Preparing For Your Fantasy Football Draft
Step1
Your fantasy football draft is the most important element in winning your fantasy football league. If you do not start with a good core team, you will quickly find yourself fighting an uphill battle throughout the season. The first step to having a successful fantasy football draft is to get a strategy together. You do not want to go into the draft without an idea about who to avoid, and who to pick up. Learn as much as you can before draft day. Here is how you do it.
Step2
The first place to start is to comb the injury list. Go to www.nfl.com or www.espn.com and check out who is hurting. If a player is having any type of knee problems, avoid him in your draft. The knees are very important in football, and those types of injuries tend to linger around for a bit. Make sure you know as much as possible about all injuries prior to the draft. It is pretty humiliating to use that number three pick on a player that just went down with a season ending injury that you did not know about.
Step3
The next step in preparing for your fantasy football league draft is to realize that the position of running back is the single most important position on your team. This is not universally agreed upon, but generally it is the strategy that wins for me. For the first three rounds, I draft three top running backs. The only exception to this rule is if I can acquire Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. This strategy has served me well in all of my drafts, and using it as a rule of thumb will certainly help you to win as well.
The Fantasy Football Draft
Step1
Since you are going into draft day with knowledge of injuries, and a strategy, draft day should be a breeze. When you draft your first pick, make it a premiere running back that will get you solid points week in and week out. The exception to this rule is Peyton or Brady. Running backs win fantasy football leagues. It is as simple as that.
Step2
Round two is much the same as the first. Running backs reign supreme and they always go quickly. You want to have at least three, and preferably four quality running backs on your squad for success. You have to plan for the bye weeks. If you only have two, and one or both have a bye, what then? This is why you want depth at the running back position.
Step3
Round three and four is where you begin to look for a quality quarterback. An average quarterback is equivalent to an excellent wide receiver as a rule. They handle the ball every play, and have more opportunities to score points. Pay attention to your fantasy football league's rules. Do they give more of a premium to yardage or touchdowns? Draft your quarterback accordingly.
Step4
After you have three or four quality running backs and one or two quality quarterbacks, then start filling in the wide receivers and the rest of your team. Tight end, kickers, and the defenses are much less important than the big two of quarterback and running back. If you have a strong batch of quarterbacks and running backs, then the rest can be overcome. If you are missing these two elements, then you are sunk throughout the year.
During the Season
Step1
Once you have your teams, then you will want to comb the waiver wire for your fantasy football league. Go through and see if you have any diamonds in the rough. Is there a running back with potential to be a starter this year? Look for any players that could help your team. Use the waiver wire throughout the season to fill in your gaps due to bye weeks.
Step2
In most fantasy football leagues you will receive many trade offers throughout the season, but especially right after the draft. Try to use their own likes against them. If they have a team name of "The Greensboro Panthers" then they probably like the Carolina Panthers. Trade them some of your drafted Panthers for more value for your own team. If you can trade Jake Delhomme for Tom Brady, then you will see what I mean. Be aware that if the trade is to lopsided, then the league will probably not accept it. You can certainly try, however.
Step3
Finally, the last element to make sure you win your fantasy football league is to stay active. On average, about fifty percent of fantasy football players stop participating around mid season. Sometimes it is due to them being out of the running, and sometimes it is just being lazy. If you are active, and pay attention to setting your lineups each week, you are already half way there.
Novice 
