The Draft is Vital to Win

In my experience, the best teams at the end of the year are usually the teams that drafted the best team at the beginning of the year. There are some owners who do a good job of waiver wire pickups and trading in order to win; however, normally it's those who draft well that win.

Here are my top 5 tips to drafting a great team:


1. Don't always rely on the rankings of magazines and websites. Normally, these magazines and websites are giving advice for those who are in a standard scoring league with default positions. For example, a standard league starts the following every week:
1 QB
2 RBs
2 WRs
1 TE
1 FLEX
1 DEF/ST
1 K
In a standard league, scoring normally allows only 4 points for a passing TD and penalizes you for interceptions and fumbles. In leagues such as these, RBs are at a premium as they are the ones who will provide your team the most points. When you view national publications, you'll notice that the top 15 players normally consist of 12 RBs, 2 QBs, and 1 WR. They are giving you advice as if you were in one of these leagues.

2. Make sure you understand the scoring of your league! As mentioned above, a standard league only gives you 4 points for every TD thrown and penalizes you -2 points for every interception thrown but what if your league doesn't penalize you for interceptions and gives you 6 points for every TD thrown? Wouldn't that dramatically change the first 15 players taken in a draft? In such a league, a great QB would be at a premium and you might see the 5-6 QBs taken with the first 15 picks. What if your league has a scoring bonus of 5-10 points for any WR or RB who goes over 200 yards? Wouldn't it make the value of RBs and WRs skyrocket who continually go over the 200 yard barrier? If you don't understand your leagues scoring system, your doing yourself a disadvantage and could be giving up the season before you even start. Understand your league's scoring!

3. Draft players from teams you like. If other owners know that your an Eagles fan or a Broncos fan, they'll try and get the better of you in a trade because they know you'll be trading on emotion and not on brains. It may mean you need to take a player a little earlier than everyone expects; however, if you really want him, get him in the draft so you don't have to trade for him later on. If you trade on emotion, you'll lose the majority of the time and get the shorter end of the stick.

4. Conduct mock drafts with the specific position you'll be drafting in. Before drafting this past season, I was supposed to draft 4th overall; however, because I conducted several mock drafts using ESPN's mock drafting system, I traded down to 6th overall because I felt my 4th round player would be better in the 6th spot than in the 4th spot. I also was satisfied with ANY of the top 6 players overall. By conducting mock drafts, you'll get a pretty accurate picture of the quality of player you'll get round by round. Mock drafts help immensely!

5. Draft a good kicker, defense, and TE early (if applicable). If you're able to solidify a top TE, Defense, or Kicker early, you'll be able to score a few more points per game than weaker teams. Remember, you only get to play 2 RBs, 2 WRs, and a FLEX in most leagues. Depth is important, but if you can score more points per week with a great Defense, Kicker, and TE, you'll win more games. You don't get any brownie points for having a good bench... it's your starters that matter most!

Hopefully with these few tips, you'll draft a better team and be on your way to winning your fantasy football league this season.