Fantasy Football Hype: Preseason Warnings

Fantasy Football players, it is that magical time of the year. After months of waiting Football season is back, the pre-season is here and these are three important facts you need to know before you draft!

1. This is Pre Season!!!
It is so easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of being able to watch football again that we tend to lose some of our instincts in Fantasy Football. Remember, these are vanilla offenses and defenses being run against very few starters. Most of these players will end up as special teams or practice squad players. So if for some reason you see the New York Jets or Chicago Bears put up 35 points or maybe the New England Patriots only score 14, check the Box Score. How long were the starters in? Who scored the points? When were the points scored? Who was on the field Defensively when they scored? These are all important questions to ask yourself when checking a preseason box score to temper your Fantasy Football excitement.

2. Don’t let one play, or one good game rearrange your draft board. 
I must admit that I’m guilty of this very thing. I remember it vividly, it was four years ago and I was watching a Tennessee Titans preseason game to check out Chris Johnson. There was a bunch of hype on Johnson that year, the Titans had paid him a lot of money to be their franchise back and had brought in some lineman to help him bounce back from his down season the year before. All of a sudden Chris Johnson takes a handoff and busts through the line and takes off 80 yards leaving everyone in the dust for a touchdown. After that I was convinced, that Johnson was gonna have a big year and I decided to use my 1st round pick on him. Well to say that Johnson was a bust that year is an understatement, and if I had done my research and paid attention to the red flags of drafting him and not got caught up in the hype, that would’ve changed my entire draft, and probably saved my season that year.

A good example of that this year is, Kenny Golladay. Now he may very well turn into a great professional football player, but right now people are losing their minds over his first preseason game where he scored two touchdowns. They are even calling him “Baby Megatron”!! Please everyone, pump the brakes, he scored two touchdowns from a backup Quarterback against the 2nd and 3rd team defense, let’s see how this Preseason shakes out and how he progresses before we crown him the next “Megatron.”

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3. Caution when drafting rookies.
After every NFL Draft, an exciting new group of players is brought into the league, and Fantasy Football owners start thinking which one of these rookies can help me bring home a championship. Here are the undisputed facts when it comes to rookies. They have not played a snap in the NFL yet, so until the season starts, how they react to the speed and pressure of a live regular season NFL game is a mystery. Just because they were good in college doesn’t mean they will be good in the NFL. Look how many Heisman Trophy winners have been busts in the NFL and that’s supposed to be for the best college football player for that season. When drafting rookies, do your homework. What kind of offense are they going to be in? Have they been in this type of offense before? What’s the rest of the offense look like, how bad or good are they? All valid questions to ask.

Last season Ezekiel Elliot got drafted into the perfect situation, star running back drafted to run behind the best offensive line in football. Now this season, let’s look at Leonard Fournette for an example. Top running back in the draft, drafted to be the star running back of that team. Let’s look at his situation though, he’ll be running behind a suspect offensive line, the passing game in Jacksonville is wildly unreliable which means defenses stacking the line to stop the run, and Fournette has an injury history. I’m not saying don’t draft him, I’m just saying don’t overdraft him thinking he’s the next Ezekiel Elliot.

To conclude, enjoy the preseason, just don’t let it dictate your draft. Best of luck this season, and in all the drafts to come.

Next: Where to Draft Zeke?

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