In Draft Day Persona, or the Iceman Cometh!, we considered how it's better to be confidently prepared for our drafts than preparing our draft "beverages". There are some basic, but salient, components any owner should know well, particularly when playing in leagues with IDPs.

Step 1: Admit to a higher power. Oops, wrong audience. Allow me to try again.

Step 1: Understand how your league weighs its players. Are QBs more valuable than linebackers? Does a top flight LBer score the same fantasy points as a top WR or RB by season's end? Does the league you're trying to win place emphasis on the big play over the smaller plays?

There are owners in some of my longtime leagues who will insist on drafting sack specialists from the defensive end positions in the earliest rounds when my leagues don't weigh sacks all that high. This is more of a flaw in the parameters of the scoring source I use than any bias against DLers. But, this hardly absolves them of this foolish mistake. A pick has been made far too early; when greater producing talent was to be had. Hey, it's good news for my roster but still…its painful to watch and leaves me with my mouth agape sometimes. As a matter of record and sound advice, I almost never draft pure defensive ends in my leagues because of how they're weighed in terms of scoring. Why get Julius Peppers and handful of sacks when you can pick up Mike Peterson and his ungodly overall totals?

            Let's agree to not make this one of those live and learn moments. Seventeen weeks is one loooooong lesson.

Step 2: Decide how you want to begin ranking defensive players. Will it be DBs, LBers, and DLers all ranked 1-400? Or, will it be the top 30 players at each position? Maybe it's a tiered system --my approach- that you feel more comfortable using. (Explained in the article Reeding the Defense).

Of course, the best system is to become a premium member of IDPBlitz.com and download our IDP Draft Kit, available soon. It's based on Cecil Taylor's system, not mine, but we like diversity of opinion on IDPBlitz. Anyway, you'll want to research IDPBlitz's draft tools and how to use them in this step.

Step 3: Reed, Reed, Reed…wait. Make that read, read, read; but read Reed too. The more names and numbers you can have pass your eyes, the fewer surprises and Hamlet-like moments you'll have at your draft.

Step 4: Roughly mock out your draft. I write roughly because I know some people (sorry Mr. Taylor) who will attempt to predict what every pick will be from start to finish for every owner. That's major microanalysis. Though I should admit I kid a man with a stellar fantasy football record compiled over the years. It's simply not an approach I think works for most. But, if you can gauge about how long the poor man's Brian Urlacher (Takeo Spikes) will be around, then you're going to do well for yourself.

Step 5: If you're not playing in a dynasty league or league where players will be protected next season, avoid long shots, those recovering from serious injury, and a whole swath of rookies. Although last season almost changed my mind about this last bit of advice what with Lofa Tatupu, Derrick Johnson, Shawne Merrimen, and Odell Thurman exploding onto the scene. Still, tread lightly unless Mr. Taylor gives you the green light.