The Late Round Quarterback – Book Review

500 pennies can change your Fantasy draft strategy for the better. I promise.

So simple, yet so underutilized. Don’t draft your quarterback early – yet more than three-quarters of us do it every year. Hell, I did it last week, taking Cam Newton with the 3.01 pick in a writers’ mock draft. For

Last week, I came across a website called LateRoundQB.com, which had some interesting well-written articles on it. But after looking over the home page, I realized that this is an author’s website that’s supporting an e-book he has written. I checked out the book on Amazon for my Kindle (it’s also available for Barnes & Noble Nook readers, on iTunes for the iPad, and as a PDF for your computer), and I saw that it was just $5, with over 100 pages worth of material.

Before I buy an unknown book, I like to check out the reviews. This book had a few good reviews on it, which made me dig deeper. After thinking about it for a day, I decided to bite the $5 bullet.

It turned out to be an excellent decision on my part.

In short, I highly recommend buying “The Late Round Quarterback,” by J.J. Zachariason. It will help you THIS year – as well as coming years.

In long …

“It’s Fantasy Football Strategy on Steroids”

Despite the tagline making me roll my eyes a little, I decided that the website was professional enough, and the articles on it were well-written, so I bought the book and dug.

I’ve been playing Fantasy Football since 1989 and I’ve been writing about it online as a “so-called Fantasy expert” for over 10 years. With that said, I’m a little embarrassed that the Fantasy draft strategy and the advice he shares in the book is so simple, yet so misunderstood by most of us in the industry.

The main theme of the book is, obviously, taking your quarterback later in the draft than most of the other owners in your league. Draft on value compared to other quarterbacks, but don’t draft on value compared to other positions. But the book offers a lot more help in other areas, with chapters ranging all over the place, including:

• How to Analyze Player Rankings
• Which Position is the Most Consistent?
• Which Position is the Most Important?
• Which Players Will Win Me a Championship?
• Finding the Right Players
• Overrated Draft Strategies
• The Ultimate Snake Draft Strategy
• The Ultimate Auction Draft Strategy
• Playing the Waiver Wire
• Trading Tips and Tricks

Fantasy Draft Strategy For Debate

As great as this book is, there are a couple things I disagree with him on. For instance, he talks about the percentages of a player’s price in auction drafts being the same if it’s a 10-team or a 12-team league. The percentage is different because the baseline is different when there are 20 starting running backs rather than 24 starting running backs.

And again, he talks about spending as much money in auctions as quickly as possible, which is another strategy I’m opposed to. Ideally, you spend as little money on the top tiers as possible, saving money for bargains later on. His reasoning is sound, and I realize I made it sound like he has no idea how to play in an auction league, but that’s not true. His strategy is just different than mine.

There are just a few minor things like this that I disagree with in his Fantasy draft strategy, but all in all, his arguments are well-formed and substantiated.

Some Writers Be Gooder Than Most

As a professional writer, I sometimes cringe at the blogosphere because bad grammar and spelling have been forgiven and forgotten by too many. Despite the fact this book is missing a hyphen in the title, it’s a clean, well-written book. In other words, he never spelled out “Demarious Thomas” and he never butchered his sentences with 12 prepositions. His writing will not distract you from the theme.

Final Review: Two Fat Thumbs Up

I enjoyed reading this book immensely. It brought some new insights into my draft plans and it fortified some old concepts I had already learned.

Whether you are new to Fantasy Football or you’ve been playing it for a couple decades, this is an excellent weapon to add to your Fantasy draft strategy arsenal.

You used to spend $5 on outdated Fantasy Football magazines in the ‘90s and now you get most of your Fantasy advice for free on websites. You won’t regret spending $5 for this e-book, and I’m sure you’ll refer back to it throughout the season.

This Message was NOT Sponsored …

I was impressed enough in the early part of the book to ask the author to write a guest blog for my site, which turned into two blogs because it was so extensive. “Megachoice: Is Calvin Johnson Worth a Top 6 Pick?” It created some discussion online and it made me realize – I don’t want to draft Calvin Johnson in the top six!

The reason I mentioned that blog is because I want you to know that I put links to his book in that blog through my Amazon Associates account, which kicked back a small percentage to me. But I’m not doing that in this review. I don’t want you to think the only reason I’ve given it a good review is because I might make 20 cents if you buy it.

Finally, watch this video below to get an idea of what Zachariason will deliver in “The Late Round Quarterback.”