If you’ve been paying attention to the Mayan calendar (and who hasn’t) then you know the world is set to end on December 21, 2012.
If that is the case (the Mayans have to be right, don’t they?) then this is the last fantasy football season anyone on Earth will ever see.
So if you want to have bragging rights in the after life follow these four steps to not suck in 2012.
- Start trusting your gut.
- Nothing is worse than the feeling of having a player on your bench who is having a monster fantasy day. In fact, the only thing worse than that is when the player on your bench would have been starting but you talked yourself out of it. You woke up with a feeling this guy was gonna have a big day and you sat him on the bench because Matthew Berry had him on the sit em side of the fantasy ledger. Don’t let that happen this year. It’s the last fantasy season ever so you might as well go out in your own steam.
- Don’t draft last years sleepers.
- Ok, so I’m not saying don’t draft breakout players from last year. I’m saying don’t draft breakout players from last year too early. Exhibit A, Victor Cruz. He’s coming off a monster year and he came out of nowhere but he’s still the second best receiver on his team (See Hakeem Nicks). Remember fantasy drafts are about value so don’t reach too high for guys that will have a hard duplicating their success from a year ago.
- Ok, so I’m not saying don’t draft breakout players from last year. I’m saying don’t draft breakout players from last year too early. Exhibit A, Victor Cruz. He’s coming off a monster year and he came out of nowhere but he’s still the second best receiver on his team (See Hakeem Nicks). Remember fantasy drafts are about value so don’t reach too high for guys that will have a hard duplicating their success from a year ago.
- Don’t give up on guys too soon.
- It’s a sickening feeling to see a player that you dropped after 3 unproductive weeks of fantasy football catch fire and become the player you were hoping he would be. Outcomes like this can be the death knell to a fantasy season. Because not only did you a strengthen an opponents team with a stud player but you also weakened yours since the player you picked up on waivers probably isn’t producing at the level of the player you just dropped. Stay patient my friend. It is a long season.
- Don’t hold on to guys too long.
- This is just the opposite of the last piece of the advice but no less important. Waiting for a guy to turn around an unproductive season can be quite costly. Of course, you don’t want to cut the guy and have him catch fire like the scenario above, so the best thing to do in cases where you are tired of guy, but you know he has value, but you don’t feel like waiting for him to produce, is to orchestrate a trade. Yes a trade. Making trades in fantasy football is becoming somewhat of a lost art with the emergence of players on a weekly basis via the waiver wire. But, in all honesty 90 – 95% of the best fantasy players get drafted so your better off trading a disappointing player with potential for some value rather than simply letting him go or continuing to play him in your line up.
