First of all, thanks for trusting us with your time and money, by choosing to use the Footballguys.com Draft Dominator app for your fantasy football drafting this season. We are glad you chose to roll with us!
This quick start guide is designed to help fantasy football owners who are new to the app/those who are doing a standard redraft league or a keeper league with one-to-a-few keepers (not for dynasty formats). We're going to set up a mock draft for the league you wish to prepare for here in this quick start guide. If you play in an advanced league (IE. IDP; auction drafts) you are going to want to check out our advanced procedures manual HERE for the functions you need to set up your league before mock drafting/live drafting.
If you are still reading this, relax. The Draft Dominator is easy to adapt to most redraft and keeper fantasy leagues. You'll be using the simple menus found under the Gear button, in the middle of the dark blue bar at the top of the 'home' page of the app.
1.0 Starting a New League (and New Drafts in this League)
First things first, though - go over to the Drafts button at the left of the dark blue bar and select +New Draft. See the graphic below:
Click Create New League and name this sample mock draft for the league you are practicing for - "Crazy Train Wreck League", or whatever. There are two levels to tracking your various practice drafts - you name each individual mock draft that you will perform under this league name. If you are practicing for different draft spots, you could name the various drafts as "Drafting from 1.05" or "Drafting from 1.07" to keep track of which mock draft results occur from those starting spots in this particular league. See the graphic below (in the example, the league name is Graphic Samples and the Draft name is Drafting from 1.04):
When the league is named and the draft is named, click the green Create Draft button at bottom right.
The Draft Dominator can take you through multiple mock drafts for each league you are preparing for - so you can see what happens if you take Le'Veon Bell at draft slot 1.04 vs. Antonio Brown at 1.04 (and so forth). As long as you have saved the league settings once, you won't have to go through the setup process for each mock or live draft - in future, you'll just click the Drafts button -> + New Draft -> click league name -> and then type in a draft name. So using the Le'Veon Bell example the draft name might be "Drafting from 1.04; Le'Veon Bell" or "Drafting from 1.04; RB" But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Returning to this first mock draft...
2.0 Set Basic League Parameters
The Draft Dominator is preset to default to a 12 team league, with 18 rounds of drafting. All of these basic settings are found under the Gear button drop down menu - pick Basic Settings. See the graphic below:
After you select Basic Settings you can customize the Draft Dominator to match your league's settings. See the graphic below:
Please note, the number of rounds in the draft must correspond to the number of roster spots in your league.
If you have more or less teams in your league, click the drop down menu and set the correct # of teams corresponding to your league. Any of these basic settings can be tweaked to fit your particular league by simply clicking the drop down menu next to the appropriate item.
3.0 Set Teams and Draft Order
The next category to address is Teams and Draft Order, found under the Gear menu - this is where you tell the Dominator what sort of draft you'll be running on draft day. See the graphic below:
The program is preset to Serpentine/Snake, but can be set to these other options: 3rd Round Reversal; 2nd Half Flip; Linear/NFL Style; or Fully Customized. For this quick guide, we'll skip Fully Customized and choose from one of the other four options.
The next item of business is to set which of the teams in the draft maps onto your pick. Click Edit next to the correct team and you will see a blue button that says "Make This My Team" on the right hand side of the pop-up box. Click this blue "Make This My Team" button to tell the Dominator which pick is yours for this particular league's draft. Once you have set up these options, click the green Done button at bottom left of the pop-up box to save these settings.
4.0 Set Up Scoring
Next up - Scoring Settings, found under the Gear menu. You can adapt the Dominator to your league's scoring requirements by toggling through each scoring category on the left hand side of the pop-up box. See the graphic below:
We've already pre-set each position for the most common scoring conventions for each category (Passing; Rushing; Receiving; Fumbles; Kicking; Kick Return; Punt Return; Defense (IDP); and Team Defense), but you'll want to cross-check these settings with your league's rules. If you find something that differs from the pre-set parameters - no problem. Just click the drop down box next to the appropriate item and edit in your league's scoring. For example, if running backs, receivers and tight ends get one point per reception in this league, you'll need to tell the Dominator this information. Go to scoring settings; click "Receiving" at the top left; and then enter 1 in the Points per Receptions box. Once this setting is changed, and you click the green Done button, the Dominator will recalculate the scoring for this league, and generate a new suggested draft list based on one point per reception. The players' order in the main draft list will reorder based on this scoring requirement.
5.0 Set Up Lineup Requirements
We also need to tell the Dominator how many players start at each position in your league - this is under the Lineup Settings menu in the Gear Button drop down menu.
Draft Dominator assumes that your league starts one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker, one team defense and one RB/WR/TE flex position. See the graphic below:
However, if tight ends are lumped in with wide receivers in your league, you'll need to zero out wide receivers and tight ends in the Lineup Settings, and instead tell Dominator how many total wide receivers and tight ends start in your league (usually three or four depending on the league) in the WR (TE Eligible) drop down menu. If there is no flex position in your league, you'll need to use the drop down menu to zero that option out.
If quarterbacks are included as a possible flex position in your league, you need to zero out the preset Flex: RB/WR/TE from one to zero and instead put one in the Flex: QB/RB/WR/TE drop down menu/box.
However your league's lineup requirements work - when you add up all the numbers on the Lineup Settings page, that number should be equal to the number of starters required in your league. No matter how big/deep your benches are, there is a required number of starters for any given week (even if you have a flex position that might vary the number of starters at any given position from week to week). Cross-check with your league rules to make sure you have the correct number of starters selected in Lineup Settings.
Once you are sure the Lineup Settings are correct, click the green Done button.
6.0 Set Up Keeper League
If you do not have keepers in your league, skip this section of the quick guide and go directly to section 7.0, mock drafting. If you are still reading this, we'll describe how to add keepers to each team in the draft. Click the gear button and select Keepers. This opens a pop-up box called Edit Keepers. See the graphic below:
You can add Keepers to each team in your league using this interface. If your league requires that every owner keep the same number of players, you can add them in as "Before Draft" - in this case, the players will be listed as members of the relevant team before the draft starts. You may have to lower the number of rounds in the draft if your league uses this option - the total number of players on the team with "Before Draft" keepers would be however many keepers + the number of rounds in a draft. Start with Team 1 (first pick in the draft) - using the search box, enter a players' name - everyone named this should pop up on the right hand side of the box. Select the correct player from the corresponding NFL team, and that name will pop over under Team 1 on the left hand side of the box. Continue adding players until all of that team's keepers are listed. Continue doing so for each team in the league - when you have listed all the necessary keepers, click the green Done button at bottom right to save these changes.
However, if not every team is required to keep the same number of players, you'll have to edit in the kept players as corresponding to a particular draft pick - in this case, the number of rounds in the draft will = the number of roster spots for this league. For example, if owners have to spend a first round pick to keep a player, you list the relevant kept players in that round by searching for their name and then selecting the correct round to assign that player (Add To Round 1). If your league rules say it costs a fourth-round draft pick to keep a player, edit the keepers into that particular round. The interface will accommodate a wide range of keeper rules using the Add To menu. Any kept player is removed from the wider draft pool available to the other owners.
7.0 Mock Drafting
Now, you are ready to mock draft in Draft Dominator based on the particular requirements of your fantasy league. Hit the green Start button in the middle of the dark blue bar at the top of the page (see graphic below) - and enjoy!
There are two ways to pick players during the draft - for beginners we suggest using the full list in the central column. See the graphic below:
This list allows you to click on each player's name, which pops up a box full of useful information: the 2017 projections for this player by David Dodds (DD); Bob Henry (BH); Jason Wood (JW); and Maurile Tremblay (MT). Also, 2016 and 2015 NFL stats (if available) are displayed. Also there is information on the player in question's rank for this draft; his projected fantasy points; bye week; position rank, and more - lots of information that can help you determine if this player is a good fit for your team. See the graphic below:
If you then decide to pick the player in question, click the green Pick button at lower left. If you wish to look at someone else, just click outside the pop-up box, and then click the next player you are considering, and look through their information.
If you want to consider available players at just one position at any point during a draft, pick the relevant position by clicking the dark blue Pos button next to the search box in the middle column, and then toggling to that position. See the graphic below:
You also have the option to build a shortlist to keep track of a particular subset of players during any given draft. For example, if there is a group of five quarterbacks that you have targeted as a possible starter for your fantasy team, you can create a shortlist of these guys to monitor their availability. It's easy to add a player to a shortlist - just go to the appropriate positional list under the dark blue Pos button, and then click on the first guy you want to add to your shortlist. Instead of using the green Pick button at lower left, hit the green Add button at lower right of the pop-up box (see LeVeon Bell player graphic above). Once you do this, a numeral 1 will appear next to the list icon in a bright red spotlight, located just above your center column list of available players. Continue adding players to the shortlist until you have highlighted all the players you want in that list. As the draft proceeds, if another team selects one of the players on your shortlist, that player will automatically be removed from your shortlist and the numeral in the red spotlight will drop by one. This will remind you that it is time to think about picking from the shortlist you've built. Once you've selected a player from the shortlist, you can remove the remaining guys by going to each player's pop-up box and hitting the Remove button at lower right (or if all the players on the short list are selected, then the list will be empty). Then you can build a new shortlist for the next position you want to monitor, and so forth throughout the drafting process.
If you wish to find a particular player, enter his name in the search box next to the Pos button. For unusual names (Vinatieri), just type in the last name and you'll find who you are looking for - for common names (like Johnson) you'll want to put in both first and last name. Just putting in "Johnson" in the search box yields 15 player names - Duke Johnson, however, takes you right to that particular player.
if you are comfortable with the various players' values and don't need to see a bunch of projections, you can pick from the quick list which is just below the Draft Board at far left - this list is generated based on average draft position and does not represent a list ordered according to your league's scoring parameters (you simply hit the green Enter next to the player that you desire to draft). See the graphic below:
This option is provided for more advanced fantasy owners or those who have already done many mock drafts for any given league, and don't need to review statistics for each of their picks in this draft. It is also useful to quickly enter other owners' draft picks during a live draft.
Continue drafting until the mock draft ends.
Once this first mock draft is over, hit the Drafts drop down box at upper left on the dark blue bar, and pick +New Draft. You will then be given the choice of either drafting according to the rules you set for this first mock draft (IE Crazy Train Wreck League), or starting a new league.
Assuming that you are continuing to prep for the first league you entered custom rules for, just click on Crazy Train Wreck League (or whatever you named your league), select Mock Draft at the bottom of the page, and name the draft. If you are trying out different draft positions, you might name the mock draft as "League [Whatever], 1.09" to designate which pick you started out at. If you already know your draft position, then you could name the drafts for different first round picks, or for picking from different NFL positions in your first round draft slot. It's up to you. Then do another mock draft for this league.
8.0 Real Drafts/Live Drafts
Real drafts work similarly to a mock draft, but you have to manually enter each pick as it happens from either the quick pick list or the center menu. Using the quick pick list at lower left will likely be the quickest option for entering other player's picks. If someone reaches for a player not immediately visible on the Dominator page menus, enter that player's name in the search box to pull them up quickly, and then assign them to the team in question.
8.1 Fixing Mistakes During a Live Draft
Everyone makes mistakes. If you have accidentally entered the wrong player for your team (or another) during a live draft, you need to be able to quickly fix that entry and move on to the next pick being made. This article is going to show you how to fix a wide range of errors (and show you how to fix them even after a few rounds may have passed).
First off, the easiest fix - unpicking a player that was just picked on accident one pick ago. All you have to do is double-click on his name in the drafting interface (top left box) and his player page will pop up - at the bottom left is the option to "Unpick" the player. See the graphic below:
You can also use this same process to swap out a player who was accidentally entered much earlier in the draft. Just go the pick in question on the draft board interface (upper left), scroll until you find the incorrect pick, and then Unpick the player and instead pick the player that should have been in that slot. Then go back down to the current pick and continue your live draft.
If necessary (if your league uses a timer and someone runs out of time and is skipped) you can use the red Skip button located under the draft board to skip a pick and move on with the draft. Then whenever the pick is ready to be made, you go back to the skipped pick and click on it. The Skip button will change to Unskip, click Unskip, and then you can enter the player that the skipped owner selects from the available player pool.
If you have entered six or eight or ten (or more!) picks incorrectly due to accidentally not entering a pick for a team in the past, this can be fixed too - pick the incorrect pick from the draft board, and then select the red Reset button - the program will ask if you really want to do this and you'll answer Yes - this will set the draft back to the spot where the mistake occurred, and then you can quickly redo the subsequent picks and catch back up to the live draft.
8.2 Rate My Team
Immediately after your draft concludes, an option will appear in the lower left area of the screen, inviting you to get instant feedback on your just-concluded draft with Footballguys.com's exclusive Rate My Team app. The information will appear in the space where your rosters are displayed, and will give you a position-by-position breakdown of how your team's prospects appear for 2017 based on Footballguys.com's expert projections and analysis. This is a valuable tool! Enjoy looking through the results of your labors.
9.0 Glossary of Abbreviations Used in Draft Dominator
- EDP - expected draft position. This is an adjustment of average draft position (ADP) to specifically fit your league settings.
- FPts - fantasy points (usually projected for the upcoming season).
- Ups - upside - our best-case projection for a player for the upcoming season.
- Gms - games - how many games we think the player will take part in this year.
- Exp - experience - how many years they've spent in the league.
- Rnd - round - usually referring to the round of the actual NFL draft in which they were selected. U means undrafted.
- Ht - height
- Wt - weight
- PR - punt returner
- KR - kick returner
- VBD - value based drafting - originally created by Joe Bryant, our industry standard method of comparing players across multiple positions.
- Primary/Secondary Projection: RU- rushing projected stats, RE- receiving projected stats, PA- passing projected stats
- DD/BH/MT/JW/JN/AR/AH - abbreviations for the members of staff who do projections. Respectively, David Dodds, Bob Henry, Maurile Tremblay, Jason Wood, John Norton, and Aaron Rudnicki. More information is available on them on our website.
Auction-specific Abbreviations
- Retail - what we believe is the correct price for a player at any given time. This is a dynamic value that changes during the draft due to if other players have been over- or under- paid for.
- Orig - what the player's auction value was at the beginning of the draft. You can therefore see if we've adjusted it up or down.
- Expected $ - our adjustment of AAV (average auction value) to fit your league settings.
We hope you have found this Quick Start guide informative and useful. Happy Drafting!