Fantasy Football Sharks
Fantasy Football Preseason Checklist
Author: Bill Parsons
We just reached the Major League All-Star game, but I bet many of you feel like you are behind on your preparation work for the 2009 NFL Fantasy Football season. Sure, you could take the easy way out and let your autodraft engine pick your team for you and hope that you will be competitive. However, very few leagues are won this way. You need to gain the advantage at draft time by picking the sleepers ahead of the other managers and being positioned to pick the waiver wire clean at the appropriate times during the season. So, here is a basic checklist to start with.
1. Determine what fantasy sports website you want to play on. Even if you are not the Commissioner, you want to investigate the variety of sites available and determine who has the best features and appears to be the easiest to use. Do not be afraid to use a site that you have not seen on national television. Investments in innovation will help you play in a more enjoyable league.
2. Start building the pool of players that will one day make up your player rankings. Many sites have players ranked at draft time, but everyone in your league will have access to that information. You want your list of players ranked by your expectation of how they will perform this season. If you do your homework before the draft, you should be in position to take home the crown at the end of the season. If it looks iffy, bribe a few other managers to dump players your way.
3. Now, that player pool is not as easy to pour as a cold beer. Start by going over the free agent movement since the Super Bowl ended. There is a lot of time between now and your league's draft for NFL teams to build their depth chart. You want to flag potential position battles for the number 1 and number 2 slots in your money positions. No reason to worry about who the number 1 running back is in New York, but you may be concerned about who will win the number 2 slot. You want to focus on news involving these players.
4. Of course, you better factor rookies into the mix. Not many make an impact so drafting the correct players will save draft picks for more useful players or backups to your studs. So, grab the draft results from April. Everyone knows that Chris “Beanie” Wells will be a rookie to draft, but what about Donald Brown? You want to be the team that drafts him first. Of course, he’ll be known by draft time, so go through all picks and try to imagine where they will factor into the depth chart, even if they will not be the obvious number 2 back. For example, get to know LeSean McCoy. Wow, I could just hear a resounding “Who?!”. With Brian Westbrook a perennial injury risk, McCoy could be the feature back on a very good team in no time.
5. Start digesting news and injury reports, making sure to focus on the teams where you see the best position battles and greatest opportunity for upside. If you keep a comprehensive diary of these happenings, you can trust this more than random articles found before the draft….except mine, of course. Also, my mock draft will be on the heels of this article.
6. Don’t rely on your research to be the only source of influence on your initial player pool. Pick up a few trade magazines. We suggest picking up a copy of Fantasy Football Cheatsheets or Fantasy Football Diehards. Add some of their sleepers and rookies to your pool that you have omitted and you will have a good collection of players to track news on this summer and help you set your player rankings before your draft. Once again, you can ignore the news about Michael Turner, Larry Fitzgerald. and the like, that is, unless they have poor habits like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute, swimming with sharks with an open wound, or constantly complaining about how unfair their contract is.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/football-articles/fantasy-football-preseason-checklist-1047792.html
About the Author
Bill Parsons is the owner of http://www.MaximumFantasySports.com and a rabid fantasy sports participant. He began creating his own football and baseball fantasy leagues at the ripe old age of seven; tracking stats and standings on paper. Bill decided to create a real-time fantasy football league website that includes all of the best features and some of which have never been attempted at any other website. Maximum Fantasy Sports offers Free pools and fairly priced Private Fantasy Football leagues as well as Public Leagues with cash payouts.
November 30, -0001
12:00 am
Go to Yahoo fantasy I personally love the free fantasy games it’s simple to join a free league and it’s updated every day. It’s the best fantasy I’ve ever played. (10 times better than espn and nfl.com fantasy)
November 30, -0001
12:00 am
Calvin Johnson will be a bust this year but will be great next year and the years after. Johnson came in the NFL with a huge name for himself and will be recognized as a threat to defenses. Plus you have R.Williams and M.Furry at WR which both caught over 80 passes this year. My theory is never draft a rookie WR unless its a keeper league.
November 30, -0001
12:00 am
Nope, sorry thanks for the points though
November 30, -0001
12:00 am
My guess is Larry Johnson
November 30, -0001
12:00 am
yeah, all you do is click on the link that says “edit logo” and then you can upload an image from the web by putting the web address into the upload image section
July 18, 2007
11:37 am
Who is Draft Sharks’ 2007 1st-Round Bust Pick?
Draft Sharks is a fantasy football website and I am trying to find out who their pick is to be a first round bust for the 2007 NFL season.
August 28, 2007
1:24 pm
ESPN.com fantasy picture?
anybody know how i can add a picture to my espn.com fantasy football logo? Some guy in my league did it last year (he added a picture of a shark instead of the stupid football helmet with the single letter), but i’ll be damned if i can figure out how to do it.
August 30, 2007
11:01 am
Who is this year’s Draft Shark bust pick for fantasy football?
Im asking about the company Draft Sharks who have gotten the major bust in 7 of 8 years…please dont respond if you dont know the answer for 100%.
July 12, 2008
7:55 am
Where can i find a free Fantasy Football website that can compete with the pay sites like Draft Sharks?
I have found a few but they don’t seem to be updated all that often.
Any help will be much appreciated.
10 points to the person that gives me the best info.
Thanks
Guys no offfense here but I don’t want to know about Yahoo or ESPN. I know their stuff is free but thats not what im looking for.
July 20, 2009
10:27 am
Anyone want to join our fantasy football league?
Oh and No this is NOT SPAM.
http://www.fleaflicker.com search on owners: patsfan546
The open slots for teams are (You Can Change The Name(s)):
Rumble
M.O.B.
Bouncers
Maulers
Hombres
Slashers
Gladiators
Bobcats
Rams
Storm
Behemoths
Wildcats
Rockers
Ace
Beasts
Warriors
Runaway Trains
Jets
Sharks
Only 5 slots are taken out of 24 please help us fill our league.