Your fantasy draft is the first step to reaching the glory of being a fantasy football champion. Unfortunately the draft is not easy, and can throw you a lot of curve balls from start to finish. Don’t worry though I’m going to give you a few quick tips to get you through the day. There are many other small tips depending on the type of draft you are doing but the tips I am providing are universal no matter what type of draft you are in.
Preparation
Gentleman, ladies, kids, grandparents, whoever is playing be prepared. If you want to win your fantasy football league trophy and I’m assuming that’s why you are playing, then you must be prepared. Take the time before your draft to get familiar with the league scoring rules. Understand you league lineup. If you start 3 wide receivers and only one running back then obviously wide receiver is a bit more important than running back. Study statistics, learn about player injuries, and most importantly watch and read as much about what’s going on in the league prior to your draft. I learned that Kurt Warner was to be the starter in Arizona about 2 hours before my draft in 2008. Nobody else knew so I waited on a qb and drafted him in the 11th round. I loaded up on other positions in the meantime and as a result blew away the field on the way to a championship. One little nugget of knowledge like that can make a huge difference on draft day. By being prepared on draft day you won’t make as many mistakes or worse a huge mistake when drafting.
Stay Calm
Trust me things aren’t going to go as planned during your draft, they never do. Just stay calm. If a player, or two, or three, that you were targeting gets drafted don’t panic and start making brash decisions. If you took the first step of being prepared then you should be ready for this. Stay calm, review the fantasy football draft board, your player list, check out your team needs, and make a calculated decision on who you take next. Whatever you do stay calm. If you need to change directions a bit then do so, but stay calm while you do it. If you get frustrated and go on tilt then a string of bad decisions will be the likely outcome. Don’t let this happen, just stay calm and trust your preparation to get you through.
Don’t Drink
What I can’t have a good time while I draft? I’m not saying that but my suggestion is don’t drink or more importantly don’t get drunk. I can’t express it enough, don’t come to the draft drunk or get drunk leading up to it. This spells disaster for your draft. I understand a lot of draft parties are at sports bars, or peoples houses, and everyone wants to have a good time. I’m o.k. with that, but let other members of your league get drunk. Stay as sober as possible and let the drinkers make the mistakes. I have seen it multiple times where a league member gets drunk prior to the draft or in the first 4 or 5 rounds. The next thing you know they are drafting a tight end in the third round or a kicker in the 7th. These mistakes will make you have quite a long fantasy season. Not only that your other league members will make fun of you for years to come. Don’t be that guy/gal.
There you have it. 3 simple rules to help you succeed on draft day for fantasy football. You will never have the perfect draft but these tips will keep you from having a disaster of one.