DRAFT SUCCESS

Hamburger grease all over the cheat sheet, the other general managers acting like clowns as they barrage with insults hoping to compel you take a team defense in the second round and the only thing running through your mind is an agonizing doubt that you are about to make the worst draft pick of your life. Guess what? You are! The bottom line is that you are unorganized, unsure and the morons yelling at you are not making it any easier. Finally, your best friend in the world, sitting to your right tells you should draft Tim Couch and for a split second you think, “man, what a great guy,” until he can’t hold back his smile any longer and laughs right at you for being dumb enough to waste any gray matter at all on Tim Couch in general.

As a fantasy football commissioner for more than 10 years, I see this painful scene all too often. The worst part is that it never ends pretty. The poor bastard that has allowed himself to get into this situation always, and I mean always, makes a stupid choice or barks out a player who has already been taken. Of course, that only leads to more jeering, name-calling and the endless questioning of his manhood, which by the way seems to get more and more creative every year!

Anyway, this short piece is here to help you get organized and be ready for your draft so that you can become one of those name-calling morons whom I reference above. Believe me, it is much more fun to be on the “dishing-out” end of things than to sit there and realize that you beer is going flat.

First of all, take 10 minutes to figure out who the scorers in your league are going to be. Do you have a league that favors the running-back or quarterback? It is that simple because typically most leagues pay little respect in the way of earning points for the receivers. After you figure that out, formulate your draft in that direction i.e. if the league focuses on quarterbacks, do your research on quarterbacks and take them up front.

Secondly, make a list. Yep, this is just like Christmas – make a list. Too many guys copy some fantasy magazine’s top 100 and go off of that. That helps you nil. Remember, most of those lists are simply statistic lists i.e. who rushed for the most yardage last season and not much more. You make your list based on the scoring system in your league. You can even get so sophisticated as to have three or four names against a choice in any round i.e. put down five names against your fourth round pick and if one of them is there, get him.

Thirdly, take a look at the NFL schedule. Those teams that had surprise years last year may have had a soft schedule. When you see a team go 10-6 against a litany of opponents that ended up not making the playoffs, you can feel certain that this 10-6 team may not be as enticing with a tougher schedule, which may translate into poorer player performance. This works the opposite way too. Are there teams out there that are up-and-coming? Will it be smart to draft the starting QB in Cincy with Marvin Lewis turning things around? It is a no-brainer drafting Michael Vick but it takes a little more insight to grab Carson Palmer or maybe even Jon Kitna (anticipating him as a starter later on in the season) considering the fact that Marvin Lewis really has something to prove!

Fourth, and I say this every year, kickers score a lot of points and I mean a lot. Don’t be shy about drafting one in the middle of the draft. Most GMs wait until the last few rounds to dispassionately take a kicker thinking he is good for only a few points. One field goal and two extra points is five total for a GM and if your league rewards distance, you could be looking at eight or nine points from that position every week. Don’t blow off the kicking position, thinking Emmitt Smith is going to have a comeback season.

Fifth, I hate taking rookies early regardless if they are going to be a starter. I just hate it. I think Philip Rivers is going to be a great quarterback in the NFL but not this year. He may do well but I don’t want all of my eggs in his basket in his inaugural campaign. The one guy who I can say broke this mold, in my opinion was Randy Moss but beware of the rookie! Anyway, tread lightly with rookies. At the end of the season, most of your fellow GMs will commiserate with you if you took a rookie early but deep inside, they are thinking, “what a dumb-ass.”

Lastly, I mentioned that this should be one of your highlights in the season. I say this only because the draft day, if it is not done on-line, should be a fun time. However, the draft is not the end all to your season. At the end of every draft, I ask each GM who he thinks drafted the best team and they cannot mention their own team. After all of the GMs make their choice, we tally the votes and one GM walks away thinking he has completed a solid draft and he probably has! To this day, the GM with the most votes has never been the MOST successful in that year. We have a slew of weeks to play, studs get hurt and others emerge. You have to stay on top of your waiver wire, and watch the schedule each week. If your stud QB is playing the best pass defense in the NFL, start your backup QB.

Little things over the course of the season bring home the dough, not taking Priest Holmes with the number one choice overall.