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Fantasy Football Draft Kit
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Fantasy Football Draft Kit |
Preparing for your Fantasy Football Draft
To start, you will need two colored highlighters, a pen and paper. The highlighters are for your fantasy football cheat sheet; use one color for your team and the other color to cross off names of those who are taken. The pen and paper are used to both write down your team (so you can quickly see bye weeks as well as how many players you have at each position). If you want to be a bit more advanced, write down the positions other teams have selected as well as bye weeks. This will give you an idea of what position a team may be looking to draft or is finished drafting for a few rounds as well as players they may never select (for example, if week 5 is their QB's bye week, they will not draft a backup QB who has a week 5 bye week also because the main purpose of the backup QB is to fill in for the starter on that bye week). That being said, here are some general fantasy football drafting rules to follow and help you see how just easy it is to draft a winner...
Early Rounds (typically rounds 1, 2 and 3)
Draft Strategy: This is the time for running backs. With very few exceptions, your first round pick needs to be a running back. You need to stack your draft board with the highest scoring players - backs. With your first pick, take the best running back that you have ranked on your cheat sheet. That brings us to round two and the story hasn't changed... it's time to take another running back. Depending how many are teams in your draft, scoring systems and where you are in the second round, you need another running back or one of the elite WR's or top QB in the league. If you end up taking a WR or QB in the second round, your third round pick must be a RB. If your first two picks are RB's, look to take the best QB on the board, one of the stud WR's or even a third RB. You will soon learn that RB's are the most valuable part of fantasy football. QB's may score more than any other single position, but there is a more significant drop-off of talent from the 3rd to the 13th RB than there is from the 3rd to 13th QB. The point is, after 3 rounds it is ideal to have 2 RB's. If you end up with 3 RB's that's fine, and if you have only one, don't worry about it (nothing can be done about the past), its time to do the best you can in future rounds.
Draft Early/Middle Rounds (typically rounds 4, 5 and 6)
Draft Strategy: This is the time where you start looking at TE's. If one of the stud TE's are here, grab him. If they have already been drafted then forget about TE's for a while. You are looking to take one of the few stud QB's, backup your RB core, or start to build a good group of WR that are balanced and can complement your strong running back talent. In these few rounds it is key to draft WR's with talent, but just how many WR's you take in these rounds greatly depends on what you have done in the first few. If you finish the first 6 rounds without a QB or without a TE, don't panic. It is perfectly normal to draft backup RB's before filling in other starting spots on your team.
Draft Middle Rounds (typically rounds 7, 8 and 9)
Draft Strategy: There are millions of different teams you could have created at this point so it is hard to explain exactly which direction to go in, but here are some general guidelines. If you don't have a QB yet it's time to take one. If you have already drafted a QB and are without a TE, take one of the above average TE's that are still left on the draft board. Find a quality WR to backup your two starters or another backup RB if there is any solid talent left. If the best def in the league is still available (like Chicago), it may not be too early to take them. Outside of this team though, team defenses are drafted in later rounds.
Draft Late/Middle Rounds (typically rounds 10, 11 and 12)
Draft Strategy: The foundation of your team has now been built and it is time to fill in the holes that are left. It is time to get more depth at RB; make sure you have at least 4 if not 5 RB's through these rounds. If there are quality backup QB's this is the time to take such a player. Look for your stud Kicker in these rounds. As I have explained, there is little difference between the top few kickers in the league, but clearly it is better to have the top kicker vs. the 10th, so target them here and also take a quality defense if any of the elite starting ones are still left.
Late Rounds (typically rounds13, 14, 15 and 16)
Draft Strategy: All of your starting spots should be filled by now and it is time to start targeting backups and sleepers. It is good to have 2-3 QB's (but don't need any more). One of these QB's can be a sleeper QB but not more than that, because if the sleeper doesn't work out, you need to have a reliable backup when your staring QB has a bye. Drafting backup/rookie RB's should be done in these rounds, also look to get the actual backups of your stud RB's if any of them are injury prone (such as L. Johnson backing up P. Holmes in KC in 2005). Backup and sleeper WR's will also be drafted in these rounds but keep in mind it is rare for rookie WR's to play a significant role their first year in the NFL. If you have one of the elite TE's, K's or Defenses, then look to get a backup at the end of your draft for these positions as well. The last thing you want to do is reach to a higher round to take the best TE in the league only to realize you must drop someone in week 4 when he has a bye. As the bye week of that player passes, feel free to drop the backup and pick up another sleeper. If you are only now selecting a Kicker however, he doesn't need a backup because you can drop him and pick up the top kicker on the waiver wire when his backup comes around.
As I explained, there are millions of combinations you could end up with at the end of a draft, but if you follow these general draft rules and correlate them with the league you are a part of, you will be in the drivers seat heading into week 1...
Read our article on fantasy football auction draft strategy. Also, check out Auctions vs. Drafts considerations.
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