5 Things You Need To Know To Fulfill Your Fantasies

Football season is upon us and that means fantasy football season is also upon us. For a lot of us, this isn't our first fantasy football rodeo, while for many others this is their maiden voyage. Yet rookies and veterans alike all seem to make the same mistakes every year which cause them to lose. I've won leagues every year I've played (at least the past 3 years, if not more) and I'm going to share with you 5 tips to not make yourself looking like a fantasy football dummy. You're welcome.

1) Know the rules!

This might sound incredibly stupid but simply knowing the rules separates the men from the boys in fantasy football. Standard leagues give 4 points for passing TD's and 6 points for rushing and recieving TD's. This is why running backs are almost always your number 1 pick. However if you check your rules and passing TD's are worth 6 and you don't take a QB in one of the first two rounds you shouldn't be allowed to play any more. Also double check to see if your league is a PPR league, meaning a point per reception. This instantly makes Wes Welker into a late first to mid second round pick when he otherwise wouldn't go till far later.

2) Don't take a kicker till the last round! Ever!!!

This is because your kicker doesn't matter. As long as you get a fairly accurate kicker from a relatively high scoring team (think Stephen Gastkowski, Nick Folk, etc) you'll be just fine. However do notice this is Rule #2 not Rule #1 and Rule #1 comes first. If your league's kicking scoring is done by distance on field goals get guys who will take and make a decent amount of long field goals (such as Jason Hanson of the Lions who would otherwise be 100% worthless).

3) Brady and Moss are great for the Patriots, not for you.

The same goes for Manning/Wayne, Rodgers/Jennings, and any other QB/WR combo. Although its great on weeks where they connect for 3 TD's that may happen once a season and for the other weeks you better hope the entire offense is on. This might happen rather frequently for the Patriots but you don't want to sacrifice a week where they're off. Instead you could have an off Brady and an on Calvin Johnson and be fine. This is far more important on bye-weeks where all of a sudden your two best offensive players are on the bench and you're royally screwed. This could also be the case in your fantasy playoffs when Bill Belicheck decides to not expose Mr. Brady's knee and gives 81 the week off with him and your two best offensive players are on the bench in your fantasy Super Bowl so they can possibly be healthy for the real one.

4) Pay attention to your bye weeks!

ESPN has been ever so nice to put bye weeks in the first column next to a players name in their drafts. There's a reason its first! If your starter is Aaron Rodgers, don't make your backup Philip Rivers. They have the same bye-week. You wasted a pick. Good job. Also pay attention to schedules. Brett Favre isn't a good fantasy QB because he often forgets what team he's on. However if he's your backup for Drew Brees your fine because Brees's bye week is the same week Favre plays the Rams. This is especially important when drafting your defense. The Chargers are a good fantasy defense but they become a great 14th round pick when your starting defense is the Steelers. They play the Raiders on the Steelers bye week.

5) Don't Draft Rookies!!!!

I know it's tempting to draft your favorite college player who you swear will be an NFL star from play 1 in your fantasy draft, but don't. If you're right and they do explode into stardom you can get them off the waiver wire. Rookies are unproven commodities and you want stability and consistency in your fantasy lineup. I think Mark Sanchez is going to be fantastic this year and have very few rookie moments, but I'm avoiding him like the plague in fantasy. If he's tearing it up in Week 3 and he's still available that doesn't mean I'm not going to pick him up then, and put him on my bench to observe, but I'm not gonna go grab him after he has one good game and dump a proven commodity.

So there it is: your fantasy football survival guide. Have fun with it and be successful on your fantasy quest (unless you're in a league with me, in which case I hope you fail miserably). With all that being said, remember this is fantasy football! Don't let your fantasy team get in the way of your real football fandom. If you have Willie Parker and you're a Titans fan, you don't have to sit him the weeks the Steelers play the Titans, but you shouldn't be jumping up and down in your Titans jersey when he scores. Football first. Fantasy football second. That's like getting excited when your team wins a pre-season game. It's against the rules. Unless you're a Lions fan. Then you just take what you can get.