Fantasy Football Beginners: How to find success even as a rookie

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Pick up the ball and get in the game! Even as one of the many fantasy football beginners you can have a great year in your rookie season. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

So you’re finally ready to take the plunge? After hearing your friends and family go on about how fantasy football makes every NFL game more exciting, you’re starting your career as an owner. Welcome to the crazy world of fantasy football! If you’re getting ready for your first season, there is a lot to take in, but it doesn’t have to be hard or confusing. Check out my brief intro and top 10 tips for fantasy football beginners on the following slides and you’ll be ready for a successful season.

The next few weeks are some of the busiest of the year for fantasy football as owners get geared up for draft night. For many owners, no single event have more direct impact on your happiness for the next few months as your fantasy football draft. Screw up your draft and you have Sunday’s of suffering to look forward to, but if you get some picks right you’ll be set up for success all season.

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The length of your “season” is the first thing you need to understand about fantasy football. The last few years there has a huge increase in one-week leagues like FanDuel and DraftKings (everyone has seen the commercials). Those competitions last just one game for the players involved either over a full weekend or a smaller slice of the schedule (like late-only, or primetime-only). Those kind of competitions, known as DFS (daily fantasy sports) are not what we’re talking about in this post. It’s a whole different ballgame when you get to pick a new team each week and a different set of things to look for (and FanSided will cover those contests throughout he season as well..

Most fantasy football regular seasons start Week 1 and end around Week 13 or Week 14. Each week, you’ll be matched up with an opponent to see who can total the most fantasy points. Almost all season-long leagues are “head-to-head leagues,” but there are some out there that are still based on overall total points. The head-to-head format is typically more fun since you’re taking on one player and emerge with a win or a loss for each week rather than just accumulating points throughout the season.

After the regular season, the playoffs follow in weeks 15, 16, and sometimes 17. Some leagues combine a two-week score for their playoff contests, but most use a simple one-week total score to determine a champion. Most leagues omit Week 17 since so many teams are resting players for the playoffs it tends to skew things quite a bit. For example, it would suck if you get to the championship behind a great season from Adrian Peterson, but the Vikings give him Week 17 off and you lose in the championship.

Make sure to familiarize yourself with your league rules and be ready to compete when Week 1 roles around. Let’s take a quick look at some of the things you’ll need to know before draft night if you’re jumping in for the first time. We’ll start my top 10 tips for fantasy football beginners with an easy one.

Next: Tip #1

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Fantasy Football Beginners: How to find success even as a rookie

By Zachary Thompson | Aug 30, 2016

Check out these top 10 tips to help fantasy football beginners get in the game and have a successful rookie season in 2016.