277
271 278
272 279
273 280
274 281
275 282
276 283
277 284
278 285
279 286
280 287
281 288
282 289
283 290
284 291
285 292
286 293
287 294
288 295
289 296
290 297
291 298
292 299
293 300
294 301
295 302
296 303
297 304
298 305
299 306
300 307
301 308
302 309
303 310
304 311
305 312
306 313
307 314
308 315
309 316
310 317
311 318
312 319
313 320
314 321
315 322
316 323
317 324
318 325
319 326
320 327
321 328
322 329
323 330
324 331
325 332
326 333
327 334
328 335
329 336
330 337
331 338
332 339
333 340
334 341
335 343
336 344
337 345
338 346
339 347
340 348
341 349
342 350
343 351
344 352
345 353
346 354
347 355
348 356
349 357
Introduction
In 1999, I was exactly where you may be right now. I decided to give the whole “fantasy football” thing a try, even though I had no idea how to play.
Back then, the online version of the game was just starting to take off, and Yahoo! had just begun offering its free league services. I did a bit of research and talked to a few buddies about strategy, but I mainly learned the game through trial and error(s). I had no definitive resource guide to help me get off to a good start in my fantasy football career.
Things have changed today. Since 2007, Fantasy Football For Dummies has put helpful guidance and friendly advice right at your fingertips — the keys to a successful fantasy season, which I didn’t have when I began to play the game. This resource can make your fantasy football season less frustrating. You can avoid many mistakes and start racking up victories by knowing the basics of the game, the popular strategies for winning, and the etiquette of league play.
Also, when I began playing, I knew very little about the available online resources. I just bought the first fantasy magazine I saw and went from there (and yes, printed magazines still exist). This book also includes an overview of major fantasy football providers and expert websites that offer tools and advice you can turn to when looking to improve your team.
Now with this second edition, I’ve refined strategies and updated the facts to match today’s NFL and fantasy rule sets, including FLEX and PPR. I also cover the biggest boom in fantasy football since the Internet: Daily Fantasy Football. In an all new Part 4 of this book, I deep dive into DraftKings, FanDuel and all things DFS involving online prize money: It’s fast paced, exciting and you can bet big to win big, but play at your own risk!
Fantasy football was built to mirror the best parts of pro football and it does just that. Fantasy football is as exciting and fun as it is frustrating and unpredictable. Hope for the best and expect the worst!
About This Book
Fantasy Football For Dummies gives you the foundational information you need to play fantasy football. This book is a unique guide because it offers in-depth lessons on how to play the game and serves as a reference for where to play and where to get great expert advice. Unlike most fantasy websites and magazines, which offer advice with the assumption that you’re already a fantasy addict, this book serves the beginning fantasy player along with plenty of advice sprinkled throughout for more advanced players. You can open this book, scan the table of contents or index to find a subject that interests you, and flip to those pages to improve certain parts of your fantasy game or read from beginning to end to get an understanding of the full spectrum of the fantasy football world.
Conventions Used in This Book
I provide the following basic conventions to help you navigate your way through the concepts and discussions in this book:
I italicize all new terms and follow them with easy-to-understand definitions.
I boldface all keywords in bulleted lists and all steps in numbered lists.
I use monofont to highlight all websites and email addresses to set them apart from the normal text.Most of the companies that provide fantasy football games and content have websites