The 6 Biggest Draft Mistakes A New Fantasy Football Owner Can Make

1. Write a defense or kicker in the middle rounds
This is fantasy football 101. Wait until the last two rounds to choose a kicker and a defense. It’s almost impossible to determine from year to year which defenses will finish in the top 10. Hell, a lot of top 10 defenders aren’t even selected, but many owners will fall in love with certain teams that were good last season only to find that they underperformed this year. The same principle applies to kickers. There really isn’t much of a difference between the best kicker and the twelfth best kicker. Many solid kickers can be acquired during the season very easily. For these reasons, it is best to wait until the end of the draft to choose a kicker and defense.

2. Recruit a player who has been eliminated by an NFL team
One of the most embarrassing scenarios in a fantasy football draft is the owner picking a running back or wide receiver who was just cut by the NFL team a few days before the draft. This is an absolutely wasted choice. Now, if it happens to a kicker during the final round of the draft, the pain may be minimal. Kicker cuts are so hyped, but with any other position, this lack of preparation is inexcusable. Do a lot of homework and don’t make this mistake.

3. Recruit an injured player (out of season)
There is an old poker saying that if you don’t know who the fool at the table is, it must be you. If you want to know where the easy money is in the fantasy football draft, he’s the guy who picks a running back in round 5 who tore an ACL in a preseason game the week before. The room will burst into laughter. Don’t be this guy. Do homework. If time is limited before the draft, at least check the latest news and injury report before heading to your draft. It could save you a lot of humiliation.

Four. Waiting until round 3 to pick a RB
I’ve talked about it in my preliminary strategy articles on Fantasy Football Aid, Fantasy owners need to identify the rare positions in their league and pick those players early. In most leagues, RB’s position is rare. Let’s say each team starts with 2 RBs, but the NFL only has 32 starting running backs. In a 12-team fantasy football league, 24 of the 32 running backs (75%) are required. When you consider that many teams employ a corridor per committee (rbbc) approach, the actual% of RBs required increases even more. By contrast, only 12 of 32 quarterbacks are required (37.5%). What this means is that it will be harder to find RB later in the draft and during the season. Quarterbacks will be available in abundance. It is advisable to choose a RB with one or both of your first two picks.

5. Have a smaller player list than the one to be drawn up
This will drive seasoned draft players crazy. He’s the guy who fights the last three rounds of the draft because they brought in a roster of 48 running backs, but 60 were drafted. He’s the guy who’s asking for his neighbor’s list because he doesn’t know who’s available. If there are 12 teams in the fantasy league and each can select 5 running backs on the roster, you will need to bring a pre-draft ranking list of 60 running backs, for example. It’s a simple pre-draft planning task.

6. Lack of strategy
Each owner must enter the draft with a plan. Whether using value-based drawing techniques, levels, or a simple printed list from a reputable expert, a strategy is essential to success. Know which position you would like to aim for in the first three or four rounds, for example RB WR RB QB or RB RB WR QB. Highlight a list of sleepers that you would like to catch in the middle rounds. Would you rather accumulate runners based on the scoring system and the scarcity of position? Want to meet the initial alignment requirements first, and then draft your backups? These are questions that should be considered before the draft.

When I go into a draft, I write my ideal starting lineup based on where I pick in each round and the ADP (Average Draft Position) value of the players. It’s okay to get a few points ahead of the projected ADP, but don’t go more than one round or you won’t get a good value.

Hope you found these helpful tips. You don’t have to know everything about how to play fantasy football to incorporate these beginner tips. Seasoned homeowners will find them obvious, but for newbies, avoiding these basic mistakes will save you from an awkward moment.

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