<p>Somehow I’ve gotten myself in a family fantasy football league. Ds1 has walked me through the basics, but I want to wow him and my nephews with my prowess. 
Any secrets/tips/helpful hints?</p>
<p>Oh, and I refuse to do all autodraft but will use it if I have to!</p>
<p>Pick up a couple of fantasy magazines - these will help a lot - with player rankings, etc. One thing to make sure of - try not to have your top players (or your main QB and backup) with the same bye week. pick your kicker last. check the scoring rules for your league - most are more favorable to running backs, but some would make drafting a quarterback in the first round a good move (for instance, giving a QB 6 points for throwing a TD, and 1 point for each 20 yards of passing yardage). after the season starts, keep an eye on rookies, and you may be able to pick up a really good player off the waiver wire. </p>
<p>Most draft programs will show who the highest ranked players left are as the draft goes along, so you won’t need to autodraft, but you will have the benefit of seeing the rankings of remaining players - and you can choose according to your needs. </p>
<p>Be sure and keep up with injuries, suspensions, etc. so that you don’t have an inelgible player on your active roster at game time. </p>
<p>good luck - it’s lots of fun. we’ve had a family league for the past 4 years and have an awesome traveling trophy.</p>
<p>take a careful look at your league’s scoring rules. Most all leagues are similar, but those differences can be significant.
Georgia is exactly correct with her scoring examples and how they can make a difference.
PPR typically makes a wr more valuable than without ppr.
There have been significant injuries in just the last 3-4 days.</p>
<p>Can I play for you? :P</p>
<p>Draft is next Sunday. Come on down! ;)</p>
<p>I was a first-time fantasy footballer last season (work league) and ended up winning! I attribute 25% of my success to dumb luck and 75% to doing “too much” research, which I figured was necessary since I wasn’t a huge football fan.</p>
<p>So my advice would be to keep up with your reading each week… know if someone is injured (and don’t play him), if someone’s team is playing an easy opponent (play him), what the weather forecast is (wind=more running game, so you may want to pick an RB over a WR if you have a flex spot), etc. And like others have said, pay attention to newbies you can pick up with a waiver.</p>
<p>Enjoy!!</p>
<p>I did a mock draft for practice and wasn’t too overwhelmed, but our league manager is pushing only 30 seconds a pick and my mock draft was 45 seconds so I need to pick up my speed.</p>
<p>30 sec a pick is extremely unusual short time, even for experienced players. Sounds like he may be purposefully seeking to put newer players at a disadvantage(imo)
A minute and a minute and a half are far more common.
Your pick time is prob determined by league vote, but I recommend you try for a minute and if you don’t get that, maybe they’ll “settle” on 45 sec.
There are many free mock drafts on Yahoo, espn, and CBS. Look for one that has same # of teams in league as you have in your league.
Yes, be sure you’re up to date. Even since my post 3, there have been injuries and developments that affect valuable players.</p>
<p>I thought that, too, yhoss – that we’re being railroaded into a too-quick draft. Even ds1, who’s done fantasy baseball and footballl for years, said so. I’m going to propose we do at least 45 seconds. The league manager is an expectant dad, whose dd will be born less than two weeks before the draft; I think he’ll need the longer draft time.</p>