It’s the time of year that most American men have been waiting for since the NBA finals finished, but it’s not what you might be thinking. We are still two weeks out from college football starting and three weeks before the NFL gets going. So what has just about every sports fan fired up? It’s time to get started on fantasy draft preparation for the upcoming season. Even though the season is three weeks away most fantasy drafts will be done in the next two weeks. Not all fantasy team owners do things the same way but for the most diehard ones this is the time that separates the winners from the losers.
Fantasy draft prep is very important if you want to have a successful fantasy season. You need to know how the scoring in you league works and plan accordingly.
I play in three leagues and all have different scoring. That means I need to do research according to three different criteria to see how I am going to draft. (I can just picture my wife rolling her eyes as I write this. She like most wives and girlfriends doesn’t understand the allure or appeal of fantasy football and why it takes any of my free time. If your significant other has these same feelings I will share some thoughts in my next article that may help you out.)
I play in a PPR league, (which is my favorite), a half PPR league and a league with standard scoring. All present their own unique challenges when it comes to drafting and who will have the most value. There are some players that will transcend any league and those are the guys that will be high first round picks. Those are the guys that everyone knows about and although they are nice to own, won’t really help you win your league unless they have a record setting season. Like Calvin Johnson did last year.

The key to winning your league is understanding your scoring system and drafting accordingly. It’s not about drafting the highest scoring player. It’s about drafting guys who have the largest margin between him and the next guy. If you are in a league that has tight ends then Jimmy Graham needs to be given serious consideration for early selection. He might not be the highest scoring guy out there, but he blows every other tight end away when it comes to differential, especially if Gronk doesn’t get fully healthy.

Although being prepared for your leagues draft is a very important it’s not the only way to finish at the top of your league.
If you aren’t a good drafter you need to be the king of the waiver wire. There are plenty of guys who have breakout seasons that went undrafted. You need to follow the games closely to grab those breakout stars right away. I lost a league a few years back because my brother picked up Victor Cruz after a good game. He killed me in each of our matchups including the championship game.
The other key to having fantasy league success is understanding your players’ matchups for each week. It doesn’t matter how good your roster is if you don’t play the right guys each week.
There is nothing worse as a fantasy owner then having one of your guys blow up when you have him on the bench. And you can’t use that as an excuse either. I woulda won if I played the right players is the worst cop out in fantasy sports. That’s pretty much the only responsibility you have after the draft is done.
If you don’t know who you should play each week then it’s time to watch more games. The one thing you can’t do however is trust what the projections are. They are never right and will cost you plenty of unnecessary losses.

No matter how you run your team, just remember to talk plenty of smack and have fun with it. It’s supposed to be a stress reliever and not a stress causer.