Introduction 1 About This Book 2 Conventions Used in This Book 2 What You''re Not to Read 3 Foolish Assumptions 4 How This Book Is Organized 4 Part 1: The Xs and Os of Fantasy Football: Just the Basics, Please 4 Part 2: Advanced Scouting and Drafting Secrets 5 Part 3: Let the Games Begin: In-Season Strategy Guide 5 Part 4: Daily Fantasy Football - A New Draft Every Week 5 Part 5: The Part of Tens 6 Icons Used in This Book 6 Where to Go from Here 7 Part 1: The Xs And Os Of Fantasy Football: Just The Basics, Please 9 Chapter 1: The Reality of Fantasy Football: What''s It All About? 11 Understanding Fantasy Football: A Quick Overview 12 How fantasy and the NFL differ 12 How to play fantasy football 13 How scoring makes you a winner 14 How important fantasy terms keep you in the loop 16 Recognizing That Fantasy Success Starts with the Draft 18 What draft? Am I joining the Army? 18 Identifying the two types of drafts 19 Drafting the Right Players for Your Roster 21 Breaking down positions 22 Rating players with the fantasy formula 23 Your New Day Job: Managing Your Team Week by Week 24 Setting your lineup 24 Making changes to your roster 25 Striving for the fantasy championship 27 Are You Ready to Play? 28 Chapter 2: Just Score, Baby: The Name of the Fantasy Game 29 Scoring 101: Only the Basics 30 The Proof''s in the Points: Offensive Fantasy Scoring 31 Running backs 31 Wide receivers 33 Quarterbacks 34 Tight ends 35 Kickers 35 Shooting for Shutouts: Scoring with Defense 36 Dissecting team defense scoring 37 Getting advanced with IDP scoring 38 You versus Who? Knowing the Scoring Format 40 Head-to-head leagues 40 Points leagues 41 Chapter 3: Finding a League Right for You 43 Understanding Your League Options: Public or Private 44 Entering the public domain: Anyone can play 44 Joining the private sector: An invitation required 46 Identifying Other Important Considerations 48 Picking Your League: The How-To 50 How committed are you? 50 How much do you know? 52 Why are you playing? For love or money? 54 Starting Your Own League: You Want to Be a Commissioner? 56 What a commish does: The basics 57 Chapter 4: Preparing for Your Fantasy Draft 63 Dissecting the Two Main Draft Types 64 Riding the snake: The standard fantasy draft 65 Going once, twice: The salary cap draft 68 Mastering Your Domain: Focus on League Rules and Settings 70 Roster requirements 71 Size matters: How big is your league? 71 Checking your league''s discard pile 74 Scoring system: Look for loopholes 76 Cheat sheets: Fantasy''s version of crib notes 78 Identifying and Preparing Your Draft Venue 83 Drafting online 83 Drafting offline 84 Practicing with a Mock Draft 87 Joining a Practice League 88 Researching the NFL: The Real Key to Fantasy Success 89 Part 2: Advanced Scouting And Drafting Secrets 91 Chapter 5: Scouting Running Backs and Quarterbacks 93 Running Backs: Riding the Workhorses of Fantasy Football 94 Recognizing the importance of RBs 94 Rushing to find the good RBs 96 Other dilemmas when pre-ranking the RBs 101 Quarterbacks: Counting on the Arms of the Field Generals 103 Contemplating the value of a good quarterback 104 Uncovering a good QB 105 Chapter 6: Scouting Wide Receivers and Tight Ends for Starters and FLEX 111 Eyeing the Go-To Guys: Wide Receivers 112 Finding a few good WRs: Don''t miss the "target" 113 Capitalizing on a WR''s breakout year 118 Blocking Bore or Big-Time Threat? Picking Tight Ends 119 TE fantasy production: Feast or famine 120 Digging for gold: Finding useful TEs, not just the elite ones 120 Mr Versatile: Consider the FLEX 123 Chapter 7: Scouting Kickers and Defenders 127 Nailing the Field Goals and Extra Points: The Kickers 128 Going with a kicker: The deepest position 128 Eyeing a kicker''s chances 129 Selecting just one kicker: No more, and not early 130 Guarding the Gridiron: The Team Defenses 131 Spotting the important factors 132 Identifying the starting 11: Look for the superstars 133 IDP: The pursuit of tackles, sacks, and picks 135 Chapter 8: Incorporating Important Draft Strategies into Your Game 141 Why Strategy Is Important in Fantasy Drafts 142 Identifying the Most Popular Draft Strategies 144 Taking two RBs: The star-RB theory 144 Drafting for best value: The best-available-player theory 145 Taking elite WRs ahead of average RBs: The star-WR theory 147 Punting the other positions to the mid to late rounds 149 Applying the Draft Strategies: Who to Pick and When 152 Building your core early 153 Moving and shaking in the middle 159 Finishing strong late 163 Manipulating Your Budget during a Salary Cap Draft 168 Preparing for a salary cap draft 168 Eyeing key salary cap strategies 171 Chapter 9: Considering Other Draft Tactics to Build a Winning Team 175 Avoiding Personal Biases 176 Don''t overdraft your favorite team''s players 176 Do consent to drafting players you dislike 177 Don''t live in the "fantasy" past 178 Drafting Your Stars'' Backups as Insurance Policies 178 Backup Insurance Policy strategy by position 179 Knowing which insurance policies are worth drafting 182 Considering Rookies: Are the Top Rookies Worth Drafting? 183 Rookie running backs 184 Rookie wide receivers 185 Rookie quarterbacks 185 Rookie tight ends 186 Rookie kickers 187 Thinking Ahead to the Fantasy Playoffs 187 Knowing what to look for 188 Getting the edge: The how-to 189 Part 3: Let The Games Begin: In-Season Strategy Guide 191 Chapter 10: Setting Your Weekly Starting Lineup 193 Why Reviewing Your Roster Is Vital 194 Reasons Why You May Need to Adjust Your Lineup 194 Checking the injury reports 195 Replacing players on their bye weeks 199 Making the NFL matchups work 199 Taking managerial advice from Mother Nature 202 The How-To: Making the Actual Adjustments 204 When to bench your stars 205 When to start your scrubs 206 Replacing RBs, WRs, and QBs 207 Replacing TEs, Ks, and DEFs 208 Meeting Your Lineup Deadlines 209 Hitting the Film Room: Using Media to Your Advantage 210 Watching the games on television 210 Turning to the printed word 212 Surfing the Net 212 Chapter 11: Acquiring Players via Free Agency, Waivers, and Trades 215 Investigating Free Agency 216 Open access: Diving into the free agent pool 216 Restricted free agent access: No diving allowed 218 Walking the Waiver Wire 219 How to use the waiver wire 219 Using your waiver moves wisely 221 All the Right Moves: Tips for Adding to Your Roster 222 Is he a breakout player or a one-week wonder? 223 Fishing or cutting bait (trading or dropping underachievers) 224 Making a Trade Offer: The Art of the Deal 225 Determining trade values 226 Trading from strength 227 Reviewing the basic types of trades and how to make them 227 How to make a trade offer 230 Offering trades, off your provider 232 Getting league approval for a trade 233 Understanding your fellow coaches: Trading to your advantage 234 Working the trade deadline 237 Chapter 12: Finishing Strong: Down the Stretch to the Fantasy Playoffs 243 Welcome to the Show: The Fantasy Football Playoffs 244 Getting in and going forward 244 Timing and structure of the playoffs 246 Playoff action by league 246 Aiming for the Playoffs: Ways to Improve Your Roster 250 Zeroing in on the matchups 250 Adjusting your bench after the NFL bye weeks 251 Continuing to coach 252 Setting Your Playoff Starting Lineup 253 Reaching the Big Kahuna: The Fantasy Title Game 255 Help! My star is resting up for the NFL playoffs 255 Taking the booty: Prizes and pride 256 Part 4: Daily Fantasy Football: A New Draft Every Week 257 Chapter 13: Place Your Bets: Fantasy Football Style 259 Legalized Gambling? Not Quite 260 Understanding What Makes Daily Fantasy Sports Different from Standard Fantasy Football 261 Using the Daily Fantasy Big Two: DraftKings and FanDuel 263 Getting Started 263 Signing up with a provider 264 Setting up your bankroll 264 Getting through your first few games 264 Guaranteed contests 265 Multi-entry contests 266 Single-entry contests 266 Bankroll Management 267 Understanding the 70/30 Rule 268 Growing your bankroll 269 Improve by studying the crowd 269 Surviving coldstreaks 270 Gambling Responsibly 270 Chapter 14: Finding Your Game: Standard Contest Types 273 Playing the Big Three Classic Contest Types 274 The bread and butter of DFS: 50/50s 274 A familiar favorite: H2H 277 Using S.