The NFL is rapidly changing into a pass happy, no defense league. Keep up with the trend in your fantasy football draft using these quick, easy tips.
First, remember to not draft your running backs early anymore. It used to be a good policy that the most sure way to have a good season and win your league was to have two stud running backs on your team that you drafted in rounds 1 and 2. Teams that did not follow this running back first rule were quickly eliminated from the postseason and were likely the people who quit playing before the bye weeks were even over, but not any more. The running back position in the NFL has changed. More and more teams are going with two running backs or a running back by committee approach. Even the Carolina Panthers with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart had Cam Newton score most of the teams rushing touchdowns last season. Running backs are now a dime a dozen in fantasy leagues.
Draft your QB first. Yes I know that this used to be as wrong to do as eating mayonnaise on hotdogs…gross. But the NFL has become a pass happy, pass first, and pass often league. There were more passing yards in 2011 than ever before. You have to have a top five quarterback in round one or face having to start a fantasy dud against a fantasy stud nearly every week.
Draft your wide receivers early. I say that both rounds 2 and 3 should be used for wide outs. You can get two of the top 10 wide receivers in these rounds and the more the league is passing the ball, the more they are catching and scoring with it also.
Draft a good tight end in round 4. There should be a really good tight end available in this round. Tight ends used to be primarily for blocking only but that is not the case any longer. Many are used as red zone targets and you know what that means…touchdowns!
Draft you defense last and your kicker next to last. Why defense last? Because of match-ups. Every week of every season you can get a defense off of the waiver wire that faces some scrub offense and has a good week. Don’t draft a good defense early and be forced to keep them in against a good offense. This is a good way to lose valuable points that you could have easily had off of the bench. Kickers in the NFL are almost impossible to predict when they will have a good fantasy day. Wind, rain, and some sort of fan voodoo magic must affect them because their points are basically pot luck. Don’t take them early either.
So if you want to not only win your fantasy league this year but also dominate it, follow these simple rules for your draft and you are sure to be a success.
