By Steve Kwan
Fantasy Sports 101 Football

The countdown buzzer goes off, owners shoot off a quick “good luck” to the rest of the league, and the heat is on; after an offseason of trades, drafts, and plenty of talk, fantasy football is finally open. If you’re new to fantasy football, fear not; FantasySports101 has you covered with the basics of how to proceed with your first football draft.

Your Opponents
You can't influence how the other owners in your league draft, but at the same time, its worth monitoring how their picks go down, especially if you’re on the top or bottom of a “snake” draft.

For instance, if you find yourself picking 8th out of 10 owners and are in need of a QB, a quick look at the rosters of the two owners behind you will dictate how urgently you must proceed. If they both have QBs already, chances are slim that they’ll reach for another one. It will be safe to leave your favored QB on the board and address another position of need.

One of the most important rules for first-time owners in a rowdy draft room is DO NOT GIVE IN TO PEER PRESSURE. There will be plenty of owners who indulge in smack talking, and quite a few more will take pleasure in disparaging your picks just for the sake of sounding smart. Do not change your draft strategy because one or two keyboard warriors are harassing you.

Your Draft Order
In most drafts, your placement in the draft order will be random. It's imperative to show up as early as you can and find out where you pick. Your position will set the tone for how you go about making early draft selections.

In any case, the first few rounds should fly by with you taking the best available player on the board. After the first three or four rounds, you'll then want to start addressing specific needs based on your team's developing strengths and weaknesses.

How to Rank Your Players
Many owners like to make their own rankings, but for the most part, the default rankings of fantasy hosts such as ESPN and Yahoo! are a good enough jumping point. Plus, you'll be in the majority by accepting default rankings, which means you'll have a good idea of what the "market" is for each player. As an added bonus, you'll also be able to see who's next on the selection sheet for auto drafters who fail to show up.

You might want to take a couple of mock drafts to gauge who is going where, but realize that picks will vary wildly depending on how eccentric opposing owners are. Remember that after the first few rounds, drafting on need becomes more important than drafting pure talent; you don’t need three outstanding QBs when you're still missing a starting wide receiver or tight end. You can only start one QB per week anyway, so make sure you have proper balance.

Knowing the League Rules
In standard leagues, the rules may seem straight-forward, but it's still important to know a few subtle differences. First variable is the value of a passing touchdown, which will be either 4 or 6 points. This is no subtle difference and makes all the difference in the world when it comes to determining how valuable a quarterback is.

One other major factor is commonly abbreviated as PPR, or Points Per Reception. Leagues that award points to a receiver (or running back) for every pass he catches play by different rules. Some players like Reggie Bush and Brian Westbrook, who catch many passes out of the backfield, become infinitely more valuable. Know if your league does or does not count catches; it makes a big-time difference on how your players score points.

The scoring system also comes into play when it comes to determining how your defensive unit accumulates points. How much are interceptions and sacks worth? How do points allowed affect the defense's fantasy output?

Also know your yardage milestones, so you understand how points will be accumulated. Generally, 25 yards passing will equal 1 point and 10 yards rushing or receiving will equal 1 point. There is a chance your league is different, and there is another chance that your league rewards partial points for yardage.

By "partial points," we mean the value of, say, 9 yards rushing. Leagues that count partial points will award you 0.9 points for that effort. Leagues that do not will reward you zero points. Leagues will either round down or give you credit for exact yardage. This does not affect your draft strategy, but it's a nice piece of information to have before the season begins.

In some custom leagues, the rules will change, which can open the door for you to capitalize on the "customizer's" mistake. Are quarterbacks docked heavily for the interceptions they throw? If your running back loses a fumble, does that criple his fantasy output? These are but two of many different variables, so get to know all of the ins and outs of your league.

See also: Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Part 2