Is the 2011 Fantasy Football Season Coming?

If you have been watching the news or reading your favorite football news sites on the internet, you may have heard that both the players and the owners have been meeting on a regular basis to discuss a deal that would end the lockout and get football started once again.

But there is also some talk that the negotiations, while frequent are still not going as well as everyone had hoped and that both parties could be a long ways away from coming to an agreement. Time is clearly ticking for the start of the season and some important milestones for playing games are coming up quickly so a deal has to be reached soon.

As I mentioned in a previous posting, you may want to wait until after a deal has been reached to attempt to draft your fantasy football team. With there being a lot of uncertainty as to free agency and how it will be conducted as well as what is happening to certain players during the offseason is waiting to draft your fantasy team good advice?

But of course, the biggest question right now is whether or not the NFL is going to get a deal done by the time they are supposed to start playing games and by the time you have your fantasy football draft.

Consider these triggers and milestones for the upcoming season.

The Chicago Bears and the St. Louis Rams were to start training camp a week earlier than the other teams in league to kick off the start of the NFL preseason. Their start date is supposed to be the 22nd of July. They are scheduled to play in the Hall of Fame game on the 7th of August and it doesn’t look that game is going to happen.

So what happens now? Does the NFL push the preseason out and keep those preseason games while starting the season a little later? Do they nix some or all of the preseason games and jump right into the season? Do they take a few games off the regular season in order to get properly ready for the regular season?

Anything is possible as the two sides continue to negotiate a deal. Fantasy football fans will be keeping a close eye on the negotiations as the sides get ever closer to a deal and the offseason can officially begin. Once that agreement is signed we will all know much more about how things are going to turn out with free agency and the regular season.

So what does this have to do with fantasy football? Free agency is still going to have to take place before the preseason so there are some changes that will be made by some of the players that will be eligible for free agency. If you have already had your fantasy draft you may want to take a look at what you have done and make some changes. If you haven’t had your fantasy draft then you should be in very good shape.

So never fear fantasy football fans. A deal is almost here and there will be a full season of football (and fantasy football to enjoy). It’s about time that the owners and the players realized that they cannot continue to stay stuck in neutral like they have been for the past few months. They have almost ruined a good thing and hopefully they will be able to bring the league back stronger and better than it was before.

Are you Signing up for Fantasy Football?

It appears as if the NFL lockout is starting to come to an end as both sides are coming together often to try to work out an agreement. As the agreement is being worked out the major fantasy football sites, such as NFL.com and Yahoo! are asking fans to start signing up for the 2011 fantasy football season.

I have to admit, I was a little bit skeptical to sign up for fantasy teams when I first got those messages that said that you could start signing up. I wasn’t sure when the NFL would start it’s season due to the NFL Lockout but shortly after receiving initiations to sign up for a fantasy team, I saw that the NFL and the players were working hard to get to an agreement. So, I decided to sign up for one on NFL.com.

The experience of signing up on NFL.com was as easy as it always was but it was very hard to pick a date to draft. Not knowing when the lockout would be over has put a damper on knowing when exactly when a person should draft. We must keep in mind that after the lockout is over, there will most likely be a free agent period that will cause players to move from one team to another.

So does it make sense to draft until the lockout is over?

If you draft prior to the lockout ending and then one or more of the players that you drafted moves from one team to another you might be caught in a quandary. That player, a player that you thought would end up being a good prospect on his old team, could end up having a tough go of it on his new team.

So is it better to wait to sign up for a fantasy football team on these major fantasy football sites?

I did some looking around and didn’t see anything that stated that if the lockout would continue and the draft days would be missed that those draft days would be adjusted. I went into the NFL.com website and there was nothing there that talked about what would happen if the lockout went on past the draft date. Yahoo! didn’t say a word about the lockout either.

So if you are wary of having a draft before the lockout is over it’s best to wait until you have some certainty of when the season is going to start before scheduling your fantasy football draft. In the past I have written that you must use discretion when drafting during this lockout period because of the change that players are going to move around after the lockout is over. If you are wary of this then it’s best to draft as late as possible.

Personally, I set all my draft dates for late August, as I do every year, not only because of the lockout but because of the potential for injury to some players or the fact that players may end up getting cut or traded to another team. This helps to cut down on regrets that I might have later on in the season for drafting a player that may not even be playing football or might wind up in a bad situation. Perhaps this is good advice?

So what is the best scenario? If you can wait then it’s best to wait. If not then draft players at your own risk but expect some changes when football finally comes back around.

It’s so tempting to go out and sign up for a fantasy team right now and get all set up for the season. For most of us, we are football starved and anxious to get going with our fantasy leagues (believe me I am one who is always ready to draft as soon as I get that notice that sites are opening up to start signing up for teams) but you may want to exercise caution this offseason. This whole offseason as well the 2011 season could be one of the most difficult in fantasy football history.

So draft with caution but don’t be scared to have a fantasy football team this season. No matter what happens this offseason things are certain to get better.