Beginner's Guide to Fantasy Football

This section will give you a rundown on the different types of fantasy leagues that one can participate in. From a standard redraft league to a full-fledged dynasty league to an IDP league, there are many styles of leagues that all offer various challenges and enjoyments to the fantasy footballer.

Standard Re-draft Leagues (Head to Head)

The standard redraft leagues are by far the most common fantasy leagues. The league has a draft that is usually serpentine in nature (first pick overall in round one will pick last in round two, the last pick in round one will pick first in round two, etc.). The owners will pick out a starting lineup each week depending on the regulations of the league and match up against a different owner each week. Scoring more points than your opponent results in a win whereas scoring fewer points will result in a loss. The best win/loss records meet in the playoffs. Each new season, all of the NFL players go back into the pool and can be drafted all over again.

Example of Head to Head Competition

Team One - winners			Team Two - losers
Pos	Starter	Pts	Pos	Starter	Pts
QB	Donovan McNabb	23	QB	Peyton Manning	18
RB	Reuben Droughns	17	RB	Brian Westbrook	6
RB	Willie Parker	14	RB	Warrick Dunn	6
WR	Chad Johnson	16	WR	Plaxico Burress	10
WR	Darrell Jackson	14	WR	Derrick Mason	11
WR	Joe Jurevicius	8	WR	Marvin Harrison	22
TE	Alge Crumpler	7	TE	Todd Heap	5
PK	Mike Vanderjagt	7	PK	Jason Elam	6
DT	Baltimore Ravens	7	DT	Miami Dolphins	10
Starters' Total Points		113	Starters' Total Points		94

Standard Re-draft Leagues (Total Points)

These leagues start off the same as head-to-head leagues. Once the draft is finished however the ultimate goal is to finish with the most points overall instead of the most wins. There is no weekly head-to-head schedule and it is simply a matter of building up as many points as possible. Over the last decade or so, the total points' leagues have become less popular.

Example of Total Points League

Franchise	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Tot
Charitable Donation	82	103	87	104	113	108	94	143	108	114	80	100	119	89	136	103	110	1794
Chris Smith's Goons	81	102	74	122	133	107	94	112	98	95	99	103	107	132	108	102	92	1759
Unlucky's Bass Turds	112	78	113	98	94	127	85	111	76	137	82	90	89	136	130	98	67	1724
Stuart's Ships	107	104	70	67	67	83	98	75	133	122	128	97	115	100	88	110	77	1641
Harrisville	61	94	78	83	92	72	112	103	84	116	64	97	88	110	108	102	119	1584
Hollywood Funk	71	102	78	88	79	100	102	99	80	84	77	111	105	84	77	128	93	1527
Hocking Valley Egos	64	115	82	58	96	92	68	99	88	44	99	106	138	127	95	91	57	1520
The Assassin	90	98	81	95	81	81	87	74	82	56	119	106	93	67	118	68	80	1476
Joe T Carney Men	68	88	74	144	105	82	101	107	98	62	87	77	97	58	90	56	73	1468
Spartans Rule	125	117	102	76	79	73	97	91	77	93	59	80	82	72	64	92	87	1465
Longboards	94	87	78	92	82	97	81	83	86	71	138	75	68	103	92	80	53	1463
Baptist Breakers	84	90	61	74	87	45	119	55	74	83	107	99	77	110	95	91	39	1390

Auction Draft Leagues

Auction drafts are a relatively new type of fantasy league to the casual fantasy gamer. These drafts can be a ton of fun and offer unique challenges but it also takes up a lot more time on average than a standard draft. As an owner in an auction draft, make sure to devote a block of six to ten hours in order to complete your draft. Each owner in this kind of league gets a sum of play money in which they will use in order to build their fantasy roster. Each owner can bid on any player on the auction block as long as he/she has enough money remaining to win the bid. The best part of an auction draft is simply that every player in the league is available to a fantasy owner. If an owner wants to build a squad featuring Shaun Alexander, Steven Jackson, Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison as part of their starting unit, they can do so (although he won't have much, if any, money left to add other strong players).

Example of the first six bids of an Auction Draft

Pos	Player	Team	Drafted By	Cost
QB	Peyton Manning	Ind	Team One	$34
RB	Larry Johnson	KC	Team Four	$75
WR	Marvin Harrison	Ind	Team Seven	$25
RB	Willie Parker	Pit	Team Four	$16
WR	Torry Holt	StL	Team Ten	$29
TE	Tony Gonzalez	KC	Team One	$14

"Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle .... They conquer by strategy." - Sun Tzu 'Art of War'

Keeper Leagues

Very similar to the leagues above. The difference being that the owner can keep a predetermined number of players from his draft in the previous season to carry forward into the new campaign. In some leagues you can keep one player, in others three and in others five or more. Sometimes it costs an owner a draft pick to keep a player from the previous season and sometimes no penalty is paid. It really depends on the leagues rules.

Example of a 3-player Keeper League (the teams will keep the players in blue)

Team One			Team Two
Pos	Player	Team	Pos	Player	Team
QB	Donovan McNabb	Phi	QB	Marc Bulger	StL
QB	Jake Plummer	Den	QB	Patrick Ramsey	NYJ
QB	Kyle Boller	Bal	QB	Kurt Warner	Ari
RB	T.J. Duckett	Atl	RB	Jamal Lewis	Bal
RB	Edgerrin James	Ari	RB	Steven Jackson	StL
RB	Marion Barber III	Dal	RB	Curtis Martin	NYJ
RB	Michael Pittman	TB	RB	Marcel Shipp	Ari
WR	Marty Booker	Mia	WR	Tyrone Calico	Ten
WR	Plaxico Burress	NYG	WR	Laveranues Coles	NYJ
WR	Randy Moss	Oak	WR	Andre Johnson	Hou
WR	Marcus Robinson	Min	WR	Steve Smith	Car
TE	Daniel Graham	NE	WR	David Boston	TB
TE	Itula Mili	Sea	TE	Jim Kleinsasser	Min
PK	Matt Stover	Bal	TE	Jeremy Shockey	NYG
DT	Dallas Cowboys	Dal	PK	Jeff Wilkins	StL
DT	St. Louis Rams	StL	DT	Atlanta Falcons	Atl
DT	New Orleans Saints	NO	DT	Pittsburgh Steelers	Pit

Dynasty Leagues

A dynasty league is similar to a keeper league but each team can keep their entire roster of players from one year to the next. After the inaugural draft in year one, the players will stay on the team they are drafted to unless they are traded away or released. Each offseason a rookie draft will take place in which the owners can add talent to their rosters. These leagues can be really challenges to rebuild a poor roster as it may take years of wise trading and shrewd drafting in order to rise to the top. Great leagues if you want to challenge yourself.

Survivor Draft Leagues

These leagues can use either the auction draft or the standard draft. Once the rosters have been filled out however the rules are much different. Similar to the television show, Survivor, in this style of league, the team with the fewest points scored in a week is booted out for the season. It is very important in this kind of league to build a well-rounded squad that can withstand the perils of injuries, bye weeks and other similar challenges. Usually in this kind of league, no free agent pickups or trades are allowed. Because of the format, there is possibly a higher degree of luck involved as you can have one back week and be kicked out of the league.

IDP Leagues

These leagues use defensive players as well as offensive players. This is only for the diehard fantasy player as it takes a lot more research, knowledge and experience to know not only what defensive players to draft but when.