Fantasy-Football-First

Some things in life seem obvious to some but apparently not everyone.

I probably say this every year but this summer seems to be the hottest one I can remember. I live outside Atlanta, Georgia and this past week we were well into the triple digits and the local news team was in a sweaty frenzy. Down here people take their local weather on the news very seriously. Most TV stations don’t just have one weather person to give us the forecast, they have 2 who keep throwing it back to the other to show us something else on the Super 3 D Doppler 2000 Future Supercast Radar. This past week they took it to a different level of hype as we were in the middle of Heat Wave 2010. The worse the weather got, the more disarray their clothes became. At the beginning of the week the weather guy was in his normal suit attire. The second day he lost the jacket and loosened the tie. The third day he had his sleeves rolled up. The fourth day he was in a golf shirt with the sweaty armpits. When the 5th day came, I was fully prepared for him to be standing there in a Speedo. At the end of each day’s weather forecast, he reminded us of some tips to beat the heat such as drink lots of clear fluids, limit our time outside and my personal favorite which was to stay cool.

Honey, can you get me the pen and paper? I need to write down some important tips.

One of the interesting things for me about running this web site is checking out my Stats page. It’s a page that I can see not only how many people visit the site and what pages they view but also how they got here. The most popular page other than the main page is the Running Backs rankings page. The least popular is the Donations page. Although I wish it was the other way around, I can certainly understand. The most important part of fantasy football is running backs. You can’t fake running back knowledge to be successful in a competitive league. If someone drafts CJ Spinner in the 3rd round and someone else asks “what team is that guy on?” then you’re not in a competitive league.

When reviewing my Stats page, I see that I get a lot of visits from people who type into their Google, Yahoo or Bing search engines “Who should I take with the first pick in my fantasy football draft?”. My site will come up high in those search rankings because the name is fantasy-football-first and that’s 3 keywords of that search term. But the interesting thing for me is the question because this year, more than ever, it’s obvious who the first pick should be. The same goes for the number 2 pick. There should be no doubt that Chris Johnson should go number 1 and Adrian Peterson number 2. After that I would take Maurice Jones-Drew and then Ray Rice at 4. That’s the last of the sure picks. The real draft starts at pick 5 this year.

Starting with the # 5 Running Back and continuing on through the rest of possible first round picks, each one has some causes for concern that you need to think about over the next few weeks before your draft. You need to determine whether you would feel comfortable enough with their baggage to have them as the most important player on your roster. They are:

Michael Turner: Is he durable enough to hold up for a full season? A big disappointment last year.

Steven Jackson: We know how good he is and how bad his team is. He was healthy last year for the most part but can you bank on that for another season?

Frank Gore: Lots of carries last year. Will that haunt him this year?

DeAngelo Williams: Do you want your first round pick to be in a Running Back By Committee?

Rashard Mendenhall: Played every game last year and finished as the #13 running back.

Ryan Grant: Got him cheap last year and put up great numbers. Won’t come cheap this year. Can he duplicate?

Shonn Greene: Are you comfortable taking a guy who has scored over 10 fantasy points 1 time and has LaDainian Tomlinson as his back up in the first round?

These are tough questions but no one said this was going to be easy. If you came here looking for advice on the first pick, it’s Chris Johnson.  If you need help with the rest, you can view my top 50 Running Backs at the top of the page or by clicking here.  You will also be able to see who I selected as my SLEEPER and SUPER SLEEPER. 

DRAFT STRATEGY:  I always draft the best available running back with my first pick.  After that, I will either go running back or quarterback with my second pick.  If you don’t get a second running back early in the draft, don’t panic.  Last year many successful teams were able to fill their #2 running back position with late round or even waiver wire picks like Ricky Williams, Justin Forsett or Jerome Harrison.  Avoid aging running backs like Clinton Portis for young ones that fans will be eager to see late in the season like Jahvid Best.  Always draft your #1 running back’s backup but don’t wait too long to do so.

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