NFL discussion/TLHH Fantasy League

[sickofpalantirs]

9 people! just one more! Do we have any volunteers for commish? I have heard that Burress is interested in the Giants.

Also, I'm pretty happy with the Pats acquisitions of Haynesworth and Johnson for pennies on the dollar.  If Belichick can get Haynesworth to try...maybe we won't need a stud OLB.

[LOTRFreak15]

Ocho is gonna be my Fantasy Football star! JK Mind the Fantasy..........

[FM]

Well, then, what the heck, every League needs a laughing stock, I'm in!

[FM]

Ok, I think I now what I'm getting into now. I also don't have an yahoo account, so I guess we're stuck with ESPN. I'm guessing their system is pretty comprehensible and that I'll be able to navigate it without help even being a first timer. Because of this, as well, I'd aslo vote for a snake draft, as I'd have no clue as to how to manage a budget. Are we going with league approval for trades? Or third party referee? I think league approval is simpler, and might be quicker, but it might also ruind some of the fun, like, people could actually team up against someone based solely on the fact that said someone is winning, which makes for poor playing experience.
Also, I'm not sure I get the whole "starter", "bench" and free agent signing deal, I've always thought that starters would make full points and benched players would make less, but it does not seem to be the case, only starters actually make points unless someone is replaced, is that it?
And about free agents, I suppose we only draft a portion of the complete roster, and then proceed to filling with free agents? Or we will draft a full team and then release/sign new free agents?
Last, how does free agent signing work? I mean, if I want to sign a player and sop beats me to it, do I waste my pick? Or do I get to sign someone else?

[legolas3333]

Ok, I think I now what I'm getting into now. I also don't have an yahoo account, so I guess we're stuck with ESPN. I'm guessing their system is pretty comprehensible and that I'll be able to navigate it without help even being a first timer.

Yes, it's very easy to navigate, a first-timer should have no problem

Because of this, as well, I'd aslo vote for a snake draft, as I'd have no clue as to how to manage a budget. Are we going with league approval for trades? Or third party referee? I think league approval is simpler, and might be quicker, but it might also ruin some of the fun, like, people could actually team up against someone based solely on the fact that said someone is winning, which makes for poor playing experience.

The league approval function is only so newbies like yourself don't get screwed in trades.

Also, I'm not sure I get the whole "starter", "bench" and free agent signing deal, I've always thought that starters would make full points and benched players would make less, but it does not seem to be the case, only starters actually make points unless someone is replaced, is that it?

Yes, starters are the only ones who make points, benched players' points are the tiebreaker.

And about free agents, I suppose we only draft a portion of the complete roster, and then proceed to filling with free agents? Or we will draft a full team and then release/sign new free agents?

Most leagues draft full rosters then free agent signing is after.

Last, how does free agent signing work? I mean, if I want to sign a player and sop beats me to it, do I waste my pick? Or do I get to sign someone else?

That depends on how the draft works, if we did a snake draft, then the person who drafted last would be first in line for free agents for the first week, then the person who drafted second to last the next week, and so on. In an auction draft, you would get a certain amount (say $100) to spend on free agents throughout the season. At the beginning of each week you secretly bid on free agents you want, and on like, thursday or friday, whoever bid the highest gets that player.

[FM]

I like draft better. What I still don't get is this: from what I've gathered, I thought you choose a free agent, and 1-2 days later it's revealed who got it, but now it seems it's draft-like, meaning, one person at a time, so no fighting over picks. Which is it?

PS: Yes, I know league approval is supposed to counter newbies getting screwed, I'm just pointing out that it also allows some room for screwing with a player for doing well, so I guess that's a point in favor of third party refs, although timing may be an issue. I'm actually getting pretty psyched about this, always wanted to try a hand at it! I kept hearing the narrators talking about how the Fantasy players would be pissed at X or Y, etc, and it always intrigued me.
There's a system like that for our socer national championship, it's just not that appealing to me though (specially since I'm a much more hardcore fan of my soccer team than I am of the Cowboys, so it's probably easier for me to keep an open mind when playing Fantasy NFL rather than Brazilian Championship).

[legolas3333]

I like draft better. What I still don't get is this: from what I've gathered, I thought you choose a free agent, and 1-2 days later it's revealed who got it, but now it seems it's draft-like, meaning, one person at a time, so no fighting over picks. Which is it?

Sorry I wasn't entirely clear. This would be better as an example...

Let us say I drafted first, SoP fifth and you last. On Monday morning, I see a RB I like, and I instantly claim him. So right now I have "dibs" on him so on Thursday, so long as no one else wants him, he will be added to my team. However, since I drafted first, if you or SoP claimed him, that would supersede my claim to him because you're higher up in the pecking order for free agents because you drafted later. Then, throughout the season, it rotates up each week whoever is on top for the week's free agent pool. So, with 10 people, the next week you'd be dropped to last, with me and SoP moving up to ninth and fifth, respectively.

Make sense?

[LOTRFreak15]

Draft is better for those who haven't done Fantast Football yet. Yes it goes from team with worst record to team with best to get a free agent.

[sickofpalantirs]

Yeah I played for the first time last year and had no problems figuring things out.  I ended up scoring the most points in my league, but only one 7 games .  we still need one more person though...

[mille1212]

I've seen this done differently too.  In some leagues I've played in the free agent selection order is based on record so the person with the worst record picks first and the person with the best record picks last.

Each player basically puts in all of their free agent selections by Tuesday night.  On Wednesday morning the system divies them out based on what I said above.  If two teams put in for the same player, then the player goes to whoever was higher in the free agent selection order.  That's why if my QB gets hurt and I happen to need another one for next week, then I might want to put in for two QBs just in case I don't get one of them.

Usually I draft back ups for each position with the exception of sometimes defenses and kickers.  I would then use free agency pick ups to cover buy weeks for those positions unless I want zeroes for scores that week.  You will also always have players that emerge as good pick ups throughout the year due to injuries or just unexpected success.  Injuries are a killer in fantasy football.  In fact I've been known to draft a RBs backup just in case.

At any rate, have fun.  The thing I like about fantasy football is that you will be able to watch any game on tv and have someone to root for or root against...

I like draft better. What I still don't get is this: from what I've gathered, I thought you choose a free agent, and 1-2 days later it's revealed who got it, but now it seems it's draft-like, meaning, one person at a time, so no fighting over picks. Which is it?

Sorry I wasn't entirely clear. This would be better as an example...

Let us say I drafted first, SoP fifth and you last. On Monday morning, I see a RB I like, and I instantly claim him. So right now I have "dibs" on him so on Thursday, so long as no one else wants him, he will be added to my team. However, since I drafted first, if you or SoP claimed him, that would supersede my claim to him because you're higher up in the pecking order for free agents because you drafted later. Then, throughout the season, it rotates up each week whoever is on top for the week's free agent pool. So, with 10 people, the next week you'd be dropped to last, with me and SoP moving up to ninth and fifth, respectively.

Make sense?

[LOTRFreak15]

I think it makes football more fun then it already is.

[LOTRFreak15]

So we need 1 more team. Anyone else interested? Once we get the 10th team we should try to set a Draft date that works for everyone.

[sickofpalantirs]

LOTRFreak15, do you want to create a league on ESPN, and then we can see who joins?

[ket_the_jet]

I prefer Yahoo to ESPN. Just an observation.
-wtk

[sickofpalantirs]

True. I'll add a poll.  its not to hard to make an account on either.