There are so many options for fantasy players that sometimes it can be intimidating.
There are countless sites offering mock drafts, where you can practice your potential draft strategies without having to manage your team. You get the opportunity to draft against others who are testing out their strategies, and the best part about mocks is that they are free. Plus, as I mentioned, you don’t have to keep track of your players, add free agents, or change your lineup for injuries or byes as it’s just a mock.
For those who want to do more than mock, as admittedly mocks have some issues with teams either dropping out before or during the draft, or teams employing a crazy strategy such that the mock really doesn’t mirror what might happen in a draft, there are season long “best ball” leagues. A best ball league has all the positives of a mock (without the negatives of teams signing up and not participating, or taking utterly crazy approaches), but allows the player to draft and then forget the team. With a best ball, there is no lineup setting, no free agents, and absolutely nothing to do. It’s the lazy-person’s ultimate fantasy experience. All that the player needs to do is check in after the season to see how the team fared.
If you don’t care to participate during the year, might I suggest that you spend your time in mocks or best ball leagues? Barring health issues and/or family/work issues, if you are joining a traditional league, you owe it to your league mates to at least put in a legitimate lineup each week. Otherwise, you are a “dead team.”
Dead teams exist in every fantasy sport. In season-long non-head-to-head baseball, basketball and hockey leagues, dead teams are an unfortunate, but real, aspect. In these non-head to head leagues, dead teams have a small effect, but an effect nonetheless, on counting categories. Occasionally, a team in contention will get an advantage by passing a team in a category while that team’s competition had already passed the dead team before it died. It happens, and it’s unfortunate, but it isn’t often league-changing.
Football is an entirely different animal. As virtually all fantasy football leagues are head-to-head, dead teams can have a profound effect upon the final league standings. One would think that if you were going to invest some real money that you might stay for the entire season. Even if you are doing poorly, as a matter of courtesy you might field a full starting lineup. I realize that if you are out of it, scouring the waiver wire isn’t a productive use of your time. I get it. But, filling out your starting lineup with active players is the least that you should do.
I’m sitting at 4-7 in my Prime Time league. I am mathematically eliminated from the league championship and need to score 300 more points than the fourth place team over the next two weeks (yes, impossible) to qualify for the playoffs. Nonetheless, to be fair to those other teams, most of which have beaten my team to a pulp, I am still participating. It’s only fair.
Let’s look at one of the $250 NFFC leagues. The first place team held a precarious one-game lead going into week 11. That team scored just 137.30 points, giving the teams chasing it a shot at catching. Yet, that team had the fortune of playing a dead team, a team that started both Tom Brady and George Kittle on bye. You know before reading this that the first place team won by the slimmest of margins, turning a deserved loss into a win.
Keeping with week 11, let’s turn to a $150 NFFC league. Here, there was a three-way tie for first, with my team one game out. One of the first place teams had a miserable week, scoring just 111.65 points. That score was 10th out of 12 teams. The team it faced scored 71.25, starting LeSean McCoy (bye), Nick Chubb (bye), Cameron Meredeth (injured for weeks) and New England’s defense (bye). To make matters worse, that team kept Julio Jones (23.8 points), and Kerryon Johnson (17.70 points), among others on the bench. While one can argue as to whom to start, there isn’t a person reading this that wouldn’t have put both Jones and Johnson in the starting lineup. Had this dead team spent just a moment and inserted these two starters into its lineup, it would have won, sending the first place team down a spot.
The moral here is clear. If you are choosing to join a fantasy league that requires weekly moves, and if you are physically able, please do at least the minimum and make lineup changes. You truly owe it to the other players in your league. And, if karma has anything to do with it, you really should so that you don’t find yourself on the other end of this unfortunate situation.
Best of luck. Don’t blink.
Buster
