I have only been playing Fantasy Football for three years (that is not a great deal of experience). Three seasons in a straight redraft league and three seasons in a two keeper auction style league, both are 12 team leagues.

In six total seasons of FF I have: two championships, two third place finishes and a fourth place finish. Only once have I failed to make the playoffs. With all of the luck involved in FF, injuries, suspensions, players resting late in seasons, etc… These 5 rules are the backbone of what has allowed me to be successful.

1. Do your own homework.

What I mean by this is try to accumulate as much information as you can and develop your own judgment as to where to find fantasy success. Don’t blindly follow a magazine or website ranking for your draft. This does not mean that you should ignore the opinions of fantasy resources such as magazines, websites, league mates, training camp reports and so on. I do just the opposite really. I accumulate as much of this information as I can and then develop my rankings or projections based on an overview of all the information. The more you know the better your projections will be. Occasionally you will find a single nugget of information that will dramatically change your outlook on a player or team, but generally I have found that taking a broad spectrum approach will give better results.

2. In the first four rounds of your Draft, go for consistency over upside.

I rarely draft rookies or unproven players in the first four rounds of a draft or overpay for these players in an auction format. There is an old saying in FF that you can not win your league in the early rounds, but you can certainly lose it. I believe very strongly in this rule. Your first four picks are the core of your team and should be your bread and butter for scoring (barring injury). If you want sleepers, pick them up in the later rounds. Otherwise you are reaching for them and will not get any value for your pick. I really like looking at Average Draft Position information and Mock draft information to determine when I will pick a player. Generally, if the ADP on my sleeper moves into the first four rounds, I no longer consider them a sleeper and won’t draft them.

3. Don’t stop doing the homework just because your draft is over.

I believe that more championships are won through free agency by staying on top of NFL events as the season progresses than can be won at your draft. 3 years ago I was able to get Dominic Davis off of waivers in week four, just before he exploded onto the FF radar and became a top ten fantasy back. This was the key to one of my championships. Equally important, if your season goes 16 weeks, do your homework for 16 weeks. Two years ago I was able to get Larry Johnson in week 15 when both Priest Holmes and Derrick Blalock were injured. A lot of the team owners in my league had become satisfied with their teams and quit doing waiver moves. Again I won a championship.

4. Don’t be too Stubborn with your opinions on players or teams.

The key here is realizing that the NFL is a very volatile league. Things change very quickly. No matter how sure I am about how a player or a team will perform, I always keep an open mind. No one on my fantasy teams is untradeable or uncuttable for a good free agent pickup. I agree that pulling the trigger too quickly on a nonperforming player can kill a fantasy team, but you will always lose out on the best free agents and trade opportunities if you are not willing to cut players loose.

5. When in Doubt, go with the running back.

No, you can’t win your league with 16 running backs on a 16 player roster, but in general, running backs have more value in FF than any other position. The reason here is twofold. First, due to the limited supply of starting running backs in the NFL, fewer are available as the season progresses. Second, most scoring systems value running backs higher than any other position for scoring. There are exceptions to this rule, such as start 2 Quarterback leagues or leagues that are weighted heavily for QB or WR scoring. I’m not saying you that you should always draft running backs in your first two rounds of your draft. Nor am I saying that you should draft your backup running back before your starters at other positions. Generally though, when all other things are equal I will always emphasize the RB position over all of the others.

None of these rules are set in stone, there are always exceptions, but I’ve found they really have helped with my consistency in Fantasy Football.