How many players do you rank?

[vykeengfan]

10 teams, 16 slots per team.
Starters:
1 QB
2 RB
2 WR
1 Flex (RB, WR, TE)
1 TE
1 K
1 Def
+7 bench slots.

How many QB, WR, and RB would you guys rank in a setup like this?

[204BC]

I always use a radically different strategy than others. Once I know my draft position I rank that many of the top players. For instance, if I draft 6th, I rank my top 6 no matter what the position. After that I want to draft to fill the rest of my roster so I figure out in which round I want to draft each position. For example, If I know my top 6 are all RB's, then I may plan on going RB, WR, RB, WR, WR, QB, etc, etc. I usually don't worry about being the guy that takes Jason Witten in round 4. I stick with my plan and it usually works out pretty well. Once you get your starting roster and backups for your key positions (RB, WR, QB) then you can start taking whoever shows up. I'm also one of those guys that only carries 1 kicker and I take him in the very last round.

With that said I carry several lists.

Rank the top players up to my draft position (If you draft 1st that should be simple enough)
Rank the top 40 RB's
Rank the top 60 WR's
Rank all 32 starting QB's
Rank the top 15 TE's
Rank the top 20 Def
I don't bother ranking K's since that's a crapshoot and each year a different one seems to break out from nowhere.

Put this in a 3 ring binder with tabs. Follow your game plan and when going to your next pick just flip to the page for the position you plan on drafting next (remember, you will have a list of the draft order you want by position). You'll also have to be crossing names off (obviously) as the draft progresses but this is actually easier when done this way than with one list. It takes less time to find each player as long as you know what position they play. I don't win every time but I've been quite sucessful this way.

One thing to note is that typically you'll want to have your starting RB's and at least one backup by round 10 since that position seems to get eaten up first in most drafts.

[Kensat30]

You don't even have to rank players if you don't feel like it. There are plenty of ranking/ADP lists out there that you can use to pick from. All you really need to know is which players you like and which players you don't like. Outside factors dictate which players get selected at what point in the draft, or did you think that everyone actually feels the same about all these players and that they get selected at the same point in the draft in virtually every draft because we all think alike? No, the majority of owners base their list off whats in a magazine, whats on the internet, and what everybody else tells them the rankings should look like.

Sure, the guys who go in rounds 1 or 2 are likely to be the same for most owners regardless of outside stimuli. There are a limited number of superstar players in the NFL, but then again, even that can be debateable. I personally I think things start to diverge even as early as the 1st round. Who out there for instance has both Randy Moss and Tom Brady ranked as a first round players this year? After considerable thought on the topic, I have Moss valued as an early to mid first round pick as WR1 on my board and Tom Brady valued as a late first round pick as QB1.

Bottomline, as long as you get players you like and believe in, you don't even need rankings. Rankings are just a tool to be used to ensure that you get the most players you want and/or the players you want the most. Even with the best rankings in the world, you probably won't have a good idea how the rest of the draft is actually going to play out until after the 3rd round anyways. Too many similar rankings at the top of the draft to really make a major difference for anyone. A lot of people believe that the middle rounds are where leagues are won and lost, but really that is just where rankings truly begin to divurge and the consensus becomes muddled.