Listen to Your Provider Jul 21, 2008 | More

Many self-proclaimed fantasy football gurus have big egos when it comes to their game, but they shouldn’t let that get in the way of a seemingly obvious, but often overlooked resource for live, online drafts: the league provider’s default draft rankings.

Of course, every fantasy veteran has their own personal, scripture-like database that they’ve been updating year-long, and many of them will purposely (and mistakenly) ignore the provider’s default lists.   You shouldn’t do this if it’s possible that at least one other manager in your league is possibly drafting using the default lists.   I’m willing to bet that around half of the managers in an average league will use these lists alone.

-     How many managers have that player’s position already filled in their starting lineup?   You should be able to view any manager’s team at any point during the draft.   For TEs and QBs, this should be easy to analyze.   If you’re thinking about a TE and almost all the managers already have a TE, it might be wise to gamble and let that TE fall.

-     Try to get an idea of who you think other managers are targeting as good value, and see where these managers sit in the draft order.   As always, beware of intentional deceit here.   Most managers know their fellow managers and can tell if they are lying or not.

 
It is an ill-conceived notion among some circles that these default lists do not affect the way managers value players during the draft, even in ultra competitive and veteran leagues.   If you disagree, ask yourself when was the last time you went through the trouble of manually modifying the default lists before the draft so that it looks exactly like your personal list during the draft.   If you don’t do this, and I venture to say not many vets do, you are physically drafting from the default lists anyway.   Then, ask yourself if you know the exact psychological effects of having a player ranked in your personal top 30, then seeing him outside the top 50 of your provider’s default list when you are thinking about drafting him during crunch time (even if you knew this would be the case ahead of time).   Because not many know how the brain actually works, no one can say that the default ranking doesn’t affect the way managers draft.   But don’t get me wrong, your lists are still better, and always will be better than your provider’s default list, but that’s not the point.

The most interesting aspect is how differently drafts turn out over different providers because of differing default lists.   Of course, it does have more impact in amateur leagues, but it still has some impact in seasoned veteran leagues.   If you don’t agree, participate in five mock drafts through one provider, and five mocks through another provider.   You will see stark similarities in your drafts between the same providers.  

Whether you can swallow it or not, listen to your provider.