2010 Fantasy Football Draft Strategy

As April approaches, the NFL rookie draft takes place,  and fantasy owners prepare their cheat sheets (may I recommend our 2010 $5 draft guide); it’s time to start prepping yourself for the strategy you will take into your draft.

I am going to write this article under the assumption that you are in a league that has 12 teams and starts 1 QB, 2 RB, 2WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex, K, and DEF.

If you draw pick number one through four then I would recommend taking a top tier RB (AP, MJD, Chris Johnson, or Ray Rice).  The number one pick is debatable but if you grab AP or Chris Johnson you will be fine.

If you draw pick five through 12 then I would recommend going for a top tier WR (Johnson, Fitz, Wayne, Marshall, Calvin, Jennings, White, Moss, Desean, Smith) or taking a flyer on Aaron Rodgers, but my personal preference is going after a top WR while you can.

Moving on to round two…

Round two is a WR round, if one of the players mentioned above is available and one most likely will I would snag one of them.  At this point you should have either two top WR’s or a cream of the crop RB and a top WR.

Moving on to round three…

It’s RB time and there should be a crop available in round three that get the job done.  I just did an expert draft and took Wayne, Marshall, and then Pierre Thomas in round three.  Just take the best available RB according to your draft guide in round three.

Moving on to round four…

At this point you need to round out your team with either a RB or WR so your team should have two WR’s and two RB’s after round four.  Take the best available at this point.

Moving to round five…

This is the best round to grab a QB; last year I got Matt Schaub in one draft and Aaron Rodgers in another draft in round five (that won’t happen this year).  WARNING: some drafts have QB runs which will require you to grab a QB in an earlier round.  I had to snag a QB in round four in my expert league ONLY because there was a QB run (keep in mind this was a 16 team league).  I grabbed Flacco this year and in most drafts you will be able to grab a Flacco like QB in round five of a 12 team league.  In round five you are guaranteed to get a top 12 QB FOR SURE! (QB’s like Romo, Flacco, and Cutler will be there for you).

Moving to round six…

I would grab another top WR at this point; Bowe, Edwards, OchoCinco, Steve Smith (NYG), and Garcon should all be available at this point.

So now you have a team like Flacco, Wayne, Marshall, Pierre, Wells, and OchoCinco.  Which I would argue is a great core group of players.

Moving to round seven…

I would go after a TE in at this point if a top TE is available otherwise I would snag a RB here.  So if an ok TE is there and a solid RB is there then go RB and snag the TE in round eight.  Let’s assume you get your TE here and I would bet you could get a player like: Celek, Finley, or Keller.

Moving to round eight…

If you got a TE in round seven then it’s time to get your back-up RB here.  There will be many options so get the best available RB at this point according to your draft guide.

Moving to round nine…

It’s back-up QB time and I wouldn’t wait too long for a back-up QB as you need to be ready for the bye week so don’t draft a QB with same bye-week as your starting QB, so make sure you mark down the bye-weeks in your draft guide.

Round 10 and beyond…

Do not draft a kicker until the last round as there is not enough range in scoring among kickers to warrant a pick other than the last pick of your draft.  Don’t wait too much longer for your main DEF, but make sure you are able to snag some sleepers in the later rounds.  See my other three Super Sleeper Series articles for help with the last rounds of your draft. (RB Super Sleepers, WR Super Sleepers, QB & TE Super Sleepers).

Last point of drafting in 2010…

Invest time in research, reading, and supporting your favorite sites.  There are many sites out there that work very hard to give you solid (free) content all year and your support helps the site to grow.  Word of mouth, rating their articles, comments on articles, and purchasing something from the site (my site sells draft guides, trophies, anddraft boards).

I would absolutely recommend you have some sort of draft guide when you go into your draft as it will make a world of difference in your draft.  I have to recommend our 2010 $5 draft guide.

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