Fantasy Football Real Player Value

Every one of us who has played Fantasy Football long enough knows that the hardest thing to do on Draft Day is to decide, at some point, between 2 players that play different positions. Which one will help the team the most?

A few years ago I read about Real Value. It is a simple way to compare QBs to RBs to WRs to TEs. It is also a great way to decide between 2 players at the same position that are comparable in value. Since I have been using this method to help me rank my players for the draft, I have been doing very well. I even won my league last year.

Now, Real Value is not a magic pill that will make your roster unbeatable, but it is by far the best draft tool I have found. It's a simple math formula that gives equal weight to the skill positions.

The key to drafting is not knowing how many points a player will score during the year. The key is to know which player will provide more points than the other players, or more value. If you are considering a QB, 2 RBs, and a WR, which one will have the most value? The real question is; how many more points are those players worth than the next player on the list? That is where Real Value comes in.

Calculating Real Value is easy. Once you have your players ranked by position and have assigned a point value to each of them, simply draw a line under the last player who would be considered a 'Starter'. For example, if you have 10 teams in your league, there will be 10 starting QBs each week, so draw a line under the 10th QB. Now look at the points for the 11th QB, the first non-starter. Take those points and subtract them from every QB on your list. The result is the Real Value for each QB.

Now do the same thing for the other positions. If you have 2 starting RBs and 10 teams, the 21st ranked RB is the first non-starter, and you subtract his points from all of the other RBs. Same for the WRs and TEs, using the same formula.

Now you can rank your players by Real Value and know exactly where each of them stands in comparison to players at other positions. It is a great way to prepare your draft Cheat Sheet.

In my league last year, going off of the point totals for all players projected over 16 games, here is the 2004 Real Value of the top 10 Players. This is not for the upcoming season, but a view of who the best players to have last year were. Real Value in parentheses.

1. Priest Holmes (128)
2. Peyton Manning (115)
3. Shaun Alexander (97)
4. Daunte Culpepper (96)
5. LaDainian Tomlinson (92)
6. Muhsin Muhammed (86)
7. Terrell Owens (85)
8. Tiki Barber (71)
9. Randy Moss (68)
10. Marvin Harrison (68)

It would be hard to argue against that first 5 going into this year's draft. Some people have argued with me over how well this works, but I have not failed to make the playoffs since starting to use it.

As I said, this is not the only thing you need to have a winning season. Here is my own personal list of the things you must do to win:

1. Draft well. This is where Real Value helps.
2. Have good depth on your roster. Injuries, and how you adjust to them, will make a bigger difference to your success than anything else.
3. React quickly. If someone is hot, get them. If a stud goes down and their backup is available, get them. By picking up Reuben Droughns and Larry Johnson during the season last year, I was able to keep winning all the way throughout the Championship.
4. Don't make bad trades. Real Value can help here, too.

Pretty simple, eh? Of course there is a lot more to it than that. Real Value is a starting point. How you come up with the points you assign to the players on your draft list will also affect Real Value. And there is no way to really know how many points a player will score. There are a lot of factors. Use Real Value only after you have done the legwork and assigned points to your players.