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When I first got into FFL, a.k.a. fantasy football leagues I admit, I had no clue what I was doing at all! In that first draft there were 15 of us. Most of us had played fantasy baseball but in the form of the greatest board game ever “Pursue the Pennant” and this was a group of guys who were off at college who may or may not have been consuming copious amounts of liquid refreshment!
So anyway, as I was saying we had no real league structure especially with 15 teams. There were no head-to-head leagues just whoever scored the most points every week won. I was 18 and had never been to an FFL draft or no clue what I was doing so I just picked names I knew or heard of when it was my turn. And if all else failed, since I was a Minnesota Vikings fan, just pick a Viking, because I knew all of them. Hence my kicker selection at number three Fuad Reveiz who I am sure 95% of you have never heard of, but hey! He scored the fifth most points for me that season, a whopping 102.
There was no PPR (points per reception) or any of the stats that make the game as exciting today. My 1st draft was horrendous. Let me show you haha!
First fantasy football draft:
1. Christian Okoye RB – 79 points
2. Don Beebe WR – 66 points
3. Fuad Reveiz K – 102 points
4. Boomer Esiason QB1 – 60 points
5. Eric Dickerson RB – 98 points
6. Chris Carter WR – 105 points
7. Flipper Anderson WR – 107 points
8. Keith Jennings TE – 32 points
9. Jeff George QB2 – 79 points
10. Tommy Vardell RB – 50 points
11. Irving Fryer WR – 104 points
12. Steve Jordan TE – 51 points
13. 49r’s DEF – 236 points
Honestly my first couple years sucked really bad! Then I got into a serious keeper league for real money, and it was like a light switch went off. I got really serious about it real fast and now I follow every single thing I can about individual football players.
This brings me to my topic today. I live in Dallas, Texas and 90% of the population here are rabid Cowboys’ fans of which 99% of them are still stuck back in the 1990’s during the glory years. I listen to a lot of sports talk radio and talk a lot of football with my friends here.
Sure, he may choke in the playoffs
It seems like all the media hate Dak Prescott and seldom ever say anything nice about the guy and I get that. The fans are wanting the next Roger Staubach or Troy Aikman, but if you’re an FFL team owner, you have to LOVE Dak. Granted he missed 5 games at the beginning of the season, but if you take his average of 18 points per game and add those back in, he jumps from being ranked 18 to eight. Sure, he may choke in the Playoffs, but in FFL our playoffs are still during the regular season.
Same thing goes for my guy Kirk Cousins, he gets absolutely no respect around the NFL, but he is consistently year after year a Top 10 Quarterback in FFL’s. Maybe one day they will each win a ring and that will shut the talking heads up?
My advice is when it comes to drafting an FFL team, do not make your choices about players based on what SportsCenter has to say, you really need to understand your league rules. If you are in a PPR league and you are drafting an RB look for the guy who gets a lot of dump passes versus the guy who just runs downhill. For example, Austin Ekeler averages almost eight targets per game where Saquon Barkley gets just five. Anyway, thanks for indulging my walk down memory lane, I look forward to reading your emails and comments. You can always reach out to me by email at TheBigTykie@gmail.com
