. Their highest start % for a player or Proj.Points for a player might be off. I'm not sure who or how many sources contribute to the Proj.Points... but it CAN be off. Always go with the player that the "expert masses" are going with. I tend to go to FantasyPros every week and just see their CONSENSUS ranks for each position... then just go with the highest guy I own.


    People will thump their chests and say they have methods...
    But it really is like the stock market...
    We (the casual, even "keen" regular guy)don't know more than these guys that actually... wait for it (seriously)... do THIS FOR A LIVING. Fantasy Football is such a massive thing these days that some guys out there do this shit for a living. The experts. And there are hundreds, if not thousands of them that love and take this stuff seriously. So just go with their consensus.


    Last 2-3 seasons in our Dobber Tier I league... I've just used a draft method from FantasyPros... and done these steps above.
    Won the league last year, finished top 3 year before.
    The shit works. (I don't love fantasy football because of this... I play it because it helps me enjoy watching any given football game and I like the guys in our pool).


    Good luck.

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    mike hall's Avatar
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    Default Re: First timer playing Fantasy Football - Advice please

    I appreciate it thank you. I have some buddies who follow the game and some who are really wanting to get into the game so they created a league and were needing 1 more guy so I joined. But personally for me, NFL is my least favorite out of the big 4 (NHL, Nba, MLB, NFL) but they needed 1 more guy and i enjoy doing fantasy. Will see where this goes but one thing iv noticed there is so much in depth information much more then the NHL or NBA provide, so when you say people do "THIS FOR A LIVING" I see that.



    Quote Originally Posted by Pengwin7 View Post
    For me, in-season fantasy football is like the stock market.
    1. Fall in line with what everybody else is doing = good enough.
    2. Don't make any stupid stupid moves throughout season.

    re: #1. In Yahoo, I just go to the section that shows most picked up players. Some leagues allow pick-ups on Mon,Tues... ours does Wed... so by late Tuesday, I can see which player everybody else is picking up at a given position. This tells me who to pick up. That said, I often times will look at the 2nd & 3rd most popular player - because the masses/lemmings do tend to magnify that most popular player... so if there is significant numbers (say 1530 pickups of top RB... but still 430 picks of RB2...), then I might do research on RB2. The "masses" will often pickup a player based on a huge most recent game from a day ago. But the "keeners" are picking up a RB because of future opportunity - i.e. RB1 on a team got injured or was gimpy... and the "keeners" know damn well which guy is getting the carries NEXT week.

    re: #2. Every once in a while, Yahoo makes some error. Their highest start % for a player or Proj.Points for a player might be off. I'm not sure who or how many sources contribute to the Proj.Points... but it CAN be off. Always go with the player that the "expert masses" are going with. I tend to go to FantasyPros every week and just see their CONSENSUS ranks for each position... then just go with the highest guy I own.


    People will thump their chests and say they have methods...
    But it really is like the stock market...
    We (the casual, even "keen" regular guy)don't know more than these guys that actually... wait for it (seriously)... do THIS FOR A LIVING. Fantasy Football is such a massive thing these days that some guys out there do this shit for a living. The experts. And there are hundreds, if not thousands of them that love and take this stuff seriously. So just go with their consensus.


    Last 2-3 seasons in our Dobber Tier I league... I've just used a draft method from FantasyPros... and done these steps above.
    Won the league last year, finished top 3 year before.
    The shit works. (I don't love fantasy football because of this... I play it because it helps me enjoy watching any given football game and I like the guys in our pool).


    Good luck.

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