Have you seen Fight Club? If not, you probably should. Actually, read the book. Seriously. Read it before you see the movie. There’s a scene with The Narrator (Edward Norton’s character) who says:
Tyler Durden: My dad never went to college, so it was real important that I go.
Narrator: Sounds familiar.
Tyler Durden: So I graduate, I call him up long distance, I say “Dad, now what?” He says, “Get a job.”
Narrator: Same here.
Tyler Durden: Now I’m 25, make my yearly call again. I say Dad, “Now what?” He says, “I don’t know, get married.”
Narrator: I can’t get married, I’m a 30 year old boy.
The point being, you need a plan. With life, or with your fantasy football team. You can’t just ask people what to do. Step up and develop your own clear vision for what you want to accomplish. Maybe it’s to marry Kate Upton, maybe it’s to win that god-awful thing your league calls a championship trophy.
If you try to incorporate every little detail that the talking heads and bloggers mention, you’re going to be in trouble. That’s how you gridlock yourself right there. Find me a guy that LOVES Arian Foster in Week 1. No problem right? Now find me a guy that HATES Arian Foster in Week 1. Geez, that really wasn’t a problem either, was it? The real question is, how do YOU feel about Arian Foster. See, your wife/girlfriend (both?) is right about you having trouble expressing your feelings!
Your draft is over and you need to start setting your lineups for Week 1. Let’s take it from there, shall we?
DON’T GET CUTE
You drafted Ray Rice with a high 1st round draft pick. Yes, he’s playing at home vs. the Steelers. You’re still starting him. If Arian Foster plays? You’re starting him. Chris Johnson? Hello, McFly? Yes. How about Reggie Wayne? Yep, we’re starting him too. The point here is you should start the players you drafted to be your starters, barring injury. You can play with your flex spot, but always start your studs
HONESTLY EVALUATE YOUR TEAM
One of the biggest mistakes fantasy owners can make is to overvalue their own players. Take a real look at your team. Where are you weak? Who are the guys you are willing to cut to make waiver wire moves? Do you need a backup QB? What’s the situation with your handcuff RB’s? These are all important things to evaluate.
DON’T OVERREACT
Especially on the “panic” side of the spectrum. A player you took in the first 3 rounds of your draft? He’s going to have a TERRIBLE Week 1. It happens all the time. Your stud WR will lay an egg while the dude you drafted in Round 13 sits on your bench with 27 points. It happens ALL THE TIME. You really need to give your players a couple of games (at least) to evaluate their performance potential for the season. So take a deep breath, count to 100, beat Super Mario Bros. real quick, whatever you need to do.
TAKE A SHOT ON THE WEEK 1 WAIVER WIRE SUPERSTAR
Before you do anything here, you should have already evaluated your roster. That means you should have at least one or two players whom you are willing to cut. If not, then you’re probably not making a waiver more in Week 1 unless it’s too big to pass up (that’s what she said). Be wary of a player who has a big fantasy day because he caught one pass for an 86-yard TD. You’re looking for players who were given significant opportunities to perform and capitalized on those opportunities. That’s a RB with 10+ touches, a WR or TE with 5+ catches or a QB who has a starting job and a good game. It’s also important to pay attention to how many times players are targeted in the passing game, especially in the red zone.
When it comes to using the waiver wire, there are four different options that are commonly used in fantasy leagues:
- Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB)
- Waiver Wire (Order resets every week to the inverse order of the standings)
- Waiver Wire (Set order, you move to the back of the line each time you make a claim)
- No Waivers (Free For All where all free agents are available all of the time)
FAAB
You will generally receive a budget of either $100 or $1000 FAAB dollars. This is not “real” money. During the season you use this money to acquire free agents. Each week you place “bids” on players you would like to acquire via free agency. You can spend the money however you like. You could spend your whole $100 on one player or make 100 $1 acquisitions. Or anything in between. If you are a “tinkerer” and you like to make multiple moves each week, you pry shouldn’t bid too much on any one player. If you pretty much stay with the team you drafted, feel free to blow most of your FAAB $ on a hot waiver wire name. Either way, don’t be afraid to bid fairly big on a player after Week 1 if you really like him. Too many times teams try to save their FAAB $ and they wind up not using it. There’s no value in that. Don’t handcuff yourself completely, but don’t be afraid to make a move.
WAIVER WIRE (Order Resets Weekly)
This is pretty simple. Each week a new waiver wire order comes out. The team with the worst record gets the first or #1 waiver priority. Then team with the 2nd-worst record gets the #2 waiver priority and so on. Since the order resets every week, there’s no point in ever waiting on making a claim, just make as many as you want, whenever you want.
WAIVER WIRE (Move To The End After Each Claim)
This format requires a bit more strategy. In a shallow league (8 or 10-teams) I wouldn’t worry about it too much. There are usually many quality players available in these leagues so there’s not much value in holding onto the #1 waiver priority in the hopes of scoring huge. In a 12-team league there’s a bit more value to holding a high waiver priority, but it’s still not a big deal. If there’s a player you want, try to acquire him. Now in a league with 14+ teams, you have to be more selective. Quite often you only might get one chance at having a high waiver priority, so you need to make it count. That means not using waiver claims to stream D/ST’s or kickers or to pick up a QB to use for one week when your QB is on a bye. You’re using your waiver wire claim on a player who might have a chance to start for you consistently at some point. Nothing less is really worth it early in the season.
NO WAIVERS (FREE FOR ALL)
Are you married? Employed? Do you have children? Hell, do you have some non-Internet friends? If so, you’re screwed in this format. The guy who sits all day at his computer? He’s DOMINATING this league. You can try to stay on top of things from your smartphone if you’d like, but this league heavily favors they players who take fantasy football VERY seriously. Very few leagues utilize this system anymore and that’s why.
That’s all folks. Assume I said that in my best Bugs Bunny voice, because I tried. Not like when I promised to kill you last. That was a lie. Good luck this weekend, follow along on the Twitter. It couldn’t possibly hurt right? That’s what she said! (Yeah that last line was kind of just to get in a last “that’s what she said” so sue me.)
