June is too soon to start your fantasy football draft

Starting your fantasy football season in June seems like putting up the Christmas decorations in August or telling an ill-timed celebrity death joke. Too soon, bro.
 
I was shocked to see a notice from Yahoo!Sports in my inbox this morning, announcing the official start to their 2012 fantasy football campaign. Starting at 6:30 p.m. ET tonight, I could log in, create my team and start drafting players even though NFL training camps don’t open for about another month.

While the excitement of the upcoming NFL season is tough to contain, I know better than to start drafting up my fantasy strategy and making doe eyes at guys like Adrian Foster and LeSean McCoy.

Training camps and preseason tits always dish out some unhappy injury news for fantasy owners and players that we thought would be high on the depth chart become buried.

I know a few of you will jump all over the chance to start playing something other than the daily grind of MLB fantasy, but remember that Week 1 doesn’t start until Sept. 5. That’s a long time to think and overthink possible trades, read and re-read every NFL preview mag, and watch and re-watch all the DVR’d camp coverage on the NFL network.

Chances are if you played fantasy last year, you know who you want to select No. 1 overall this season. The toughest choice in many drafts is who do you select second?

Most years, this decision can make or break your entire season, whether you draft your team in June or an hour before the Giants and Cowboys kickoff.

Here are my top No. 2 selections for your upcoming (but hopefully not coming too soon) NFL fantasy draft:

Tom Brady, New England Patriots

Depending on if you have some New England fans in your league, Tommy Boy may still be around for your second pick.

Andre Johnson, Houston Texans

His numbers went down in 2011 due to injuries and QB issues. However, if Matt Schaub can stay vertical so should AJ’s week-to-week numbers.

Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots

If you can’t grab Brady, grab the guy catching all those TD passes. Gronk could be the best fantasy TE since Gates and Gonzalez were in their primes.

Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers

Were you one of the millions scrambling to pick up Cam after his Week 1 performance last September? Newton is worth the risk of a sophomore slump after passing for 21 TDs and rushing for another 14 scores.

Jimmy Graham, New Orleans Saints

Some mocks have the Saints breakout TE going in the first round, which seems a little careless. Graham reeled in 11 TD passes last season, but did so under the radar. It will be interesting to see what defensive coordinators throw at him this year.

Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings

Thanks to those big numbers being put up by QB’s last season, running backs have been bumped in terms of importance. Peterson’s health could have him sliding to the second round in many fantasy drafts. He’s a make-or-break pick at No. 2.

Trent Richardson, Cleveland Browns

Cleveland thinks Richardson is an elite-level back that can have an immediate impact, which is contrary to what team great and former adviser, Jim Brown, had to say about the Alabama standout. The one thing fantasy owners can be sure of is that Richardson will see his share of the football with Peyton Hillis gone and the QB situation a mess.

rookie rb's in fantasy football - too risky for a first or second round - chk ur history

-rookies are so over rated

-the rookies that do hit are like 1 out of 10 years...

its more for mock drafts and such to practice, i dont think any guys who are serious are having drafts in june

call me crazy but taking a tight end early is like taking a catcher early in fantasy baseball, the end just never seems to justify it.

andre johnson has never had double digit TDs in his career... id rather have megatron, fitzgerald, or maybe even mike wallace

one reason why its good:


**Memory retention is known to be improved when a person is paying focus to something that directly involves them---example:  you're reading an advanced heart disease book that you don't really care about--then you're reading a book about "what its like to be a black asian in Canada that has facial features like jackie chan, but the skin of tiger woods"   suddenly, time flies and you retained everything you read because you yourself are...



point-----if you get Aaron rodgers now, you will be an expert come preseason==you'll probably start learning backup linesman names

NFL is now a QB dominated league. Top 5 should be.

yeah true but i think the difference between the elite level QBs and the lower tier is a wide margin...

i no im going QB with my first pick unless rodgers, brees, and brady are gone... in that case im going stafford in the 2nd

ideally i would love to get megatron in the 1st then stafford in the 2nd...

that combo together all year equals huge numbers

I always draft in August.

I will still wait for a QB but focus more on WRs than RBs this year.

it's not a QB dominated league, more so a pass happy league.

I know it's splitting hairs but I hope my point is being understood