Fantasy Football Strategy 2012: Flexibility Is the Key to Drafting a Title Team

So you've done the research, poured over reports on any number of players, downloaded a set of player rankings (hopefully from right here at Bleacher Report), adjusted those rankings to your liking and you now sit at your computer, prepared to unleash an ingenious and insidious draft strategy that will turn your league on its ear and lead you right to championship glory.

Then the draft begins, and things go sideways quickly.

Your master plan is derailed off the get when the team picking in front of you selects Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson, throwing off your strategy of pairing fantasy football's top wideout from 2011 with another top receiver with your first two picks.

In an effort to compensate, you instead select Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the first round, only to decide three rounds later that you hate using a first-round pick on a quarterback because of the holes it leaves at other positions.

By the end of the draft, you're angry, your mouse no longer works and you're almost ready to consider fantasy baseball.

So what happened?

Easy...you fell into the pigeonhole pitfall.

Doing your homework is great, as becoming as knowledgeable as possible about as many players as possible can be a huge advantage, especially as the draft progresses. And knowing your league's roster requirements and scoring inside out is absolutely critical, as nothing can screw up a team faster than loading up on running backs only to discover that you're playing in a point-per-reception league that starts four wide receivers and only two backs.

It's even advisable to go into a draft with a general idea of the strategy you'd like to employ, whether it's to load up at wide receiver, wait for a quarterback, what have you. However, a general idea is as far as you should take it, as trying to predict how a fantasy draft will unfold is an exercise in futility.

It's hard enough to try to predict what a dozen or so of your friends will do in a draft, especially after you've all spent part of an afternoon drinking beer and talking smack. It becomes absolutely impossible when you're dealing with a group of people you've never actually met online.

The only thing that you can expect to happen during a fantasy football draft is the unexpected, and that's why it's so important that you be willing to change gears strategy-wise on the fly.

If it turns out that six of your leaguemates had the same idea you did about loading up on wide receiver? Rather than come in on the tail end of a run at that position, start one of your own at another.

If, by the end of the sixth round, 10 of the 12 teams have selected a quarterback, but you haven't? At that point, you might as well wait a little longer and keep loading up at other spots.

If the guy picking in front of you passes on a player you never dreamed would be available, but you're already loaded at the position? Take him anyway. That's what trades are for (if your league allows them and isn't filled with busybodies that veto them all).

Assuming that you're paying attention during your fantasy draft, the key to navigating it successfully is to be flexible. Trust your cheatsheets and the research you did, and try wherever possible not to let what anyone does during the draft force your next move.

Your team may not look like you thought it would when the draft started, but if you let the draft come to you and not the other way around, you'll probably be a lot happier about how your team looks when the season ends.

Gary Davenport is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association who believes you can never have too many running backs.

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