Players to Target and Avoid in Your Fantasy Draft

Lets get down to business. If you want to win your fantasy football draft its a few things to consider.

#1- What order of positions should you draft.

Do you go RB,RB,WR,QB
RB,QB,WR,RB
QB,RB,WR,RB

Well that all depends on how the draft goes. If all the elite RBs are off the board than you may want to go with a top of the line QB. Its better to have the absolute best QB as opposed to the 7th or 8th best RB for instance. Depending on how the scoring system works in your league you may place a higher value on WRs for PPR (points per reception) leagues.

#2- What players should you target and which players should you avoid. Here’s a little criteria I use to determine if I should target or avoid a certain player.

Target:
- Players in powerful offenses:

QBs- Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Tony Romo, Drew Brees, Donovan McNabb, Derek Anderson, Carson Palmer, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Schaub, Jake Delhomme

RBs- LT, Brian Westbrook, Joseph Addai, Marion Barber

WRs- Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Reggie Wayne, Braylon Edwards, Andre Johnson, Steve Smith, T.J. Houshmanzadeh, Marques Colston, Wes Welker, Santonio Holmes

**Note** Notice that these WRs are primary targets of their respective QBs. It is important to select receivers that QBs target and seek out. QBs often have favorite “go to” guys.

TEs- Jason Witten, Kellen Winslow Jr, Dallas Clark, Jeremy Shockey, Owen Daniels, Heath Miller

- Players with new starting roles or new situations that could breed success.

Ex. Brett Favre, Jerricho Cotchery, Laveranues Coles,
Thomas Jones, RB (better offensive line & QB)
Michael Turner, RB (new team, feature back)
Earnest Graham, RB (new starting role)
DeAngelo Williams, RB (new starter)
Jonathan Stewart, RB (key rookie)
Chris Johnson, RB (key rookie) (points for receptions- gamebreaker)
Ricky Williams, RB
DeSean Jackson (rookie WR- Eagles)
Selvin Young, RB (starting role- Broncos)
Matt Forte, RB (starting role)
Kevin Smith, RB (starting role)

-Players returning from injuries with some upside.

QB- Jake Delhomme, Matt Schaub
RB- Larry Johnson,
WR- Calvin Johnson
TE- Jeremy Shockey, Todd Heap, L.J. Smith, Antonio Gates

Best DSTs

- MINNESOTA !!
- Chicago
- New England (easy schedule)
- Green Bay (favorable schedule)
- Dallas (tough schedule though)
- Pittsburgh (tough schedule)
- Seattle
- San Diego

Sleepers:

- Steve Slaton, RB Texans
- DeSean Jackson, WR Eagles
- Eddie Royal, WR Broncos
- Dustin Keller, TE Jets
- Joe Flacco, QB Ravens
- Ray Rice, RB Ravens
- Devin Thomas, WR Redskins
- Ben Utecht, TE Bengals
- Chris Perry, RB Bengals

Try to get a sleeper after round 9. It may be tough to get DeSean Jackson that late because he is becoming very popular amongst fantasy owners lately.

PLAYERS TO AVOID

This is a list of players that I am avoiding in my draft.

- Frank Gore (weak offense, fumbles, overrated)
- DeShaun Foster (weak offense, fumbles)
- Larry Fitzgerald (QB controversy, no YAC, one dimensional)
- Julius Jones (couldn’t get it done with the best offensive line in football, won’t get it down in Seattle)
- Ronnie Brown (not a believer, will loose carries to Ricky Williams)
- Brandon Jacobs (not a believer)
- Willis McGahee (I like Ray Rice)
- Rudi Johnson (lost a step)
- Edgerrin James
- Ahman Green (too much talent in the backfield)
- Chris Brown (I prefer Steve Slaton,  the Texans other RB)
- Marvin Harrison (too old, lost a few steps)
- Javon Walker (not focused, overrated, doesn’t have a good QB)
- New York Giants defense (injury to Osi & Strahan’s retirement really hurts this team)

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