What is the most important thing to know going into your draft?
We believe knowing all your rules about the draft is the most important. There are so many different kinds of drafts nowadays that if you don’t know your specific rules, you might draft players at the wrong time.
The first thing we do when we join a league is to read the rules. Going into the draft, we keep a little note at the top of our sheet with the rules. (We are old school and still like to have PAPER notes!)
A few years ago, Don was only in one league – his hometown Huge Trophy league. That league has the same rules year after year, so it is easy to keep up with what’s what. This league has been going on since 1988 and still carries some unique rules. One example is any touchdown over 50 yards counts for double points. Another is you don’t have to start a TE in this league. Tight ends and receivers count as the same. One major difference is this league’s playoffs coincide with the NFL’s playoffs so from the 16 teams, the top eight teams make the playoffs. They redraft during the NFL playoffs and condense it down to the two teams that play on Super Bowl Sunday for the championship and the four foot trophy.
Fast forward to 2022, we are in multiple leagues with a substantial number of different rules!
More than once, Don has gone into drafts where participants didn’t have any idea what the league rules were. One draft he went into was a two quarterback league, but most of the team owners thought it was a one quarterback. That makes a huge difference since in a two quarterback league more than half the picks in the first round are usually quarterbacks.
The Scott Fish Bowl has rule changes each year which makes it more fun for all the draftees. Shaking things up a little keeps everyone on their toes!
Don is in FFPC leagues which are tight end premium. Tight ends get more points per catch than running backs and wide receivers. The FFPC always has two flex spots where you can choose to use tight ends, running backs or receivers.
At some point, it’s easy to feel so confident in your drafting abilities that you forget to read the rules. Don’t let that happen! You may think you have the perfect draft, but if you don’t know the rules it could be disastrous for your team.