10 Fantasy Football Mistakes to Avoid

6. As a companion to #5, don't let a loss or two or an injury to a key player cause you to make an irrational trade with another owner. I'm in a keeper league (we carryover seven players from year to year), and two years ago I snagged Larry Fitzgerald because an owner freaked out when his guy, Stephen Davis, was injured early in the year. I had DeShaun Foster at the time - Davis's backup then - and thought he might be willing to deal, so I offered Foster and Donte Stallworth for Fitzgerald and Houston's Tony Hollings (I had Domanick Davis at the time, so I took him as a handcuff). That owner still has Foster on his team, but what player would you rather have, him or Fitzgerald?

7. Don't let favoritism play a role in your player selections; don't let team rivalries affect your decision-making either. Sure, it's OK to look at guys from your favorite team to have on your roster, especially if your favorite team is Indianapolis or Arizona. And if you are a Dallas fan and decide that you want to try to avoid having a Washington player on your team, then so be it. But really now, even if you root for the Cowboys, would you take Julius Jones over Clinton Portis in a fantasy draft?

8. Don't stop paying attention if your team falters early in the season. Two years ago, I started out 1-4 in my league. To make matters worse, I was the league commissioner, so I had to devote time and energy to the league. I decided to give my season one more shot and I traded for Brett Favre. I won the final nine games of our regular season, and proceeded to win three games in the league playoffs, including the title game. Just because you struggle early, doesn't mean that you can't rebound.

9. Once the season begins, don't overemphasize game match-ups when it comes to picking your starters. Yes, knowing that one of your RBs is going up against the league's worst run defense is important. (In fact, my weekly column during the regular season focuses on these matchups.) But if you have LaDainian Tomlinson, Julius Jones, and Greg Jones in your stable of RBs, you probably don't want to sit one of the first two and start Greg Jones just because he is facing Houston's defense that weekend, even if LT has to run against Denver while Julius tangles with Pittsburgh. When the decision on who to start is a marginal one, then you can use matchups as the deciding factor.

10. As mentioned above, don't wait until a few days before your draft to start researching players and teams. By reading this, hopefully you have gained some knowledge and insight on the mistakes you want to avoid from now until the draft, and even once the regular season begins. Search around this site for other articles that can help in other areas of increasing your fantasy football expertise and keep coming back for updates, in addition to checking out other sources. Remember: information, information, information.