Fantasy Football Newbie needs help!?

[Sarah]

Ok, so I know everyone says to pick running backs first, then wide receivers and/or qb's. Pick kickers and defenses last. WHY? Seriously...I want to know WHY this is what everyone seems to do. Do you get more points this way? And how? What is the strategy behind your picking order?
I mean, say you're low in line in your draft. And all your top rb's and receivers are gone. Why not pick the #1 defense early in the draft (like the 2nd or 3rd round)? There's still lots of good receivers and rb's left....the way I look at it is once the top players are gone, the rest are pretty similar.
Can anyone with solid experience in the working of fantasy football explain to me your picking order methods?
Thanks!! (Please, serious responses only...I'm really interested in learning).
Wow...awesome answers so far...thanks so much! This definitely helps explain things.
Another question. It seems I'll have 6 or so bench positions to fill. I automatically thought I had to get one person/team per position to fill the 6 bench positions (1 QB, RB, WR, K, DEF, TE). Or is it better to get 2 of one position and no back-up for another? What do you do during a bye week then, if say, your defense is on a bye and you don't have one on the bench?

 

[Kyle]

Because the big scorers are running backs, wide outs, and qbs. All starting qb's put up numbers so there not to big of deal. But the number variance between good and great RB's and WR's is so large you want to get one early so you make sure you get one that is going to put up points.

 

[Wally the Wallmeister]

Picks comes down to Standard Deviation.

The standard deviation (in terms of points) for the positions basically ranks like this: RB, WR, QB, TE, DEF, K

So the point is, the highest scoring RB will have the largest difference between an "average" scoring RB in comparison to the other positions. For example, say the average RB (making this up) scored 100 fantasy points last season. Arian Foster scores 350. Then you have guys like Charles, Peterson, etc who also scored significantly more than 100. The difference between the top level guys compared to the "average" RB is so high that you should maximize that as much as you can (in terms of baseball it would be value above replacement; the "average" player at any position should be available in the free agent pool).

positions like defense or K have the opposite effect. For example, say Pittsburgh scored the most DEF points with 150. The "average" DEF might have scored 95. So the "value" you're getting is really only 55 points (or ~4 points per week). This difference is not nearly as significant and it is not nearly as important to get a top level DEF.

So to sum it up, RELATIVE TO THEIR POSITIONS, a top RB is worth more than a top DEF or K. And as I've mentioned the value ranks as such: RB WR QB TE DEF K

EDIT* For the guy below me, I think it's is precisely the INCONSISTENCY of RB/WR that you want them early. There are so many chances for them to fail that you want to get more of them early so you can get the ones who are least likely to fail. DEF and K and even TE and QB are much more consistent on a week to week basis (ex. Miles Austin can have a 3 catch 22 yard game...but Ben Roesthlisberger can almost never have a 150 yard 1 TD 4 INT game). This basically goes back to the point of value based drafting...there's the most value in RBs/WRs and the other positions have a bigger chance to produce similar numbers on a week to week basis.

But to answer your second question, I would first definitely not take a DEF/K. Kickers are essentially all the same so just pick up a new one on your starter's bye week and you're good to go. Ditto with defense, especially since you can play matchups. Another thing about defense is that it's difficult to project and thus predict success. Same goes for TEs. For QBs, theres more of a gray area. If you have a Rodgers/Brady/Rivers type, then don't take a backup. But if you have a say Eli/Bardford type, then I would take another QB like Stafford or Kolb. This is basically to provide some protection but more for another chance to have top tier QB production (Stafford COULD be a top 10 QB if some things go right). Also this gives you a chance to play matchups because you dont have a QB that will basically succeed against any defense.

But the strategy I (and from what I have read most "experts) use is to load up on WRs and RBs. One, these are the most injury prone positions. Two, you usually have more than one of them so bye weeks might be more of an issue. But 3 (and the most important reason), RB and WR are the most "lottery" positions. Last year Brandon Lloyd and Arian Foster were afterthoughts and they had ELITE production. So the best way to succeed is to load up on these positions because say a Reggie Bush or a Roy Williams could have very high production while the other positions have much, much fewer guys who could potentially break out as a top level talent

 

[False Paul]

For me, the real reason is that the value of a defense changes week to week. Even the number one defense will put up points inconsistently. Are you really gonna start the Pittsburgh Defense against the Patriots? Baltimore against the Colts with a healthy Manning? Hell no. You start the Cleveland Defense against the 49ers. Or the Raiders against the Bengals.

Running backs, Quarmassageplanetacks, and Wide Receivers can typically be counted on to produce at consistent levels. In fact, the higher on a depth chart that a player is, the more likely he is to produce reliable points each week. The value of league defenses are fairly consistent in and of themselves but most don't produce any better than a mid tier RB or WR. And you draft those guys first, because if a high end player goes down, your mid level guy moves up. Injuries are the way of life in NFL and planning for those injuries is a way of life in fantasy.

You want to draft the best, most CONSISTENT, players you can. I draft one defense after the 10th round and I drop them and add them back as match ups allow. I wont get a top tier defense this way but I can still get a productive one and free up room for sleeper and backups and handcuffs. I draft one back up QB, 4-5 RB, 4-5 WR, 1-2 TE, 1 Def, 1 Kicker.

Kicker are so inconsistent and produce so few points, that it is barely worth the time and effort to research them. Bye week coming? Drop your guy and pick up another. There are always starting kickers available. Always.

On last thing. You need to be comfortable with your draft. If you use someone else's strategy that you are not comfortable with, then you will fret about it all season long. Draft the best way you know how and learn from season to season. In the end. Its all about having fun.

 

[Sports Proâ„¢]

Because you start 2-3 RBs/WRs, 1 QB, 1 TE, 1 D/ST, and 1 kicker. I'll get to d/st and kicker later, but first I'm going to talk about why people value RBs/WRs more than QBs. There are not enough great RBs/WRs to go around for everyone in a 10 team league. Each team usually wants 2-3 good RBs and 2-3 good WRs. And you also usually only need 1 QB. Therefore, people want to grab the RBs fast to make a strong core. There are so many good QBs that each team can probably get 2 pretty good ones in the first TEN rounds. Meanwhile, if you wait till round 10 to get RBs, you are screwed. It is true that QBs score more ppg than RBs do but your 3 solid rBs and a decent QB will be better than a great QB and 2 good RBs and a bad RB. Same goes for WRs.

TE is a pretty important position, but should not be prioritized ahead of RB/WR

As for D/ST and kicker, they don't score many points a game, and most kickers/ and defenses are inconsistent or score close to the same points each. Typically it is easy to pickup good kickers and defenses during the season, so most of them are replaceable. In the case of really good defenses, the 9th round is the earliest id recommend. As for kickers, just take one last

Here is an awesome guide I think. He says that you should take Vick first even, which I kinda disagree on. However, some of his points are good

http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/football/ffl/story?page=NFLDK2K11_TMRManifesto


For your bench try getting mostly RB/WRs. A backup TE is usually not needed, and a backup kicker/D/ST is never needed. a backup QB is sometimes needed depending on your starter.

As for draft order, try getting RBs early for sure. If you are picking 10th and Vick is still there, then it makes sense to pick him. But you want to try and get 2-3 RBs in the first 5 rounds. Basically aim to get 2-3 RBs, 1-2 WRs, and a QB in the first 5 rounds. Or some people like to pass on QBs until late because guys like Eli Manning are still available by the 8th or so round. So then you could get 3 solid RBs, and 2 solid WRs. Keep taking someone close to best available, don't try grabbing someone ranked 30 at pick 15 just because your convinced you need an RB