What's in a Name?

As the NFL Lockout continues, eager fantasy football players have created their leagues, set draft dates, and perhaps most importantly, developed the team name that will represent them in the upcoming season. For some, it is a representation of last year’s success (Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood) or failure (Forgetting Brandon Marshall). Some may have a proven team name (Steel Curtain) they have retained for years, while it may be time to let others go (Do Us All a Favre and Retire).

Your team name will represent you in your fantasy football league, but what else will it do? It may give away your draft strategy. Conversely, your opponents’ team names may help you identify their draft strategies. I guarantee that “Somewhere Over Dwayne Bowe” will be much more likely to reach for Bowe and Matt Cassel, while “Eli, the Other White Manning” will draft Eli Manning, when, in reality, he should go undrafted in most standard leagues.

This means two important things for you. First, if you were hoping to draft Aaron Rodgers with the 8^th pick and “Pack Attack” has the 7^th pick, you can pretty much forget about it. If your league determines draft order days or weeks prior to the draft, you should arrange your draft board accordingly. Secondly, if you were hoping to pick up Mohamed Massaquoi on the waiver wire when needed, he will likely be drafted by “Texas Chainsaw Massaquoi” long before he hits the free agent list. This means if you have a real hankering for such a player, you are going to have to reach farther up in your draft than your opponent.

Similarly to team names, just knowing your opponents’ favorite teams can help to identify who is at the top of their draft board. (I have the privilege of competing against someone that drafts Maurice Jones-Drew in the first round, followed by David Garrard in the mid-rounds, and picks a kicker two rounds early with Josh Scobee.) If you are unfamiliar with your opponents or play in public leagues, use the pre-draft chat to your advantage. Find out where people are from in order to gain an idea of their allegiance, unless of course they willingly reveal their favorite teams. Knowing your opponents is the first step to ensuring you won’t get stuck with a team you did not plan to draft. You only get to draft once, and nothing is worse for your fantasy football team morale than drafter’s remorse.