What am I Doing Wrong?
The biggest question on every fantasy owner's mind after a failed season is, "What am I doing wrong?" This is the million dollar, or hundreds of dollars question. Why your team wasn't successful can be attributed to numerous different reasons outside of your control. Injuries, suspensions, and coaches game plans/decisions all play a part in your success. Within this article, what I want to focus on are the areas of fantasy football within your control and some common mistakes that can derail your season.
Draft Day
Draft day, the official start of your fantasy season. Every successful fantasy player has their own strategy, but nonetheless, having a plan is extremely important. Many times you won't know your draft position before an hour before, but this doesn't prevent you from doing the research. For me, I try to keep my process very simple, and know what players I'm "targeting" and which players I'm looking to avoid. There are numerous sites and apps that break down ADP (Average draft position), tier lists, and when to select each player. These are a great resource to give you a guideline, but buyer beware, KNOW YOUR FORMAT. Danny Woodhead might not be a trendy name in standard, but the guy could win you a fantasy championship in PPR.
Reaching vs Settling: The dreaded "reach," a word that makes every fantasy player cringe. In every draft, there will be that person that makes some crazy pick in an early round and everyone yells "reach." The term is subjective, but there are times within a draft that reaching for a player isn't the worst thing. First and foremost, if you're drafting on one of the ends of the draft, there will be times you need to reach, and times you'll have to settle. You have to realize in a 12 person draft, if you're the swing picks, there will be 22 picks before you select again. If you are targeting a certain player, you NEED to take them. This excludes selecting guys like Mike Tolbert or Bishop Sankey with a top round pick (that's a reach). To expand, don't be afraid to take a guy at 13 that's ADP is 17 if you're very confident. Conversely, if you're not crazy about a guy like Dez Bryant and he falls to you, don't be afraid to take a flyer if it's great value. BE FLEXIBLE!
Drafting Based on Names: There is always that guy in every league that values a player higher regardless of their production because "they're a first ballot hall of famer!" My suggestion.... Don't be that guy! A few great examples of this last year were Tyrell Williams and Devante Adams. Both players coming off disappointing 2015 season, but both finishing within the top 20. These players both outscored the likes of Allen Robinson, Deandre Hopkins, AJ Green, Dez Bryant and Brandon Marshall. At the end of the day, you don't get points based on a players name. This doesn't mean that high round picks don't carry a little extra value, but at some point, you need to value production this year, over the past. Take advantage of some of those big names to get player that will help you down the stretch.
Drafting to Trade: In your draft, there will come a point where you have a decision between filling your roster and drafting depth that you can eventually trade. While this is a strategy that some players opt for, it can absolutely crush your entire season if you're not able to unload those players! Think of it this way, you want to diversify your roster while giving yourself a high point total at all positions. Stacking one position early in the draft, past you starting lineup, will only serve to hurt you early in the season. While it is nice to have trade bait, when you're sitting at 1-4 because you have no production from your WR's, you become the desperate one! Focus on your roster and draft some depth. Don't sacrifice your lineup to pinch a market.
Waiver Wire
This might be one of the the most important aspects of fantasy once the season starts. Being active and studying the waiver wire from week to week can be paramount in constructing your roster. Looking back on the past few seasons, guys like David Johnson, Jordan Howard, and Tim Hightower were all prizes that helped win fantasy leagues. The wire is so much more outside of high prize FA pickups. Everything from streaming defenses, kickers and weekly fill-ins can also net you numerous wins throughout the season.
Need vs Best Player Available: Many times throughout the season, you'll look at the waiver wire and see 5-10 guys you'll want on your roster. How you prioritize these on your list, is where the needs vs best player comes into play. When you're sitting at 6-0 or 0-6, this decision becomes very easy. A team that is 3-3 might have a little harder decision. The biggest determining factor comes when you review your roster as a whole. If you feel confident that your roster, think about where you are in the standings, and what you need to make the playoffs. The issue that many people fall into is grabbing the trendy name and missing out on a player that can secure you that weekly win. Piece of advice, having Josh Gordon in week 9 after his suspension won't do you much good if you're sitting at 3-6 with 1 steady RB.
Handcuffs: You're in the hunt for the playoffs! Congratulations! At this point in the season, waiver wires becomes fairly thin and most of the best talent is already rostered. That being said, this becomes one of the best times to secure your investments. Maybe Zeke is having another amazing season and a make or break player on you lineup. Would you rather have that second TE that will sit on your bench after his breakout 2 TD week, or would you rather have the insurance policy of Darren McFadden (or Alfred Morris) in-case the unspeakable happens? I can speak from experience when saying it's much cheaper to pickup a handcuff off waivers than to trade for Deangelo Williams after Le'veon Bell goes down for the season. That being said, make sure there is a clear line of succession and the backup will actually provide value. Owning a handcuff is only worth it if they produce about 60 - 80% of the starter.
Setting Your Lineup
One of the trickiest things from a week to week basis is lineup decisions. Players spend hours starting at their lineup to try to pick the best combination of players. As the league would say, "tinker" with your lineup gives you the opportunity to see what makes you feel the most comfortable, but also can be a big hindrance. How many times have you attributed a loss to "over thinking" your lineup? **"Raises hand reluctantly" - Generally your gut feeling is the right one. You'll feel better losing with your studs in the lineup, than losing with the flavor of the week while Julio goes for 300 yards and 2 TDs on your bench.
Over thinking: To continue on over thinking, the biggest challenge is that you get one shot each week. You can't pull a player at half if he isn't performing. A great exercise when you're indecisive is to think less about the upside, and more about the floor. If you feel that two players are close on their upside for the week, think about which player has less potential to ruin your week. The more you toil over the decision, the less certain you will get. Worst case scenario, head to one of the million fantasy sites and see what the experts think. More times than not, they're analysis is statistic based and will give you a good measure of what are the potential outcomes.
Mid-season Moves
This isn't going to be the most popular position, but I'm of the opinion that your lineup can always improve. I'm the guy in the league that is 8-0 trying to make a deal to improve my RB2, that's just my philosophy. I look at it through the lens of if I'm not getting better, someone else will.
Too Cautious: YES, you can be too cautious! How many times have you seen the top regular season team lose in the playoffs because they sat on their lineups? I'll tell you from experience, I see it happen almost every year. While you might not want to trade your studs that got you there, there is always room to improve a weak position for you, or even your bench. Many times a team is one injury away from implosion and having that insurance policy is huge! Staying neutral in the middle of the season can really put you at a big disadvantage in comparison to others making moves.
Improve your team: This seems like the same section, but I see all too often that people are too shy about improve their team. They either think that a trade will ruin what they have, or someone is trying to rip them off. Yes, there are people out there that will stop at nothing to win, no disputing that. My advice on this is to trust yourself and your fantasy knowledge to make the right move for your team. My strategy is to assign number values to my players so it's easier to gauge what I'm giving up, vs what I'm getting. There are times you're going to give up a little more in order to improve your starting lineup. Remember, you can only start a certain number of players and you don't (in most leagues) get points for how great your 4th starting RB is on our bench. Try to turn that into an amazing starting squad to have the best chance to win every week.
Quick Tips
Look at your team as a whole. Many times people will focus in on a subsection of their team and say "I have the best "X" in the league, I can't lose." The reality of the situation is you could have Antonio Brown and Julio Jones, but if your RB's combine for 7 points, you're going to either break even, or put yourself at a disadvantage. If your studs have a bad week or get injured, you could be in big trouble. Diversify!
Know your league. This seems simple, but knowing your scoring and the people you play with is a very important concept. If I know that in our league, all TD's are 6 points, that means QB's become slightly more valuable. In leagues where passing TD's are 4 points, they drop down a little more. This will impact your draft, and the priority you place on the QB position to give an example. Knowing the people in your league can also be an important tidbit. If someone in your league never owns handcuffs and they have a player you want, this might be a good strategy to remember on the waiver wire.
Don't overdraft a player to block your opponent! I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone take a handcuff 3 rounds too early in order to "block" their opponent. This might seem like a sound strategy, but more times than not, this will backfire on you. You are trying to construct YOUR roster. Don't hurt yourself on the off chance that this player could potentially return value. Ex: Darren McFadden/Alfred Morris will not be a good pick in the 5th round this year, unless you already own Zeke and he's suspended 4+ games.