Hey Mr. Rookie Fantasy Football Player (Part Three)

In Part Two of Hey Mr. Rookie Fantasy Football Player, I threw you some advice on the major mistakes you have to avoid if you want to be successful in your rookie campaign. This week, I am going to hit on the next step as I walk you through what you must do when preparing for your league's draft.

So, let’s get on with it.

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Must Do No. 1: Know the Players' Roles Heading into 2009

You are an avid fan of the NFL. You know who did well and who didn’t in 2008; therefore, you have the information that you need heading into your draft, right? Wrong! Players’ roles sometimes differ from year to year. For example, last year, Tom Brady got hurt and Matt Cassel stepped into the starting spot and did a heck of a job.

So, now that both have a starting gig, Brady’s with the New England Patriots and Cassel’s with the Kansas City Chiefs, you now have two really good quarterbacks to choose from, right? 

Once again, I am sorry, but you are dead wrong. Cassel now has a less experienced supporting cast, which will make it difficult for him to duplicate 2008, while Brady, on the other hand, is once again surrounded by some of the leagues’ best.

If being on a new team isn’t the reason a player's role has changed, perhaps it is due to the addition of a rookie or a free agent.

Before the NFL draft, Joseph Addai was eyeing a comeback season of sorts with Dominic Rhodes heading to Buffalo, yet the Indianapolis Colts drafted Donald Brown out the University of Connecticut with their first round pick to help carry the load.

Don’t you think that that will hurt Addai’s value some heading into 2009? Yeah, we do to. Make sure you are caught up not only on the comings and goings around the NFL draft this past offseason, but also on younger players that are about to take on larger roles, cutting into a veteran's play.

If you are not up to date on the roles of every player around the NFL, you are guaranteed to blow at least one draft pick thinking that you were smart, while all the other owners just sit there laughing quietly.

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Must Do No. 2 : Stay on Top of Injury Information

While every serious fantasy football veteran out there is wise on the fact that Brian Westbrook had ankle surgery this offseason that could affect him during the preseason, the novice or rookie may not be. What does that mean?

That means that you probably will not only be overvaluing Westbrook when creating your tiered rankings, but you will be undervaluing his backup, rookie LeSean McCoy, as well. Any offseason surgery needs to be taken into account when strategizing your rankings, but that isn’t the end of it.

Every year, there seems to be at least a handful of top players that are bit by the injury bug for at least a few weeks, if not longer, to start the NFL season. Information is available in regards to nearly all of these injuries going into your fantasy football draft.

Don’t be the guy that wastes his third round pick on a player that would normally have gone in the first round.

If a player drops that far, there is a good chance that an injury has surfaced. If you don’t know this vital information, you will be the owner sitting there thinking they just got a steal when all that you drafted was really a pretty rotten deal.

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Must Do No. 3 : Create Your Tier-Ranking Sheet(s)…NOW!!!

It is summer time! The barbeques and grills are in full affect and staying up a tad later trying to catch the end of your favorite baseball teams’ game is going to leave you a bit more tired than usual. You prefer to wait until a week or two before the season to get a finalized read on the football players before you make a tiered sheet.

Now, while some have been successful by using this approach, waiting may be a mistake. If you find yourself in a league with a very knowledgeable king pin around the fantasy football circles, right now is the best time to start when it comes to your tiered sheet.

Now, we here at the Bruno Boys don’t expect you to take a whole weekend to rank all of your players; where is the logic in that? It is summer time; time to party! So, what we do suggest is instead of doing it all in one weekend, why not tackle the quarterback position this week, the running back position the next week and so forth?

If you do this for all of the positions by August 1 you will have your main tiered sheet in full affect and will be able to pay attention to all league news for that month leading to the draft, already having a preconceived notion of whom you value and whom you don’t.

That way if there are any injuries or news out of camp that will bolster or devalue a player, you will be ready to adjust at a whim, which will allow you to roll into your fantasy draft with the best tiered sheet that you possibly could have had. This will definitely give you an edge on draft day.

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Must Do No. 4: Start Utilizing All of the Bruno Boys Tools

Not only do we offer the best fantasy football webazine in the business, we also offer many more tools at our site. Did you know that we offer a forum board for the Bruno Boys Nation to utilize? That way you can use your peers as an advice tool, not to mention the Bruno Boys staff itself, to answer any and all questions that you have.

The Bruno Boys also offer many new articles daily during the season and continue with new postings daily during the offseason, all focused on getting you the championship win.

With that, we, also, offer podcast shows, live streaming shows, live question and answer sessions including one on Sunday mornings and many new surprises for the 2009 season.

Did I forget to mention that we also have our own personal Bruno Boys emails that we accept personal questions through? We offer it all, and if we don’t have what you are looking for, ask us for it. And, best of all we offer this to the public for free!

Show us any other site that offers all of that and more, at such a wonderful price! So, without trying to sound to full of ourselves, you have to trust on the Bruno Boys for all of your championship run needs. Start today as the 2009 fantasy football season is fast approaching.

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Next week, I will dive into Lesson Four in which I will help you through the draft process, including what to expect and how to handle yourself in time pressured situations.

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