Draft Prep: Use the tools!
Our Dave Richard highlights what's new on CBS SportsLine for the 2007 season and some scouting tools you may have overlooked as part of our Draft Preview.
With Fantasy Football already something fun that a lot of people love to do, it's hard to come up with ways to make it even better. But we've made some improvements to your league's website and added some exciting features that we think will not only be of interest to you, but also put you in better position to win your league.
Preseason preparation
Like your Fantasy team, we wanted to unlock CBS SportsLine's potential to provide up-to-the-minute news as well as first-class analysis that brings you closer to the game. So we stretched out our homepage, added our video Eyebox and made the whole thing customizable. So if you like your league news front and center, you can make it happen with the click of a mouse.
We know that getting information in front of your eyes is crucial, so we've improved our League Commwire and added a League Calendar. With the calendar, all the important dates in your league, including lineup and trade deadlines, are at your fingertips. The Commwire is how your league commissioner can communicate with the entire league as well as provide up-to-date injury information, and display other fun stuff like league-automated owner ratings and our very own 'Guru Spreads.'
And of course, we'll continue to provide non-stop coverage of the National Football League. Our positional rankings are updated daily and we're planning to unleash all sorts of cool analysis for you to chew on as well as Q&As with the movers and shakers around the NFL. It should all add up to you being as informed as possible when you put your squad together on Draft Day.
Remodeling your roster
Drafting is a lot of fun, but when that's over, the Fantasy battle is just beginning. Throughout the season, you'll have to balance and massage your roster if you're going to compete for a championship, and we're here to help.
When the time comes to start researching free agents, or to gauge starters against others at their position, you should reference our sortable stats option, available in every league on the site. Want to find the player who scores the most Fantasy points in your league, or just want to discover a free agent who has played well of late? Our fully customizable stats page is at your service, offering a huge library of stats that can even be delivered to your inbox. Best of all, if you find yourself looking for the same stats over and over again, you can save your customized search and run it whenever you want.
That will give you hours of fun, but the Roster Trends portion of the site will deliver even more consumable data -- and it's all based on the owners in CBS SportsLine's leagues. For instance, the Most Added/Dropped area will give you a list of which players are making their way onto Fantasy rosters, and which ones are heading to the waiver wire. You can also check out who the Most Owned Free Agents in your league are compared to other leagues, who fellow owners are checking out on the Most Scouted page, and who's changing teams on the Most Traded page.
When you find a player you're interested in, be sure to click on his name and go to his player profile page. This is a one-stop shop for info all about that particular player. See how many leagues he starts in, his past performances or even how he stacks up against other players in the NFL. Better yet, see what he's getting traded for as we sort out the deals made in all CBS SportsLine leagues and give you an idea of what you can get for that player.
Speaking of trading, you should check out the easy-to-use trade tools we've built for you. If you want to shop a player to the entire league, you can do it using the On The Block page. Not only can you select who you want to dangle, but you can also let your fellow owners know what you want in return. There's also the Trade Evaluator. Before you make a trade offer, click on "evaluate trade" and see what your lineup -- and what your opponent's lineup -- would look like before you make your move. You could see that you're making a huge mistake that could cost you a Fantasy crown.
Lining up your lineup
We're committed to giving Fantasy owners all the information they need when setting their lineups. On the page where you set your lineup, you can view your players in a number of ways. See who they're playing against that week in the NFL, or how they've done against that specific opponent. You can also sort by their year-to-date stats, or even check out the game day weather that a player might face. Ultimately, we want to give you easy ways to decide who gets the nod at a position in your lineup from week to week.
You can also get the latest news on any of your players from this page. You'll see a yellow tag next to the player's name -- unless it's blue (which means "cold" news) or orange (which means "hot" news). Run your mouse over it to get the latest headline, or click on it to get the latest news on that player. And when you see the red "burst" coming off the edge of the tag, you'll know that the news is hot off the presses.
We've got your Sunday scoop, too
When it comes to Fantasy Football, you've come to the right place. CBS SportsLine is already the leader in delivering lightning-fast scoring to your Fantasy league along with up-to-the-minute analysis of the action, but we're going to take it a step further.
Before the games, our mission is to deliver the inactives from every NFL game at breakneck speed. That way if you have a guy on your roster who's questionable, you'll know long before lineups are locked whether or not he will play. You'll even be able to get that news right on your lineup page.
After the games, we'll be here with updates on all the key players as well as analysis from the week's action that will help you the following week. Better yet, we have a schedule chock full of columns, rankings and videos during the week that will make CBS SportsLine a daily destination while you surf the web. You won't want to miss any of it.
We've arguably just filled you in on the most important information you'll ever receive this season -- how to use this site to your advantage. After all, it's about winning, right? Use the tools we've built just for you, and you'll be well on your way.
Do you have a draft question for one of our experts? You can e-mail us your Fantasy Football questions to DMFantasyFootball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Draft Prep in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware we do not guarantee personal responses to all questions.















