Fantasy Football: Offseason Fantasy Football Tips

Dec 7, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson (84) carries the ball during the second quarter against the New York Jets at TCF Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

I’ve been asked way to may times about what I’m doing when I say, “Football season is never over”. So I decided that I would do an article about it. This article is centered on having an efficient fantasy football offseason and carrying your knowledge into your 2015 drafts. For most of you reading this article, you people are fantasy football junkies. However, there are still a few that have no idea how to effectively prepare for the fantasy football season in the offseason. Hopefully these tips help you prepare for the 2015 season the right way.

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Tip #1: Write down everything that you have learned throughout the season.
This is the first thing that I do every offseason. You have to sit down and figure out what caused you to miss on the players that you missed on. Or you have to figure out what caused you to hit on the players that helped your team win. The fantasy football season is one big puzzle, and if you cannot pickup on trends or patterns when necessary, then you will fail to become a good owner.

For instance: This offseason I, like many other analysts in the business, missed on Cordarrelle Patterson. Well, why did we miss on Patterson? We all did our homework. The film didn’t lie to us. We just didn’t account for the change in the system. Patterson seemed slow to grasp the system this season, which unfortunately we couldn’t find out until late in the season. It’s clear from everything that I’ve seen from Patterson on tape that he wasn’t comfortable on the field this season. My guess is that he was lost and didn’t really know how to make up for that being so young. The Adrian Peterson absence was another reason that caused the Vikings offense to struggle early in the season.

Dec 28, 2014; Nashville, TN, USA; Indianapolis Colts running back Trent Richardson (34) carries the ball against the Tennessee Titans during the first half at LP Field. Mandatory Credit: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports

Tip #2: You have to study the film!
If you are playing fantasy football at a competitive level and you aren’t taking full advantage of the film room, then that may be a reason for your constant struggles. The tape will not lie to you if you know what you are looking for. I love watching NFL game rewind throughout the season and looking at the coach’s tape. Don’t get me wrong, if you are watching game rewind and don’t know what you are looking for, then you aren’t going to understand the importance of film study. However, that’s where I come to help you out.
Quarterbacks: For fantasy football, quarterback is a position that you don’t have to spend a ton of time studying film on to know if they are good or not. Seriously, all you have to do is just look at the numbers. For example, Jay Cutler was a disaster for the Bears this season, but he still managed to finish in the top-15 quarterbacks. This position has become based on numbers. You can really just look at the attempts and be satisfied with what you are getting.
Running Backs: This is the position I love watching on tape because you get a more in-depth view on whether or not the back can play. For instance, you can check into how many open gaps the running back gets and how many opportunities is he taking advantage of. One of my other big misses this year was Trent Richardson. I thought that he would remain serviceable for the season because I blamed last season on lack on playbook knowledge. The film showed me that Richardson was given a lot of openings and he wouldn’t take them, which I now have discovered is because he doesn’t think he can get to the gap.
Receivers: Game rewind allows you to see if the receivers are actually getting open or if they can’t even do that. This position is slightly more difficult to predict in fantasy because if the player can’t get open, it doesn’t matter how good he is, he won’t get targets. Antonio Brown was a guy who I remember saying, “This guy is always open, how does he not have more targets?” And it just so happens that I was right about the amount of targets that he should receive and I saw it on tape. I never thought he was going to be this good, but studying the tape told me that the kid could play.

Jan 10, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick looks on from the sidelines during the third quarter against the Baltimore Ravens in the 2014 AFC Divisional playoff football game at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Tip #3: Stay involved
Stay involved like Bill Belichick with the Patriots roster. I know some people who show up on draft day and look at the sheet and say things like, “Emmanuel Sanders is on the Broncos now?” Yes, don’t be this person. Even now it’s important to know who is coaching what team and what their plans will be offensively and defensively and how that will affect your players. (I will have an article on this down the road). Download an NFL news app and just look through it for 15-minutes a day and read what is going on in the league.

May 8, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M) poses for a photo with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being selected as the number twenty-two overall pick in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft to the Cleveland Browns at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

Tip #4: The NFL Draft is important

Now, I know for some, that they have better things to do then “waste three days of their lives watching players be picked”, but it’s not really a waste. Dynasty owners understand the importance of following the college game because they will be picking from those guys, rather than having a yearly redraft. I was in 10 leagues this year, and the winner in all ten of my leagues all had Odell Beckham Jr. (OBJ). Yeah, he was drafted in maybe three of my leagues. I had him in two of leagues on draft day, but the rest of them, he went undrafted in. Sure, we didn’t know what he would do once he got into the NFL, but you likely missed on Odell Beckham Jr. because you weren’t interested in the draft.

Feb 3, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll (right) poses with the Vince Lombardi Trophy next to outside linebacker Malcolm Smith (left) during the winning team press conference the day after Super Bowl XLVIII at Sheraton New York Times Square. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Tip #5: Make list and check ‘em twice (Mock Draft)
Mock drafting will help you succeed a lot in fantasy football. It helps you make your bust list of players that you won’t touch no matter what round they fall to you. Make a list about player’s values that you like based on where players are going in your mocks. Warning: mock drafting isn’t exactly where people are going to go. You have to realize that people all have a wide sense of opinions on whom they like and where they would take them. But mock drafting will help you prepare for drafting with your friends. You can do them anytime that you would like at (fantasyfootballcalculator.com). This is my go-to website and I’ll always be on there as CPB, so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Next: A Look At Incoming Rookie T.J. Yeldon

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