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Outsports Fantasy Football
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It’s a sickness. Just be ready for it – and prepare your boyfriend for it, too. Fantasy football can mean a couple very different things to gay men. There is, of course, the fantasy of being a fly in the wall of the Denver Broncos’ locker room. Then there’s the fantasy of running into Patriots Tom Brady and Adam Vinatieri, learning they’re on vacation together and them asking you if you like massages. The fantasy we’re talking about here is a little less hands-on. This fantasy football was created a couple decades ago and involves selecting the best players available from across the NFL to build the best team you can in hopes of kicking the ass of your best friends in your league.
No matter what your draft position, you have a legitimate shot at taking your fantasy league’s crown. While the players drafting in the middle of each round tend to find success most often, you can develop a strategy that can win any league. Last season, even picking last in the first round, you could have built a team that included the league’s #1 quarterback, #1 wide receiver, #1 tight end, #1 kicker, #1 defense and #2 running back. While chances are slim you’d be able to pull it off, you can certainly increase your odds by spending some time preparing for your draft. Before a take a position-by-position look at the upcoming fantasy draft, here are some thoughts to keep in mind. - What do you want to do? You need to decide what you want to do with your fantasy team. If you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan and you just want to cheer for the Cowboys players, then that’s great. Draft the whole team. But, you won’t win. If you want to win, you need to focus on picking up the hottest (and not just sans uniform) players in the League – meaning you may end up with a wide receiver from your dreaded Eagles. Three years ago, one of the guys in my fantasy league drafted based on looks. He had KC’s Trent Green and Denver’s Ed McCaffrey – but, he only won a couple games. The following year, he drafted to win – and went to the playoffs. - If you don’t get a top-four quarterback, wait. After the first couple of quarterbacks, there is a lot of parity in the league – and whether you get Green Bay’s Brett Favre in the third round or Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck in the seventh round, chances are there will be little discrepancy between how those two quarterbacks produce. Just wait, round out your running backs and wide receivers, and focus on a QB in a later round. This applies even more to tight ends, where the drop-off from #5 to #10 is incredibly low. - Pick key players on good offensive teams. Certainly, great fantasy players are all over the league (well, except maybe for Cleveland). But, it makes sense – if a player’s team is scoring a lot of points, chances are, he is too. Five of the top-10 fantasy quarterbacks last year were members of the six highest-scoring offenses in the NFL (NE, Indy, SD, KC, Minnesota & GB); Seven of the top 15 receivers were on those teams; Five of the top 10 tight ends were on those teams; Four of the top 10 RBs and Kickers were on those teams. If you pick players from teams you think will score a lot of points, your chances of success go up. - Leave those kickers alone. Unless you think you have a great read on a solid kicker who’s going to shatter NFL records this season, don’t even think about drafting one until the ninth round at the earliest. The highest-scoring kicker last year scored fewer points than the #40 wide receiver and half as many points as the #15 quarterback. - Stock up on wide receivers. Because you have to start three in most leagues, your third starting receiver will often be the key to your weekly victories or defeats. With such a strong year expected for running backs, it may be the receivers whom people are trading for this season. - Consider match-ups. The AFC East and NFC East both feature very strong defenses. For other players in those divisions, that means that they’ll have to face a tough defense in at least six of their 10 games. Also consider whom your players will match up against during your league’s playoff weeks. You can have the best team in the league; but, if your players play Baltimore, Pittsburgh, New England and Buffalo in your first playoff game, you may be making a quick exit. QUARTERBACKSLast season, two
quarterbacks – Minnesota’s Daunte Culpepper and Indianapolis’
Peyton Manning – stood out far and above every other fantasy
player, both producing about 20% more fantasy points than any other
quarterback and 50% more than the highest-scoring running back.
Finding that gem this season
STRONG
BETS: While running back Edgerrin James
will surely be featured more in the offense this year, Manning
is the #1 overall player on the draft boards of many. (Continued...)Page 1 2
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So you’re in a
fantasy draft. Now what do you do? If you’ve never played fantasy
football before, the first thing you need to do is prepare yourself
for the disease. Fantasy football is a sickness. You are going to
find yourself worrying about whether players ran for 110 instead of
109 yards; you’re going to learn who the third-string receiver for
the New Orleans Saints is; you’re going to sit at the edge of your
seat as the 2-9 San Francisco 49ers visit the 3-8 Tennessee titans
in Week 12.
Your fantasy
football season will kick off with a draft. You and your friends
will get into a room – or an online chatroom – and one-by-one select
the NFL players you want on your team. While the evening will be
strategy-filled, it should also be a LOT of fun – don’t hold back
ribbing the bozo who picks San Diego’s Drew Brees (left) in the second
round, or applauding the guy who somehow nabs Deion Branch in the
sixth round.