Each year around September, football season starts and right along with it, comes fantasy football. It overcomes team owners and becomes the main topic of conversation from 7:20 to 2:20. Drafts begin and the rest of the world cuts out.

As an avid fantasy football participant myself, this time of year is taken very seriously. In some leagues, the winnings can climb up to thousands of dollars. In my league specifically, the winner receives $200 and the person who comes in last place has to dye their hair blonde.

If you are looking for a league to join, or your draft is taking place at the last minute, here are some tips that I hope will aid you in a successful season. First of all, if the opportunity presents itself, draft a solid running back in the early rounds. The supply of solid running backs in the past few seasons has been relatively low and a star RB will definitely make your team stand out. Some solid running backs include David Johnson, Le’Veon Bell, LeSean McCoy, Demarco Murray and Ezekiel Elliott.

There are a plethora of wide receivers to choose from so do not be worried about waiting for a second-tier wide receiver such as, Brandin Cooks or Deandre Hopkins. I promise that your team will not be put at a disadvantage if you do not draft one of every position right away. You could be pleasantly surprised with who slips to you later on in the draft. It is not necessarily a bad thing to take the best available positional player, because you can always trade them away to other teams that may need that player.

When it comes to quarterbacks and tight ends, it is completely preference. I like to draft a top quarterback in the earlier rounds instead of waiting for an average one in the later rounds. However, some people like to stack up on running backs and wide receivers and wait until the end of the draft to grab quarterbacks and tight ends. I would not recommend drafting tight ends in the early rounds.

Finally, with respect to defenses and kickers, please for the love of god do not draft one of these positions before the ninth round. On a week to week basis, you will probably be adding and dropping defenses from the waiver wire depending on matchups, so drafting the highest ranked defense is sometimes nice, but definitely not necessary to win the league.