Let me take you back to March of 2004.  The previous two years in a row, we won in the League of Alternative Reality American League (LABRAL), the USA Today experts’ baseball league run by Fantasy Sports Hall of Famer John Hunt. 

We won two in a row, so we decided to throw a party at the next year’s draft.  We threw the party after drafts at LABR for 15 straight years.  The first party in 2004 was both hilarious and the most interesting. We rented the Marilyn Monroe suite at a local hotel.  It was…well…not an amazing hotel, but the suite was HUGE with an outdoor terrace that wrapped around the whole suite.  Glenn was working with the Southern District and heard his colleagues had obtained a conviction of Martha Stewart while we were deciding how much we would bid on Ivan Rodriguez.

At the party, there were 30-40 people talking baseball, drinking beer, and analyzing the night’s draft.  We were introduced to Sam Walker.   Walker, a Wall Street Journal sports writer, planned on writing about the expert’s leagues.  He wanted to show that someone with his contacts and capital could easily beat the so-called experts.  The following year, he would play in Tout Wars and chronicle his journey in the novel, FantasyLand.

In summer of 2003, I made Matthew Berry the publisher of the first fantasy football magazine to publish at Rotoworld.com in July 2003.  Besides the Saints logo on the Steelers page, there was a lot of greatness in that magazine.  That was where the SMART system was first published. 

The following spring, Rich Pike, one of the founders of Rotoworld.com couldn’t play in Tout Wars for the first time since it was founded so low and behold, he gives his Tout Wars AL team to…yep…you guessed it Matthew Berry.

The book FantasyLand would not have been as big a hit without Berry in it.  The following year, Berry left Rotoworld to start his own site (TalentedMrRoto.com) and go on to ESPN to fight for fantasy sports and become the face of fantasy sports for now more than a decade. 

So here is that SMART system updated for 2020, a set of general principles to help you draft and WIN:

SYSTEM

This pertains to the offensive system that is used by the player’s NFL team. Each fantasy football player needs to ask some questions surrounding players.  What are the head coaches and offensive coordinators like? What is the offensive line like?  How does the talent on the team complement the player within that system? You need to factor this information into your drafting.

A good example is the work being done in Arizona by Kliff Kingsbury to create a modified version of the passing intensive air raid offense.  All members of the offense need to be upgraded since there will be a higher volume of plays from the offense.  Kyler Murray ’s progression is making him the perfect quarterback to run this with his running ability and ability to throw deep down field.  This volume makes D’Andre Hopkins a solid pivot to running backs in the first round.  Kenyan Drake can be drafted with confidence at the end of the first or early second depending on the league’s structure and scoring.  Christian Kirk should be targeted in middle rounds. Larry Fitzgerald who has more tackles than drops in his career is a nice late round sleeper.  He is not too old even if the “A” does stand for age.

MANAGEMENT

Manage your draft preparation and your team all season.

Here are some basic rules when drafting:

DO NOT DRAFT A QUARTERBACK EARLY– You will get good quarterback value later in the draft. Do not pass on quality running backs or wide receivers in favor of an early quarterback.

Want proof?  In the FSGA Champions draft on June 22nd, Kyler Murray , Dak Prescott , Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson went in the 6th round. Aaron Rodgers , Tom Brady and Carson Wentz went in the 9th round. Now, in the 12th round Baker Mayfield , Ben Roethlisberger , Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff all went.

In the 6th round, you could have had Darren Waller or Evan Engram to lock in a great tight end or Brandin Cooks , Will Fuller , Jerry Jeudy or Tyler Boyd to bolster your wide receivers instead with the first defense and first kicker taken with two of the 12th round picks.  Nuff said.  Be brave.

RUNNING BACKS RULE – Draft an elite running back in the first round. There are some exceptions with D’Andre Hopkins or Michael Thomas falling to you in the later part of the first round, but do not reach for Travis Kelce or Lamar Jackson .

Draft a full-time starting running back in the second round unless a stud wide receiver has fallen to you and you already took your stud running back in the first.

In leagues with a Flex position that allow you to start three running backs per week, we always get three running backs in the first four rounds. Here are the finer points on this: (1) Finding productive wide receivers later in the draft is easier than finding an elite running back; (2) With the backfield sharing that exists today, there are so many less stable running backs you can count on week in and week out.  (3) Simple math.  There are fifteen bell cow running backs so if you get three, that means the rest of the teams in a 12-team league can have ONLY one a piece.  Play defensive.  (4) Simple math.  There are 2+ good wide receivers on almost every team meaning that there are 75-80 potential starters.  You will have plenty to pick from and will have one good one in your first four rounds.  There are ONE-FIFTH as many running backs to count on at draft time.

TRACK COMPETITOR’S NEEDS – Make sure you keep up with all the teams' needs. For example, if you need both a quarterback and a tight end and notice that all the teams who pick before you go again have their QB1, then wait on quarterback and take the tight end. Start the runs and do not end them.  No one has a tight end after the first three big tight ends.  Take a tight end to start the run and get one before you miss out on any that are important to your strategy.

FOLLOW THE DRAFT WHILE NOT ON THE CLOCK – Watch the board for position runs and other opportunities. Most importantly, there is NO excuse for making a bad pick because your guy was picked one spot before you. Have a plan A, plan B and plan C for every pick.

RULES FOR IN-SEASON MANAGEMENT

PAY ATTENTION TO BYE WEEK – Grab your BYE week replacements a couple of weeks in advance to avoid overpaying in FAAB. Also, players on BYE in each week do not get picked up but can provide value for you. Your competitors will be shocked that player is no longer on the board in FAAB the next week.

PLAYOFF WEEKS – Look ahead and roster players with great matchups in your critical playoff weeks. This will pay off.

AGE

The older the player, the more likely they are to get hurt or suffer a steep decline in performance. For running backs, it is about talent, youth, and opportunity. For wide receivers, it often takes some time to learn a system and to get used to the NFL. So, we believe that second- & third-year wide receivers provide better value – especially when fantasy owners think that player underperformed the year before.  For example, a couple of strong second-year wide receivers to target are D.K. Metcalf and A.J. Brown. 

RESERVES (Hand Cuffing)

In a typical fantasy football league, there are 12 fantasy teams with 16 NFL players on every roster. There are 32 NFL teams. Thus, you are guaranteed to have two starting quarterbacks, two starting running backs and two starting wide receivers. Assume you draft a quarterback, four running backs, four wide receivers, a tight end, one kicker and one defense to make up your 16 roster spots. That leaves you with four spaces. Think about using at least one of those four spots to back up your best running back (provided he is in a good system and has a capable backup).  For example, Dalvin Cook must be backed up with Alexander Mattison since there is a chance that he holds out for a couple of games. 

TALENT

Football is more predictable than baseball. The players with talent often score most of the fantasy points. You should use a couple of roster spots on the best talented players irrespective of their current slot on the depth chart. 

We mentioned two super talented players in the Age section, but you can add D.J. Moore , Terry McLaurin , JuJu Smith-Schuster , Boston Scott , Mark Andrews , Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Courtland Sutton .

HAVE A SYSTEM

We do not preach that you must use this system.  We preach that you must use A SYSTEM.  Have a plan.  There is so much information out there and so many people who are good at fantasy football.  If you are busy and cannot keep up with "that guy" in your league, then you must have an edge.  The SMART system can be that edge.  Try it on and if you do not like it, make your own, but please, have a plan. 

Get enjoyment from fantasy football this fall, wear a mask and stay safe.