The term “armchair quarterback” refers to anyone who proclaims to be an expert on any subject. They share this wisdom from the comfort of their armchair, hence the name. Typically, this term is meant as a kind of jab. If you were really an expert, then you would be up off the armchair and in the “game.” Actually, we’re all armchair quarterbacks to a certain degree sharing our viewpoints all across social media. Nowhere do we get to put our armchair quarterback skills to work better than with fantasy football. This is where you join a league as an “owner” of an NFL team. You draft your players among all the players in the league. You then score points whenever your players score points in actual games. At the end of the season, the fantasy team with the most points wins that league.
Fantasy football is big business. There are hundreds of online sites dedicated to the leagues providing up to the minute injury reports and stats on all the players. You might think that once you pick your team in the draft you only have to sit back and wait for the Super Bowl. The fun of fantasy football is that just like a real owner/coach, you’re going to be active throughout the whole season.
Here are some tips you could put into work to help you win in your fantasy football league:
Play the Long Game
As mentioned, the fantasy football season is a long one mirroring the actual season. In your league, you can make trades and pick up players. The key is not to “panic” early one. You might have a few “sleeper picks” who aren’t performing yet but they could step up their game. Go slow with dumping those picks and trading your star players.
Watch the Bye Weeks
Not every team plays every week. That means you could have one or two players that aren’t going to be “scoring” on a given week. What you have to be careful of is that you don’t have more than one or two players. If you’re looking at half your team sitting out on a given week, then your scores will take a bad hit that you might not recover from. Spread out those bye weeks.
Replace Injured Players
The closer you get to game day, the more you want to pay attention to player updates. If someone on your team is placed on the injured reserve list, then you have to act fast to replace that player before the game.
Watch the News
Football players occasionally get into trouble off the field. That can lead to trouble on the field. You have to watch the news to see if any of your fantasy team players might be headed for suspension. They could also generate news that causes them to be distracted. At the first sign of trouble, consider a trade.
Check the Free Agent Pool
Other members of your league don’t have to tell you when they’re dropping a player or making a trade. However, that news will show up in your league’s free agent pool. You want to check in with that listing to see if there is someone you’d like to add to your team that suddenly becomes available.
It feels like managing a fantasy football team is a lot of work. It might be but this is definitely “fun work!”
