What is fantasy football?
Unless you have been living under a rock, you have heard of fantasy football. You most likely know someone who plays fantasy sports in one form or another. About one in every four Americans will play fantasy sports this year and the number is growing. Fantasy is poised to be a $5B industry in 2016. So what is fantasy football?
Fantasy football is a game in which participants build an imaginary team comprised of real NFL players. As NFL players accumulate real-game statistics, those statistics are assigned corresponding point values. Scoring formats and point values can vary form league to league. Here is an example of typical fantasy scoring structure for a quarterback, running back and wide receiver:
Fantasy Scoring Structure
Quarterback (QB)
- Every 25 passing yards a QB gains, he will receive 1 point.
- Every passing touchdown is worth 6 points.
- Every interception is -2 points.
If you have Drew Brees on your fantasy team and he throws for 350 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception, that would mean he scored 24 points for your team.
Running Back (RB)
- Every 10 yards rushing will gain 1 point.
- Every touchdown is worth 6 points.
- Every fumble is -2 points.
If Jamal Charles is playing for you and he rushes for 120 yards, one touchdown and one fumble, he scored 16 points for your team.
Wide Receiver (WR)
- Every 10 receiving yards will gain 1 point.
- Every touchdown is worth 6 points.
- Every fumble is -2 points
If Dez Bryant is on your team and he has 8 receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown, he scored 14 points for your team.
Fantasy leagues are easily customizable so it’s not one size fits all, but most fantasy team rosters are structured something like this:
- 1 QB (quarterback)
- 2 RB (running back)
- 2 WR (wide receiver)
- 1 TE (tight end)
- 1 Flex (in the flex position you have the option of playing a RB, WR, or TE)
- 1 K (kicker)
- 1 D/ST (This spot is for a team defense and special teams (punt and kick return teams))
- 6 Bench (bench spots are for players that are on your team, but not on your active roster. They cannot score points.)
There will be a pool of players that are not assigned to a team. This pool is called the waiver wire. Players on the waiver wire are free agents and are available for any team to pick them up. If you want to add a player from the waiver wire, you will need to make room on your roster by dropping one of your existing players.
Each week NFL players will play their games and their statistics will be given point values. Fantasy host sites like DraftKings and ESPN will tally the points and display them for you. Whoever’s team has the most points, wins. Now, there are two major forms of fantasy football: Daily and Season Long.
Season Long Fantasy Football
Season long fantasy football is a lot of fun and does a good job of mimicking the NFL. A group of individuals will get together and form a league. A league is usually comprised of 10-12 players. The players (called managers) have a draft before the beginning of the NFL season. During the draft the managers, one by one and in turn, select (draft) the players that they want for their team. Any NFL players can be selected from any NFL team. Once the teams are picked the managers operate their fantasy teams just like a NFL team throughout the entire season. Managers play each other in head to head match-ups and whoever’s team scores the most points for that week wins that week’s match-up. Throughout the season players can be traded, waived and in some leagues be put on injured reserve (IR) if they get hurt. The managers play a 12-14 week schedule with a playoff structure for the top seeded teams. At the end of the playoffs a champion is crowned and the champ is entitled to bragging rights for the rest of the year- and it is glorious!
Daily Fantasy Football (DraftKings)
Daily fantasy sports (DFS) has only been around for a couple of years and is the fastest growing fantasy sport. It’s easy to get started in DFS and it is a lot of fun to play. In daily fantasy football the roster and scoring structures are similar to season long but instead of drafting a team for the whole season, you assemble a team on a weekly basis. There is no draft, instead you have a standardized budget (salary cap) and each player has an assigned dollar value. The goal is to use your budget wisely and build the best team you can. Daily fantasy football sites like DraftKings and FanDuel offer a multitude of games and tournaments to choose from. And if your team in any given week sucks, no biggie, you just assemble a different one next week. No season long commitment means you’re never stuck with a crappy team as the result of a poor draft. There are many different types of games and tournaments offered by DFS sites. Daily fantasy is not only fun, if you’re good at it you can make some serious $$$.
That is fantasy football in a nutshell. If you haven’t played before I would highly encourage you to do so. If you need some help getting started or you’re already playing and you need an edge, DK Legends is here to help. Daily fantasy football is what we do.
Danny1234 Interviewed at Arrowhead Stadium for DraftKings Fantasy Football Draft Day
How many Kansas City DraftKings players do we have out there? Surely you KC fantasy football lovers spent your Labor day at Arrowhead Stadium?!
Easily one of the largest fantasy football drafts in the Midwest, DraftKings held it’s annual Fantasy Football Draft Day at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City yesterday for the fourth year in a row and a couple of our Pros were there to witness all of the excitement.
DK Legends’ very own danny1234 and Stuckcee spent the day chatting it up with enthusiastic fantasy football players, the Chiefs cheerleaders and the local news media. KSHB channel 41 news wanted to find out a little more about fantasy football and DK Legends so they made a special visit to our booth where 2015 DraftKings 2nd place Fantasy Football World Champion danny1234 gave them a quick rundown and we are proud to spotlight that coverage here!
KMBC News: http://www.kmbc.com/news/fantasy-football-drafts-held-at-arrowhead-stadium/41541120
Who else is pumped about today’s DraftKings announcement? DK Legends, time to do work! Which pro will score 225 points or more in week 1? More importantly, which one of you will be our first week’s big winner? Sign up with DK Legends before it’s too late to put your name in the pot!
Will DK Legends pro Danny1234 enlist this duo again in week 1 and win million$ more? Will YOU win with him? Sign up with DK Legends to find out!
Danny1234 has done it again! Placing 4th and winning $8,000 on DraftKings today, Danny1234 has just secured a spot in the Fantasy Golf World Championship. Sign up with DK Legends today if you want to be DraftKings’ next big winner!
Sometimes, all you need is a chance.
In sales, it’s a mantra many live by. “Just get me in that room,” a salesperson will tell you. “Give me 30 seconds of your time, and I’ll give you a reason to give me your business.”
Nick – DraftKings user huggins8168 – is no different, though perhaps more mild-mannered.
He’s a small-town, mid-level commercial glass salesman from Indiana, a religious lifelong Colts fan who’s celebrated the joys of a 2006 Super Bowl and experienced the unspeakable anguish of all those double-digit win seasons that ended so prematurely, be it with future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning or his successor Andrew Luck at the helm.
But it’s not only Chuck Pagano’s group that gets Nick’s blood pressure racing. Whether his Colts are playing, enjoying a bye, or waiting for Monday night, Nick’s Sunday’s are dedicated to the NFL.
“My house on Sundays is multiple TV’s on multiple games,” he said. “I try to make sure that’s all I do on Sundays for 17 weeks.”
The Fantasy Football World Championship is different, though. Nick’s trip to San Diego, roughly 2,000 miles from home, welcomed not only his first trip west of home, but the first time he’d ever even been in a plane.
“My expectations as far as [the tournament’s semifinal, held in San Diego in Week 15] was I felt like I could get in the top 20; I was really confident about that,” Nick said, knowing he’d have to beat out 190 qualifiers to emerge in the top 10.
Knowing and doing, of course, represent an unspeakably large divide when chasing a $5 million top prize.
“I pretty much hung out in the top six or seven for two-thirds of the day,” Nick remembered empty bottles of Corona by his side that afternoon. “The last third of the day was really stressful because a lot of people were jumping up. I actually fell out of the top 10 with maybe 30 minutes left in all of the games. I was fortunate enough to get some points there late and get myself back into 10th place. It was a real stressful last hour or so. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it through there, but here I am.“
Nick’s lineup received big 30-plus point days from receivers Sammy Watkins and DeSean Jackson, the latter representing a steal of epic proportions after being owned by just 1.5 percent of FFWC users. Nick’s team even overcame a lowly 6.3-point day from the perennially reliable Adrian Peterson, while the likes of Ted Ginn Jr. and flex-play Devonta Freeman further supported his cause.
Stuckcee is the Fantasy Football World Championship’s humble hero. He isn’t thinking about going on a lavish spending spree if he’s fortunate enough to finish in first-place – well, sure, he does want to buy his friend’s rehabbed DeLorean. It’s hard not to fantasize about whether traveling 88 miles an hour in the right car will take you back in time to sneak a peak at Grays Sports Almanac.
Really, Stuckcee simply wants to donate to the Big Brother Big Sister chapter where his wife works. For him, this competition – this intense, heated battle against nine other challengers from all around the world – is…for fun.
“I think I started playing football at the age of 7 and loved watching football on TV with my dad and my brothers,” Stuckcee gushed. “I went to my first game out at The Ralph in Western New York in frigid, freezing temperatures and watched the Bills-Lions. I got to see Barry Sanders play and my love for football kind of really grew and blossomed.
“I think I started playing DraftKings maybe five, six months ago,” he continued. “Now I’m here, wildly enough. The final 10 is such a surreal moment, hasn’t really set in. It’s one of those that, I’ve already won. I’m fortunate to be where I am. I mean football, my passion, what this is, is translating to this is insurmountable. It’s just an awesome feeling.”
Stuckcee earned a spot in the final 10 after leading the first-round of the FFWC for over four hours. He survived a late surge from a Steelers’ offense that powered many of his fellow competitors up the leaderboard.
If everything ended after the first round of the FFWC, Box_97 would be holding a $1 Million check over his head celebrating a third place finish. After qualifying for the Fantasy Football World Championship, Box_97 put together an incredible lineup on the biggest of stages and beat out 197 of the 200 FFWC finalists through the opening round to advance to the Final 10 in Los Angeles.
It seemed as though you just had to have Antonio Brown to advance to LA’s Final 10 battle. Box_97 rode the 49.3 points Brown posted against a vaunted Broncos secondary in the core of his lineup. Beyond Brown, Box took advantage of a red-hot Seahawks offense by pairing Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin who added over 45 total points to his lineup.
Heading to Los Angeles, Box_97 will need to be equally sharp in the final round of the Fantasy Football World Championship as his margin for error is razor thin. Currently, in third place, his lead over the 4th place finalist (rockenraven) is less than a point. Similarly, he sits less than a single point out of 2nd place heading to Los Angeles – a leap that would be worth another $1M. Even looking all the way back to 10th place user, Huggins8168, Box_97 has less than a six-point differential between him and the current last place spot.
Will he gain on the current leader CONDIA? Will he be able to hold off the incredibly tight group behind him? Regardless of how Sunday goes, Box_97 has already made his mark in daily fantasy football history.
It was a 230 mile trek from San Diego, home of the first round of the Fantasy Football World Championship, to Danny Moreno’s home in Northern California. Things looked bleak for Danny, as he was in 160th place with one half of football remaining. In San Diego with his brother, they decided it was time to head home early. Might as well “beat traffic and get a jump on work tomorrow.”
Danny1234 and his brother took off for home and made it about halfway before pulling over to take a final look at his FFWC standing. As the app refreshed, he was shocked to see just how far he’d skyrocketed up the leaderboard. Just an hour earlier he sat in 160th place, so seeing that he had jumped all the way up to 6th in the standings, Danny was understandably stunned. He quickly realized this would guarantee a ticket to Los Angeles and a spot in the Final 10. Suddenly, getting that head start on work for Monday wasn’t nearly as important. Danny and his brother turned the car around to head back to San Diego.
The story of Danny’s love for football plays much like his incredible rollercoaster ride in San Diego’s live final. Growing up a Dan Marino fan, Danny spent much of his young life passionately following the game. But that excitement faded as life got busier, and watching the NFL consistently became increasingly more difficult. He had driven away from football, and just before he had completely left it behind, he found fantasy football and did a U-turn on the game.
“I kind of got away from football for a couple of years…till fantasy football started. Once that started it rejuvenated me. Not only did I watch games that I would never watch before, but I would watch all the games.”
Rejuvenated and focused, Danny Moreno will now set his sights on the final round of the Fantasy Football World Championships in Los Angeles. He’s in 8th place and just a few points back from hoisting a 7-figure check. Already guaranteed at least $100,000, it’s safe to say he’ll savor every moment of this experience and likely won’t be leaving early to get a jump start on work.