1. Drew Brees – NO – Doesn’t matter who he’s throwing to, he’s a beast.
2. Kurt Warner – ARI – He’s got two of the best WR’s in the league and knows how to use them.
3. Jay Cutler – DEN – With no running game to speak of, he’ll be forced to throw…a lot.
4. Philip Rivers – SD – LT’s decline is River’s gain. Huge WR’s will continue to help in the RZ.
5. Aaron Rodgers – GB – Despite bum shoulder still slinging it with the best.
6. Donovan McNabb – PHI – Break out star Desean Jackson’s helping McNabb return to glory.
7. Peyton Manning – IND – The more the team leans on him the better numbers he’ll shell out.
8. Eli Manning – NYG – Great OL and solid receiving core.
9. Tony Romo – DAL – Hurt pinkie is cause for concern and drop on the list.
10. David Garrard – JAX – Would you be surprised to know he has 194 rushing yards?
11. Brett Favre – NYJ – He throws it plenty…to both teams.
12. Jason Campbell – WAS – Protecting the ball and benefitting from a solid supporting cast.
13. Kyle Orton – CHI – Sprained ankle a bummer, but should rebound quickly.
14. Matt Ryan – ATL – Rookie of the year stats so far.
15. Ben Roethlisberger – PIT – Rollercoaster ride with injuries, but fighting through it.
16. Jake Delhomme – CAR – Carolina’s running game taking away throwing attempts and stats.
17. Matt Cassel – NE – Filling in well. Helps he’s throwing to the best in the buisness.
18. Brady Quinn – CLE – The more in sync with his WR’s he gets, the better his numbers will be.
19. Matt Hasselbeck – SEA – He’s got skills, but needs targets and time.
20. Trent Edwards – BUF – Team is struggling and his numbers are mediocre.
21. Tyler Thigpen – KC – No one’s heard of the guy, but he’s playing well so far.
22. Sage Rosenfelds – HOU – A poor man’s Favre. Should be replaced once Schaub’s healthy.
23. Marc Bulger – STL – Donnie Avery gives him the deep threat he needs to produce.
24. Shaun Hill – SF – Mike Martz offense will always air it out giving him a chance to produce.
25. Chad Pennington – MIA – Silently having a solid year.
26. Jeff Garcia – TB – Dinks and dunks his way to wins, not stats.
27. Gus Frerotte – MIN – He’s been ok so far, but they’re clearly a run first team.
28. Joe Flacco – BAL – In game manager mode so far, not great numbers.
29. Kerry Collins – TEN – His teams undefeated thanks to his game management. Poor stats.
30. Jamarcus Russel – OAK – He’s on the Raiders. Enough said.
31. Ryan Fitzpatrick – CIN – Great WR’s but OL and team are struggling.
32. Daunte Culpepper – DET – Hasn’t learned the offense yet, but it doesn’t matter anyway.

Most drafts use the snake-style draft. This means Round 1 starts with Team 1 and proceeds to Team 2 etc. until it reaches Team 10. The beginning of Round 2 starts with Team 10 (essentially giving Team 10 two picks in a row) then proceeds to Team 9 etc. until it returns to Team 1. This means that Team 1 gets the #1 overall pick, then its next picks aren’t until #20 and #21.

For the teams who are on the ends of the draft position Teams 1, 2, 9, 10 they must make sure their picks will predict “position runs” due to the number of picks between theirs. For example, Team 10 gets picks 10 and 11 and then must wait 18 picks until it is their turn again. This means that if the first 9 picks were all RB’s, rather than selecting two mediocre RB’s with picks 10 and 11, Team 10 is better off selecting one RB and one Elite WR because there is a high probability Teams 1-9 won’t be picking many more RB’s since they all already took 1. Team 10 can then address it’s RB situation with picks 30 and 31 and still get the same quality RB’s they would have gotten if they had picked both with picks 10 and 11.  

Now lets look at how many people to draft at each position. Using the Yahoo! standard format as a guide, we can see there are 6 different positions and 6 bench spots. Therefore each position should have one bench player, right? Wrong. TE, DEF, and K positions don’t need back ups. Instead, make sure their Bye Weeks don’t conflict, and use 1 of your BN spots to support them. For example, draft 1 TE, DEF, and K and lets assume out of those three TE has the first bye week. Use one of your BN spots and draft a second TE. After the TE’s bye week, drop your second TE and fill the spot with a K or DEF as necessary. This way you can support three positions with one BN spot leaving the other 5 to support your more important positions.

You now have 5 BN spots for QB, WR, and RB. Draft a back-up QB, two back-up WR’s, and two back-up RB’s. Therefore your 6 BN spots should be QB, WR, WR, RB, RB, (TE/DEF/K). You now have all your positions supported in case of an injury.

Every year elite RB’s crumble for one reason or another. They fall victim to age, injury, or platoon (sharing time with another RB). Some of the victims of late have been Shaun Alexander, Larry Johnson, Ronnie Brown, Willie Parker, Rudi Johnson, Joseph Addai, etc. The list goes on. The point is, by drafting 1 RB early, and getting 2 or 3 solid options in the middle rounds, then you can start them based on match ups and get the same production out of them with less risk. Say your second back goes down. You have 3 guys behind him that you can plug in week-to-week to replace him. It also helps for bye weeks, making sure you always have someone to plug in.

Part of the RB-RB philosophy stresses the importance “handcuffing” your top backs (drafting their back-ups). Handcuffing is only useful in replacing injured backs and does little if your back declines due to age or a platoon. Not to mention, many handcuffs will be platooned when the primary runner goes down, making them far less potent.

So if the RB-RB theory is debunked, what do you do? As in any draft, it depends on what position you have and who’s available. I’d try to split RB’s and WR’s evenly early going RB-WR-RB-WR for example. Maybe even RB-WR-WR-RB depending on the situation. WR’s are notoriously inconsistent, so if you can snag a few of the studs early, and platoon your backfield later and play them based on match ups, you should be fine compared to the guy whose top two draft picks got cut down by the injury bug, platoon, and/or age. Sit back and enjoy cycling Thomas Jones, DeAngelo Williams, and Earnest Graham in and out of your starting line-up while they lead you to a championship.