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“What’s on Draft?”

By MATT CRESTA

Even as we sweat through these dog days of summer we have to start thinking about what’s important come September. No, not school. Football! Fantasy Football more specifically. It’s time to put our leagues together, decide which format we like, and even determine when and where the draft will be held.

Lately, there has been a trend toward online drafts for local and national leagues but this fantasy footballer still thinks that draft day is a great time to get team owners together and celebrate this wonderful sports tradition.

Personally, I like to hold my leagues draft at a local eatery. This option allows us to put together a traditional football buffet of wings, chips and of course the beverage of your choice during the sometimes twenty round draft. The local draft gives owners an opportunity to get to know each other and even wheel and deal with trades and acquisitions that can help them throughout the season.

I’m getting so excited about draft day that I digress. We still have other things to look do. Let’s step back and look at league formats. Every league can create its personalized format for scoring that in the end there can be a thousand options. However, most of us involved in this virtual sport break down scoring formats as being ‘traditional’ or ‘points per reception (PPR)’ leagues. The key difference in these two formats is that with PPR your RB’s, WR’s, and TE’s will receive 1 point for every reception they make. In a fantasy sport where the running back and wide receiver have started to become scoring equals the PPR format once again makes the RB king.

Another consideration for each league is how many teams the league should allow. There are leagues varying from eights owners to some with fourteen owners. I will tell you this; the larger leagues are tougher to compete in hands down. Not just because you’re competing against more teams but the player talent pool becomes very thin, very quick. If you are new to the ‘sport’ I would suggest staying in a smaller league that allows you the opportunity to cut your teeth.

Whether you are new to fantasy football or a fantasy veteran the draft is always a fun and exciting challenge. It gives us that rare opportunity to be the ‘General Manager’ of a football team. It lets us decide on personnel moves through the draft, trades, and free agency. In Auctions Drafts, where the owner gets to bid on players based on how valuable he believes that player will be, you actually get to draft your team based on a set league/team budget. Regardless of the format we get to indulge in the role of that NFL player/personal guy who we tend to envy, hate, or sometimes even agree with on a weekly basis.

Ok, lets get down to some nitty gritty. Drafting Players. Every league format creates different challenges but each league comes down to one thing. Evaluating talent. We all have those players we love. Those guys who go out and play their hearts out every week. Unfortunately, these guys aren’t always the best fantasy draft picks. Fantasy Football comes down to one thing. Does the player I drafted score points on a consistent basis to benefit my fantasy team, not my favorite NFL team? How do we decide if ‘that’ guy will fit this mold? We do our homework. We look at his past stats and we look at his potential. Does the WR you love have a QB who can actually get him the ball (i.e. Percy Harvin)? Did the offensive line for that stud RB get better or worse in the off-season (i.e. Lesean McCoy)? Does your TE’s new offensive system use the TE primarily as a blocker or a receiver? These are things we need to look at before we take a player especially, in the early rounds of the draft.

Another factor to look at, when deciding who to draft, is your draft position. Most leagues (outside of auctions) use a snake draft. This means that in a twelve team league the draft will go from 1-12 and then 12-1. Team 12 will always get two picks when it is their turn to draft. Team 1 will get two picks every time they draft outside of the 1st Round. There are a lot of varying opinions as to what draft spot you should hope to receive. The first pick will usually get you a guaranteed great player but since you will not get pick again for twenty-four more spots you have to hope that player meets all of your expectations. Personally, I like to have a pick between picks three and seven. This allows me the opportunity to get quality players evenly throughout the draft. But this is just my preference. At draft day you usually won’t know what spot you will be receiving so you have to be prepared to pick your team from anywhere within the draft.

Regardless of the type of league you are participating in, or your order in the draft, make sure you do you homework on the players you think will excel this season and draft accordingly. Make sure you have a good idea of which rookies could have an impact this year. But most of all have fun with the draft and with the season. Be active in your league and keep up on available players. Remember, for most of us this is probably the only time in our lives that we will get to play football GM.

Matt Cresta

(Matt is a local Detective who has been playing Fantasy Football in local and national leagues for the past twenty years. He is a multiple league champion in several different fantasy formats. If you have a question for Matt you can email him at matthew.cresta@gmail.com)

From the editor: Apologies to Matt and his fans for the delay in getting this on line. Please follow his column every issue of Footballstories Magazine and on footballstories.com