The most important thing: KNOW YOUR SCORING SYSTEM
The secret to winning in fantasy football is simple . As the great John Madden once put it, "Usually the team that scores the most points wins the game." You might think that the statement is obvious but surprisingly, most casually fantasy players couldn't tell you anything about scoring besides the fact that a touchdown is 6 points (which is only partially true because because a passing TD is 4 points in standard scoring). This information is so vital that most experts will demand that a caller state the system before they ask any questions. Let's look at the two most popular types.
Standard
This is what most of you will fall under. Here's ESPN's standard scoring:
6 pts per rushing or receiving TD 6 pts for player returning kick/punt for TD 6 pts for player returning or recovering a fumble for TD 4 pts per passing TD 2 pts per rushing or receiving 2 pt conversion 2 pts per passing 2 pt conversion 1 pt per 10 yards rushing or receiving 1 pt per 25 yards passing
-2 pts per intercepted pass -2 pts per fumble lost
The reason why passing points are prorated differently is simple, QBs throw for more yards and touchdowns than WR/RBs. Otherwise, we might as well all trade for Peyton Manning and win every week. Just to give you an idea lets look at Week 5's fantasy leaders. The best WR was Alshon Jeffery with 218 yards receiving and 1 TD. The best QB was Tony Romo with 506 yards passing and 5 TDs with 1 INT and a 2 point conversion. In standard scoring, Jeffrey scored 27 while Romo scored an incredible 40. But lets say the QB scored the same a WR. Then Romo would have actually scored 80! But still it doesn't seem fair because 40 is still way more than 27. Well that's why this second system came into existence...
PPR (Points Per Reception)
Ah! The answer to those lopsided point distributions that favor the pigskin throwers! The only additional and obvious rule:
1 pt per reception
How might that change the comparison that we just did? Jeffery had 10 receptions on Sunday so it would have boosted his score to 37! This drastically changes the value of WRs and pass catching RBs and makes them more comparable to QBs.
So I'll end this article with a plea. PLEASE CHECK YOUR LEAGUE SCORING! I know some leagues that have .25 PPR, 6 point passing TDs, bonuses for 40 yard plays, and return yardage points! This changes the value of each player differently to the point where the "experts" rankings to not reflect them! So go get informed and be ahead of the game.