Advanced Fantasy Football: Magazines

This is a little bit dated but I thought there might still be some interest in this here. This is a combination of some info that appeared on another short-lived blog of mine (it could come back but there has been no demand so far).

The RotoWire Fantasy Football Guide 2009 ships July 15th and should be everywhere by July 25th. It will include the following according to their website:

• Player Rankings & Profiles For More Than 250 Players!
• Comprehensive Cheatsheets & Projected Stats
• Will Carroll's Injury Analysis
• College Fantasy Football Preview
• Top rookies, sleepers, projected 2009 stats and more!

I obviously haven't seen this magazine yet, but RotoWire.com is one of the most reliable sites for Fantasy Football News on the internet. They have a great group of writers/experts who I'm certain will deliver quality product. Rotowire also offers a discount on their premium service to magazine buyers. You can check out the offer at the link above.

Fanball.com Three-Pack


I know a few of the writers at Fanball.com and can confidently state that the writing on this three-pack of Fantasy Football Magazines will be very good. The Fanball.com package consists of three fantasy football magazines:

• The Annual Guide - Often referred to as "the Bible of fantasy football," the full-color Annual Guide is in its 10th year of bringing readers the best analysis in a distinctive entertaining style. Chock-full of team reports, cheat sheets, sleepers, busts, profiles and projections for every relevant player, and much more, it is the ultimate draft-day reference. (Mid-June)
• Just Cheat Sheets - Tired of those run-of-the-mill fantasy football rags? Then this is the publication for you. Jam-packed with cheat sheets, mock drafts, auctions and specific player write-ups for almost every scoring format imaginable, Fantasy Football Just Cheat Sheets 2009 has everything you need to trounce the competition on draft day. (Early July)
• The Draft Issue - The fantasy football landscape is constantly changing with injuries, signings, trades and job battles, which is why the Draft Issue is a must-have resource. It contains the most up-to-date rankings and content on the newsstand, ensuring you enter your fantasy draft with all of the information you need to build a championship roster. (Early August)
  

The Fanball.com Combo is a great deal at $19.95 for all three issues. With the average Sports Magazine Annual approaching ten dollars a book any discount is going to be very welcome. I also like the fact that the release dates are spread out so that the later magazines will actually contain updated information that could be the primary difference between this magazine and many of the others.

Rotoman's 2009 Fantasy Football Guide

I consider the Rotoman's guide an Old School fantasy magazine because it features the work of so many experienced fantasy writers and experts such as the great staff of RotoRob.com and the Rotoman himself. They've made a few changes to the guide this year. They've finally arranged the capsules by position rather than alphabetically, a welcomed change for many frequent buyers.

The mag also features the KFFL Injury Guide, Strength of schedule, mock drafts, rookie reports, and the annual Overlooked/Over-Hyped blurbs throughout the magazine. This is good stuff and a magazine I'll pick up. It is available now.

Fantasy Football Index 2009

I love this magazine and the baseball version. One of my favorite features is the survey of fantasy experts. They are asked all sorts of questions from their favorite sleepers to players to avoid. They also offer a wide variety of cheat sheets and rankings. There is always a mock draft or two as well.

Fantasy Football Index magazine: $7.99
Fantasy Football Index includes 200 pages of player ratings, team analysis, stat projections, defensive player analysis, unique stat charts, sleeper picks, rule suggestions, offensive line analysis, and more -- plus passwords needed to access some web pages in the Toolbox area of the Fantasy Index website. The price includes shipping via USPS first-class mail, and there's no sale tax unless you live in Washington state. (mailed to subscribers July 1st - should be in stores Mid-July)

This is the one magazine I've actually subscribed to receive, because I want it that badly. I like most of you don't depend on magazines for analysis but like you I love having them for reading on the bus or in the bathroom.

The Roto Times Guide to Winning Fantasy Football ($6.99)

Roto Times has a collection of the best and most experienced fantasy football experts in the business. This guide is a must have if for no other reason than it includes Bob Lung's annual Quality Game Scores articles. This is one of the best performance predictors available.

Expert analysis from expert league winners, player profiles, mock drafts, player values, rookies to watch, team and position overviews and the best projections anywhere. Includes free update in late August. The Roto Times Guide to Winning Fantasy Football will be shipped the week of July 25.

The Street&Smith and Sporting News Fantasy Football annuals are now just one book. The cover image is from last year's annual because the only photo of this year's cover was ridiculously small. This magazine is supposedly already on the magazine stands although I have not seen it yet.

Fantasy Football 2009 $7.99
The Sporting News Fantasy Football annual proves why it is number one with features like exclusive player rankings and projections, NFL depth charts, a pull out cheat sheet and over 500 individual scouting reports. All of this plus “7 Must-Know items to win your league” and other draft day tips will be everything needed to help readers become number one of their fantasy football leagues.

Together Street & Smith and the Sporting News have a long history of solid publications. Although sometimes both magazines cater to the shallower leagues, it still contains lots of useful information and entertaining reading. The scouting reports are great for newbie owners who need to double check a player before drafting him. Plus you get three-year stats for just about every player. I usually buy it as one of the first releases of the season.

2009 Footballguys Strategy Guide Magazine - FREE

This is a fantastic resource for Fantasy Football participants at every level. It includes everything you need to dominate your drafts this season. It has taken me more than a week to finish reading it and I'm tempted to print it out and place it in a binder so I can keep it forever. It is that good.

Here's what the Football Guys have to say about their own product:

David and I have decided to produce our Footballguys 2009 Strategy Guide Magazine in a pdf that you can download online instead of printing the magazine and selling from the newsstand. The price to download this pdf online? NONE. NADA. ZIP. As in FREE. The magazine that we would have normally written in May, printed in June and put on the newsstand in July is now available to you on June 5th. For FREE. We figured if we were going to write the magazine in June, we might as well make it available to you as soon as we finished writing it. Pretty much like we do everything else. It's not conventional wisdom to give away a product we used to charge $8 bucks for. But we know things are tight out there. Call it our Footballguys Stimulus Package. You get the 2009 Footballguys Magazine for FREE. Then you take it from there. Check out the link in the headline. Let us know what you think. Share it with your friends if you really want to help us. But mostly, enjoy.