Fantasy football is a dreamland for millions of football fans. If you cannot own a team in reality, you can own one in Fantasy Football world. You can hire and fire whoever you want. Since the owners of the team act like real owners of the football teams, they have to strategize, plan and effectively draft players into their teams. Sometimes going with planned strategies work out and sometimes it will get bust. I once had no.1 pick and I picked Ladanian Tomlinson (the season after his historical landmark season) and he was a total bust. But football experts always have a plan. They do not plan on taking specific players in each round but depending on the position they are in draft, they have a strategy. If you are in top 5, take the best available running backs or top most Quarter back. If you are in next five, pick a standout Wide receiver.
Being in 11th and 12th position (in 12 teams’ league) is tricky as the draft order reverses and we will get 2 back to back picks in the snake draft order. At this point, top 3 or 4 Running backs would have gone and even top 2 QBs and maybe one or two Wide Receivers would have been gone. I would suggest not worrying about a QB if you are in 11 or 12 and either pick 2 best available top Running backs or get a combo of best available RB and a best available WR. Else I would pick a best Tight End in Round 2 as by the time you get the next turn, lot of best players would have gone and it will be closer to mid round sleepers.
Sleepers are the players who may not be in the news all the time but poised to make a good season. There will be sleepers in every position. Sam Bradford for example is a sleeper in QB position who has a chance to be a good QB. Picking rookies in the top rounds are tricky as well. Sometimes rookies get to work right away or they get to the learning mode with limited snaps. Adrian Peterson was drafted low in the draft but when Chester Taylor went down, in game 1, AP entered the arena and he is a star since then. Julio Jones of Atlanta Falcons is poised to have a good season if he starts as Falcons WR, then he will be a good mid round sleeper.
Similarly if Bengals have a good QB who can throw, WR AJ Green is a great speedster. My advice would be to pick rookies as Bench players and do not consider them as starters. Rookies could go in a best or bust.
To start with have a good plan for first 4 rounds and have a strategy to draft based on your position in draft – top 5,next 5 or last 2.Once you have 4 players drafted, then build a team around them. More than draft night, managing players each week and getting waivers play a big role. Another big thing is bye week. We need to ensure that your two RB’s do not go on a bye week at the same time and same applies for Wide Receivers.
If you have a QB, 1 RB and 1 WR from same team, chances are that 3 players go on a bye week at the same time. So planning for bye week is really a key in drafting.
Here are my two cents on top 5 players in each position:
Quarterbacks
Aaron Rodgers Tom Brady Michael Vick Drew Brees Phillip Rivers
Running backs
Adrian Peterson Arian Foster Chris Johnson(if he comes out of hold out) / Jamaal Charles Ray Rice Rashard Mendelhall(if Chris Johnson continues to hold out)
Wide ReceiversAndre Johnson Calvin Johnson Larry Fitzgerald Roddy White Miles Austin
Tight Ends
Antonio Gates Jason Witten Dallas Clark Jermichael Finley Owen Daniels
Kickers
Mason Crosby Nate Kaeding Stephen Gostowski Matt Bryant Neil Rackers
Defense/Special Teams
Green Bay Packers Pittsburgh Steelers New York Jets Baltimore Ravens Philadelphia Eagles