Fantasy Football Draft Strategy 2014: Tips and Tricks
Jul 26, 2013; Bourbonnais, IL, USA; Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte (22) tosses a football during training camp at Olivet Nazarene University. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Modern day fantasy football can be traced all the way back to 1962 and the late Wilfred “Bill the Gill” Winkenbach, an Oakland area businessman and a limited partner in the Oakland Raiders. In a New York hotel room during a 1962 Raiders eastern cross-country trip, Winkenbach, along with Raiders Public Relations man Bill Tunnel and Tribune reporter Scotty Starling, developed a system of organization and a rulebook, which would eventually be the basis of modern fantasy football.
For years, the popularity of fantasy football grew slowly. In 1997, CBS launched the beta version of the first publicly available free fantasy football website. The game immediately became widely popular. Within three years, all major sports media websites launched competing fantasy football hosting websites. The NFL released their own official game in 2010, NFL.com Fantasy Football, further driving industry growth.
Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Fast forward to today.
Fantasy football is now the single most important marketing tool for the NFL. Today, it is estimated over 19 million people compete in public and private leagues online nationally.
As the landscape of fantasy football changed and evolved over time the need for a fantasy football draft strategy became more and more important. Nowadays, terms like “PPR”, “Dynasty Keeper”, and “Auction Leagues” are common, so depending the type of league you are participating in, and how many team owners are in your league, you must have some sort of game plan heading into draft day.
If you enter your draft with a plan, and are able to execute, you may be the one hosting your leagues homemade trophy over the heads of your ever jealous friends at season’s end.
We’ll run through some basics to keep in mind, and make an attempt to answer any questions that you may have in regards to preparing for YOUR 2014, championship season.
Shall we?