Draft day is quickly approaching. Whether it’s your first time playing fantasy football or you’ve been playing for years and don’t seem to be getting invited back to the leagues from last year, this year’s NFL Fantasy Football Etiquette Guide is your key to social success within your fantasy football leagues.
Pay Your Dues: Make sure you pay your commissioner before draft day. Making sure people pay is not an enjoyable part of being a commissioner, and you’re guaranteed not to get invited back if you don’t contribute.
Draft Day: Come prepared and stay prepared. The first few rounds of a fantasy football draft can be very exciting while you watch the top players fall out of your grasp. After that, draft day can get very aggravating waiting 5 minutes for some guy to decide between two backup kickers in the 10th round. Come to the draft with several key players you’re targeting at each position. While you wait for your next draft pick, look forward to your next pick and have backup choices.
Don’t outsmart yourself. If you haven’t prepared for draft day, you’re probably not going to make the wisest decision under the pressure of the draft clock. Don’t be afraid to use the recommended computer generated pick.
Set up auto-draft if you won’t attend the draft. If you know you won’t make the draft, or need to leave early, make sure to tell the draft system to start auto-drafting for you. There’s nothing like waiting for someone to pick who isn’t going to pick.
Never demand a do-over. Ok, so maybe your computer did crash, or something is wrong with the draft website, but demanding a do-over for a draft pick, or a whole draft in general can be very demoralizing for the people who are trying to get the draft over with. This is grounds for immediate expulsion in some leagues.
Trades
Don’t overdo trade offers. If you find your trade offers getting ignored, you need to simmer down the offers. And no, following up a trade offer with a text message and voice mail does not help. Lay off the ridiculous offers. Sure, it would be cool if someone was gullible enough to trade you Peyton Manning for a 5th round draft pick but it gets real annoying for people to even look at these trade offers.
Smack talk
Many of us enjoy Jim Rome, but it’s annoying to others if you start acting like him on the fantasy football smack boards. Nobody cares how close you came to winning or what could’ve been if you’d played Chris Johnson instead of Adrian Peterson. Keep “what-ifs” to a minimum. While too much smack talk can be annoying, at least a little is required to keep you relevant.