I'm a Fantasy Football Sicko. I've Convinced All 5 of My Leagues to Use This App.

New York Times

a day ago

I'm not one to brag, but I'm better than you at fantasy football. Last year was something of a down season for me. But I still made the playoffs in all but one of my leagues, made the finals in two, and won one. I've been playing fantasy football for nearly 20 years, and I would have to stretch back pretty far to think of a season when I didn't win at least one league. Various friends (or competitors, as the case may be) have called me a savant, a freak, a sicko. That's fine by me, I'll just keep winning.
I've used ESPN, Yahoo Sports, and CBS Sports, but over time, all of my fantasy leagues have landed on the relatively new fantasy football app Sleeper, mostly due to my persistent urging. Sleeper is an app made by and for sickos like me. It's deep, customizable, and social. And it's cognizant of the fact that fantasy football is at once a silly diversion ruled by randomness (except when I'm playing) and also the most important thing in the world (except on the rare occasions when I lose).
With a bevy of custom league options and snazzy features, Sleeper is the ideal app for fantasy lifers who want to go deep while still keeping things fun.
The real key to fantasy football success is paying more attention to your team than your competitors do to theirs. If you opt into Sleeper's push notifications, the app will quickly notify you of breaking news, and it will often focus on football minutiae that other platforms might pass over. So if a team's third receiver goes down for a couple of games, and his replacement is up for grabs, you'll likely know first on Sleeper.
If you're in multiple leagues on Sleeper, you can easily see a player's availability across leagues, thus speeding up player adds. I'm in five separate leagues with one of my oldest friends — sickos stay together — so rushing to beat him to priority pickups is key. (To my employers reading this, know that I enjoy winning the race to pickups only on my off-hours.) Sleeper will also notify you if you have an injured player in your starting lineup. This is a useful feature when games take place on unexpected days, which has been happening more and more. In the most recent season, the NFL scheduled a game on every day of the week except Tuesday. Every player card on Sleeper shows the player's availability for all of the leagues you're in; this is crucial for keeping up with pickups. Each card also has information on the player's performance and transaction history. Sleeper for iOS The trade-proposal screen is made for sharing on social media, and it also begins a chat with your trade partner. Sleeper for iOS Every player card on Sleeper shows the player's availability for all of the leagues you're in; this is crucial for keeping up with pickups. Each card also has information on the player's performance and transaction history. Sleeper for iOS
Sleeper also allows you to hone your skills in mock drafts before draft day.
Unlike with many other platforms, with this one you can customize your mock draft to match your fantasy league's settings (2 QB, Superflex, and/or keepers, to name a few). And you can even invite your friends to mock draft with you, rather than relying on the computer to simulate what they might do.
In one of my leagues, this leads to weeks of subterfuge among my friends and me: We go through multiple fake drafts before the real thing, deploying smokescreens and diversions, and working out different team-building strategies. If you take a screenshot of your draft picks, Sleeper's app automatically generates an image of your entire draft haul for easy sharing (bragging), rather than forcing you to take two screenshots to capture all the glory. Sleeper for iOS
The post-mock debriefs — 'Love your build there, Finn!' — are probably among the dorkiest conversations I've ever had in my life, and I love them dearly.
Sleeper offers a suite of custom league options — many more than standard apps, maybe a few less than paid apps, but enough for nearly everyone to find what they need. (Even I have my limits.) One of my longest-running leagues is a keeper league with bespoke draft rules, and Sleeper is one of the few platforms I've found that allows us to run it exactly how we want to. I like real football, too (also in a totally normal and cool way). Otis Blum
Sleeper also offers flexible drafts. If you can't get everyone together on one night, you can run a slow draft (eight hours per pick) or change the amount of time per pick in the middle of a draft (start quick, end slow). You can easily pause, undo a pick, and redo a pick, all without breaking the draft, and the same goes for pausing it overnight.
Sleeper is one of the few free fantasy platforms that offers median scoring for the regular season. Each week, you compete against your opponent and the rest of the league, trying to beat the median score of the week. This tends to smooth out bad breaks — sometimes you're the second-highest scoring team, and you just happen to be playing the highest scorer — and it adds intrigue at the end of every week. Sleeper's draft room is colorful and customizable. You can mock draft with friends with your league's keepers already assigned, chat within the draft, and easily share a recap of your draft after. Sleeper for iOS Each week, Sleeper sends a customized recap to your league's chat, with fun stats and awards. Sleeper for iOS Sleeper's league-wide group chat allows you to keep track of league activity and keep in touch with friends. In this league, the last-place team has to spend 24 hours in an IHOP, minus an hour for every pancake you eat. Sleeper for iOS Sleeper's draft room is colorful and customizable. You can mock draft with friends with your league's keepers already assigned, chat within the draft, and easily share a recap of your draft after. Sleeper for iOS
Sleeper's app is easy to navigate, and it even works on a desktop browser if you prefer. The in-app messaging is useful for trade negotiations, and every league has a Discord-like group chat.
Each week, Sleeper sends a personalized report to the league-wide chat, showing a variety of highlights and lowlights, such as the most unlucky manager, the best players by position, and so on. It's a useful way to keep up with the league and provides easy bragging rights. And it gets people talking, which is the most fun part of being in any league — the trash talk, the memes, the desultory rounds of congratulations after I've been crowned champion yet again.
It won't replace your cherished SMS group chat, but it's at the very least a great supplement. Celebrating after winning yet another championship. Evan Dent/NYT Wirecutter
I'll admit it, Sleeper's bevy of options and inside jokes can be intimidating to new players. That's partially why the official Wirecutter pick is the ESPN Fantasy app, which is the best app for everyone , and not just weirdos like me.
In certain states, Sleeper has a built-in sports-gambling option, and it will occasionally ping you about it. While it's not present on every fantasy app, sports gambling content is omnipresent across sports broadcasts, so I've just grown to accept it as part of the territory. It's easy enough for me to swipe away, but if you think it might be a problem for you, maybe go with another app. (You can toggle off the gambling tab from Sleeper in the app's settings, and there are responsible gaming limits and self-exclusion options available.)
If you've been playing fantasy for a while and are bored with your same-old platform, I'd suggest using Sleeper to shake things up. It gives back as much as you put in, so it's rewarding over the course of a long season. Just don't join a league with me, unless you like losing.
This article was edited by Megan Beauchamp and Maxine Builder. Fantasy sports can seem intimidating, but ESPN Fantasy, with its useful features and user-friendly layout, is the best option for most beginners.
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