Okay, so today I dove into making a “fantasy football big board,” and let me tell you, it was a journey. I’ve always just kind of winged it on draft day, relying on my gut (and maybe a quick peek at some rankings online). But this year, I decided to get serious, or at least try to get serious.
I started by grabbing a giant piece of poster board from the store – the kind you used for school projects back in the day. Felt a little nostalgic, to be honest. Then, I armed myself with a bunch of markers, some sticky notes, and a whole lot of coffee.
The Research (aka Spreadsheet Hell)
- First, I needed data. Lots of it. I pulled up a bunch of different fantasy football ranking websites. I made the mistake of opening too many tabs at first, it felt like information overload.
- I ended up using a few I trusted and also looked at some Average Draft Position (ADP) data, which is just a fancy way of saying “where players are usually getting picked.”
- I made a spreadsheet (of course, I did!). I listed out all the players I thought were even remotely relevant, and I color-coded them by position: quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, and even a few kickers and defenses.
So, I take all that player data, sort by overall points, and boom, that is my draft list!
Making the Board
I started writing players on the board, using my spreadsheet as a guide, I color-coded the names with those markers. I tried to keep it somewhat organized, with QBs at the top, then RBs, WRs, and so on. I put little notes next to some players, like “injury risk” or “breakout potential?”.
Honestly, about halfway through, my board looked like a complete mess. There were names everywhere, arrows pointing this way and that, and I may have accidentally spilled some coffee on it (oops!). But, I kept going.
The (Almost) Finished Product
After a few hours, I had something resembling a big board. It’s not pretty, but it’s mine. I’ve got my tiers of players, my sleepers, my guys I’m avoiding. I even added little sticky notes that I can move around during the draft, in case I change my mind (which I inevitably will).
Is it perfect? Absolutely not. I’m sure there are better ways to do this, maybe with some fancy software or something. But there’s something satisfying about doing it the old-school way, with paper and markers. It felt like I was actually preparing, you know? I was a football manager
We’ll see how it actually helps me on draft day. Maybe I’ll still panic and pick the wrong guy. But hey, at least I tried, and I had a pretty fun afternoon doing it. Wish me luck!