Our very first Breakdown article.  We’re not going easy over here and doing something about how “Tony Romo is probably going to throw to Jason Witten a lot this season!” or that kind of crap.  No, no.  I’m going to tell you how Pat White, second round pick of the Miami Dolphins this season, could end up being one of the best fantasy football players, ever.  Now, I will go out of my way right now to say how unlikely this is.  In fact, I’ve got a list of assumptions that I’m going to preface this article with.  But this doesn’t change how,... 

# Name (position, team) Description Pvs. 1 Adrian Peterson, RB, MIN He’s the most-established of this year’s elite RBs. X 2 Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, JAC 1389 total yards in ’08, likely to get at least 50 more carries. X 3 Michael Turner, RB, ATL Skills, speed and power.  Will get all of ATL’s rushing TDs. X 4 Matt Forte, RB, CHI 1715 total yards as rookie.  Should probably be #1 w/ PPR. X 5 Deangelo Williams, RB, CAR Big play abilities make up for Jon Stewart bogarting red zone carries. X 6 Steven... 

While I completely agree with much of Chris’ analysis (Crabtree should be addressed as a passable third receiver, but preferably a fourth, Sanchez was a huge move in the draft, etc.), I was strictly speaking from a fantasy football perspective.  Not to hate on Sanchez, but there has not been a particularly huge rookie QB in fantasy football since…uhhh…I can’t remember. Really, Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan were praised up and down (deservedly so) and after starting all sixteen games, the two of them still ended the season as the number... 

I’m going to have to go ahead and go against Steve here. Clearly there was a lot more going on this weekend than the Broncos taking a RB that is already drawing comparisons to Kevin Faulk. Have to go with the first real surprise of the draft, the Jets moving up to pick Sanchez. I have to say, I did not see this coming. In fact, with word out of the Browns camp leading up to the draft, I expected Sanchez to be a Brown. Sanchez gives the Jets a viable starter for years to come, and they got him at a great price. Some might look at the amount players traded... 

Just a few quick notes about the main fantasy-relevant moves of this year’s NFL draft.  There really wasn’t much to talk about, though. -          By far the biggest move in the first round of the draft (fantasy-wise) was Denver’s selection of Knowshon Moreno.  Barack Obama’s first TV interview went to Al-Jihad News (or something like that).  The message, even more so than “we’re not perfect, you human-trading wife-beaters” was “look at me!  I’m not Bush!”  Josh McDaniels has done the same, taking the first chance he could... 

It’s bigger than a Big Board and like…Mega and stuff.  Our first big board!  I tried to dash in a bit of realism with the QB positions, but expect them to go around where I put them.  # Name (position, team) Description Pvs. 1 Adrian Peterson, RB, MIN He’s the most-established of this year’s elite RBs.   2 Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, JAC 1389 total yards in ’08, likely to get at least 50 more carries.   3 Michael Turner, RB, ATL Skills, speed and power.  Will get all of ATL’s rushing TDs.   4 Matt... 

Coming now is a basic outline of the role of each position for your team.  I’ll also post relevant articles from my draft guide section here.  This isn’t customized for this year, but is just a general outline for how to think about particular positions.  Make sure you check out our other articles as well for specific information for this year’s draft.   You can have Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.  You can have Randy Moss or Andre Johnson.  You can have Antonio Gates or Tony Gonzalez.  And that won’t make a difference if you don’t have a decent... 

The draft is, most likely, the single most important part of fantasy football.  Not only does it allow you to craft your team, potentially defining your performance for the season on the whole, it is also a genuinely fun event, putting you and all your competition in one room, letting you exchange verbal barbs and relentlessly mock each other.  That kind of makes it scary for all you new players.  You’re going to be surrounded by a bunch of guys who, as far as you know, are seriously skilled players.  So you don’t just want to put together a good... 

Every league is different.  And not just in the “well, there are lots of different players playing in different ways!” kind of way.  There are lots of seemingly minor tweaks to the ways that players are scored that can completely rock the way a league plays out, and the quality of any given team.  There are a whole lot of stats, outside the standard yards-and-touchdown mix that can make or break you, and plenty of shifts in the yards-and-touchdowns mix that can be even more important.  Here are a few common changes made between leagues.  Note: If... 

Your typical “Public” or “Default” league setting is nearly identical across fantasy football.  That is, the “standard” scoring system in fantasy football is accepted across all sites.  So what is this scoring system?    For your quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends:   25 passing yards per point. 4 points per passing TD. 10 rushing/receiving yards per point. 6 points per rushing/receiving yard. -1 point for an interception. -2 points for a fumble recovered by the other team. 2 points for catching/throwing/running for...