Points are accumulated when your players do positive things (score touchdowns, make field goals, catch passes, gain lots of yards) and they are lost when your team does bad things (throw interceptions, lose fumbles, miss field goals). One video I viewed before writing this uses an example of turning watching 'The Bachelor' into a fantasy sport. Before the season starts, my friends and I take turns "drafting" 7 women each. Then we gain/lose points based on things that happen on the show. For example maybe I get points every time one of my women receives a rose, gets a kiss, receives a date card, etc. and perhaps I lose points every time she cries or if she gets sent home. Then at the end of an episode my opponent and I total up our points and see who scored higher.
Playing is easy, conquering the competition and winning your league is a different story. This article will attempt to serve as a beginner's guide to fantasy football and will cover things such as how a draft works, how to set a line up, how to improve your roster, how scoring works for each position, and more.
Join a League
The first step is simply to become a part of a fantasy football league. A good league typically consists of 8 to 12 players. Anything less than 8 means everyone gets a team of all stars, whereas anything more than 12 means the talent on each team is extremely thin, 8-12 provides a good balance of everyone getting some studs, while also needing to strategize and hopefully find some diamonds in the ruff.
Each league is organized and run by a league commissioner, this is just an individual who is sort of in charge of inviting everyone else, organizing a draft day and time, and handling any disputes between league members. They also typically set some ground rules for customizing the league, things such as when the trade deadline is, how many teams make the playoffs, etc.
The structure of a league can vary. Some league's like to break people up into divisions or conferences and send the winner of each to the playoffs, others prefer to clump everyone together and just have those towards the top of the league wide standings make the playoffs.
Next, you draft
Once a league has the necessary number of members, the next step is to set a date and time to hold your fantasy draft. This can be complicated because you're needing to align the schedules of 8-12 people but it's definitely worth it once that happens. Ideally, you want the draft to happen as close to the beginning of the regular season as possible but it must happen prior to the beginning of the season. This year the season starts on September 5 so ideally the draft would occur in early September or late August.
Now, a computer can randomly determine the draft order, but it's wayyyyy more fun to have some sort of game or competition to determine the order. Some are simply luck, for example one year we did this: we wrote the numbers 1 through 12 on the bottom of 12 red solo cups and then filled them with water and randomized them on a pong table. Then we took turns attempting to throw a ping pong ball into a cup, without knowing which numbers corresponded to which cups. So for example I throw the ping pong ball, it lands in a random cup, I look at the bottom of the cup where I see the number '8' written, thus I am drafting eighth.
Other times we played VERY competitive games to determine the order. The best two by far were a very intense game of flip cup and a very physical game of spoons. For each, whoever was eliminated had the lowest available draft pick. So for example when we played flip cup, whoever was last to flip their cup went 12th, then we went again and whoever was last went 11th, and we repeated this process all the way down to the last two flippers. It made for a very intense and exciting time.
Once the order has been determined, the actual draft happens, where league members take turns selecting from a pool of NFL players. To keep things fair, the draft is snake style, which means the order reverses after each round. So let's say for example it's a 10 man league and Michael Scott is picking 1st, Jim Halpart is picking 2nd, Dwight Schrute is picking 9th, and Toby Flenderson is picking 10th. This means that in round 2, the order will reverse, thus Toby gets the 11th pick, Dwight picks 12th, and after picking 1st Michael Scott won't pick again til pick 20. Then in round 3 we reverse again, Michael goes 21st, Jim 22nd, Dwight 29th, and Toby 30th. Then Toby 31st and well you get the picture.
The Draft Room
When it's time for your league to draft, you'll enter what's called the draft room. It looks complicated but it really isn't. The large list of players in the middle are the available players you can draft from. ESPN pre ranks them for you and then sorts them by these ranking and updates this throughout the draft as players are selected. Next to their names, you'll also see how many points ESPN projects them to score this year, and when their bye week is. You can also stratify this by position by clicking that drop down tool next to "position" above the list of players and selecting the position you would like to view. This is helpful when the position you would like to draft is not currently on the main board (i.e. I would like a quarterback but the highest ranked players are all running backs and wide receivers). ESPN's rankings are a good tool to go by if it's your first time and you're unfamiliar with specific players.
Under the list of players is a chat room, which you can use to troll your friends. To the far right is your current roster. As you select players, they will be updated to your roster, so you will have a good idea as you go along what you need and what you already have. The numbers underneath that show how many players you've selected at each position, and the maximum number you can select at the position. So for example where it says 'QB 0/4' is telling me I've selected 0 quarterbacks and can select a max of 4. In between is a running ticker that just lists the most recent 10 picks or so, just think of a recent history of who drafted what player. When a new pick occurs, it will pop up here. The top section displays the draft order and the clock (you have 60 seconds to make a pick), the helmet highlighted in yellow is yourself. You will hear a noise and see that highlight turn red when you're on the clock.
When it's your turn to draft it's pretty simple. Click the player you would like to draft, his name and picture will pop up on the screen above along with a big red button that says "draft player". Go ahead and click that button and then you will select that player and the next person will be up. I'm sure it seems daunting with all the different charts and lists but it's pretty straightforward once you understand what each is telling you. There are also mock drafts you can do on ESPN.com if you'd like to practice and familiarize yourself with the display. If you're drafting from the App instead of your laptop, the display will look slightly different but the basic logic is the same.
What is a fantasy football roster comprised of
Of the 16 players you draft, each week you will have to start 9 and bench the other 7. You must start the following:
1 Quarterback
2 Running Backs
2 Wide Receivers
1 Tight End
1 "Flex" (a wild card spot that can be a running back, wide receiver, or tight end)
1 Defense (i.e. Bucs defense, Bears defense, Patriots defense, etc.)
1 Kicker.
Here is the recommended amount you're going to want to draft:
QB (2-4)
RB (4-6)
WR (4-6)
TE (1-3)
Defense/Special Teams (1-2)
K (1)
Now let's discuss how scoring works for each
Quarterback
- 1 point for ever 25 passing yards
- 4 points for a passing touchdown
- 1 point for every 10 rushing yards
- 6 points for every rushing touchdown
- -2 points per interception
- -2 points for losing a fumble
- 1 point for every 10 rushing yards
- 6 points for a rushing touchdown
- 1 point for every 10 receiving yards
- 6 points for a receiving touchdown
- -2 points for losing a fumble
Wide Receiver
- 1 point for every 10 receiving yards
- 1 point for catching a pass
- 6 points for a receiving touchdown
- -2 points for losing a fumble
Tight End
- See wide receiver
D/ST
- 2 points for making an interception
- 2 points for recovering a fumble
- 1 point for a sack
- 6 points for a defensive touchdown
- This is more complicated, but you can also gain/lose points based on how many points the defense allows and how many yards the defense allows
K
- 3 points for a made field goal between 0 and 39 yards
- 4 points for a made field goal between 40 and 49 yards
- 5 points for a made field goal 50 yards or more
- 1 point for a made extra point after a touchdown
- -1 point for a missed field goal
Lastly it should be added that for the yardage based scoring you can have decimals if the score is not in a perfect increment of 10. For example if my running back rushes for 72 yards, that would count as 7.2 points.
So let's use a basic example in which Jim plays against Dwight to show a glossed over example of what rosters and a weekly match up might look like.
Jim's Team Dwight's Team
Position Player Points Position Player Points
QB Tom Brady 21 QB Aaron Rodgers 25
RB Ezekiel Elliot 15 RB Saquon Barkley 19
RB Melvin Gordon 8 RB Leonard Fournette 4
WR Odell Beckham Jr. 6 WR Antonio Brown 7
WR Julio Jones 17 WR Mike Evans 12.2
TE Travis Kelce 9.5 TE Zach Ertz 10.8
Flex Brandin Cooks (WR) 12.5 Flex David Johnson (RB) 6
D/ST Bears 7 D/ST Vikings -3
K Justin Tucker 8 K Will Lutz 10
Total 104 91
How to Play
I do most of my fantasy football management through my laptop on ESPN.com. Pretty straight forward, once you are signed in on ESPN, click fantasy on the far right, click football, and then you should see your team. From the laptop you can do your draft, set line ups, make acquisitions and trades, and do everything you need.
Similarly, ESPN has a fantasy football app that works just as well and does all the same thing. Many people prefer this, I'm a little more old school and prefer to use my laptop for the bigger screen, more tabs open to do research, and not reliant on data.
Ways to Improve your roster after the draft
No draft roster is perfect. You're going to draft some players who end up getting injured and others who just underperform.
There are 2 ways to attempt to improve your roster: through the waiver wire and through trades.
The waiver wire is a pool of players who are currently unowned by anyone else in your league that are available to be claimed. So let's say for example one of my starting running backs tears his ACL in the middle of the season. Since, this player will not play again in the regular season, he is no longer of use to my fantasy team, and thus I would drop him from my roster and likely try to claim whoever his back up was since that player will likely now become the starter.
Another scenario where this happens a lot is on bye weeks (the one week per season a football team does not have a game). For example if I have 3 wide receivers but two of them are on a bye week, i would need to use the waiver wire to acquire another receiver since I am required to start 2.
The waiver wire occurs every Wednesday morning, which means you need to request your desired player(s) on Monday or Tuesday. The order is the inverse order of the current standings, again attempting to keep things fair and help the bad teams improve rather than the rich get richer. For example, if two people request the same player and one has a record of 2-4 and the other is 3-3, the team with the 2-4 record has priority and gets the player they requested. You can make as many waiver requests as you want, just note for each player claimed you'll be needing to drop a player off of your current roster.
As aforementioned, there are also trades. As a fantasy football player, you are allowed to propose a trade of players to any other owner in the league. Then that owner can decide whether to accept, counter offer, or decline the offer altogether. Typically if I want to trade with someone I text or call them before hand rather than randomly dropping a trade proposal in their inbox.
How to make the playoffs
Typically, the teams in the better half of the standings advance to the playoffs. This is determined by record, and teams with the same record will be differentiated by the total number of points scored in the regular season. So for example if two teams have a record of 7-6, and one scored 850 points in the regular season and the other scored 825, the one that scored 850 would finish ahead of the one that scored 825.
Based on the size of your league, typically 4 to 8 teams make the playoffs. If it's 4, it's pretty straight forward: 1st place vs 4th place, 2nd place vs 3rd place, winners play for the championship. 8 is similar but just with extra round (1 vs 8, 2vs 7, 3vs 6, 4 vs 5, semifinals, championship). 6 is slightly trickier: 1st and 2nd receive a first round bye, 3 vs 6 plays and 4 vs 5 plays, the winner of the 3/6 game plays 2 in the semifinals and the winner of the 4/5 game plays 1 in the semifinals, then it follows the 4 team format.
Additionally, teams who don't make the playoffs still play in what's known as the consolation bracket. Whoever wins this bracket is essentially the best of the worst, and whoever finishes last is thus the last place finisher.
Many leagues have different ways of honoring the champion. Some play for money, with 1st place winning either all or most of the money, with small payouts for 2nd and 3rd place sometimes. Other leagues share some sort of trophy or championship belt. Some simply play for bragging rights and pride too. Similarly, many leagues choose to punish whoever finishes in last, with things like bad haircuts, embarrassing tattoos, sitting down for the SAT/ACT, making an embarrassing calendar/music video, or being beer bitch (the person required to grab beers for everyone) at next year's draft. One league a friend of mine played in in college required the last place finisher to play the recorder outside of a bar and not stop until he/she received $10 in tips.
Same Basic FF Vocabulary
There's a series of abbreviations and lingo that you'll hear rather frequently, so good to familiarize yourself with it early.
Sleeper - An underrated player who will exceed expectations
Bust - An overrated player who will not meet expectations
Breakout - A player who will go from "good" or "great" to elite
Add/drop - Terms used for the aforementioned waiver wire. Dropping a player can also be referred to as "cutting" a player.
Boom-Or-Bust - Term used to describe players who are extremely streaky. For example they might score 20 point 1 week and 0 the following. They are not necessarily bad, just inconsistent.
Ceiling/Floor - Terms used to describe the upper and lower limits of a players projected output. For example, a boom-or-bust player would be described as "low floor, high ceiling", because they could be tremendous and score lots of points or they could be a total bust and not score hardly any. Conversely, "high floor, low ceiling", would describe a player who consistently scores an average amount of points week to week. He doesn't put up huge numbers but he doesn't put up extremely low values either, he is stuck in the middle.
Projection (Proj) - Each week, ESPN will forecast how many points each player on your team will score. This comes from a combination of statistical analysis and expert opinions. These are helpful in determining whom to start and whom to bench each week.
PPR - Points Per Reception. If you are in a PPR league (which we are), this means your player gets a point each time he catches a pass. If you are in a standard league, they do not get points for catches.
Waiver Wire - The pool of players you can select from each week who are unowned by current teams.
Waiver Order/Waiver Priority - The physical order in which teams can make waiver claims. The priority refers to your specific position (i.e. priority 5 means I am 5th in line for the waiver wire).
In conclusion:
This should provide some basics for how fantasy football works, in a separate article we will go more over strategy for the draft and the season
