Top 5 Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet of Tips

Nothing is worse than showing up to a live fantasy football draft, or even an online one, only to realize, you are unprepared; no lists, no information, nothing. You sit down and as the draft starts, people snicker as you make selections, you not realizing your starting quarterback and second wide receiver are on injured reserve. Yes, it is sad.

But you can change that all at once! By preparing, practicing, printing, listening and being awesome, you are bound for fantasy football glory this year. So lets look at my 5 fantasy football cheat sheet of tips right now! Don't want to wait, but you want to get started on your fantasy football glory right now??? Download the 360 Sports Network's free customizable fantasy football cheat sheet now!

Tip #1 : Prepare by grouping your players based on position, then on expected points (tiering)

One thing you see in fantasy football, and even in fantasy magazines, are these huge lists of NFL players, in the order of their Overall Draft Value. The ODV lists are great if you are thinking about sleeping during the draft because a)the people you play fantasy football with suck, or b)you just don't care (in this case, don't play the game!).

However, what are these long Top 300 Fantasy players, or Top 100 Fantasy Football Stars lists really saying? Just that based on position, expected finishing stats for the year and given those positions weighted value gives you this massive list...however, you don't know certain things. For instance, looking at it, you can see a few running backs next to each other, but are they really of equal value. You might even see a wide receiver or tight end all by themselves, and does that make them a single entity at that value?

Tiering needs to be done before any and every draft. You need to be able to weight players' position, to their expected fantasy football weekly points, to get a true value of the player, at that position. Then, calculate the average points, and now, you basically have the value of the tier of each position. You can use a little more math, and get the weighted value of the position based on league settings...and your tiering is now done.

Long story short when it comes to those massive lists of player power rankings in fantasy football...do some foot work yourself prior to each and every draft, and it will push you into a solid position to start the season.

Tip #2 : Practice fantasy football, don't just play it!

One tip I can never stress enough, is if you do want to play fantasy football, and compete, get better and try to win, it's best to test out some drafting techniques in public leagues. Seriously, some call it practice, but I call it trend analysis (in the end, fantasy football + trend analysis = WIN!!!).

There are a lot of capable public leagues out there, including ESPN.com, Yahoo.com and NFL.com. You can even find some smaller sites, up and comers and sites that give very customizable settings for you to play with. Google or Bing these my friend, as your fantasy football world is digital, making your fantasy football sandbox right there at the tip of your fingers.

Now, how do you practice? I know I got asked this question a lot by newer players whenever I started giving advice on actually playing fantasy football and not just on players and teams.

First, practice taking positions at different times during the draft. You know what most of the players in the couple of hundred are expected to get in the way of fantasy totals based on you ACTUALLY doing what was mentioned in Tip #1, so ya. My biggest 'wow' moment that new I give to new players, is doing ten drafts, each with drafting their starting quarterback in a different round just to see what their team makeup becomes, and how happy or miserable they are with the team. Imagine getting a Tier 1 and Tier 2 running back, two Tier 2 wide receivers and a Tier three or four quarterback, but it having the same value as drafting a quarterback before round three? Ya, it opens your eyes.

Next, try drafting defenses and kickers right at the very end and see where you team value is, compared to other teams. Drafting isn't a race. We are in a hurry for picks to get back to us, but you should be analyzing each and every pick during the draft, not just your own. When defenses and kickers go off of the board, don't freak and reach for one...stay content, knowing these two position, unless you get one of the top two or three, are very inconsistent throughout the season, and are worth late-round picks in your fantasy draft.

Finally, practice foresight! In fantasy football drafts, you are not just drafting, but seeing where others are making reaches, or waiting, guessing where their next draft pick is going and then adjusting certain draft selections for yourself based on that. Yes, sometimes it seems like it's only based on chance when you are looking down a snaked selection at 18 more picks until your next one, but it is also about skill, determining what your opponents will do and planning ahead, so that you do not get screwed out of each and every friggin' pick right before you are about to take all five guess on your que...UGH!!!! Sorry, war wounds never do heal in fantasy football.

Tip #3 : Carry more than one list of picks with you

Okay, so you show up on draft day, you have your tiered list, your pencil, some paper and are ready for the draft...right? RIGHT ?!??!?! Nope, not even close! In every draft, we have some foresight, either via articles, or assumption, about certain players that are a)rock solid in fantasy scoring or b)are fantasy football sleepers waiting to become a gold mine of fantasy points in the upcoming season! With that being said, one missing element in your arsenal is the Targets and Sleepers list you need to make.

For your fantasy targets, you are looking for players that, despite countless moves, trends, injuries and additions, they just get points for you. Either construct a list of them, or denote them on your tiering list. Either way, these guys are solid fantasy football selections, and have never been duds.

For your fantasy sleepers, things get a bit murkier in the waters of data analysis. First, you need to have cause for a sleeper to be. Some classic questions I hear the word 'yes' to in a lot of cases are: Are they a rookie running back primed to take over the starting position? Is a new quarterback to the team, but not league getting the start? Is it a third-year receiver? Is it a tight end able to get 40-50 catches every year? Is it a receiving running back who is above 30 receptions last season?

Next, you need to confirm a few things, specifically, the people around this player. If a running back, has their been any major downgrade at offensive line? For wide receiver, has the quarterback changed while this receiver has gotten used to him? For quarterback, have offensive coordinators changed...maybe receivers, blockers and tight ends?

Finally, test out who people feel are sleepers during your practice drafts. See if anyone is taking that rookie before round 11. Who is taking the free agent signee quarterback before round 12? How often do you see the same receivers, none of which have over 60 receptions nor 700 yards go way too early based on last year's totals?

Tip #4 : Listen to the stats, not to the yaps

Don't listen to every fantasy football expert...hell, don't listen to any of them! Each and every reporter, writer, critic, fantasy guru and NFL analyst, are simply, well, data nerds and reporters. When you dive into fantasy football beyond the simple, you begin to be a number cruncher, an evaluator of possibility, a fantasy football quantum physicist dealing with piles of incoming data, all waiting to tell you, not what will happen, but what will most likely occur.

And its in that hailstorm of points, and yardage and fantasy rumor, that you can make the same intelligent assumption and conclusion that every other knucklehead with a brain and some time can. So, make sure that your lists are your own, that you've investigated and evaluated every player needed before game-day, and you take any 'rock solid, get him now Super Sunday fantasy football picks' as nothing more than someone saying 'this guy is 90% more likely to outscore everyone than player B'.

Tip #5 : Use the 360 Sports Network's Free Customizable Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet

Yes, I just said don't listen to the 'experts' about fantasy football...however, there is no listening here. Download the fantasy football cheat sheet. Then, you plug in your league settings, touchdowns, yardage, positional points, and then rank, modify your players' expected stats. In the end, you have a list to actually see who has value and where. Start your tiering and 'BAM', you are good to go. No more being unprepared, drafting Ryan Leaf in the first round...oh, no, not you, my friend...not you! You are now bound for the fantasy football hall of fame of awesomeness; all because you followed LostCause's Top 5 Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet of Tips!