Rules for Dominating Your Draft in 2015

Draft days for most of us are fast approaching, and I wanted to leave some parting words or wisdom and encouragement for my WZers, in hopes each of you dominate you league. Dominating your league starts with dominating your draft, so I wanted to drop some advice for any of you our there struggling with your overall strategy.

Rule #1: Build your top 12: This should be a ranked list of the top 12 players available in your draft. Obviously, this list will vary from person to person, depending on how you analyze the prospects, just get a list of 1-12 of the players you want the most on your team. Deciding on this list before the draft removes the uncertainty of what you will do with your top pick. Simply, you choose the highest rated player on your top 12 board. Get the draft started with confidence.

Rule #2: Build your tiers: After the first round is complete is where the game really begins. You will need to adjust your draft strategy according to your peers' selections, and it won't be cut and dry. You will need to refer to your tires, which is basically a grouping of players at one position, say RB, that all have similar value. I group them in 4 categories: 1-Studs, 2-Solids, 3-Wild Cards, 4-Flyers. Studs have high ceilings and high floors, Solids have high ceilings with average floors, Wild Cards have high ceilings and low floors, and Flyers are just lottery tickets, usually a hedge against a starter getting injured. Tiers will help you find value as you get in to the next few rounds.

Rule #3: Beware the 5th-6th rounds: I've always found that the 5th-6th round is where you find a lot of players you don't really like. Maybe some vets in unfavorable situations with their team, maybe young players in a time share or with uncertain playing time. This is the round I like to go after a breakout potential player. Don't go for the base hit in round 5/6, go for the home run. Im thinking like an Ameer Abdullah or even a Nelson Agholor (my breakout sleeper). The boring vet with a name is not going to win you a championship, but the breakout star that we all saw coming can and will.

Rule #4: Wait on QBs and TEs: This is a rule that I follow for a few reasons, the main one being that the two groups are just so deep and even. Why waste a 4th or 5th round pick on a QB that will have similar production to a QB in the 8th or 9th or later? There are a ton of QBs in the 10-18 range that can finish in the top 8 scorers this season. Same with TEs. There are just to many of them that will give similar production this season. I let my peers draft their QB and TE early while I build depth at RB and WR.

Rule #5: Swing for the fences in rounds 10-14: If you followed my advice so far, you will have nice depth and a balanced roster by these rounds. You will have waited on drafting a QB and TE, and would have stockpiled a balanced roster of quality RBs and WRs. Once you have claimed your QB and TE in the 7th to 11th rounds, swing for the home runs. These are the players will massive breakout potential. Ideally you can add another good player at QB and TE in these round, maybe even go with two QBs in back to back picks.

Now that I've given you the basic blueprint to build a contender, I will offer up some of my "sleeper" prospects that should make some noise this season:

-Nelson Agholor: I love his potential in a Chip Kelly offense. He is a rookie, which drives his price down some, but he will basically assume the Jeremy Maclin role for the Eagles. With the Eagles having a better run game, Agholor will see single coverage most of the time, and should routinely exploit the NFC East.

-Devin Funchess: He basically just inherited the WR1 role for the Panthers by default. Last season, Benjamin proved to be a monster in the red zone, and I think Funchess could be close to that as well.

-David Cobb: Someone has to run the ball in Tennessee, and Cobb could be the lead back sooner rather than later.

Now take this, and go dominate your draft. Hope you've enjoyed!

Originally posted by jedediahyork:
You're just as likely to pick up a sleeper off the waiver wire than for a sleeper you drafted to go big. Why waste the picks? That's just my thoughts, anyway. Good info in here though.

The last few picks of the draft and the waiver wire are interchangeable. Playing the waivers is of great importance. There are always a handful of studs waiting to be unearthed. I found Justin Forsett last season, and many landed OBJ and Mike Evans. Point is to go for the home runs. Don't play it safe or go conservative in the late rounds like drafting Bishop Sankey, go for the home runs like John Brown or Sam Bradford. Sankey will never carry your team to a championship, but rather give a false sense of RB depth. Brown or Bradford however, have the potential to dominate if the cards fall right.