FootballGuys Draft Mag (and other magazines thread)

[Timbathia]

I think we are preaching to the choir when we talk about Internet info beign far superior in terms of quality and updated comapred to mags.

However, I always buy several as they pop up in the supermarkets, as there is something calming about runnign a hot tub and relaxing with a mock draft breakdown whilst in the distance the wife tries to contain 3 kids, 3 of their buddies, 2 tvs with Spongebob Squarepants, a housephone and 4 cellphones ringing, 2 garbage CDs blaring, the know it all neighbor (Mr. NahYouDontWannaDoItLikeThat) and a stupid yapping long haireded Chihuahua yelping like its all bad to the bone in its pink woven wolly socks!

Rant over..........Now wheres Fantasy Football Index mag and the bubble bath!

For those of us that travel by plane a lot, fantasy football magazines are perfect the period when you have to turn off all electronic devices for takeoff and landing.

I love to read everyones opinion on every player, even if I dont agree. I have often used a terrible magazine article writers reasoning on why so and so will be great this year when trying to swing a trade with another owner. Having a reference you can point too makes fleecing an owner so much easier.

[Cowboys 4 life]

I have been using Fantasy football index since the 90's. In those days you dominated a draft just by buying it. Now I just use it as more of a summary of what happened last year.

I now use a variety of sources and form my own rankings. The reality is you don't have to do an ounce of studying anymore. Just print up a cheat sheet and with a little intelligence you can still draft a decent team. I've seen my best friend use this strategy for the past few years and he always has a competitive team. I typically out study everybody in the league put together but haven't won in the past few years.

This year I backed off a bit to see if there is a difference.

[Jimboozie]

I'm not sure if the FootballGuys.com magazine is worth the money (or any magazine for that matter), but their website subscriptions are excellent value.

[dmacblue]

I'm not sure if the FootballGuys.com magazine is worth the money (or any magazine for that matter), but their website subscriptions are excellent value.

Absolutely agree, that site is TOP quality, and very user friendly.

[spodog]

I love to read everyones opinion on every player, even if I dont agree. I have often used a terrible magazine article writers reasoning on why so and so will be great this year when trying to swing a trade with another owner. Having a reference you can point too makes fleecing an owner so much easier.

Amen. Been there, done that as well. Love to be able to cite a quote from some magazine author to trade away a dud!

[stomperrob]

Until I can afford a laptop to take into the john to read, I always grab a few mags to read (plus they're great to take to the beach, park, etc). Sure a lot of stuff is outta date, but there's a lotta good general info in them, plus reminders of what happened last year which is great for us old guys who may have forotten, lol! And the cheatsheets are good starting points that can easily be massaged as new info comes to light.

That said, I'll take look at a few of the current releases and critique them. Obviously I can't list all their positional rankings, but just to give ya an idea of the quality of their individual rankings, I'll list the top 20 RB rankings from each rag for comparison purposes.

1.) Footballguys.com

Articles: Tons of articles on every imaginable subject, more than any other mag. Well written.
Cheatsheets/Rankings: Lots - overall, by position, different formats, IDP
Player Profiles: Detailed profiles including '08 projections
Comment: A must for beginners but interesting read for any players of any level.


2.) Fanball.com (Fantasy Football Weekly)

Articles: Several articles on a variety of subjects
Cheatsheets/Rankings: Lots - overall, by position, different formats, IDP
Player Profiles: Fairly detailed with '08 projections
Comments: As mentioned by others here, they have a new crew on board so the jury is still out on them until we see how they stack up this year.



3.) Sporting News

Articles: Several articles on a variety of subjects, nothing spectacular
Cheatsheets/Rankings: No cheatsheets, basic rankings by position. Not great.
Player profiles: Very brief, with '08 projections. Players arranged alphabetically, not by rank. Weak.
Comments: Not a lot of substance here!


4.) Rotowire (Tuff Stuff)

Articles: Not many, does have one on college fantasy football.
Cheatsheets/Rankings: One cheatsheet and rankings by position (plus tiers!)
Players Profiles: Very extensive, the most detailed of any mag, with projections
Comments: Great player write-ups, tiering


5.) Lindy's

Articles: Several articles, nothing spectacular
Cheatsheets/Rankings: One cheatsheet, rankings by position
Players Profiles: Fairly detailed and broken down into four categories for each player.
Comments: Not bad, but not great either.


6.) Athlon Sports

Articles: Several articles on a variety of subjects
Cheatsheets/Rankings: No cheatsheets but as a mag buyer you can go to their site for these, rankings by position.
Player Profiles: Fairly detailed, with projections (large "upside", "risk" "sleeper" "injury concern" stamps on some profiles for easy observation)
Comments: Not bad, product seems to be improving.


7.) NFL.com

Articles: Several articles with a range of topics, pretty basic, nothing great
Cheatsheets/Rankings: No cheatsheets, rankings by position
Player Profiles: Average length with projections, icons for players to watch for
Comments: The knock on NFL.com has always been that their expertise is in the pro game and not fantasy, but they seem to think the two are the same. They are slowly coming around to the fact that there is a different skill set to fantasy football and while they are improving, they're still not there yet.


There's one good one missing from this list and that's FantasyGuru.com which hasn't hit the newstands here the last time I checked - it's a quality product which ties in nicely to their website which I subscribe to. I'll review it here when I find a copy. Of those reviewed so far, top marks go to Footballguys.com and Rotowire.

Of course no one magazine should be taken as gospel or as one's only source of info - it's merely a starting point, or just one piece of the puzzle (and as mentioned earlier, great reading material for the throne room!).

[stomperrob]

^^^
And I did a comparison of their top 20 RB rankings just to give ya an idea of how the mags compare -I tried to display them side by side in a chart but for some reason it wouldn't transpose without screwing up (no doubt something to do with my being technologically handicapped, lol). If someone can do that, I'd be obliged (if it's easier I can send ya the original chart rather having to reassemble this page).

edit: see treat's chart below for side by side comparison of how the magazines tp 20 RB rankings compare

[011472]

Thanks, Rob!

[petedog9]

Excellent job as always Rob!! Youve been busy this off season. You have added a ton to this site over the past few weeks.. Kudos to you my friend...

[treat24]

here you go rob:

NOTE: for IE7 users it may cut off the edge: CLICK HERE



I was gonna put colors in, but figured someone may wanna print it or something, who knows... people is crazy