Fantasy football has gone from a casual game played by few to a nationwide obsession played by millions. A concept created by “drafting” real professional players onto make-believe teams, and using their real life stats to determine the outcome of these pretend games, fantasy football is all the rage. It’s becoming more and more rare to find someone who doesn’t have a fantasy football team these days. For those fantasy football participants out there, think about team owners in your league, especially those who excel year in and year out. Have you ever considered that you might be able to predict the outcome of your league based on the behavioral styles of the participants? Does the quick-thinking risk-taker fare better than the calculated analyst? Does the tried and true steady team owner outscore the interpersonal team owner that counts on the opinion of their trusted friends? Though we may not be able to unequivocally predict your league’s outcome, we can definitely provide food for thought on who might have a leg up in your fantasy football league this year and why.
Understanding behaviors through DISC
Even for someone that has no knowledge of the DISC behavioral profile, it’s quite easy to identify the four distinctly different behavioral styles that DISC identifies. Think about players in your league and their tendencies, and see which behavioral profiles about to be described seem to match each participant.
How behaviors can impact fantasy football teams
D represents the Driver. This person is fast-paced, thinks on their feet and trusts their gut to make a good decision. They don’t have time to do deep analysis nor do they find the value in it. They look for the big payday, and are likely to draft that unknown rookie or injury-prone player just coming back from a major setback. They know that if they hit on a pick, they are going to hit big, so to them it’s worth the risk. This is the “all-in” type of team owner who is willing to risk it all on a couple of players that have unlimited potential. This owner is not very interested in the steady performer who is always putting up repeatable stats, but never quite at the top of the league leaders list. They want potential stars. Even if these potential stars are unproven the Driver will take the risk on this player, both on draft day and in their weekly lineup, knowing that the payout might be huge. They also know, however, that the player may be a total bust and they’ll have a quick trigger finger putting that player on waivers if they don’t start the season strong. Patience is lacking from this Driver of an owner. In managing a team, the Driver is most likely to change their lineup weekly, often times based on frustration with underperforming players.
I represents the Interpersonal owner. This owner is outgoing and trusts not only the sports experts for information, but also close friends and acquaintances. The Interpersonal owner looks for consensus among their peers and feels more confident in a player that multiple people endorse. Moreover, this team owner will also value having a certain comfort level with a team or specific player. This owner is most likely of the four to draft “hometown” players or players of which they have a familiarity. They may take their time drafting a player making sure that their friends are onboard with their picks.
S represents the Steady team owner. This owner loves players with a tried and true track record. Even if the player is not a star, the Steady owner finds value in this player due to their consistent, repeatable record of success. The Steady owner is risk-averse meaning this owner is least likely to take a chance on an unknown commodity such as a rookie or a player with an injury history. They may not use the entire time allotted for making their picks but they will use most of it, ensuring they didn’t rush to judgment on a specific player. When managing their team, the Steady owner is the one most likely to trot out the same lineup week after week, looking long term for success, believing in their season-long draft day strategy.
C represents the Calculated owner. This owner is all about stats, analysis, deductive logic and predictability. This team owner will analyze to the point of paralysis. They run the numbers, re-run the numbers, compare and contrast with the numbers from national prognosticators and create formulas to create the best winning probability percentages. This person is most likely to take longer to make each pick than any other team owner due to analyzing the numbers right down to the second the pick is made. Managing their team is a week to week endeavor as they are constantly analyzing which players are most likely to perform better on given weeks considering that week’s opponent. Therefore, the Calculated owner will change their lineup almost on a weekly basis based on matchups. Fear of not playing the right player on the right week drives this owner to put in the hours of analysis they feel is required to succeed.
Are there advantage or disadvantages for a certain behavioral style?
Each personality profile will believe they have the upper hand when it comes to drafting and managing their team. But does any specific behavioral group have an innate advantage over the others? The Driver goes for the homerun, filling his team with potential, including rookies and injury-prone players. Should these players stay healthy and excel, he will find himself at the top of the standings. Of course, this is a high-risk strategy. The Interpersonal team owner is often all about the “team-by-committee” approach, counting on opinions of others to form their final choices. This team owner may have strength in numbers, but they may also receive a lot of conflicting views. There’s an old saying about putting five people together to create a horse and ending up with a mule. That possibility exists if this team owner isn’t decisive or confident enough to make the final call. They may rely heavily on players they are familiar with, which is fine if the players deliver. But if your favorite teams include the Jets, Browns or 49’ers, you might be in for a long season relying players from those teams!
The Steady owner will assemble a team of past performers with proven track records and ride those horses all season long. If they perform as they have in the past, this owner has a legitimate shot. But this owner is counting on each player performing up to the level and ability that they have performed in the past. The Calculated owner may exhibit the most tension because they fear making a mistake and they spend countless hours analyzing and overanalyzing. They do this both in preparation for the draft as well as managing their team each week. Sometimes they can analyze to a point of losing sight of common sense, and they can end up benching a player that they had no business benching, just because the matchup dictated sitting a star player. But, to their credit, this person will have a definite reason for every move they’ve made because they’ve had plenty of time to think and re-think the reason why they did what they did.
Conclusion
It's important to remember that everyone has a certain level of all four behavioral styles that make up who they are. In many cases, two behaviors may be dominant so characteristics of both will likely come into play in defining how they will approach their team. Based on early research in this author's league, it is inconclusive as to whether or not a specific personality profile has any innate advantage or disadvantage in drafting or managing their fantasy football league. In our ten-team league, the three teams on top consist of one D and two C’s while five I’s are all sitting with a .500 record. The only 0-4 team happens to be owned by an S, but this particular S is a league rookie so he is still learning the ropes. So the slow start may be more indicative of his lack of experience instead of his behavioral style. It will be interesting to see whether or not any trends appear as the season goes on. Take a look at your league and track the progress of your league's team owners to see if you can identify a pattern of behaviors that tend to outperform the others.
