Tips from a Fantasy Football Champion

At least for a few more months, it really IS good to be the king! In my 12th year of playing in my former employer’s friendly (no betting money) 10-team fantasy football league, my team claimed its second title last season. Alas, it had been eleven years (2011) since I won the first time! Beginning next week, it will be time for you to, once again, risk personal public embarrassment and draft your NFL fantasy football team for upcoming fall season.   Most leagues will begin the annual player selections after the conclusion of the final (hal-le-lu-jah!) NFL preseason games this weekend. Beginning early next week through Labor Day, it’s time to time to make those tough decisions which may lead to your league championship or a trip to the bottom of the heap. On both counts, I’ve been there, done that! In fact, my team’s 12-year won/loss record has been quite mediocre.  My team’s record is 94 wins, 90 losses and one tie.  That’s a 51.1% winning percentage in a dozen seasons. The good news is that my team has two first place finishes, one second, and a third place during this 12-year run.  It also means that my fantasy football team usually stinks in two out of every three seasons. My group participates in the Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football league.  A former boss and several of his college classmates got it started a long time ago.  Two years ago, a longtime team owner’s 12-year old grandson took over ol’ Grandpa’s team in 2021.  The young man did a terrific job.  Age does not seem to be either an advantage or disadvantage. What was my secret of winning the Fantasy Football League last season?    The honest answer is, “I drafted in the #4 position”. That’s right!  It had very little to do with my incredible (cough) player selection skills. In most leagues, the order in which team drafts players is randomly determined by a computer (in our case, the Yahoo Sports computer) a few minutes before the actual draft begins. If there are ten teams in the league, the draft order goes in numeric order for Round 1.  The “snake” reverses and teams select in reverse order in Round 2.  So, the team with the first overall pick in Round 1 will get the 20th overall pick (final selection of Round 2). My team was lucky last season.  Bei