A few posts ago I offered advice on picking a fantasy football magazine. Along those lines, I have bought four this summer and will give each a little review. My criteria for what makes a good fantasy magazine might differ from yours, but at least you’ll get an idea of what these four have to offer when you are faced with a rack with a dozen or more fantasy mags.

ATHLON SPORTS/GROGAN’S FANTASY FOOTBALL
$8.95

Athlon/Grogan’s is pretty standard fantasy football magazine. There are a few feature articles, a team-by-team fantasy Q&A (which, in my opinion, doesn’t ask the right questions), and your standard array of mock drafts, player rankings and descriptions. A solid mag, with some nice features, though not too flashy.
Pros: Includes some nice custom stats, including a K factor, measuring how consistent a player was in 2006. Good looks at rookies, sleepers and possible busts.
Cons: Detailed individual player descriptions are adequate but don’t include enough potential draftees — how frustrating is it on draft day to consult your magazine for a possible pick and find no information on him? There are smaller comments, however, for more players on the cheat sheets.

FANTASY SPORTS
Krause Publications, $5.99

The venerable magazine (and it is a magazine, publishing four times a year, two baseball and two football issues) is respected for its longetivity and solid reporting and rankings. It doesn’t get quite as detailed as some other mags, and it’s nowhere near as flashy (a lot of gray pages), but Fantasy Sports will be the first place to get information on a player on draft day.
Pros: Thorough player information, going deep into its draft board. Also, because it’s a magazine, another issue will be published by the end of the summer (if you also play fantasy baseball, subscribing to this magazine is a must).
Cons: No IDPs. Very few bells and whistles — definitely the Toyota Corolla of fantasy football magazines.

ESPN FANTASY FOOTBALL 2007
$7.99

Perhaps my favorite magazine I’ve picked up this year. The rankings are solid, the advice good, and the feature stories are not only informative but also fun.
Pros: Unique, almost Sabermetric statistical comparisons. Good story ranking the 32 offensive lines and how that will affect the offenses surrounding them. IDP player descriptions (albeit short) as well as rankings.
Cons: Designed too much like ESPN The Magazine, meaning a gazillion little random items that are sometimes not in-depth enough. Mock draft is hard to follow.

FANTASY FOOTBALL WEEKLY 2007 ANNUAL GUIDE
Fanball.com, $7.99

Possibly the most thorough fantasy football magazine I’ve ever seen. The player descriptions are impressive, and the magazine is loaded with advice. A pleasant surprise, it will take me all summer to get through the whole thing.
Pros: Position rankings for just about every conceivable type of league (auction, points only, points-per-receptions, etc.). IDP rankings, though no descriptions. Nice mock drafts
Cons: The magazine looks nice, too nice — sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish between editorial content and ads. Would have liked to see more combined rankings for all the various league-type cheat sheets.