Fantasy Football Draft Tips
August 22, 2004 | 
19 Comments
Summary: Tips on having a good fantasy football draft.
The first key to a successful fantasy football campaign is a good draft. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a keeper league or a start-from-scratch-every-year league, your draft can make or break your season.
I’ve been playing fantasy football for a while now, and I think I’ve got a pretty good idea how to draft, manage and grow a team. I’ve won more than my share of titles, and I know that a poor draft can have you screwing the pooch from day one.
Fantasy Football Draft Basics
- Know the score. Make sure you fully understand your league’s scoring. This can really have an impact on how you draft and the players you choose.
- Study up. Get some fantasy football magazines and do lots of online research. The more you know, the better you’ll draft.
- Draft a running back first. You will usually want to start your draft with a back. In most leagues the quality of your backs equals the quality of your team.
- Once you have a quality RB, go for the best player. It depends on how you play it, but usually once you have the RB down, you can go with the best out there at any position. Especially if you’ve got a wild card spot. Note: in the early rounds, usually that best player will be another RB.
- Do the draft yourself. Avoid missing your draft at all costs! In my experience, even if your pals do their best it’ll cost you down the road.
- Bring a cheat sheet (or three). Just incase you get in a situation where you don’t know anyone on the board. It’s also a lot to remember.
- Check for injuries right before the draft. You don’t want to find out your starting quarterback is out for three weeks the next day.
- Know the team schedules. Sounds like minutia, but knowing when a player has a bye week and when they play a strong schedule can effect your picks and make a difference down the road.
- Have at least one “sleeper”. A sleeper can really make your season. Doing some research and targeting at least one is a good idea. I had Kurt Warner the year he broke out…and won the season.
- Pay attention! Keep your ears open, record what others are doing. If you watch, listen and pay attention you can capitalize on other’s mistakes.
My Own Special Fantasy Football Draft Tips
These are a few things I like to do. Your milage may vary, but this stuff has worked for me.
- Take players you like. If you have players you like you’ll be a bit more engaged during the season, and staying in the game and tightly managing your team is crucial.
- Get a great kicker. A great kicker can be more valuable than a good running back.
- Just about any defense will do. It depends on the league quite a bit, but in many leagues defense ends up being the least impact.
- Draft the backup RB. I like to draft the backup of my primer RB, just in case he gets hurt.
- QB/WR connection. I love to make sure I’ve got at least the second WR my main QB throws to. Especially in high points leagues. You can really rack up on someone.
- Make a draft day trade. These seem to always work out good. Remember your sleepers. Maybe you can sucker someone out of something good.
Filed under: Life and Such
Comments
1. Steve said:
The Banana Tuggers Rock!!!!
Posted on August 22, 2004 11:16 PM | #
2. Keith said:
Hehe…everyone, meet my brother Steve. Hey bro, you’re goin’ down week one.
Posted on August 22, 2004 11:31 PM | #
3. Mike P. said:
Thanks for the tips, hope they don’t bite you in the ass ;-] (hehheh)
Posted on August 23, 2004 01:49 AM | #
4. Bryan Buchs said:
Wow, I’ve really got to disagree with you on the Kicker. There are about 8 guys who are going to be pretty productive this season; you probably want one of them, but don’t pass on a good backup WR or RB to get a Wilkins or Vanderjagt.
On the “QB/WR connection”, it can be great, or it can kill you. Sure if you get Manning/Harrison, Culpepper/Moss, you’re OK. But if your that team has an unproductive week, you’re done.
“Take players you like” - it sure does make the season more interesting. You hate to have guys you just don’t like. On the same note, though, *don’t* stretch on a guy just because you like him, or he plays for your home team.
Your other tips are great - I also drafted Warner (way back when) and won the league that year. Don’t underestimate the importance of knowing the schedule. When you find out that 4 of your starters all have the same bye-week, you’ll be kicking yourself.
I’ve got the #4 pick in my draft next weekend. I’ll likely end up with Portis, but I’m not happy about it.
Posted on August 23, 2004 07:20 AM | #
5. Keith said:
Bryan – re: the kicker. I agree that if you can’t get one of the top few guys it’s not much help, but, if you can get Janikowski, Vineteri, etc. It can be a real coup.
re: WR/QB connection. This has worked well for me, but yeah, it could backfire. But then again, if your QB goes down hard you’ve got problems anyway.
re: Portis. I love Portis. Rode him to two championships two years ago. Then again, who knows how he’ll fit in this year in Wash.
Posted on August 23, 2004 08:34 AM | #
6. Bryan Buchs said:
Kieth -
re:re: Portis. I loved Portis last year. He just doesn’t have the O-Line in Washington that he had in Denver. It could be a great pick, or it could backfire.
I’d love to get my hands on Ahman Green, but Imy league is in Wisconsin, and I’m 99% sure that he’ll be gone before I can get to him.
Does your league have a public website? I’d love to check in during the season.
Posted on August 23, 2004 09:56 AM | #
7. Keith said:
Bryan – I’m in a few leagues and none of them have a public Web site, that I know of. We use various services (this year I’ve got CBS, Espn, and Yahoo) and I plan on writing up a comparisson at some point.
Anyway, good luck this year!
Posted on August 23, 2004 10:04 AM | #
8. Scrivs said:
Scrivs’ tip: Make sure you are not in the same ESPN league as me because the destruction will be severe.
I got 3rd pick. Not bad. Looks like I will have to go with Ryan Leaf.
Posted on August 23, 2004 11:55 AM | #
9. Keith said:
Scrivs – Heh, heh. Bring it on brother. Leaf…funny stuff.
Posted on August 23, 2004 12:10 PM | #
10. Mike D. said:
Out of the consensus top 20 or so picks this year, the only guy I’d stay clear away from is Clinton Portis. He plays a couple of years for a stacked Hurricane team and then goes directly to the running back paradise that is the Denver Broncos and now he’s playing in a Steve Spurrier first-year offense? You’re going to see lots of dump passes to him, but no consistent action up the middle like in Denver.
Quick, name two running backs who played for Steve Spurrier in college.
Posted on August 24, 2004 12:15 AM | #
11. Andrew Bolte said:
Emmitt Smith and Fred Taylor.
But Steve Spurrier isn’t the coach of Washington this year; Joe Gibbs is. I don’t think Portis will fare well in Washington with a depleted O-line, but Gibbs has always been a winner, so maybe he’ll pull a surprise out in the stacked NFC East. *shrug*
Posted on August 24, 2004 08:16 AM | #
12. Mike D. said:
Umm, Gibbs, yeah. Brain fart.
I’m still not touching Portis though. Not that anyone should pay attention to someone who forgot Spurrier left…
Posted on August 25, 2004 12:19 AM | #
13. Mike D. said:
Also, I’m pretty sure Emmitt never played for Spurrier. Emmitt’s last season was 1989 and Spurrier got there in 1990 I believe.
Posted on August 25, 2004 12:29 AM | #
14. Spike said:
Honestly, bunch of nancies having to stop their game every five minutes for a breather, wearing all that kevlar. Why can’t you play a real mans game like rugby? :)
Posted on August 25, 2004 02:54 AM | #
15. Andrew Bolte said:
I should’ve suspected that Emmitt didn’t play for Spurrier. Oh well, it was a guess off the top of my head, so it was bound to be wrong anyway. :D
Posted on August 25, 2004 07:45 AM | #
16. JasonTC said:
Re: Public Web Site
I used my own hack-job of a web site last year. This year I am looking to use OFFL. It is still rough around the edges, but has been gaining a lot of steam in the past week. Just an FYI if you do not care to pay out the rear for league management.
Posted on August 25, 2004 08:37 AM | #
17. Froman said:
Yahoo has free leagues, and does an excellent job with them. You pay for extra features, but they are not necessary. I go to NFL Pro Football Standings for any fantasy info or insight I need to keep me ahead of the game.
Posted on November 14, 2004 04:03 PM | #
18. Mark G said:
Pretty solid advice! I just don’t think a kicker is EVER more valuable than a running back.
Posted on April 9, 2005 10:52 PM | #
19. adam said:
I am in yahoo and im drafting two teams. This is my first year of football but im great at drafting quility teams. From yahoos scoring system it looks like a good qb should come first then a rb second, what do you guys think?
Posted on August 23, 2005 03:02 PM | #
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