Nothing can make you love football and then, in a matter of moments, hate football quite like your fantasy team. You do all the research, follow all the “experts”, and do more mock drafts than Matthew Berry, but somehow you have the same record as the guy who still has Shaun Alexander in his starting lineup. Didn’t he retire in 2008? Don’t freak out and don’t panic. You’re not alone. Here are 10 crucial mistakes every fantasy football owner makes.
1. Bailing on a Superstar Too Soon
After Week 2, numerous experts were saying that, not only should you bench Tom Brady, but he shouldn’t even be on your team. It’s safe to say that was a bad call and he’s turned it around and had a decent season since then. If you want to make early moves, then by all means, go for it. But just know that selling low that quickly on seasoned superstars can very often come back to bite you in the ass. Don’t make haste decisions out of desperation. I panicked in Week 3 after my running backs got hurt or underperformed and started sending out terrible trades to fill the spot. I ended up getting Zac Stacy for…TY Hilton. Let’s not talk about how that one worked out.
2. Buying High on a Guy That Had One Good Game
Branden Oliver had two big games and you’d think he had descended from the heavens down onto the field. Owners were trading their first born just for the opportunity to smell his points. Since then he’s only gotten over 50 yards once and never crossed the goal line. Players that come out of nowhere and hit a hot streak can turn into valuable options (see: Julius Thomas), but you have to be careful giving up every week starters for a guy that popped out of nowhere.
3. Sending Out Terrible Trades
Nothing will make other people in your league not want to work with you like constantly sending out terrible, one-sided trades. If I have 6 wide receivers and you offer me two mid-card wide receivers for my one solid running back, I’m going to know that you’re not even looking at my lineup and just trying to fix your needs. After a few of those, along with trades that are just painfully awful, I’m going to assume you’re trying to rip me off every time. That’s not going to be good for you in the long run.
4. Basing Opinions on Names Rather Than Stats
At this point you just have to admit that LeSean McCoy wasn’t worth the number one pick in the draft. He hasn’t been awful, but if someone offers you a great trade for him, forget the draft and take it. Who cares where you took someone? Cordarrelle Patterson was hyped to be the biggest thing coming out of the draft, but if he’s still in your starting lineup, you’re probably nowhere near first place. Forget what players you prefer on Madden, and start looking at actual stats.
5. Drafting a Defense Before the Last Round
Hey, how did taking Seattle’s defense in the 6th round work out? Terribly? Don’t get caught up in the hype over defenses that were solid the year before. If you happen to grab a good one late, that’s fine, but you’re better off playing the matchups each week. You know who was one of the top defenses in week 11? Tampa Bay. You know how many people outside of Florida drafted Tampa Bay’s defense? Hopefully zero.
6. Waiting Until Sunday Morning to Set Your Lineup
We all have that person in our league that looks like they’ve forgotten to set their lineup, then at the last minute they’re scrambling to grab injury replacements and bye week substitutions. They may get lucky on occasion, but most of the time waivers are going to be a desolate wasteland at this point. On the other side, if you just set your lineup on Wednesday and don’t check it again, you’re going to miss when that probable status drops to questionable and then to doubtful and now you’ve got two wide receivers in your starting lineup that are out because of turf toe, whatever that is.
7. Not Playing the Waiver Wire
If you aren’t active on waivers, you aren’t going to win. Odds are you drafted quite a few players that went out with injuries or that were named Maurice Jones-Drew and they ended up not really panning out. But did you grab Odell Beckham? CJ Anderson? Jonas Grey? Nope and now they’re legitimate starters, but you keep forgetting about waivers so your bench is full of Carolina running backs and Tampa Bay kickers.
8. Wasting Bench Spots
Nothing shows that you have no idea what you’re doing and you’re relying solely on your autodrafted players to carry you, quite like having a bench full of players on IR, with no chance of playing the rest of the season. There’s a big difference between stashing Josh Gordon away until his suspension is up and still having Victor Cruz on your bench in a non-keeper league. Even if you have some magical bye-week free team, at least grab up some potential starters to keep your opponents from loading up.
9. Relying Solely on Point Projections
Before Ronnie Hillman got injured, there were four straight weeks where he put up double-digit point totals. Each week he was projected at 4-6 points. During that stretch there were multiple players projected at a higher total based solely on the assumption that they’d score a touchdown, which didn’t happen. Just by watching any of his games, you knew he was going to blow up. Plus, if you’ve ever been projected to win by 30, only to lose by 60, you know projections don’t mean a thing.
10. Drafting Players From Your Favorite Team
Of course you’re going to want all the guys from your favorite team because you’re convinced that this is their year. The problem is that you’ve been saying that for the last decade and it still hasn’t been their year. Don’t be one of those owners that loves one team so his lineup is 80% of that squad and so if they have a bad game or, god forbid, a bye week, his week is over.
11. Getting Into Too Many Leagues
If you can just set your lineup and ignore the stats on Sunday, then you’re fine. If you’re like most of us that watch every play on RedZone, then it’s going to be painfully annoying trying to keep track. You’ll end up never knowing who to cheer for because you’re playing Aaron Rodgers in one league but you have Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb in another so each catch helps and hurts you. Plus, you’ve got AJ Green in that one but you’re playing him in another and you’ve got the Saints defense in a third league so the only thing you can hope for is that he somehow switches to defensive back and gets three interceptions?
