Introduction

      In 1999, I was exactly where you may be right now. I decided to give the whole “fantasy football” thing a try, even though I had no idea how to play.

      Back then, the online version of the game was just starting to take off, and Yahoo! had just begun offering its free league services. I did a bit of research and talked to a few buddies about strategy, but I mainly learned the game through trial and error(s). I had no definitive resource guide to help me get off to a good start in my fantasy football career.

      Things have changed today. Since 2007, Fantasy Football For Dummies has put helpful guidance and friendly advice right at your fingertips — the keys to a successful fantasy season, which I didn’t have when I began to play the game. This resource can make your fantasy football season less frustrating. You can avoid many mistakes and start racking up victories by knowing the basics of the game, the popular strategies for winning, and the etiquette of league play.

      Also, when I began playing, I knew very little about the available online resources. I just bought the first fantasy magazine I saw and went from there (and yes, printed magazines still exist). This book also includes an overview of major fantasy football providers and expert websites that offer tools and advice you can turn to when looking to improve your team.

      Now with this second edition, I’ve refined strategies and updated the facts to match today’s NFL and fantasy rule sets, including FLEX and PPR. I also cover the biggest boom in fantasy football since the Internet: Daily Fantasy Football. In an all new Part 4 of this book, I deep dive into DraftKings, FanDuel and all things DFS involving online prize money: It’s fast paced, exciting and you can bet big to win big, but play at your own risk!

      Fantasy football was built to mirror the best parts of pro football and it does just that. Fantasy football is as exciting and fun as it is frustrating and unpredictable. Hope for the best and expect the worst!

About This Book

      Fantasy Football For Dummies gives you the foundational information you need to play fantasy football. This book is a unique guide because it offers in-depth lessons on how to play the game and serves as a reference for where to play and where to get great expert advice. Unlike most fantasy websites and magazines, which offer advice with the assumption that you’re already a fantasy addict, this book serves the beginning fantasy player along with plenty of advice sprinkled throughout for more advanced players. You can open this book, scan the table of contents or index to find a subject that interests you, and flip to those pages to improve certain parts of your fantasy game or read from beginning to end to get an understanding of the full spectrum of the fantasy football world.

Conventions Used in This Book

      I provide the following basic conventions to help you navigate your way through the concepts and discussions in this book: