Daily Fantasy Football

Fantasy football is by far the most popular of all fantasy sports out there in terms of full season games. For daily fantasy games, you’ll find that the rankings look similar as well, at least with daily fantasy football coming in ranking number one. Players love to take part in the action, and it’s very nice being able to change your lineup weekly and set the lineups accordingly based on the type of match-ups that you have. There are so many things to consider when playing daily fantasy football, even more than other sports I’d say. Below we are going to take a look at not only what to consider when choosing players, but what the best way to choose your stud players is as well. Simply picking the highest dollar player that’s left on the board that you can afford is not a good way to do things, and we’ll explain it more here.

Weather is so big in daily fantasy sports, and especially in daily fantasy football. The weather can affect quarterback play, wide receivers, and kickers as well. One thing that is important to consider is that if you get a game where there is a major deal with bad weather, then looking at the running backs in that game isn’t always a completely awful idea. The match-ups really come into play in that situation, but most of the time you are going to want to be careful about choosing other positions from a game that has inclement weather. If the wind is blowing at 30 MPH and it’s snowing, you probably aren’t going to want to take the quarterback or a wide receiver from that game, unless it’s a slot receiver who should pull in quite a few catches and he’s not expensive. In that situation, just simply avoid the kicking game at all costs.

We’ll take a more in-depth look at specific match-ups below, but I wanted to explain how important match-ups really are. Remember back when Darrelle Revis was on his “Revis Island” tear? You wanted to avoid each and every receiver that was going to be matched up with him during their games. This type of thing still happens, even though it’s not all the time. You don’t want to pick players who simply have bad match-ups just because of the fact that they’ve put up consistently strong numbers in the past. Last game really has nothing to do with an upcoming game.

As the NFL season gets going, you’ll see how much of a grind it really is, as the injuries will start coming. Wide receivers will be banged up and have to miss games, running backs can’t start for a week or two, and defensive players are having to miss multiple games as well. All of this is going to relate to how you should be setting your lineup. Not only because you are going to be avoiding these players (obviously), but that you are going to be looking at their back-ups if they are a key position like quarterback, running back, wide receiver, or tight end. In most situations you’ll be able to get a starting player who is going to get a ton of work for a very cheap price, and they could be an excellent sleeper when all is said and done.

When selecting from the massive group of wide receivers for your daily fantasy football, you’ll want to be careful. It’s so incredibly easy to get sucked in by a big name, when a much better match-up is on the schedule. Just because a guy is an Pro Bowler, doesn’t mean he has a better match-up than a wide out going against a poor defense in a game that should turn into a shootout. For wide receivers you are really going to want to find the ones who are going to be playing in high scoring games, against defenses who struggle against the pass. This won’t be tough to find, as the NFL is quickly turning into a pass-first league, and many games do turn into shootouts.

This is a position that’s way harder to pick from than you may think. Just because a guy like Tom Brady is playing, doesn’t mean that he’s an automatic addition to your lineup. Against the right defense, even Tom Brady can get slowed down. You need to once again find the right match-ups, but also not pay too much. If you can find a mid-level quarterback in terms of cost, who has a good match-up, then you’ll want to roll with him. Also, looking at quarterbacks who can make plays with their legs is big as well, especially because many of them can get you points with more than just throwing it down field. Quarterbacks are expensive, so take your time to do the research and choose wisely.

Oh the joy of picking a running back or two in daily fantasy sports. Stud #1 who can both catch and run, or stud #2 who can both catch and receive? Both players having huge upside and you have to choose one as they are around the same cost. It can be a tough and daunting task to choose running backs for daily fantasy football, but the key is to just find the guys who are going to be continuously getting the touches. Finding a running back whose team should be winning is also a nice spot to look for, as this player will likely get the ball quite a bit through the fourth quarter to attempt to hold on to the lead and get the win.

There aren’t a ton of elite tight ends out there, but when you are looking to choose one, you’ll find that they’re expensive. If you have filled out your lineup and can’t spend on an elite tight end, then you need to find a guy who will get his red zone opportunities, or who is going against a defense that struggles with tight ends. Also, finding tight ends who have started to connect well with quarterbacks is important, especially because of situations where quarterbacks get in trouble and have to find the quick passes to tight ends to avoid getting sacked.