I Joined My First ESPN League. Now What?
Playing fantasy football is exhilarating.
Getting together to compete and share in the love of the game can be a delightful experience among friends. Hopefully, this ESPN league you’re joining will begin a great annual tradition for you.
If you are totally unfamiliar with how to play fantasy football in general, be sure to check out the Fantasy Football 101 tutorial on the site. It will be more helpful for you to start there and then return to this guide once you’ve caught up.
But for the rest of you, this article will cover everything you need to know about ESPN leagues.
Together, let’s walk through how to join, what you need to know about the platform, and some strategies you can deploy to give yourself the best chance to take home a championship.
ESPN Fantasy Football Basics and Rules
Joining An ESPN League
First things first: you’ve gotta join the league, right?
Unless you start the league yourself, the ESPN journey will begin once you receive an email invitation from your commissioner (i.e., the person in charge of running the league).
If you're already an ESPN+ subscriber for streaming sports, you don't have to worry about this next part. Just log in with the same credentials. Otherwise, you’ll need to create an account on ESPN.
It’s pretty quick and painless, no different than signing up for most other services:
On Desktop: Go to ESPN.com and click the Log In or Sign Up button (usually at the top right of the page). Put in the basic information they ask for (email, create a username and password, etc.), and you should be all set from there. Make sure to check your email for one of those “verify the account” follow-ups just in case, though.
On Mobile: Install the ESPN Fantasy app from whatever marketplace matches your device (App Store, Google Play, etc.). Open the app and tap Sign Up (or Create Account). Enter the essential info needed to make an account (email, username, password, etc.), and then you’re set to rock and roll.
Once you have an account set up, log in to your email and click 'Accept' on the invitation from the commissioner.
Congrats, you’ve joined your first ESPN league!
Feel free to change your team name, pick a logo, do whatever feels good, and personalize the experience.
Standard ESPN Rules and Settings
Let’s now talk more about how the game will work on ESPN.
Unless your commissioner has created a league with custom settings, the standard issue format of an ESPN league is as follows:
10 teams
Full-point per reception (PPR) scoring
Starting lineup with one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, one FLEX, one defense, special teams, and one kicker
7 bench spots (16 total roster spots)
One major note is that injured reserve (IR) spots are NOT a standard feature in ESPN leagues. If you would like to have designated spaces for injured players that don’t count against roster size rules, consider opening a discussion with your league on the subject.
Including IR spots has become very commonplace in fantasy football. At worst, the league says no, but just be aware that the request wouldn’t be unusual.
Getting To Know The ESPN Fantasy Football Platform
Drafting Your Team
For many, the draft itself is the highlight of the fantasy football experience.
Consider meeting up with your league mates to make it an in-person event. Live drafts can be extremely enjoyable. But once draft time hits, you’ll need to know how to participate and start assembling your team.
The good news is that taking part in an ESPN fantasy football draft is reasonably simple. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide for how it works for both computers and mobile devices:
On Desktop: Go to your league home page. Click the “Join Your Draft” button to enter the Draft Room when it opens (ESPN standard is the hour before the set draft time). When the draft begins and it’s your turn to pick, select a player and click “Draft”. Be sure to follow along with the action and avoid missing a pick. If you do so, the system will auto-draft using ESPN’s rankings and projections. Always make your own selections if you can.
On Mobile: Open the ESPN Fantasy app on your device, then hop over to your league. Tap “Join Your Draft,” and then you’ll be taken to the screen where all the action takes place. Like on the computer, tap the “Draft” button during your turn to pick and don’t land on auto-mode! Stay sharp and remember to add players to your “Queue” if you’d like to avoid wasting time scrolling during your turn.
Tips For Drafting Your ESPN Fantasy Football Team
Don’t forget: when it comes to drafting, the name of the game is preparation.
If you want to start getting yourself ready for the big event, or you just don't really know who to draft, that's where Fantasy Points and our award-winning rankings come in to help.
You can use our Draft Tool to follow with your draft and get expert-level analysis along the way. Even if you're more of an “old school” style of player, you can print off our rankings and ESPN’s ADP data (we’ll talk more about that later), and make your draft decisions based on both lists.
How, you ask? Pretty simple:
The first list (our rankings) ranks how good each player is. The second list (ESPN ADP) indicates when you can expect those players to be drafted. If you only consult our rankings, you’ll do alright, but try to look at both lists.
If we have a guy really high, but he’s a lot lower on ESPN, you should draft him later. That way, you get more value and give yourself an even bigger edge.
Think of this as a form of “price-shopping,” like you’d do if you were in the market for a new home appliance at the best cost possible.
And finally, as a general rule of thumb, it’s usually a pretty good idea to load up on RBs and WRs early. Don’t be afraid to draft bench RBs or WRs before drafting your first QB or TE. The depth at positions in which you start multiple players is important!
Oh, and draft a Kicker with your second-to-last pick, and a DEF with your last pick. Don’t get cute with those positions; you’ll likely cycle through them all year.
Setting Your Fantasy Football Lineup
With the draft in the rearview, it’s time to shift gears and go over some in-season stuff.
Foremost, you’ll need to know how to set your lineup and participate properly in the game of fantasy football. Doing so on the computer or a mobile device is easy:
On Desktop: Go to ESPN.com and log in. You’ll be able to find your league under the dropdown menu that appears when you hover over the user icon at the top-right portion of the screen. From there, you can click directly onto your “My Team” page, and then you’ll see your current lineup for the upcoming week and who’s on your bench. To make a lineup change, click the "Move" button and choose a swap (from bench to lineup or vice versa). The platform will auto-save any moves with on-screen confirmation.
On the Mobile App: Open the ESPN Fantasy app and tap your team. Scroll to see who’s in and who’s out. To make lineup changes, tap “Move,” then make your desired switch. The app also auto-saves your changes, so you won't have to worry about clicking any button to make finalized decisions.
Now you’re set! Just make sure you’re following along with NFL news and keeping track of the various injuries that occur throughout the league. Awareness of on-field action is crucial to assembling your best possible lineup each week.
But if you’re ever in a bind and don’t know what move to make, we can help you here at Fantasy Points. Our award-winning projections are posted every Tuesday night, get updated every day headed into Thursday night and Sunday kickoff, and can help you make optimal start/sit decisions.
We’re not just guessing and assigning numbers either. We project the stats, and let the math do the rest. Don’t settle for basic weekly rankings from others — we give you the solid data, and the proof is in the pudding.
Adding Players To Your Roster
So you can set a lineup — excellent start. But now, you’ll need to know how to make roster moves. It's essential to pick up players from the waiver wire, drop injured players, and keep your bench fresh. This is how adding players to your ESPN fantasy football team works:
On Desktop: Go to “My Team” > “Players” tab > “Add Players” tab. That path will take you to a page showing you the available players in your league. Free agents appear with a Green + icon, and players subject to the “waivers” process will display a Yellow + icon. We’ll explain “waivers” shortly, but once you click the + icon for a particular player, you’ll be prompted to drop someone from your roster if it’s full. Pick the player you’re dumping with the “Drop” button and hit “Continue” to complete the process. Don’t worry, ESPN will ask you to “Confirm” any move before going final. At that point, the outcome is in your hands.
On Mobile App: The mobile interface is very similar to the computer’s. Fire up your ESPN Fantasy app, then go to your team. You’ll notice a “Players” tab that houses all of the available players. Find a name, tap the + icon on whoever you’d like to pick up. Make whatever necessary drops are needed per your league rules, then “Confirm” once you’ve locked in your choice.
Quickly, here’s how the “waivers” system (also known as “the waiver wire”) works:
Once a player is dropped or the week of NFL action has concluded, players are subject to a waiting period (usually two days per standard ESPN rules) in which they cannot be added freely. This system allows every league manager to submit a claim to acquire any particular non-rostered player.
The order of priority for these claims is determined by league record under standard ESPN rules, with the worst manager having first dibs, and the top-ranked manager having the last claim. The logic is that the teams that need the most significant help have first access, which creates opportunity for roster equity league-wide and stokes competition.
The standard run of waiver claims will process on Wednesday mornings. Managers are awarded the players they want to pick up, provided no one with a higher priority also attempts to acquire them. Remember that part; you can be outbid if you’re low in priority, so make backup plans!
Any unclaimed player is now a free agent who can be added by a manager immediately. Those names dropped, or are dropped between that moment and the conclusion of the following week’s NFL games, are now subject to this same process, etc.
If you keep up with the news, you’ll have a good idea of when it might be time to let go of certain struggling players. Stay sharp and active, and managing this aspect of the fantasy football experience will come quickly.
Feeling like you can’t stay on top of the day-to-day cycle of news? That’s all good, because it’s our whole job here at Fantasy Points to do that for you. Our weekly waiver wire column will give you a leg up and help identify the names of players you should be targeting to add to your team.
If you’re worried about the future outlook for an injured player, don’t fret. In addition to our weekly rankings, Fantasy Points offers Rest of Season rankings that take into account all potential factors involved with a long-term projection.
Between our daily offerings of free articles and podcasts, you’ll never have to go at it alone. Tune into our livestreams on YouTube, or even hop into the 24/7 activity on our Discord channel, and interact directly with our analysts.
Remember, we’re always here to help!
Making Trades With Other Managers
Last but not least, you want to be able to make trades.
It’s not required by rule that everyone exchange players, but upgrading your roster needs and negotiating with your league mates is plenty of fun. Luckily, the ESPN platform makes these deals a breeze:
On Desktop: From your “My Team” page, find the “Opposing Teams” tab and click on the name of the team you’d like to make a trade with. Once there, you’ll find a “Propose Trade” button that’ll take you to a screen where you check boxes next to the names of the players you’d like to involve in your swap. Click the “Continue” button and add an optional text comment to the other manager before finalizing with the “Send Trade Proposal” button.
On Mobile App: Once the ESPN Fantasy app is open and you’re on your team page, find the “League” tab. Doing so will display the league standings and enable you to click on the team you want to swap with. The “Propose Trade” button will be prominently displayed, and then you can go ahead with building out your deal. Hit the “Review” button and then “Propose” when everything is set.
You now have every tool needed to survive in a fantasy football league on ESPN.
Feeling good? Don’t think the journey stops there. It’s one thing to play, and something entirely different to dominate your competition.
Read on as we discuss a handful of tricks and strategies you can use to get that extra boost over your league mates.
Three Ways To Gain An Edge In ESPN Fantasy Football
The ESPN platform offers several unique features to help managers manage their fantasy football teams. Its IBM Watson-integrated tools most prominently offer insights powered by massive amounts of data.
These features are nice, but do you want to trust a computer with every move you make?
We’re not saying you can’t use ESPN’s projections and Trade Assistant with Watson as a baseline for advice, although matters must be in your hands. Playing fantasy football is about what you think. Want to sharpen your iron? Here are the three most effective ways to out-smart your league mates:
Do Several Mock Drafts
Practice makes perfect, and the ESPN platform allows you to do as many mock drafts, or “pretend” drafts, as you want!
The results don't carry over into a real league, so the more you practice, the more you can refine your strategy and identify favorite targets. There’s no harm in trying different things since the drafts don’t count for anything.
Plus, ESPN sorts the displayed player list by ADP or projections on the app or the desktop during the draft. Try a few and toggle between the views.
Why? Because that’s the same information that your league mates will see!
Be proactive, and get your reps in.
Exploit The Platform ADP
“ADP” stands for average draft position. This helpful data is gathered every time an ESPN mock draft is performed and projects where a player is likely to be selected on average.
For example, in a standard ESPN 10-team league, someone with an ADP of 21.6 is typically selected with either the first or second pick of the second round of a fantasy football draft.
Knowing this information will enable you to anticipate how aggressive you’ll need to be in targeting the players you want for your roster, and how long you might be able to wait for others.
But here’s something you might not know:
- The ESPN ADP only takes into account mock drafts done on its platform.
There are several places to host a traditional season-long league, like Yahoo or CBS, just to name a couple. What do those managers think about where these players belong? Only considering ESPN results doesn’t seem like a great representation of the broad consensus. Here at Fantasy Points, our ADP data factors in results from the platforms Sleeper, NFFC, and FFPC, because that’s where the vast majority of high-stakes leagues are hosted. We’re talking about the best-of-the-best with the most on the line.
Finding out which players the genuine sharps are fading or much higher on can help you exploit the value opportunities. Check out our aggregated ADP and see where the differences are with ESPN.
Don’t Listen To The Same Advice As Your League Mates
As nice as those ESPN tools and insights are, you must remember that it’s the same advice given to everyone in your league. Each manager is seeing identical information from IBM Watson on desktop and mobile. All the news notifications are sent out en masse.
If you want to take the effort and go the extra mile, be different.
The internet is full of podcasts and websites offering their unique spin on playing fantasy football and which players to watch. These places also provide actionable analyses to help you win a title.
Find resources that speak to you away from ESPN.
And hey, since you’re already here and checked out our ADP, why not start the next chapter of your journey with Fantasy Points?
Sign Up For A Fantasy Points Premium Membership
For years, the Fantasy Points staff has comprised some of the most accurate fantasy football analysts on the planet.
Don’t believe us? Fantasy Points finished as the top overall pre-draft rankings resource in the industry multiple times by FantasyPros.com, including being the #1 cumulative ranker from 2014 to 2018.
With us, you get insight from the top of the top names in the industry:
You might know John Hansen (a.k.a. “The original Fantasy Guru”) from his over 20-year run as a pioneering host on SiriusXM NFL and Fantasy Sports Radio, or the hilarious appearance he makes in Season 2 of the FX cult-classic comedy The League.
Fantasy Points CEO Scott Barrett, a five-time FSWA finalist, is heralded as the King of Dank Stats. Known for inventing several commonly used metrics within the fantasy space and his league-winning Exodia plays, Barrett authors popular article series such as the Everything Report, Metrics That Matter, and more. You’re going to want to see what his beautiful brain comes up with.
… and the rest of our staff!
Our site offers a plethora of 100% free advice, but to unlock the premium information that your league mates don’t have access to, you must sign up for a membership.
