Draft Recap

It took a lot longer than anticipated to get this site up and running. So now I'm trying to catch up with all of my pre-season posts before kickoff tomorrow night. I posted on Verbal Currency earlier this summer that the toughest part of drafting for me is sticking with my pre-draft plan. And I'm not alone. Too many experienced owners cave to peer pressure and react to runs on a certain position or grab a big name that they don't need with trade-bait intentions. So for better or worse, I drafted all of my teams this year based on the following rules:

-RB first round, no matter what.

-Don't jump on a QB too early. Most owners are ditching the RB, RB strategy in favor of a "best available player" draft. QB's aren't going to be the best available player between round 2 and round 5. If you're not going to jump on Brady or Manning, then grab other productive position players before heading back to the QB pool.

-Draft YOUR OWN team. Unless you really screw up in the first few rounds, use your mid-to-late round picks on players you would feel comfortable putting into your starting lineup. Don't grab a guy that won't add value to your team because you think someone else wants him. Guys you're willing to put in your own roster are better trade-bait anyway.

-Don't bother with the handcuff. Most fantasy experts advise that owners "handcuff their studs." In deep leagues, with lots of bench space and slim pickings on the waiver wire, protecting your investment with a late round handcuff makes sense. But for those of us that are using standard rosters and have 12 or fewer teams in a league, a handcuff that will only start in the event of catastrophic injury is a wasted bench spot. Better to draft an alternative starter that has bye-week usefulness and be quick on the wire if your starter blows out his knee.

-Wait on the D/ST. Every year, somebody grabs the a D/ST in rounds 6-8. And that usually kicks off a run on defenses when valuable position players are sill on the board. Don't give in to the pressure. Wait until the last few rounds of the draft and grab the best available D/ST. Then wait to see which undrafted team ends up with a dominant D and snag them off the wire.

-Last Round=Kicker. What do people not get about this?

I followed my rules as closely as possible this year and I have no regrets about my teams. I'll revisit some of my significant drafting decisions later in the season, as I discover whether they panned out or not.