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The Fantasy Corner: When should you draft?

Kyle Gaudette

Connector Editor

By a show of hands, how many people’s fantasy football teams are already busted by this offseasons slew of season ending injuries? We now journey into only week three of the preseason, and it feels as though everyone is crossing their fingers whenever they refresh their sportscenter app, hoping to not see their first and second round draft selection out for the season.

This offseason has been nothing short of an epidemic of knee and Achilles injuries. Star wide receivers Kelvin Benjamin and Jordy Nelson are just two of many who have already hung up their cleats until the start of the 2016 season. Both of these wide outs were projected to be high draft picks in any sort of Points per Reception (PPR) league. Having one of these two guys on your fantasy squad would already be a heavy blow, and you are probably wiping the tears off your cheek if you drafted both.

Injuries have always been a part of the game. Every offseason a top player goes down which causes many fantasy owners to sink to the bottom of their league standings. That being said, it’s hard to remember a preseason being this bad.

So all of this begs the question of when is the right time to draft your fantasy team. The answer is simple and always the same: as late as you possibly can!

The NFL is by far the largest sports entity in the United States, and has bread wealth far greater than anyone thirty years ago would have imagined. That wealth, however, is well earned. The product that the NFL puts on the field every Sunday, Monday, and now Thursday night is not even comparable to any other American sporting event.

Fantasy Football has become much more popular because of how easy it is to get entrenched by any football game. Football is not like baseball where you have to sit through 162 games a season. You only have to invest one game a week to watch your favorite team.

Do you want to see how your fantasy players are doing? Chances are the majority of them are playing on the same day, making following how your squad is doing easy, and loads of fun.

Fantasy football has turned people into millionaires. It has evolved into something much bigger than intended, and it has a whole new meaning of seriousness behind it. This makes your draft day more than just a simple fun night together with the guys.

As previously stated, draft as late as you possibly can. Your fantasy team is too important to have your potential starting quarterback out a few weeks because a teammate cracked his jaw with one punch (if Geno Smith was your starting QB your team was already in a lot of trouble).

The hype behind football season is massive now, and I completely understand it. You are excited to see your favorite sport come back. You want to draft your team and get that hype going as soon as Yahoo or ESPN opens up their drafting lobbies. If you want to give yourself the best odds of succeeding, however, you need to hold off until the preseason is over.

As a great little green hero once said, “Patience you must have.”

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