Fantasy Football Draft Strategy 2012: Simple Tips to Help Dominate Your Draft

When it comes to fantasy football, there are numerous different strategies that owners can use with hopes of building the best team possible. At the end of the day, though, it's important to remember the basics once draft day arrives.

It's really the golden era of fantasy sports. So anybody can print out a cheat sheet and have a reasonable chance of picking a good team. But owners that follow the three tips below should have a leg up on the competition when the regular season gets underway.

Avoid Positional Runs

It happens a couple times in every draft. Somebody starts a run by picking a tight end like Aaron Hernandez about a round after Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham get selected and the fear of missing out on one causes several other owners to follow suit.

Unfortunately, by the end of the run the best players available are guys like Jacob Tamme and Jermaine Gresham. They aren't necessarily bad options, but they simply don't possess much value at the end of a tight end run.

You are better off focusing on a different area of need when this happens and coming back to select the other position later. The other upgrades will outweigh the loss of missing out due to a run.

Study Sleepers Before Draft

Although this rule goes for every league, it's especially important for live drafts. It's impossible to try to make up ground on draft day by running down the entire cheat sheet in the middle rounds trying to find a name you might have heard was having a good training camp.

There are no shortage of ways to unearth these hidden gems. Some people like to pay attention to preseason numbers, while others like to look for positive praise from the coaching staff. Trying to find players in promising positions behind injury-prone starters also helps.

Regardless of the approach, make sure you enter the draft with a handful of names in mind to ensure your roster ends up as strong as possible. A couple of players to keep an eye on are Titus Young of the Detroit Lions and David Wilson of the New York Giants.

Draft Your Kicker Last

It's almost painful when you see somebody draft a kicker in the ninth round because they are trying to complete their starting lineup before shifting focus to the bench. It's one of the biggest mistakes made in fantasy football drafts.

The reason is two-fold. First, it's difficult to predict how kickers will perform from year to year. Last year David Akers was among the last kickers taken in 12-team leagues, and he proceeded to break records. Second, the difference in scoring averages is minimal.

Taking backups at the key positions will have a much bigger impact on your team over the course of the season than any kicker could. Just wait until the final round to select a kicker. There are always plenty on the waiver wire if the one you draft struggles.