Fantasy Football Week 1 Locker Room Strategy: Start Your Starters!

Every week I will have an article discussing fantasy football strategy. I will not be talking about who to start or sit this week, or give any sort of weekly rankings until Week 2.

One of the things I will be writing a lot about is the terrible lack of quality and consistent fantasy football analysis on the Internet today. Everyone mimics each other, so-called experts create false problems that do not really exist, and mob mentality reigns supreme. This has happened already in 2009, with analysts from Yahoo Sports and ESPN.com (if not others as well) vehemently warning their readers not to "overrate" players like Santonio Holmes based upon their postseason performances last season.

In fact, Holmes was singled out as being drafted "way too early," with one prominent Yahoo analyst insisting that Hines Ward was still the main man in Pittsburgh and the Steelers would not pass enough anyway to make Santonio more valuable the season. I of course have said that the torch was passed from Ward to Holmes on the final drive of the Super Bowl, where Santonio became a man in the NFL. So far, the results have proven me right. You can say it's only been one game, but that was against the Titans vaunted defense, so I think it said quite a bit about where Big Ben is looking to throw the ball.

This season will be much like Reggie Wayne's breakout campaign a few years back, when the "experts" were still telling people to draft Marvin Harrison before any other Indianapolis wideout, or when TJ Houshmenzadeh caught up with Chad Johnson in Cincinnati a couple seasons ago. Savvy owners- a.k.a. ones who looked at the situation and trusted their own judgment-saw those coming. Those who listened to the Matthew Berrys and Michael Fabianos of the world probably had frustrating seasons. But that's often the difference between winning your league or just looking good on paper.

Now some of the fantasy geniuses are telling us to play the matchups Week 1, because that is what the "smart and savvy" fantasy owners do. They've got their lineup rankings, their start/sit lists, and all sorts of snarky comments about the "upside" of certain (sometimes otherwise negligible) players considered to have favorable opposition this weekend. And all those things certainly have their purpose and can be very helpful during the season.

But let me say something about the first week of every NFL fantasy season: we know absolutely nothing. Last season is thrown out the window by halftime of the early games. Defenses change drastically year-to-year, and not always because of departures or arrivals. Sometimes things are just different, for whatever reason, and until we know how things will shape up on the first Sunday of action, its foolish to base everything up on last year's player values and defensive reputations.

The bottom line: start your best players! I have seven fantasy football leagues this season, and in each one tomorrow I will start the players I drafted to be my starters! The only decisions will be maybe for a flex position somewhere or a third receiver if I've got somebody comparable on the bench. But over thinking matchups is a surefire way to hurt yourself during the season, let alone the first week. I'm not saying this will guarantee success. But you've got to have a strategy each week, and for the first week, the best criteria you've got other than health is where you drafted the player on draft day.

So start accordingly, and don't beat yourself up for things you could not have reasonably predicted just because somebody mentioned it on their blog. Just make adjustments next week. Chances are you'll leave fewer points on the bench for this week if you don't worry about the matchups too much. Remember, you can't predict, but you can always play with the odds a little bit. By Week 2, you'll have actual results to play the matchups if you like. But right now, don't listen to some of the same guys who said Stephen Jackson was the top preseason RB the year before last (ahem, Matthew Berry...). Trust your draft day judgment and start your intended regulars.

I'll be back Tuesday to recap the fantasy (and NFL) week and look ahead to Week 2 with a new feature where we'll follow the exploits of two of my most important fantasy football teams, reality style! Best of luck in Week 1.