Be very careful about drafting a quarterback and running back from the same team.  Recent history shows that a QB and RB from the same team tend to adversely affect each other’s value.  Looking over the final stats from last season (12 team PPR league) there were only 3 QB’s and RB’s on the same team that finished in the top 12 of each position (Farve & AP, Rogers & Grant, Manning & Addai).

Also be wary of drafting a RB and WR from the same team. Looking over the top 15 RB’s and WR’s, only 3 were from the same team (Sidney Rice & AP, Wayne & Addai, H. Ward & Mendenhall).  The top 3 scoring WR’s in the league last season (A. Johnson, R. Moss and Welker) didn’t have a RB in the top 25 in final scoring.

Do look to pair a QB with the #1 WR from the same team. Don’t go out of the way to make this happen. Example, if you take Aaron Rogers in the 1st or 2nd and Jennings is there in the 3rd, take a very close look at that pair. QB and #1 WR values are closely correlated. Of the top 16 QB’s and WR’s last season, only Jay Cutler, Jason Campbell and Aaron Rogers didn’t have a top 16 WR to compliment them. However, Rogers had 2 WR’s in the top 25. Roddy White was the lone WR without a QB in the top 16. Brady had 2 WR’s in the top 16 – Welker and Moss.

Try to do mock drafts on the site of your actual draft.  Every site uses their own ADP rankings and you’ll need to get comfortable being able to search for players in that sites draft window. Two of my favorite places to mock draft, fantasyfootballcalculator.com and Yahoo, have very different player rankings. Those rankings affect ADP, which effects where players are seen on the sites draft boards (you know the little window from where you select players). For example fantasyfootballcalculator.com had Justin Forsett with an ADP of 62, while Yahoo had him around 120 (per the last time I checked). I was able to pick up Forsett in the 10th round of a real draft on Yahoo because people simply forgot he was available.

Pay attention to what players/positions other teams have picked. This is a key factor in having a good draft. For example, I saw a guy in the 9th spot of a 12 team draft take a QB in the 5th when the teams in the 10th, 11th, 12th spot had already taken a QB. They weren’t going to take another QB in round 5. He could’ve taken a RB or WR in round 5 and waited to take the same QB on the way back in round 6. My advice, make a draft day list and mark down what other teams take (there are lots of draft kits out there – get one). This will help you understand what players the teams before and after you will most likely be targeting. It will also help you understand who should be available at your pick.

Do you care about player’s bye weeks? Most people fall into 2 buckets – either they don’t care about player’s bye weeks when drafting or they’ll avoid drafting players with the same bye week. I fall into the first category. My theory is that when bye weeks roll around a lot has probably changed in the league. Injuries, position turnover and trades occur, so I don’t really sweat bye weeks. I’m not saying the other theory isn’t good; just have an idea going into your draft about how you personally feel about bye weeks.

At least look at player’s schedules (especially fantasy playoff schedules). Again, I think most people either really care about schedules or don’t really pay attention to them. All I’m saying is, if you draft Randy Moss and Brandon Marshall in the first couple rounds, just know that they both visit “Revis Island” twice this season. I always look at schedules, but I don’t fixate on it. Overanalyzing schedules can sometimes do more harm than good. You can talk yourself out of taking a good player because he has a couple bad matchups.

Know your scoring system. I’ve seen teams join leagues and in round 6 they ask “What is the scoring format”. You should know the scoring system inside and out. There are lots of different scoring formats and you should most certainly make it a priority to study your leagues scoring. Don’t be the guy that drafts Joshua Cribbs in the 7th round, just to find out that return yards don’t count in your league. Get a visit and know the scoring format.

Article written by: Rick Coeburn
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E-mail questions or comments: rick@fantasyfootballsoup.com