4 Ways To Draft Fantasy Players When You Don't Know Football

 Last night night a friend contacted me on Facebook in a panic

After her friends pushed and prodded her, she agreed to be part of a fantasy football draft; The problem is she doesn't follow football.

With 24 hours to go until her draft, she asked me to give her some tips.

I gave her a list of players that should draft from CBS sports and then I gave her drafting tips that I hope will help other NFL novices, when they begin their first fantasy league draft. 

#1. Draft a quarterback with your first pick.

True fantasy player pickers would say this is a mistake that you should draft a running back first. While I do agree that drafting a back like Arian Foster first makes sense, if  you are a football novice, you at least heard of Tom Brady or  Peyton Manning.

In her case, I told her if she had the opportunity,  draft Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers. I gave her some QB's if he wasn't available, but overall name recognition with someone like Drew Brees will at least give you a solid foundation to build.

#2 Draft a running back with your second and third choice.

Since I told her to do the opposite of most draft-niks, it is crucial for her to pick up two running backs with her next choices.

One of the things of about the NFL is that running backs tend to get hurt.  Having two of the top backs in the league, protects you if one goes down. (From a strategy standpoint,  I told her if wide receivers Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones or either tight ends Gronkowski or Graham were still available by her third choice, draft one of them and get the second running back in the fourth round).

#3 Go with best player available

I gave my friend a list of QB's, RB's and WR/TE's, but unfortunately I had no idea how many players she needed to draft for her squad.

If you are part of draft that ranks the players based on fantasy value, use the best player available option and keep using this drafting philosophy until you filled your quota of skilled players.

Its a crap-shoot yes, but it gives you a better option than drafting someone because you like their first name. Besides, some NFL teams do this during the real NFL draft, why not you?

#4 Draft Defenses and kickers last

While there are some really good defenses out there, none of them will remind you of the 1985 Chicago Bears. Use the best player available option when selecting your defense as well as kicker, who are interchangeable if they are consistent.

So there you have it, four tips to increase your chances of building a fantasy squad when you can't tell the difference between Peyton Manning and Eli Manning.

If you have any other draft tips, post them below. Even if you think you are great draft, you always need a new strategy to outwit your Uncle who is still wearing his 2008 fantasy league champ belt.