Fantasy Football. How Does It Work?

[BEAT LA]

can somebody fill me in on fantasy football
i got and idea of the way it works
but im unsure about alot of things
like how does the defense part work?
and how do you win?

[denkc]

That's a very broad question, hopefully I do well enough to explain it. Also, you should post threads like this to the Fantasy Football forum (it's a subforum of this one)

Starting Off

In the most common type of fantasy football league, you gather usually 8, 10, or 12 people and they are each given a clean slate to start off with. Based on some sort of random scheme, they are given an order in which to draft their players.

The order of the draft differs from that of the NFL draft: it goes from 1-12 then the 12th team picks again and backwards to 1. This is so that it's more fair to the teams at the end.

Scoring and Draft Strategies

Players give their team points based on their performance in real life. Generally, RBs are drafted first because of their weekly consistency. Then WR/QB, though there are exceptions like Antonio Gates and Peyton Manning who draft in the upper 3 rounds. The reason most QBs aren't drafted very high is because many of them will have similar stats each week - you could spend an early pick on Peyton or you could wait until several rounds later and get someone like Brees who can be just as good. Meanwhile, you spend that first pick on a good RB.

There are a lot of things to consider when drafting. The most important one is to look at how your league awards points. If your league awards a lot of points for yards rather than TDs, you may lean toward players like Gore who get a lot of yards consistently. If it is the other way around, you might gamble on a goal-line back like Duckett, Jacobs, or Alstott. Of course, it is best to get someone who does both.

Defensive Scoring

Defense can work one of two ways. Most leagues opt to draft an entire team's defense, awarding points based on their production as a whole. Defenses usually are drafted later, though good ones can be drafted very high. Chicago and Baltimore's defense saved some teams last year.

Other leagues might choose to draft individual defensive players. Again, it is important to see how points are awarded - if turnovers are huge points, you'll be looking for playmakers. Otherwise you may look for consistent players like Jonathan Vilma.

Winning the League

Finally, the way to win the league also depends on the league format. If it is a head-to-head league, it is like the NFL where each week you'll face off against one team and whoever has the most points at the end of the week gets a Win. Generally with these leagues, there is a playoff system in weeks 15-17 and this works similarly to the NFL's playoff system with seeds.

The other way to score (and is less exciting) is to score purely on points. Then at the end of the season, whoever has the most points wins.

Hope that helped =P


Edit:

There are other types of leagues like Keeper and Dynasty leagues ... don't worry about those until you get the hang of the type I mentioned above (Yearly leagues).

Oh yes, and if you want to practice drafting, you should see this thread.

http://forums.49ers.com/messageboard/showthread.php?t=26706

[Sac-King_916]

can somebody fill me in on fantasy football
i got and idea of the way it works
but im unsure about alot of things
like how does the defense part work?
and how do you win?

:falldownlaugh: