The Seven Deadly Sins of Fantasy Football

  Guest Submission posted 8/28 by Scott Girasia, Exclusive to Footballguys.com

Our ancestors were guided by a collection of seven sins. The seven sins were used to educate people on how to live a better life. These seven sins are known today as the Seven Deadly Sins. From Dante's epic poem "The Divine Comedy", to feature films we can still find references to these sins today. Throughout time the seven sins have remained the same, but the meaning of each sin has changed. Today you can apply the seven deadly sins to almost anything, including fantasy football. In this article we will look at each of the Seven Deadly Sins and how they relate to Fantasy Football.

Gluttony

The first sin is described as an overindulgence of food and drink. This sin covers two aspects of fantasy football. Obviously the first is cautioning the fantasy football owner against getting drunk before they have drafted their fantasy team. After all, you don't want to be the knucklehead who drafts Robbie Gould, the Ravens defense, and Michael Vick in the first three rounds of your draft. There will be plenty of time to enjoy the draft party after you have drafted a winning team.

Second, don't overindulge in your predraft preparation. Yes, you can over prepare for your draft. Pre-work is important and strongly encouraged not only before the draft, but also throughout the season. But you don't want to be that owner who wastes countless hours of time reading through stale fantasy magazines, and listening to hours of coachspeak. The furthest that you need to look for fresh up to date advice is a good fantasy website such as FootballGuys.com. Let your website break down all of the necessary information that you need to know. A good fantasy website will prepare you for your draft and you won't have to overindulge yourself with old information.

Sloth

This second sin is related to Gluttony. Sloth is laziness. Although you don't want to overindulge in your preparation, you also don't want to be lazy and under prepare either. As mentioned above a good fantasy owner prepares every week of the season. The draft is only the foundation for a successful title run. If you truly want to dominate your league you will need to prepare each week for battle. Every week a good fantasy owner will check the wavier wire for possible free agents and the injury report for players who may have been injured during the week. Even if you drafted the greatest starting line up in the history of fantasy football, injuries happen, and players under perform, (some may even go to prison). You must prepare for these unforeseen occurrences and build depth behind your starters. Don't be the owner who misses out on the next Marques Colston, Ladell Betts, or Maurice Jones-Drew, because you became a sloth during the season.

Lust

Don't fall to deeply in love with a certain player or draft strategy. This sin is sometimes known as the "Homer Pick" or "The Reach". Every league has at least one owner who will draft a player from their favorite team early in the draft. You are looking to field the most competitive team possible and win the league title. The best way to accomplish this goal is to look for the best value with every pick. Let someone else draft and overvalue that player from the home team, it just means that a better player could drop to you.

Sometimes we are tempted by this sin with our sleeper picks. A sleeper pick is just that a sleeper, who should be selected late in the draft. Frequently we are so in love with our sleepers that we jump way to early. The bad thing about sleepers is that they sometimes don't work out. Remember Wally Lundy? He was listed as the Houston Texan starting running back before the start of the 2006 season. Wali Lundy went on to be a sleeper all right; he sent a good part of the season on sleeping on the bench.

Another component of the lust sin is falling deeply in love with a certain draft strategy. As we have learned from the sins of Gluttony and Sloth it is important to prepare and have a strategy, but you cannot be afraid to change your strategy if that is what your leagues draft dictates. Always make sure that you get the best value with each pick. There are many draft strategies that you can adopt: use your first two picks on running backs, and don't draft a quarterback early just to name a few. However, if the value isn't there for a running back in the second round don't be afraid to take a topflight receiver or maybe even Peyton Manning. You never know how a draft will unfold; if you are prepared you can successfully change your strategy with your draft. If you didn't over indulge in your preparation and were not a sloth you may have the Footballguys.com Draft Dominator to assist you with each players value.

Greed

Along the lines of Lust is Greed. Don't be an owner who loads up on one position early in the draft. You commonly see this occur with running backs. A well-prepared owner knows how important running backs are to a team's success, but if you draft three running backs in the first three or four rounds of your draft there is a chance that you have a definite weakness at another position Unless the value dictates, you are most likely better off drafting your starters before you load up at one position Depth is important for winning the fantasy championship, but if you don't have a solid team overall depth won't be of much use.

Envy

Don't be that owner who refuses to see that a player is under performing for your team. If you had Cadillac Williams on your team in 2006 you may have been tempted by this sin. The Caddy severely under performed and should have been benched in all formats. However, often times an owner will become envious of a player due to past performance or name recognition. These players are called bust, and there will be at least one every season. The key to a successful fantasy team is to recognize this bust and place that player on your bench or even release them.

Pride

I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong with being proud of your fantasy team. After all if you prepared and avoid the temptations of the six other sins you should have a pretty decent team, and that is reason to be proud. The lesson here is to not be so proud that you don't see the weakness of your team. No one is going to have the perfect draft. As we discussed before injuries, underperformance, and breakout players will all alter the course of a fantasy season. A winning owner will look at his team weekly and try to identify and correct any weaknesses that may exist. Fantasy Football isn't just a draft day activity; it is a season long project. Don't be that owner who is too proud to not see where improvements can be made. Owners who use trades or the wavier wire to improve have won many championships.

Wrath

Don't get angry and give up if you are having a bad season. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither are fantasy teams. Every season there are players who come out of nowhere to be fantasy super starts. This is why it is so important not to be tempted by the Sloth sin. You can also turn your season around. However, if you get angry and give up then you will be in for a long season. Maybe you drafted Cadillac Williams last year. And maybe you were not envious of the Cadillac's rookie of the year performance. And maybe you weren't a sloth and knew that Maurice Jones-Drew was tearing up the league. Maybe you weren't to full of pride, and saw that the Cadillac was stalling your team in the garage. And maybe you weren't angry and still held out hope of winning your leagues title. Then you may have dropped Cadillac Williams from your roster to add Maurice Jones-Drew.

Conclusion

Our ancestors avoided the temptations of the seven deadly sins so that they could lead a better life. Modern day fantasy owners should avoid these same temptations in order to secure a winning fantasy season.