HUNTSVILLE — The NFL season is nearly upon us, which means so is your fantasy draft. Each week we will keep up with the fantasy football season taking a look back at the week that was as well as looking ahead to the week coming up.

Hopefully this will give you the edge you are looking for to take your league title. This first column is going to focus on the most important part of your fantasy season, the draft.



The keys to a good draft

There are a few simple steps to follow when preparing for your draft. Keep these steps in mind when going into it and you will be in pretty good shape from the start.

The first thing a lot of people don’t think about is the bye week. A bye week can kill your fantasy week if you didn’t plan for it. If Tom Brady is your quarterback, drafting Chad Henne won’t do you any good since the Dolphins also have a bye in Week 5. Usually people are pretty good about keeping byes in mind at the quarterback position. But you have to remember to carry that strategy throughout the draft with every position.

Also, you have to draft with your head and not your heart. You can’t go into a draft wanting to take your favorite players from your favorite team. You always see it. A guy with a team name like VikeforLife takes Brett Favre, Percy Harvin and then with his third pick he takes Toby Gerhart and tells everyone else to “look out for this guy.”  

At the same time, you can’t go into a draft and not take Donavan McNabb simply because he is a Redskin and you are a Cowboy fan. It can be hard to make that separation at times, but you have to put allegiances aside when drafting.

Keep your starting lineup in mind when drafting, as well. If you need a receiver, draft a receiver. Even if the running back you really like is still on the board, you have to resist the urge to take him. You have to draft based on need. You are playing for the season and not a career. In the mid-rounds of a draft for an NFL team, best player available works because they are building a franchise. They may take a guy who will help them next year. That philosophy does you no good. The player has to help you now. Once you have a solidified starting lineup, then you can take the best player available route, as long as the bye week situation works for you.

Now a few players to keep an eye on as you go into the draft:



The Rookies

There are always a few rookies every year you need to keep an eye on who will probably make an immediate impact. Unlike the NFL draft however, I wouldn’t eye a rookie quarterback terribly high this year, if at all. I do know a guy who is playing in a 16-team league who starts two quarterbacks each week, so someone is going to have to draft Sam Bradford. If you are in such a league, I’m sorry.

For those of you playing in more traditional 10- or 12-team leagues, you are going to want to look at the running back route for a couple of rookies who can make an immediate impact. The one everyone seems to think is a lock to have a great year is Ryan Matthews, the rookie at San Diego. He has been a pretty consistent first-round pick in most of the drafts I have seen. It just scares me taking a rookie that high (in all fairness however, I did draft him in the first round of one of the leagues I am in.) If you see him still there in round two, I would definitely take a shot at him.

A few other names to keep an eye on in the backfield are C.J. Spiller in Buffalo, Javid Best in Detroit and Dexter McCluster in Kansas City.

Spiller has breakaway ability and can catch the ball out of the backfield. Buffalo could look to use him very similar to the way Dallas has used Felix Jones. However, like in Dallas, Spiller has plenty of competition in the backfield and is going to have to learn to share the ball. Also I wouldn’t count on a lot of goal-line carriers.

Best is similar to Spiller in his breakaway ability and might be a better runner between the tackles. Still, he plays for Detroit. The line is not great, and he might need some Barry Sanders-esque moves to be a consistent fantasy point scorer.

McCluster is the interesting guy here, especially if you are in a league that gives individual points for return yards and touchdowns. It remains to be seen how Kansas City plans on using him, but he could be a guy who lines up in the slot and gets chances much like Harvin did last year for Minnesota.



The suspensions

There are two notable suspensions this year and I keep hearing different thoughts on how to handle them. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is out for the first six games (could be reduced to four) and Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes is out four games. Both are very good fantasy players but in terms of your draft, I would treat them like you would a potential backup.

If Roethlisberger misses six games, you have to take into account what the bye week is for your other quarterback. It is just too risky to take Roethlisberger. If he is suspended four games, he will come back Week 6 against Cleveland. If it is six games, it is not until Week 8 and that is against a tough New Orleans defense.

I would treat Holmes the same way. I’d fill your starting receiver spots first before looking for Holmes. A few other names to keep in mind are LenDale White in Denver (four games), Vincent Jackson in San Diego (three games) and if your league drafts individual defensive players, Texans linebacker Brian Cushing will miss the first four games of the year.



The steals

Every year there is a few players who were late fantasy picks who have fantastic seasons. It is hard to predict who those guys will be, but I’ll give you a few names to look out for.

The first is Philadelphia quarterback Kevin Kolb. The couple of drafts I have done, Kolb has been taken anywhere between the fifth and 11th round. Philly likes to throw the ball, and I think Kolb will get a lot of fantasy points.

At running back, there are a lot of people who are down on Marion Barber in Dallas. Last year was a down year for Barber and the Cowboys do have a crowded backfield with Felix Jones and Tashard Choice. But I look for Barber to be clicking again this year, and he will still be the guy getting the ball on the goal line.

Two receivers who could make an impact are Steve Breston in Arizona and Dewayne Bowe in Kansas City. With Anquan Boldin out of Arizona, Breston is now the No. 2 guy there and will look to improve his 712 yards and three touchdowns from last season. Bowe has fallen in several drafts I have seen and I’m not sure why. Kansas City will put the ball in the air and Bowe is the No. 1 guy in that offense. He is going to get a lot of chances including the looks in the red zone.

Item Fantasy League

    If you would like to get into a fantasy football league with Jason Barfield and a few of The Huntsville Item sportswriters, Barfield has set something up on yahoo.com. The results of the league will be part of Barfield’s weekly column. The league ID is 626423 and the password to join is itemsports. Sign up now, because we are capping the league at 20 teams. The draft will be a live draft at 9 p.m. on Sept. 8. Hope to see you there.