Before you draft your team this year, here's some tips to consider:

Embrace the committee

More and more teams are employing a running back-by-committee, long-dreaded by fantasy players. But maybe the RBBC isn’t so bad. Yes, Reggie Bush or Deuce McAllister might be a top 10 stud if they were a workhorse back, but the use of the committee in New Orleans, Dallas, Jacksonville and others expands the pool of useful running backs, and many are available later in drafts, as late as the fifth or sixth round.

After the first 15 or so RBs are off the draft board, there are a lot of runners, maybe 20 more, whose values are pretty close. What that does is free you from having to draft RBs with your first two picks – the old, and perhaps outdated, theory that advises to draft RBs with your first two picks.

Eschew the 20th-rated RB for a pair of top 10 WRs and grab your second runner ­-- who will post stats comparable to the one you passed on -- in the fourth round and your team will better off.

In a recent (nonmock) 12-team draft, McAllister, Jamal Lewis, Cadillac Williams and Ahman Green all went in the fourth round and Marion Barber III, Adrian Peterson (Vikings), Fred Taylor, LaMont Jordan Warrick Dunn, Jerious Norwood, Julius Jones, Tatum Bell and both Panthers backs went even later. They might not be great producers, but when you pair them with a couple of top-flight WRs, they’ll do fine.

Peyton’s Place

That leads me to when to draft a QB, specifically Peyton Manning. I’ve seen his average draft position range from fourth to very late in the first round (10-12). I draft seventh in an upcoming draft (16 teams), and here’s my position: If I think I can get one of the top-flight RBs, the ones who are true No. 1 runners, in the second round, I’ll take Manning first. Otherwise I’ll pass on him for an RB, and see if Carson Palmer, the closest thing to Manning in fantasy, is there in the second round.

I’d rather have Palmer and a stud runner than Manning and a second or third tier RB.

In the recent 12-team draft, Manning went at No. 6, and that owner was able to land Willis McGahee in the second round. That sounds great to me, but if the best RB left for that owner were Edgerrin James or Brandon Jacobs, that wouldn’t be so great.

Building for the bye

For years fantasy players have filled their team with the bye weeks in mind, not wanting to have their top players off the same week. It might be time to reverse that strategy, especially this year because of the two weeks when six teams are off. I would be willing to forfeit, for lack of a more accurate description, one week and be at practically full strength every other week of the season, than lose one of the top four players each week for four weeks.

In Week 6 this year, Buffalo, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and San Francisco, each with a fantasy star or two, are off. It’s not too hard to imagine a team of Frank Gore and Marshawn Lynch at RB and Marvin Harrison, Roy Williams and Javon Walker at WR. That team likely loses in Week 6, but I’ll take those guys any other week against a team that has one of its top players on a bye.

This only applies to RBs and WRs – don’t draft a backup QB, kicker or defense with the same bye weeks as your starter.

Is this helpful or am I crazy? Leave your comments here or send those questions to football@stripes.osd.mil. We’ll try to answer the best ones.