Sunday, September 1, 2013

FSH NOTEBOOK: DAVID'S DAILY DIGEST

Saturday Edition
August 31st, 2013 
 






David’s Daily Digest







The NFL is Back Baby!
And so is Fantasy Football!

With all four weeks of the NFL preseason in the books, the 2013 Fantasy Football Season is in full swing. Football fans and fantasy fanatics alike are gearing up for another great season of NFL action and fantasy footbal; and I am one of those fanatics! We've enjoyed our six months of dormancy (how any of us survived is one of life's greatest mysteries), but now it's time to get our fantasy football engines roaring once again.

With the Labor Holiday weekend near complete I am four fantasy drafts complete and excited as heck to get it on in five days (The NFL kickoffs this Thursday with the Ravens and the Broncos).

Just as many of us do every year, millions of fantasy goers (including myself) geared up the past couple of weekends with our fantasy drafts; and if any of you are like me, you had several drafts to prepare for. And that is usually some of the greatest fun we enjoy from fantasy football; well that and winning of course.

With four drafts on the board (and maybe a couple of more to go-who know, undecided at the moment), one of the best pieces of advice I can offer to other enthusiasts as they prep for their last minute drafts before the start of season; research and preparation. Going into a draft without being prepared or any knowledge of recent news can be devastating to your cause.

Several sources I like to follow and would highly recommend for up-to-the-minutes updates and news, Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen are usually great sources to follow. I also use a lot of media links through Twitter (USA Today Sports, Bleacher Report, ESPN NFL Nation, and AP NFL) to keep my network up to speed with the latest happenings. For fantasy football updates and analysis I have my own personal favorites I follow and would definitely suggest drafters to identify a couple of sources of their own to follow (you need information to make decisions).

Remember on draft day you have to have your research done (have a strategy ready) and be informed or you could suffer the fate of drafting an Alex Green, Johnathan Dwyer, or Andre Brown ( players cut or injured that have zero draft value as of today).

Before I end this short rant I have a couple of quick thoughts to share, as I prepared for multiple drafts, with leagues that offer different scoring formats, I prepared one universal draft board for all drafts. I wanted to avoid over-thinking things too much. I believe a fantasy stud is a fantasy stud regardless of the format. While scoring in some leagues might dictate you put a little higher value in certain skill positions and players, in general I find my draft board to be applicable across the board (with some slight adjustments here and there).

So don't over-complicate things by having too many draft boards and too many reports to study leading up to your draft, too much can be too wrong. Using one general board (with lots of notes) will help give you an idea of where value is and that is the second thought. As your draft moves along, be ready and flexible to adjust to whatever trends may arise. Have players of value targeted so you are ready to take advantage of your opponents mistakes and over-valuing.

Preparation will go along way for you on Fantasy Draft day.


~David Ortega

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