A real football general manager has several assistants helping him. Heck, they have a whole front office of people trying to manage everything about the team and its players. CBSSports Fantasy Football apps offer you that same type of assistance, with several great tools that can help push your team over the top. And you know I’m always looking for some great Fantasy Football tools.
Jason Kint, CBSSports.com’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, shared his thoughts with me on how these apps have changed the Fantasy Football landscape.
“In only its first month, the app platform has succeeded beyond high expectations,” said Kint. “The biggest winners are the users who are much more likely to bring home the trophy this year. Fantasy developers are building awesome tools, features, content customized directly into our game platform. We’re able to provide our platform with millions of paying customers so everyone wins.”
Much like my Top Fantasy Football Draft iPad Apps, I didn’t purchase all of these to test them. As a matter of fact, I asked a couple of friends that still work in the CBS Fantasy department to give me some of their recommendations, as well as which ones are the most popular. You’ll be happy to know that these apps do work across all of your CBS leagues.
Also, please realize that these aren’t affiliate links, so I’m not making any money if you buy or don’t buy. I just hope you are able to enjoy them and they help you win! That’s the real reason for their creation – to help you win in your CBSSports Fantasy Football leagues. Some of these apps cost money and some are for free, so you’ll have to determine just how much help you want.
9 Great CBSSports.com Fantasy Football Apps
Fantasy Assistant, Price $9.99
“The Fantasy Assistant is the ultimate fantasy tool to help dominate your league by analyzing player importance, recommend waiver wire pickups, provide historical team-by-team analysis, and much more. Our platform is easy to use and is built to help both newbies and veterans alike.” – by app creators, FantasySP
Some of the highlights of this app include:
- Analysis of every team in your league to determine strengths and weaknesses, including the starting lineup and reserves.
- “High Risk Waiver Wire Suggestions” help you uncover some sleepers.
- “Low Risk Waiver Wire Suggestions: points out the free agents that are consistently outperforming some of the players on your roster.
- Trend analysis and Advanced Player Ratings
Spending $10 on a Fantasy app might seem like a chunk, but if you’re in a money league with a $100 entry fee, then paying an additional 10 percent to possibly win $600 or more seems like a smart move. If you’re in a $25 entry league, then you should look at the cheaper apps.
Ziguana Forecaster, Price $9.99
“Forecaster projects your entire season and recommends players statistically proven to improve your odds of winning. Analysis is based on CBS player projections and is tailored to your league’s custom scoring settings. Forecaster takes into account your available roster positions, handles injuries, bye weeks, and incorporates recent performance.” — by app creators, Ziguana
- See projected standings for your entire league and see what your team’s probability is of making the playoffs (I love this feature)
- Add recommended free agents from inside the app
- Named Fantasy Industry’s 2011 Rookie of the Year by the FSTA
Much like the previous app, spending $10 is quite the investment for an assistant. But this app comes with a nice pedigree, and it’s good to see that industry peers recognized them.
Another thing I like about this app is the developers seem to be involved in the message board, answering problems about bugs, etc.
Scoreboard Plus, Price FREE
”Scoreboard Plus brings your fantasy game to life by providing live expert commentary from Twitter alongside live scores and stats. Bring your gameday experience to an entirely new level by downloading our free application and finding our tab on your fantasy football team’s schedule page.” — by app creators, Fanium
Reading that a player’s stats take a bump up on one play is one thing, but reading the expert analysis that comes through about that particular play could make a big difference for you and you rteam.
It’s a free app, so there’s no reason not to check it out.
@GrantGurtin tweeted me last week to tell me about this app. And he wanted me to know about their “Team Tweets” app, as well. See below.
Team Tweets Football, Price FREE
”Fanium’s Team Tweets application brings your Fantasy team to life with real time commentary, analysis, and updates from experts. Never miss an injury update or last minute scratch before your lineup locks again. Click on team tweets from your roster page to find out everything happening with your team from only top sources.” — by app creators, Fanium
I like this! Normally, the update writers at CBSSports.com are all over the latest news, especially actives/inactives, but to be able to get tweets from NFL insiders on your players as they happen – that’s gold, Jerry!
Football Trade Analyzer, Price $0.99
”Get help evaluating fantasy football trades to see which team is getting the better deal. The trade analyzer evaluates dozens of statistical categories, player expectations, performance trends, injuries, and comparisons to similarly positioned players.” – by app creators, FantasySP
Players are assigned “player ratings” that get compared against the other players involved in the trades. Those ratings are broken down to explain how that rating was determined.
It’s also cool that they can analyze up to 10 players in any one trade, which is nice when you get these huge blockbuster deals that get confusing.
The Machine: Total, Price $29.95
”The Machine: Total is Easy, Powerful, Personal and Fun, assisting you with tough decisions throughout the season including DRAFT, LINEUPS, PICKUPS AND TRADES. Using proven “win-based” math intelligence and blended predictions from industry experts, AccuScore, Jamey Eisenberg, Dave Richard, and FantasySharks, The Machine delivers the most in-depth personal information to make all the tough decisions, giving you the highest probability to winning. “ – by app creators, Advanced Sports Logic, Inc.
Obviously, shelling out $30 for one app gets some people apprehensive, and justifiably so. Here are some of the features they tout:
- Draft tool – You’d think we’re too late for this one, but actually, it says it provides guidance throughout the whole season. “In fact, our customers used The Machine on average more than once a day for the entire 2011 NFL season!”
- Weekly lineup recommendations
- Free-agent recommendations to improve your probability to win
- Trade analysis, Trade recommendations and counteroffers
- Looks like they have great customer support, according to some of the comments.
My suggestion is that since you can buy this once and use it in all of your CBSSports leagues, then the cost is spread out a bit. In other words, you’re not shelling out $30 for one league. If you have three or more money leagues, this seems like a wise investment.
While it’s tough to trust a guy that wears sunglasses in his profile pic, this write-up shows how The Machine did in a 2011 FSTA Experts pick contest. (Spoiler alert: it did well!)
FF Crystal Ball, Price $9.99
”FF Crystal Ball gives you the in-depth start/sit information you need to DOMINATE YOUR LEAGUE! We gather information from around the Web, rate its quality, and tailor it to YOUR ROSTER.” – by app creators, SpinBall Enterprises, Inc.
Their rankings are customized to your roster by using the combined expertise of over 30 top Fantasy Football authorities. (I must have been No. 31, ‘cuz I didn’t get the invite!)
It boasts that over 100,000 Fantasy Footballers used this roster management app last season.
I will say that the design in the screengrabs are the best looking ones of the apps in this article.
Injury Watch, Price $4.99
”Automatically make your substitutions by simply setting up an Injury Watch to substitute a starter who becomes out, doubtful, questionable or probable with a reserve player of your choice. Bye-Weeks and Game-time decisions are handled automatically so you don’t have to log in 10 minutes before the game to substitute for inactive players.” – by app creators, Logison Technologies
How many times have you frantically run to your computer or cell phone to try to get a last-minute lineup change in because you saw your player was named inactive.
To me, this seems like the best CBSSports.com tool of them all. I’m currently in one league that gives you a ZERO if you accidentally have a guy on your injured list and he ends up playing. So I just never put anyone on my injured list. But with this tool, you can start those guys if you want, then have them automatically replaced if they don’t play. They also handle bye weeks and game-time decisions automatically.
I’m in another Fantasy Football league that dates back to 1989, and we actually post depth charts each week through email. If THIS guy is injured and doesn’t play, I want THIS guy inserted.
THIS tool just made our lives much easier!
The Fantasy Companion, Price $4.99
”Keeping up with your Fantasy league has never been easier. The Fantasy Companion generates news articles using the unique data for your league. These articles describe the highs and lows of each week’s game, along with generating headlines, sidebars, and game notes.” – by app creators, FantasyJournalist
I like this idea! Heck, it even made it into my “12 Fantasy Football Tools You WISH Existed”! (See No. 8) This idea is similar to mine, and that counts!
Really cool features that I heart:
- Articles describe the highs and lows of each week’s game, with headlines, sidebars and notes.
- An automated interviewer asks you questions about key events, and it adds your comments to the article. – THAT’S AWESOME!
- It also has a few other tools inside, as well, including a Trade Analyzer, a Trade Suggester, and an optimal Lineup Setter.
- It also has an option that creates and posts Facebook updates and Tweets using their custom-generated articles.
- The content discusses some of your coaching decisions, some of your players’ contributions and it even sorts player video highlights.
- It even figures out your team’s playoff odds, calculated using a 10,000 game league simulation!
As a writer, I think this adds a great element. But I wish it was something that worked for your league rather than just for your team. In other words, I’d rather have a league newsletter, rather than a team newsletter. But if you have three or more teams on CBSSports.com, then this could be a nice way to keep better track.
I hope you enjoyed these reviews and feel free to chime in below with some apps you’ve used or you think are super useful. We’re always looking for a little help!
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