Fantasy Football - Draft Rules and What To Look Forward To

Welcome to the Woodbury Fantasy Football Blog.

Many of you have already drafted, but for those of you who haven't we'll provide some draft advice today. If you have already drafted, check back every Wednesday for our take on what was noteworthy from the previous weeks action and our take on what to look forward to in your next matchup.

Now I'm assuming this blog isn't the first place you've gone to for your pre draft fantasy advise, so I'm not going to talk about the benefit of drafting two stud RBs in the first two rounds, or either drafting one of the top two TEs early or waiting to be one of the last to draft a TE. You also probably already know that if you don't get one of the top 4 QBs, you should wait until the late rounds to get one, and that you should never, ever, draft a kicker before your last pick. And if you didn't know all of that, now you do.

Here are the other rules I think should be followed when drafting:

1 - Don't draft a backup QB. You are wasting a bench spot for someone you will rarely use, and put yourself in a position to second guess what should be an obvious decision. You could end up with a duo like Matt Ryan and Jay Cutler. Cutler will outscore Ryan a few weeks this year, and that will make you question who to start the next week. But, Ryan is a better, more consistent QB than Cutler, and you should always start him. Don't put yourself in a position where you have to make a choice. If your QB gets hurt, guys like Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Michael Vick, Jay Cutler, Joe Flacco, Josh Freeman, Andy Dalton, or Matt Schaub will likely be available on your waiver wire. The pick you save will be much better used taking a shot on a sleeper WR or RB.

2 - Don't look at bye weeks. Draft the best players available, the players you want on your team. You might get unlucky and have 3 of your best players on bye the same week, but you get to enjoy their production the other 16 weeks of the year. Drafting is hard enough, pick the best player and let the bye weeks fall where they may, you'll figure it out when the time comes.

3 - Don't try to back up every position! This one may be obvious to some, but I still see it all the time, and it piggybacks off of my last points. Some people feel as though they need 2 QBs, 2 TEs, 2 kickers, and 2 defenses, because they will need a backup when their #1 at each position is on bye. I'm telling you right now, don't do it. I'm not saying you should drop anyone at any of those positions when the bye comes along just to pick up a replacement. I'm just saying you are wasting roster spots for unknowns. Yes, when your one QB, TE, K, and DEF hits their bye week, you will have to make a choice. You can choose to keep your player, drop someone else, and pickup a backup... or you can choose to keep you players as they are and just not score any points for that position that week. But the more likely option is that one of the players you took a risk on during the draft isn't paying off, and you can cut them to pick up someone (or some team D) to cover your bye. It's just very important for you to know that RB and WR are the most important positions in fantasy football, and you are wasting the chance to stock up on them if you draft multiple Ks, DEFs, QBs, or TEs.

My standard disclaimer will be as follows: If my advice helps you - you owe me big time. And if my advice is dead wrong - you shouldn't have listened.

Next Wednesday I will start the first half of my weekly blog, which will look at the non obvious players you should start, consider, or sit (non obvious means I'm not going to talk about Adrian Peterson or Calvin Johnson etc. because you are starting them every week regardless of the opponent).

Thanks for reading, check back every Wednesday for analysis on what mattered from the previous week and what to look forward to in the next matchup.