tomarken
Footballguy
A lot of great info in here. I've been pretty successful in my leagues over the years, and there's one bit I'd like to add that I don't think I've seen in here yet. This is not a major thing, it's really designed for the person who is already implementing all the other "shark" moves mentioned in this thread and is looking for that extra little advantage.
Use Draft Dominator! (But not for the obvious reason - read on...)
There are various strategies for how to handle bye weeks during the draft - spread them out evenly, load them up in one week, ignore them, etc. All of them have pros and cons.
I target byes dynamically during the draft. Just like "value" is a dynamic quantity that changes as a draft progresses, byes can become advantageous if you are tracking the draft properly. In order to implement this, I think you MUST use Draft Dominator or a similar application - again, not to rely on projections or whatever (even though it's great for that) but just for it's draft-tracking capabilities. At a single glance you have a wealth of information at your fingertips, stuff you could never keep track of with pen and paper.
Dynamic byes are based on what the other owners do. If, for example, you are playing TEAM A in week 4, and he takes Peyton Manning in the first round, you immediately have an advantage that week. Now you can more safely take a player or two that are also on bye in week 4. I don't advocate taking lesser-talented players just because they have a more advantageous bye, of course, but really after the first round or two most players are in tiers. For most of the draft you will be deciding between players that you have projected approximately equally. In these situations, look at your opponents and the players they have already drafted, and exploit any weaknesses! If your Week 7 opponent has already drafted two starters with Week 7 byes, you can safely allocate one of your byes to Week 7 as well. If your Week 5 opponent hasn't drafted any players with a week 5 bye, then you should also try to avoid players with a week 5 bye.
Every one of your players will be on bye at some point in the season - but if you carefully schedule when those bye weeks are you can give yourself a week-in, week-out advantage. It may sound like a minor thing, but it's like special teams, it's the "hidden yards" that often win you the game. Being slightly stronger (bye-week-wise) than your opponents every week adds up over the course of a season. It may only lead to 1 or 2 extra wins, but that's the difference between going 7-6 out of the money or going 9-4 and making the playoffs. You may not believe it's worth it, and that's up to you, but I believe in it, I've been doing it for several years and I feel like my game has elevated that next little step because of it.
DD has a nice schedule feature in there where you can load your schedule for the upcoming season. I go one better so I don't need to keep that open - I just put my schedule in the team names. For example, if I'm playing "Bob's Team" in week 6, I'll type his name as "Bob's Team 6". If I'm playing Joe's Team in weeks 5 and 10 I put "Joe's Team 5 10". Maybe not a big deal but if you're in a draft with a 60 second timer or something it helps.
Use Draft Dominator! (But not for the obvious reason - read on...)
There are various strategies for how to handle bye weeks during the draft - spread them out evenly, load them up in one week, ignore them, etc. All of them have pros and cons.
I target byes dynamically during the draft. Just like "value" is a dynamic quantity that changes as a draft progresses, byes can become advantageous if you are tracking the draft properly. In order to implement this, I think you MUST use Draft Dominator or a similar application - again, not to rely on projections or whatever (even though it's great for that) but just for it's draft-tracking capabilities. At a single glance you have a wealth of information at your fingertips, stuff you could never keep track of with pen and paper.
Dynamic byes are based on what the other owners do. If, for example, you are playing TEAM A in week 4, and he takes Peyton Manning in the first round, you immediately have an advantage that week. Now you can more safely take a player or two that are also on bye in week 4. I don't advocate taking lesser-talented players just because they have a more advantageous bye, of course, but really after the first round or two most players are in tiers. For most of the draft you will be deciding between players that you have projected approximately equally. In these situations, look at your opponents and the players they have already drafted, and exploit any weaknesses! If your Week 7 opponent has already drafted two starters with Week 7 byes, you can safely allocate one of your byes to Week 7 as well. If your Week 5 opponent hasn't drafted any players with a week 5 bye, then you should also try to avoid players with a week 5 bye.
Every one of your players will be on bye at some point in the season - but if you carefully schedule when those bye weeks are you can give yourself a week-in, week-out advantage. It may sound like a minor thing, but it's like special teams, it's the "hidden yards" that often win you the game. Being slightly stronger (bye-week-wise) than your opponents every week adds up over the course of a season. It may only lead to 1 or 2 extra wins, but that's the difference between going 7-6 out of the money or going 9-4 and making the playoffs. You may not believe it's worth it, and that's up to you, but I believe in it, I've been doing it for several years and I feel like my game has elevated that next little step because of it.
DD has a nice schedule feature in there where you can load your schedule for the upcoming season. I go one better so I don't need to keep that open - I just put my schedule in the team names. For example, if I'm playing "Bob's Team" in week 6, I'll type his name as "Bob's Team 6". If I'm playing Joe's Team in weeks 5 and 10 I put "Joe's Team 5 10". Maybe not a big deal but if you're in a draft with a 60 second timer or something it helps.
One of the most overlooked aspects of projecting who will do well is the offensive line. If you can figure who will have the good ones, and what they are good at, you will have a very big factor on your side.
