Fantasy Football: Draft Day Guide

May 27, 2008 @ 14:48:24

By Bryce McRae
Edited by Herija C. Green

When it all comes down to it, draft day for your fantasy league is the single most important day of the season. This is where any success you have in the coming season will find its beginning. Having a good draft won't guarantee you success, but just like building a house, you need a good foundation if you want to win a championship.

In this article, we will detail all you need to do when draft day comes around to ensure yourself of a successful draft. The key to a good draft lies in the preparation you do, however, if you don't have a good strategy, or you panic on draft day, it can ruin your season in the blink of an eye. There are three themes to having a good draft: preparation, confidence and organization. Keep these three things in mind while reading this and also when draft day arrives.

Pre-draft prep

Preparation, preparation, preparation. As any good boy scout knows, one should always be prepared. This is the biggest key to having a good draft. You should know the situation for every positional battle on each team. Know who will be starting, what kind of offense they run, the players around them, any injuries they might be dealing with now or have had in the past and what kind of potential they have for this year. If you were to invest money in a stock, you wouldn't do so without the research, and you should take the same approach with drafting. There is also another benefit from being prepared that is perhaps explained best with a story. Before games at the old Boston Garden, Boston Celtics great Larry Bird used to go out on the court before anyone else and bounce the ball off each spot on the floor, just so when he got there in a game, he would know what to expect. While this might seem like overkill, the mental edge it provided was the key. Prepare as much as you can, and it will give you the confidence to know you are making a good pick.

After preparation, confidence is perhaps the biggest thing in the draft. When Warren Buffet invests billions of his firm's dollars into a company, he is supremely confident it is going to be a sound investment and will return substantial dividends. You should feel the same way about your fantasy team with each pick. Owners may try and get in your head when you are making the pick, but provided you have done the research and put in the time, have confidence in your selection. Also, don't be afraid of what others might think of your team. Confidence is a byproduct of preparation. You can't have it without the proper research going into draft day. Make sure you aren't overconfident though, or you might end up hanging your fortunes on a bunch of long shots. Just stick to your board and don't reach for players, and things should work well.

There is one thing that ties both of these traits together, and that is having a good strategy. When preparing for the draft, always know the rules of your league and what it takes to win. There are different strategies you can adopt (such as the stud running back theory or best player available), just make a choice and stick to that approach. Your strategy will also decide when you take players off the board, which should be tied to the scoring system for your respective league. For example, if you are in a point-per-reception league, this will affect your ranking of running backs (favoring those that catch a lot of passes out of the backfield) and bring wide receivers more value. Know the rules beforehand and it will help you make the right pick.

Rules to draft by

Before we get to the actual draft day, it might be best to go over some rules you should remember when drafting.

The first rule, and arguably the most important, is to always get the best value for your pick. A lot of owners will go with the stud running back theory, meaning they will take two running backs in the first two rounds regardless of draft position. However, if a player such as New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady falls to you late in the second round, seriously consider picking him up. What you will want to do is calculate the drop-off in value to the next-best option, and if it is greater than the next-best option at another position, you should address the position that has the larger drop-off. So if it comes down to two players, say Brady and New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs, check to see what the next-best options are and when you think they will likely go. Then choose the better option.

Next, don't panic. If players at one position start flying off the board, don't reach for one just to make sure you get one. There is a good chance you can pick up a player with better value at a different position. There is more on this later in the article.

Keep your cards close to your vest. Don't let any of the other owners know what your strategy is for the draft as they can use this information to their advantage. With experience, you can learn to separate the owners who are talking trash from the owners who are being a bit too loose with their information.

When the big day finally comes...

When draft day finally arrives, you will want to have all your research and projections with you, usually in the form of a notebook - or possibly an Excel file - with each player listed according to position. You should also keep abreast of any new information regarding potential picks. For instance, there will no doubt be more news regarding Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson's recent arrest; how the team handles this situation could affect the value of Benson and rookie running back Matt Forte. If you do not have the latest updates on Benson come draft day, selecting him too early could be a disaster for your team.

As the draft progresses, make sure to cross off players drafted so that you know who is still available. It can't be said enough, but staying on top of things will go a long way to ensuring you don't make panic picks and that you can draft the best team available.

Another reason for keeping a notebook is to stay organized during the draft. If you are drafting online, often there will be a program set up to keep track of who is gone and who isn't, but it still helps to have your own notebook. If you lose track of who has gone or any other information divulged on draft day, it can lead to panic, and panic often leads to bad picks. Keep organized, don't panic and that should go a long way to ensuring a solid draft.

Make sure to stick to your draft board, especially when a run on a certain position begins. When tight ends begin flying off the board in the middle rounds, unless you have one valued at this position, don't rush to pick one up just because everyone else is. Keep in mind if other owners are reaching for these tight ends, there should be better value available at other positions. This also applies to kickers. There are generally a few top-notch kickers and tight ends, and after that there is a big drop-off in talent. Running back is the only position you should consider taking during a run because of the increased importance of running backs in most leagues.

One thing to be wary of is playing favorites with players. Even if the player carried you to a championship in a previous season or he is on your favorite team, you have to view the draft with the lack of emotion exhibited by a CIA hitman.

Also keep an open ear at your draft table. Some owners will be dropping hints of their strategy or trying to talk you out of players or talking up players they don't really want. For this writer, I also like to talk back to owners and try to get into their heads. It might not work, but it can be fun and also livens things up. Keep a mental note of what these owners are looking for and what their strategies are, and it will likely come back to help you in the later rounds. As the saying goes, information is power.

Trading is sometimes an option on draft day, however, if you are considering a move, make sure you are not overpaying and that the player you are getting will markedly improve your franchise. In-season is generally the best time to make trades, so make the move only if you feel the player represents tremendous value at that spot. Conversely, if you elect to trade down, make sure you are realistic with your view of which players will be gone when you next pick and then base your final decision on whether the move makes sense.

As you can see, most of the preparation and draft day tips are all related. If you put in the work and research beforehand, you will all but assure yourself of a strong draft (and hopefully a great season). Preparation, confidence and organization; those are the three key attributes if you want to have a good draft. Now with the draft done, grab your favorite cold beverage, sit back and enjoy the ride.

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Bryce McRae
Bryce McRae is a Managing Editor with KFFL and has been involved in fantasy sports since 1999. He joined KFFL as a volunteer writer in March 2005 before becoming a Hot off the Wire Analyst in March 2006. He began working in his current capacity in September 2008. His work has appeared on fantasy sports sites such as Yahoo! and CBS Sportsline as well as in print. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2008 with a B.A. in History and U.S. Studies.

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