2013 Fantasy Football: Conducting a Draft Strategy

With the 2013 NFL regular season less than a month away from kickoff, fantasy football enthusiasts are eager to draft their players, hoist their league's championship prize and talk smack to fellow league competitors.

In order to achieve your goal, it is vital that you put together a consistent draft strategy and stick to it throughout the draft. In a perfect world, you get the first pick and every player you want on your team falls into your lap in your pre-specified draft position. Unfortunately, the world we live in isn't so perfect.

Anyone who is experienced with fantasy football is well aware of the scarcity of productive running backs, which is why you take the best back available with your first-round pick.

While guys like Calvin Johnson, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees sound like very attractive first-round options, you don't take them unless you have a pick falling between 10 through 12. It is tough to grasp because quarterbacks always take over the top-five fantasy performers points-wise at the season's end.

Your second-round pick should be a top-tier wide receiver, unless Jimmy Graham or one of the top 12 running backs is still left on the board. Guys like Dez Bryant, Brandon Marshall, Julio Jones and Demaryius Thomas are perfect guys to shoot for in the second round.

Tight ends are going to be a struggle to come by this year, considering there are really only 12 solid options available. Rob Gronkowski has been the best tight end over the last few years, but he is injured and there isn't really a timetable for his return.

Graham is obviously the best available, and if you don't get a chance to draft him or Jason Witten, you shouldn't be thinking about selecting a tight end until you have taken your two starting running backs and your two starting receivers. The options below Graham and Witten all have an equal chance of putting up the same numbers.

Unless you love Rodgers, Brees or Peyton Manning, you shouldn't even be thinking quarterback until round four. If you miss out on either of those guys, you have a great chance of drafting Matt Ryan, Colin Kaepernick, Cam Newton, or Tom Brady at this point. Just know that in a 12-team league, there are 10 quarterbacks out there behind Rodgers and Brees that have an equal chance of putting up the similar numbers. Quarterback should not be a stressor for you.

Top 12 Quarterbacks:

1. Drew Brees
2. Aaron Rodgers
3. Peyton Manning
4. Cam Newton
5. Matt Ryan
6. Tom Brady
7. Colin Kaepernick
8. Russell Wilson
9. Robert Griffin III
10. Andrew Luck
11. Matthew Stafford
12. Tony Romo

Top 20 Running Backs:

1. Adrian Peterson
2. Arian Foster
3. Jamaal Charles
4. Doug Martin
5. Trent Richardson
6. LeSean McCoy
7. Marshawn Lynch
8. Ray Rice
9. C.J. Spiller
10. Steven Jackson
11. Stevan Ridley
12. Alfred Morris
13. Matt Forte
14. Maurice Jones-Drew
15. Chris Johnson
16. Lamar Miller
17. David Wilson
18. Frank Gore
19. Darren McFadden
20. Le'Veon Bell

Top 30 Wide Receivers:

1. Calvin Johnson
2. Demaryius Thomas
3. Brandon Marshall
4. Dez Bryant
5. Larry Fitzgerald
6. AJ Green
7. Julio Jones
8. Randall Cobb
9. Vincent Jackson
10. Andre Johnson
11. Reggie Wayne
12. Roddy White
13. Victor Cruz
14. Wes Welker
15. Eric Decker
16. Mike Wallace
17. Antonio Brown
18. Danny Amendola
19. Hakeem Nicks
20. Torrey Smith
21. Dwayne Bowe
22. Tavon Austin
23. Steve Smith
24. DeAndre Hopkins
25. Marques Colston
26. Pierre Garcon
27. DeSean Jackson
28. Stevie Johnson
29. Greg Jennings
30. Cecil Shorts III

Top 12 Tight Ends:

1. Jimmy Graham
2. Jason Witten
3. Kyle Rudolph
4. Vernon Davis
5. Tony Gonzalez
6. Antonio Gates
7. Owen Daniels
8. Jared Cook
9. Jermichael Finley
10. Rob Gronkowski
11. Brandon Myers
12. Martellus Bennett

Once these guys are removed from the board, which, if my math is correct, will happen by the seventh round in 12-team leagues, your sneaky gut will have to start taking shots at sleepers. 

Some guys that could be sleepers are rookie running backs Giovani Bernard and Montee Ball and second-year back Daryl Richardson. I like wide receivers James Jones, Kenny Britt and Vincent Brown. As far as tight ends go, I like Jermichael Finley to perform well for Green Bay with the absence of Greg Jennings and Donald Driver to go along with Cleveland's Jordan Cameron.

Here is my 15-round draft strategy that has helped me win my league three of the last four seasons:

1. RB1
2. WR1
3. RB2/WR2 (best available)
4. QB1/RB2/WR2 (best available)
5. QB1/RB2/WR2 (best available)
6. TE1
7. Flex Player (RB/WR/TE)
8. Sleeper RB or WR
9. Team Defense/Special Teams
10. Sleeper RB or WR
11. Sleeper RB or WR
12. QB2 (backup)
13. TE2 (backup)
14. Kicker
15. Sleeper of any position