Welcome to your 2021 Footballguys subscription. If you’re a first-time subscriber, welcome! If you've been with us for multiple seasons, thank you, we appreciate your continued support. You made an excellent decision to join us as we guide you through the season with unparalleled customizable tools and knowledge from some of the best fantasy analysts and minds in the industry. Whatever your level of fantasy knowledge is, we've got you covered. We'll help you navigate through the tools and benefits of the site and share what we believe are the most important, can't-miss, must-know content areas that will be ultra-beneficial to your fantasy season.
As a writer and staff member of Footballguys since 2007, I have seen this site evolve over the years. I believe in the company, I believe in the people behind it, the vision of helping you the customer, the knowledge of the staff members, and most of all, I believe in the product. There is a lot of content on the site to digest and with over 60 staff members now providing various areas of expertise including projections, rankings, team information, and strategy articles covering redraft, dynasty, daily sports, and a host of other topics, trying to keep up can be a bit like sipping water from a firehose. This article is designed to be a guide to help you navigate through it all.
Season-Long Landing Page
This is the page where you'll find everything we do every week for season-long fantasy.
That will be your entry point each week for all the content we offer.
As you can see, we provide Premium Subscribers with a ton of content and we've organized it on the Weekly Page in the way we think makes the most sense.
Once the season starts, fantasy football boils down to two things.
1. Managing your team with good Waiver Wire Add/Drop and Trade Decisions.
2. Setting optimal starting lineups.
You'll find several features in our Weekly Essentials section of the Weekly Page to help you with those things.
For Managing Your Team, these are the key features:
Upgrades and Downgrades
Every Week our Sigmund Bloom and Aaron Rudnicki lay out the players they see moving up and down in value. And offer suggestions on players to pick up from the waiver wire.
What You Need To Know From Last Week
Sigmund Bloom condenses the Week into the most valuable "Need To Know" nuggets saving you time and worry.
Rest Of Season Rankings
When you're thinking of adding or dropping or trading for a player, the Rest Of Season rankings are the best guide we offer. They're just what the title implies, a ranking of how we see all the players from here going forward.
For Setting Optimal Lineups, these are the key features:
Player Forecasts
With our Projections, PPR Rankings, and Non-PPR Rankings, we rank every player for this week on how we think they'll perform.
Rushing and Passing Matchups
Devin Knotts and crew look forward to this week's games and identify the matchups to exploit, and the matchups that could be trouble. The Projections and Rankings are always the final say, but this is additional context.
Injury Rounds, Players In The News
This is where we talk about injuries and news that affects a player's ranking and value for the week.
Gameday Updates
Prior to kickoff, we'll be updating in real-time the last-minute news and Active/Inactive designations to make sure you get the final word.
League Dominator
The League Dominator is a tool that you are going to want to familiarize yourself with. It allows you to digitally enter and upload your league's settings, scoring, rosters, available player pool, schedules, opponents rosters, etc. We essentially have a data-driven, digital peek into your league or leagues. Our custom-made tools integrate all of your league(s) information and data, with our weekly and future projections that ultimately give you all of our knowledge and expertise in the form of recommended roster and lineup decisions. We even include floor and upside projections, strength of schedule data, and customizable projectors, if you want to get super-detailed. If you have one league or multiple leagues, the League Dominator puts everything into order for you so you can make sound, educated decisions with your roster, your lineup decisions, and your waiver moves.
How to get started and sync your league into the League Dominator
- Click on the TOOLS tab
- Click on Edit/Sync Your Leagues
- Click Add Leagues
From here you will select the league hosting site where your league is located. Follow the steps once you select the host site. Select all of the leagues that you wish to have integrated into the League Dominator. If you have other leagues from other hosting sites, repeat this process by selecting the appropriate host site. You can also enter a league manually. You will need to enter in the scoring details, rosters, team names, etc but it is available if you'd prefer, or if the league does not use one of the 13 sites that the League Dominator integrates to.
Click here for more help or information about syncing your leagues
Congratulations! You're synced. Now what?
Now is when the fun begins. You have essentially turned over the car keys to Footballguys. Let us drive you to where you want to go. There are several tools to browse through and they are all under the TOOLS tab.
The 5 Second Primer - This tool shows your entire roster and the projected fantasy points customized to your league's settings. It lets you know who you should start at each position and it also makes you aware of any available players in free agency who may be a better play than who you have on your current roster. To clarify, this is what we think you should do each week and not what you already have set as your starting lineup.
Notice at the bottom where it says Matchup Dominator (in orange). Go ahead and click that...
Essentially, the Matchup Dominator gives you an in-depth look at your roster and how it projects for the upcoming week. The suggested starters are in bold and if there are any free agents worthy of starting, they will be highlighted in blue.
To crank up the data and dive deeper, go ahead and click on any player's name. The example below shows Tom Brady. Note the tabs at the top. You can view the upcoming week's projections, how other players at that position fared against that opponent this season, rest of year projections, other roster graphics, how Brady projects each week of the season, what his value is over the course of the season, and any pertinent news on that player. This information is available for all of the players on your roster. Just click on the player's name in this Matchup Dominator section.
Click on the Orange link that says Analysis This tool gives you a deep dive into your matchup with your opponent for the upcoming week. Click through the various tabs at the top to see how your team matches up with your opponent. What are your and your opponent's strengths and weaknesses?
Weekly Rankings - Within the Matchup Dominator, click on Lineups, then Weekly Rankings. This gives you a view of the rankings within your league's scoring format of all positions with your players highlighted in yellow and free agents in blue. A button click on "Teams" will also allow you to pick players from your opponent.
Be sure to check out the other tabs in the Lineup Dominator - Rest of Year and WW/Trades. These will be available once the regular season begins.
In-season Rankings and Projections
People like lists, especially when a list has an order of expected outcomes. We at Footballguys understand this need to have things in order. If you're looking for the upcoming week's rankings or projections, you can find it by clicking on the RANKINGS tab at the top of the home page. Then click on In-season rankings or In-season projections (player or team). Pick your scoring format and position, and there you have it. For an in-depth view that includes your league's format, use the Matchup Dominator (TOOLS, then Matchup Dominator).
We've Got Stats
A centralized location for all stats can be found here All Stat Tools (TOOLS, Statistics, All Stat Tools). There is a lot to include here, but essentially, player stats, team stats, rushing and passing averages by year, turnover stats, target stats, target details, red zone stats, snap counts, game logs, defensive game logs, fantasy points allowed, etc.
Advanced stat tools include the Data Dominator, Historical Dominator, Gamelog Dominator, and IDP Matchup Analyzer
The Data Dominator tool allows you to get custom looks at player or team statistics and go back to the 2002 season.
The Historical Data Dominator tool allows you to examine season-long stats back to 1960.
The Game Log Dominator tool allows you to search the last 25 years of game logs and get custom statistical looks.
The IDP Matchup Analyzer tool allows you to search IDP game logs back to the 2003 season.
Other Areas of Interest
Depth Charts (TOOLS, Draft Tools, Depth Charts) Fully customizable depth charts by fantasy, offense, defense, special teams, even coaching staff.
Schedule Grid (TOOLS, In-season tools, Schedule Grid)
The Ultimate Strength of Schedule (TOOLS, In-season tools, Strength of Schedule)
The Master List of Tools - All of the tools you need for your fantasy football team and your league.
Podcasts - Listen or view all of our Footballguys podcasts in an easy-to-find archive of all six of our shows.
DFS Builder Tools - Available with the Daily Fantasy Pro or All Pro subscription. Build single lineups or use our multi-lineup optimizer.
Articles
The first thing many subscribers notice, (and the perfect illustration of the “drinking from a firehose” mentality), Footballguys offers a huge selection of articles covering every topic imaginable. From redraft to dynasty, from NFL daily games to college sports, from nitty-gritty player evaluations to high-level conceptual strategy, Footballguys probably has multiple articles covering any question you would think to ask, (and quite a few you wouldn’t).
Sifting through that pile can be daunting, so I’d recommend starting with the article search page, instead. It allows you to narrow articles by category and/or search by keyword or author. The home page for articles is always up to date with the most recent articles at the top.
During the season, each week will be given a separate page, and a list of scheduled articles will be posted. As the articles come in during the week, the names will be replaced with links.
Looking for an article from years past? Search our article archive. This is the equivalent of a "secret menu." It's not easily available on the site (but you can find it by searching "archive" in the search tool). Articles go all the way back to 2004 if you're so inclined to dig and sift through our digital history.
Injury Articles/Information
Footballguys own, Dr. Jene Bramel MD, a medical physician who is also knowledgeable with football and sports injuries, will again provide comprehensive injury coverage during the regular season. You'll be able to find his updates in the Injury section of the article home page. Jene's expert analysis, explanation, and guidance with a fantasy spin is unmatched in the fantasy industry. You will want to become familiar with his injury series and check in multiple times a week for the latest information that pertains to the fantasy landscape.
Dr. Jene's writing and podcast schedule will include:
Monday Injury Rounds > Published as soon as complete Sunday night and updated through Tuesday morning, this feature will review all the major injuries from the weekend's games, provide follow-up analysis on injured players who have yet to return to play, and project when every injured player will return.
Waiver Wire Podcast > Tuesday morning release reviewing all injuries at the quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end positions with Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom heading into your weekly waiver run.
Midweek Injury Expectations > Published late Wednesday night after the first weekly practice participation report and updated through Thursday's practice report, this feature will detail the current practice participation of every listed player and project the likelihood each player will play in the coming week.
Thursday Live Audible podcast > Joining Cecil Lammey, Sigmund Bloom, and Matt Waldman at 9:00 ET every Thursday night for a comprehensive Q&A updating all player injuries.
Gameday Injury Expectations > Published Saturday, this feature will review the practice status of every injured player, provide analysis on player/coach/beat writer comments throughout the week, and discuss how likely and how effective each injured player will be on Sunday.
Sunday Live Gameday podcast > Joining Sigmund Bloom and Matt Waldman at 10:00 ET every Sunday morning to discuss and interpret the week's practice participation reports and breaking weekend injury news.
Free Daily Update
One last item - sign up for the FREE daily email. The Biggest Stories in Football. Summarized, explained, and delivered straight to your inbox. Every day. If you know of others who would benefit from this, share it with them too. The best part? This incredibly helpful and beneficial tool is FREE for all. You just have to sign up.
I hope this article helped you better understand what Footballguys has to offer and how it can help you dominate your league. We are only a click away. If you are having any trouble with the League Dominator or any of the tools, please feel free to send us an email at help@footballguys.com and we'll respond with assistance as soon as possible.
Questions, suggestions, and comments are always welcome to haseley@footballguys.com.
