I myself am in a couple leagues, but I am not a man who puts in a lot of time thinking about this stuff. Even for fantasy baseball, I do not mock draft or project a lot. I know who the good players are and try to get them. It is that simple.
Fantasy football is another beast however. I do read a magazine and a few articles to prepare for the upcoming season. I mainly use one fantasy sports website for all of my fantasy football needs. I get their magazine in the mail and subscribe to their website, which is updated daily and almost by the second. The name of this website? Well I hate giving out my fantasy sports secrets, but it is www.rotowire.com.
The guys and gals over at rotowire are going to help me make a big decision this offseason. It is about keeping one player over another for one of my fantasy football leagues. A little background on the league first.
I joined this league, run by a former co-worker, back in 2006 when one owner backed out. It is a keeper league where you get to keep 1 player a year without losing a draft pick. The team I inherited was atrocious. The only player I could consider keeping was Antonio Gates. By the luck of the draw, I was to have the number 1 overall pick in the upcoming draft. So I was set with my keeper, Gates, and was waiting on the decision of another owner in the league to determine his keeper. He was lucky enough to have drafted LaDainian Tomlinson and waiver claim Larry Johnson. He went to the playoffs, but did not win the league. He chose to keep Larry Johnson, meaning that I could take LT with the first pick. I did so. I made the playoffs in my first year in fantasy sports, thanks to LT's record setting season. I did not win the league as my team fell apart in the playoffs.
The next season I kept LT, which I should have done considering how well he had just played. His numbers tailed off, as they should have, but he still had a good season. I did not make the playoffs, as I drafted poorly. I kept LT for the 2008 season and made the playoffs. I ended up winning the league too! All the while, dealing with an underperforming LT and inconsistent Marion Barber as my running backs. I did however end up with solid receivers, which I had not had in any of my years playing. Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Smith and Roddy White all played a part in my success last year.
I have just started to prepare for the upcoming season and I now have a dilemma. LT has been my obvious keeper these past couple seasons. Well all the preseason rankings, on rotowire.com, are placing Larry Fitzgerald as the 4th best player in fantasy football. Not 4th best wide receiver, 4th best player. LT is barely in the top 20, at number 18.
I have the 7th overall pick in the draft, and should be able to get a good running back if I choose to keep Fitzgerald over LT. However, I know if I do not keep Fitzgerald, he will be gone in the top 6 picks. I highly doubt that I would be able to snag him at the 7 spot. LT, on the other hand, should be available at the 7th pick.
But if he is not available, it will be like a gut shot from Mike Tyson if he goes and has a great season. I will lament my keeping of Fitzgerald, even if I do make the playoffs and win the league again. It is that feeling of loss and doubting of my drafting abilities that will gnaw at me all year long. I can't even begin to imagine what it would feel like to have LT blow up in a playoff game and be the reason why I do not advance in the playoffs.
Well, I am off to determine which player to keep. Or maybe I will just give myself a frontal lobotomy and forego this fantasy football season.
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