2006 Large & In-Charge with Big D
A Fantasy Football Blog

Big D's Newbie guide to Fantasy Football

Who the hell is Big D?

While I’m certainly large, 6’3”, 380, I’m not the city of Dallas, although I nearly ate it during a drunken rampage a few years ago. For the first time in my life, it’s kind of cool to have the first name of Dwayne. (Thank you Mr. Wade and his dyslexic parents.) What the frog am I doing? This is a fantasy football site!

I thought before you decide to take any advice from me, you’d like to know a little about what makes me an “expert”. Well I’ve been playing and winning at Fantasy Football since 1993. My brother told me about this phenomenon and said it’s more fun than naturally bouncing boobs. Well the jury is out on that, but I must say I friggin’ worship this ever growing hobby. I’ve won 6 championships, in 3 different leagues, and have only failed to make the playoffs three times in those 10 plus years. Those of you who play FF know that things really need to go your way to win championships, but hopefully most of you know that you can still win other prizes even without playoff timing luck.

So what are my philosophies?

1. Don’t draft players you don’t like
While I’ve certainly seen this workout, normally it backfires mightily. This game is somewhat intuition based, and if you don’t play it as such, then you’re probably a doomed homer. For instance this year, I won’t draft Edgerrin James. I won a championship last year with Edge. Last year, Arizona had more running plays for negative yardage than any team in the league. So while Edge is talented, that line is atrocious, and I’m not wasting a first round pick on a risk like that.

2. Play it somewhat safe with your first 2 picks. Guys who are durable and consistently productive like Alexander, Tomlinson, P. Manning, Tiki, Rudi Johnson, Holt, Harrison etc. Be aware of teams in transition with early picks, those with new coaches, as sometimes it takes a while to get things ironed out.

3. Don’t be a homer. D’OH!
This is a two fold answer. Fold one: you tend to take too many players from one team, making it a weekly feast or phantom. Yes a family member actually believes that’s the expression, run with it. Fold two: There are only so many goldmines available, and chances are you’re home team isn’t one of them.

4. Go for a homerun a little bit later.
This can also be translated as I’m taking your handcuff. Last year I took Larry Johnson in the 7th round, knowing his talent and Priest’s delicate nature and it propelled me to dominate that league in points and wins. Who is this year’s homerun? Well, it certainly would be a surprise if L.T. got hurt, but Michael Turner is my vote for homerun of 2006. You can get him very late in the draft also.

5. Be prepared
Make sure you are current on everything related. If you don’t want to take this step, then find an expert who will prepare you.

6. Don’t underestimate offensive lines effect on your success.

7. Look for value. For example, if you like Antonio Gates, because he’s SO much more valuable than any other TE, he’s worth a 3rd round pick in my book. Another way of looking for value is taking a risk in a late round if nobody has selected Deion Branch for example.

Well this is a start, stay tuned for more…

Many Touchdowns

Big D