When should I draft for different positions?

Question

I'm doing a live draft for fantasy football for the first time tonight, and I could use some advice. This is the biggest question that I have. I know I should probably draft a RB in the first round, but beyond that I don't know much. I printed up some cheat sheets with top 200 players, top players at positions, different sleepers to watch for, players with injury concerns, and other stats. I just need some advice for when to draft positions and anything else I should be ready for.

This isn't my first time playing, just drafting live. Last season, I had a team with two top RBs (Larry Johnson and Brian Westbrook) and had a pretty good run for the season.

Answer 1

Depends on where you are in the drafting order and how many people are in your draft. That said, stud RBs are your bread-and-butter. They get about 16 - 20 points a week like clockwork. You should have at least two good starting running backs on your team. But, there are really only about 5 elite backs and another 7 to 10 good backs. Everyone else will be a crapshoot.

I was just informed last week that the league I'm in is going to have 14 teams. So, if everyone takes a RB in the first round, the guys with picks 12-14 will have pretty slim pickins at the RB position. Still, they should go with an RB first and then probably an elite QB on the way back up the order. That's because they will have to wait another 20-something picks before it's their turn again. And, with such a low starting pick, they might as well get an elite player. And, QB is more important then WR. The QB touches the ball on almost every snap. But, even a good WR can get shut out by a defense every now and then.

If you're in a standard 10-team league, the first 10 picks will all be RBs. The QBs will start coming off the list about half-way back up through the order, because the top 12-15 RBs will be gone and the guys who didn't get an elite RB will want a top QB to balance that out.

If you went RB-RB in the first two rounds, look at who's available at QB. But, take the best player available of the position players. That means you might be looking at stud WRs and TEs instead of QBs. After the first 5 or so QBs are gone, the rest are fairly well matched up and should last a bit longer (a couple more rounds) on the draft board.

In my league, we draft 4 RBs and 4 WRs, then use a combination of 2/3 (2 WRs and 3 RBs, or vice versa) in the game. We also draft back-up TEs and QBs. On bye weeks for our D and K, we just get 5 points that week. So, the last couple of rounds are pretty much just picking warm bodies to fill the roster spots. And, the D's and K's start to go in about round 10 or 11.

Pick your D before your K. In fact, you can wait until the last round of just about any draft to get your K. The difference between a top K and a mediocre one is about 2 points a game, on average, throughout the season. And, sometimes you never know who the stud will be (seriously, who picked Robby Gould as their starting kicker last year?).

Answer 2

Well, first things first, you want to draft a Solid RB first. In fact, your first two picks should probably be RB's. You have to have solid RB's to do well in fantasy football, because there are so few good RB's compared to other positions ratio wise. A lot of people would tell you to go with someone like Peyton Manning late first or early second round, but I completely disagree. Although Peyton Manning is consistantly a leader in fantasy points for QB's, with guys like Brady and Brees and even McNabb if he's healthy, I don't think you have to go so early with QB's. I'd say if there are GREAT WR's on the board, take them in the third round. By great I mean top guys like, Chad Johnson, Marvin Harrison, or maybe TO. Then make sure to get a QB. Even if Manning and Brees and Brady are gone, you still have many options. Guys like Bulger, Leinert, and Kitna will put up very solid numbers for you. No matter what anyone says, wait it out to pick up Kickers, Def, and TE. Of course there are always exceptions like, if Gates is available in the 4th or 5th rd, take him. Gates will put up WR numbers for you. And you can take the ravens or CHI defense I'd say as early as the 5th or 6th round if you really wanted to.

Answer 3

1st round should be a RB, get your 2nd in the 2-4 th rounds picking up some WR's or a top (very top) Tier QB. If I don't get Manning, Palmer, or Brees I wait till probably the 8th round for a QB picking up WR's and RB's and 1 TE. I would wait for a K till the last couple rounds, Def not before 9th round, maybe a bit sooner for Stud D's (Chicago comes to mind).

You will want atleast 3 starting RB's on your team, 4 isn't a bad idea to have, if all else fails you can trade them.

Remember to stick to your Ranking's don't get so caught up in position runs that you end up really reaching for a player.

Answer 4

A tried and true method has been

RB (always)
WR
QB
4th and 5th (best WR or RB)

Getting a RB in the 2nd round seems to make sense but the drop off between a 2nd rd RB and a 5th rd RB is less than the drop off of a 2 rd WR and a 3 rd WR.

Answer 5

1st-RB..unless you have the last pick in a 12/14 man league, if peyton is there..otherwise RB
2nd-RB then WR or peyton if there
3rd-QB like Brees/Palmer then WR (or if a good RB like edge is avaliable late in the round and thats your pick)
4th-if brady is there and you took a WR before take him , otherwise RB or WR
5th-wr or rb like carnell williams

from there you have 2 rbs, either 3 wrs or 2 and 1 qb or a good trade bait RB...a good start for any normal team. from there its sort of a best player avalible. if you have 2 wrs and the next guy is santana moss and its round 6-you take him. if some guy takes chicagos def in round 4, you let him and every one lse be retarded. if you see a kicker go, run away from them. also wait for a TE unless you like gates in the 4th round or so.otherwise take chris cooley later on (about 8th-10th round if i remebr is hwere he goes you can checkhow the TEs are goin in your draft though thats better help).

Answer 6

RB RB then WR QB and then do what ever you want after that