How many players at each position should you have?

[Jeff Kearns]

Ok, if you play in a standard league like I do, where you start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE, 1 Flex, 1 K, and 1 Def/ST, what kind of players should you have on your bench? Should you have two tight ends on your roster? What about two defenses?

This is my first year, and I find myself at this point in the season with 2 QBs, 5 RBs, 5 WRs, 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 Def/ST on my roster. Is that a good or bad thing? Should I get a reserve TE?

[shawngee03]

only 1 TE, DEF, K. just drop the def and K when they have byes and pick another one up. you shoudl probably be using a different DEF each week anyways as there isnt a dominant DEF anymore liek the old Balt and Chic teams of a few years ago

TE...on his bye week drop your worst bench guy for a bye week filler. but dont waste a bench spot on a second TE the other weeks

ive always had good luck w having 1 backup QB, 1 bench WR for byes, and the rest Rbs.

QBs get hurt every once in a while...so its nice to have a decent one on the bench. WRs almost never get hurt....so no need for a bunch of backups as you should be playing your 2 starters each week. but its nice to have a decent one for byes and the chance one of yoru starters gets hurt

RBs however get hurt all the time. so grab as many as possible. like kendall hunter....he should be on someone's bench for when Gore misses his few games eventually

[Sex Panther]

Totally depends, there's no "right" answer.

For example, in a 12 team league I'm in that's .5 PPR & Flex position is W/R/T, I have 3 TE's rostered - Gronkowski/Daniels/Keller. More of a scenario dictated by injury (Austin/Colston/Hernandez all were hurt - ended up trading Hernandez + M. Bush for N. Washington/O. Daniels). None of those 3 TE are droppable - so I'll carry (and in all likeyhood start at least 2 of them on more than 1 occasion) all 3 until I can trade one of them or something bad happens.

In this particular league I'm only carrying 1 QB (Schuab) who I'll start every week & his bye isn't until week 11.

I currently have 5 WR (Austin/Colston/Bowe/Washington/A. Brown)

I only am carrying 4 RB - 2 starters & their handcuffs - Rice & Turner & Williams & Snelling - didn't start out that way but after a couple trades that's what I'm dealing with.

The 3 aforementioned TE's

1 K & 1 D (Rackers & Philly) I don't need to worry about K slot until week 11, and I'll figure something out for D/ST come week 8.

[FatFoot]

You start with the positions one NEEDS.

Most leagues, you NEED 1 qb, 2 or 3 RB, 2 or 3 WR, 1 TE.

If you're in a snake draft, there is no upside to drafting a kicker before the last round. There's very little upside to drafting a D/ST before the last couple of rounds.
If you're in an auction, D/ST and K generally go at the $1 rounds. At that point, it's similar to just calling out draft picks.

Once the season is going, let's assume your league starts 1 QB, 2 RB, a RB/WR flex, 2 WR, a TE, K and D/ST.
Do you have a "stud" QB? An Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Rivers (I know, this year he's been rough) etc? If so then priority falls to other positions.
Did you draft Vick? If so, you need an additional QB.
Then you look at your RB. Do you have 2 people you can definitely start every week?
Same for WR.
You will fill your flex spot out with value that either falls to you inappropriately (Ryan Mathews in the 5th or 6th round this year would be a good example) or with positional availability.
TE used to be tougher. There is a ton of value out there this year, and I don't think any of us knew it would be this available. So a lot of teams reached for Gates, Clark, Witten, etc... next year I know I don't do that.

After you have fielded QB, RB RB WR WR FLEX TE, then you spend the next rounds building depth based on what is available, or based on the flaws to the players you drafted. If you got SJax or RunDMC, you probably spent your flex on another good RB, expecting injuries. If you ended up with Vincent Jackson and Roddy White, you will probably bench 2 more WR and spend the rest on RB depth.

But you gauge need based on what you have.