Fantasy Football Draft Tips After The 7th Round
A Solid Defense and Backups Can Lead To Success For Fantasy Teams
Aug 23, 2009
One of the toughest tasks in fantasy football leagues is dealing with player injuries. Whether it's a quarterback, running back, wide receiver, or tight end, fantasy football owners will most likely have to deal with player injuries at some point during the NFL season. This is why it's important to draft solid backups in the later rounds of fantasy football drafts.
Drafting a Defense in Fantasy Football Leagues
In some fantasy football leagues, whether or not an owner walks away victorious may depend on the performance of the defense they draft.
In most fantasy football leagues, each defense begins with a certain amount of points at the beginning of the game. From there, the defense can either gain or lose points for their owner.
For example, one fantasy football league's settings may have a defense gain points depending on how many points they allow the opposing team to score. A shutout may be worth 7 points for a defense; 1-9 points allowed may be worth 5 points, and so on.
Unfortunately, most fantasy football leagues allow defenses to receive negative points as well for their performance. If an owner's defense allows more than 30 points, there is a chance that the league's settings will allow points to be taken away.
Along with points allowed to opposing teams, fantasy football owners can receive points from their defense for other statistics such as sacks, interceptions, fumble recoveries and turnovers returned for touchdowns (which is equal to 6 points). In most leagues, owners will receive 1 or 2 points for sacks, interceptions and fumble recoveries.
Most owners will wait until at least the seventh or eighth round before drafting a defense for their fantasy football team. Some of the top defenses from last season that should be taken first include the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, and the Tennessee Titans. Look for these teams to be drafted quickly once owners start selecting defenses in their fantasy leagues.
Drafting Backups For Running Backs, Wide Receivers, and Quarterbacks In Fantasy Football
Most owners tend to use cheat sheets in fantasy football leagues when it comes to drafting backup players for their bench.
Just about each season, owners have to deal with injured players on their fantasy team. When this happens, they may have to rely on their backup players to help receive the necessary points to help their team win.
The worst part about injuries in fantasy football is they can strike an owner at any point in the season. This is why owners must be prepared to deal with injuries if they want to have a successful fantasy football team.
After an owner establishes their starting lineup, it's important for them to draft backup players at each position. An owner should spend the next couple of rounds selecting backup running backs, wide receivers and quarterbacks for their fantasy team.
It's also important for owners to select a backup tight end as well during the later rounds, but the main focus should be at the other positions considering most tight ends don't contribute as much offense as Jason Witten or Antonio Gates.
Not to mention most fantasy football leagues only allow one tight end to start each week.
