When conducting your Fantasy Football Draft the best
overall advice is to play it safe early. Don’t
try to out smart yourself. Get your running back early,
but then draft a balance of running and passing throughout
the draft and save your gambles for mid and late rounds.
When you do gamble, focus on running backs.
1. Check your Leagues Point System before
the draft and occasionally during the season. Obvious,
but often ignored. Notice during the season which categories
seem to be manufacturing a lot of points. If you see a
point strength in the some category make moves for players
who excel at that category. You will be surprised how
you can stop a weakness on your team and turn it into
a strength in the league. Some leagues, like Yahoo Fantasy
Football, have a STANDINGS scoring summary. Use this to
analyze strengths and weakness of categories during the
season.
2. Running Backs: Draft a “sure
thing” veteran running back in the first-round,
always. Strongly consider another with your second-pick,
but don't be forced to take one whose value is much lower.
The bottom line is you need to know that every week you
will get consistent, top-scoring from one your running
backs. Make sure you look at the running backs ability
to score in the red zone and his ability to catch the
ball. Those two factors are what separate to good fantasy
backs from the average backs.
Make sure to grab some extra running backs in the late-rounds.
Extra running backs are more important than any other
position because of the lack of change that happens at
the position.
Take a gamble on a running back. A rookie or a back up
of a top running team is a good gamble. Here
are some rookie running backs worth looking at in 2011.
3. Quarterback: They will generally
score the most points in Fantasy Leagues. But with most
leagues having only one starting slot, even in a 14-team-league,
you can get good starting QB's in the late-rounds. Naturally
if you are playing in a more competitive 2 quarterback
league the position is much more valuable. Here are
the levels:
A) The Franchise QB: This year there is a
fuzzy line in between The Franchise quarterback and
the stud. Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Peyton
Manning (depending on injury) qualify in 2011, It is
probably not worthwhile to take one of these ahead of
the best running backs, but in the end of the first
round is worth getting the only elite, franchise quarterback.
B) Fantasy Stud: These are sure-things and
have potential to be a Franchise QB in any given season.
Micheal Vick, Phillip Rivers, Tony Romo and Matt Schaub
fall into this category in 2011. Micheal Vick could
have the value of a franchise QB if he proves he can
be consistent.
Matt Ryan and Eli Manning are on the cusp of making
this group and can be drafted a bit cheaper in 2011.
Each of these quarterbacks have stats that can compete
or possibly top the franchise quarterbacks, so it may
be wise to get one of these cheaper quarterbacks.
Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco have the potential
to move into this group if their teams throw a bit more
and they can be drafted much lower.
C) Fantasy Starter: This is the most common
QB and can be drafted in the mid-late rounds and even
found in free agency in most leagues. The above mentioned
Eli Manning, Matt Ryan, Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco
are at the top. Young gun slingers Sam Bradford and
Josh Freeman are the newest additions to this group
as well as veterans like Jay Cutler, Matt Cassel and
Carson Plamer.
D) Fantasy Hopefuls: These are either inconsistent
veterans or young QB's. Matthew Stafford, Kevin Kolb,
Mark Sanchez, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jason Campbell and Chad
Henne fit these bills. Any of these can go higher than
the solid veteran starter and make good gambles at the
right time.
You should put all QB's into these categories to help
your draft. The point here is if you don't draft a "Franchise
QB" you are better to wait unit the mid-rounds
to get a "Starter" quality QB. Either start
the run on this type of QB's if the time is right or
grab yours during the run.
4. Wide Receivers: The first bit of advice
on WR's is to go back to the general draft advice, know
your point system. Some leagues give points for receptions.
If your league does, this gives possession-type receivers
more value. It changes everything.
After that is established,
just like at running backs, you need to get at least one
sure-thing WR. He needs to get the consistent 6-7 catches,
100 yards and a TD.
Don't under estimate the value WR's,
but don't over-estimate them either. There are around
60 wide receivers to choose from, RB, TE and QB have half
of that. After you have a stud, it is almost as likely
to find a second or a third in free agency during the
season as it is to find one in the draft. This is not
to say don't draft more than one, it is to say be aware
of it.
Every year a rookie receiver or two will have big years,
though it is a difficult position for rookies to learn,
so it is risky to draft them. Here
are some rookie wide receivers worth looking at in 2011.
5. Tight Ends: Usually getting a top
tight end is a good strategy because of the low amount
of worthwhile fantasy tight ends. In 2011 it is simply
not the case. Wait on tight ends in this years draft!
Worse case you pluck a sleeper like Aaron Hernandez
or a Zach Miller, Dustin Keller or even Benjamin Watson
late and you'll still be in very good shape.
6. Kickers: Drafted a kicker early
is simply stupid! Wait until the first one is drafted
before you even think about it unless it is so late
in the draft that you can't pass him up.
Generally a better offense means more points from a
kicker, but not always. A shaky offense can produce
many field goal opportunities while a great one will
score more touchdowns. A big-play passing offense will
generally kick less field goals. In the end draft the
most consistent kicker who can nail a high percentage
of 40 yard plus field goals. This is where the fantasy
points come form. Here
are the top-twenty kickers of 2011.
7. Defenses: Drafted a defense early
is simply stupid! Wait until the first one is drafted
before you even think about it unless it is so late
in the draft that you can't pass them up.
Sound familiar? Defenses are very difficult to predict,
especially when you are talking about fantasy numbers
such as as sacks, interceptions, fumbles and touchdowns.
Don't be afraid to take one a notch higher than expected,
but be careful how high. The best bet is target a good
one, but not the number one ranked. Here
are the top-twenty defenses of 2011.
8. Save gambles for middle and late-rounds.
Plenty of places for gambles, just not too early.
9. Go into the draft with a small
draft plan and some sleepers. Then throw away your plan.
The most important thing during the draft is to ADAPT!
Notice what positions are and are not being drafted.
Can you hold off on drafting your Quarterback because
everyone has already drafted one? Was there a run on
tight ends? You better get one, even if it is a slightly
over-priced player. Go with the flow of the draft and
you will do better than sticking to a plan. If you are
new to drafting and your league offers an auto-draft
option, use it. This will give you a safely drafted
team.
10. Finally, keep an eye on the player's
bye weeks. But even more important, look at when your
playoffs are and check the QB's you are drafting during
those weeks. Make sure one of them has a good match
up in each playoff week. It can mean the difference
of a championship and second place. Also check the running
backs, although they are generally more consistent,
playing against a great defense probably means less
TD's. It should just be another thing you weigh when
you are drafting, not the only reason. |
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