You would think that this strategy would be easy and need little explanation, but every year I see problem players get drafted aggressively high. I don’t know if this is because people run out of ideas quickly during their drafts or if they just really don’t realize the kind of trouble these players will present throughout the season.

First off, let me define what a “problem player” is. A problem player is someone whose performance will be effected by circumstances beyond his on the field skills. These circumstances include, but are not limited to, frequent injury, playing time issues, contract issues, high profile personal relationships, not getting along with coaches or teammates, have intense outside interests other than football and are involved in anything relating to performance enhancing drugs.

Then you have the players who are constantly in trouble off of the field. These are the guys who have outstanding arrests, DUI’s, legal issues, domestic issues or any other trouble that may result in suspension or expulsion from their team or the NFL. These players will ruin your season in one fell swoop, so why take on the risk?

If you stay away from all of these types of players, aren’t you ruling out the majority of the NFL? Sadly, this is a fair point. The idea here is not to completely rule out every single player who has had an on or off the field issue before, but rather limit your exposure to this risk.

For instance, Le’Veon Bell is suspended for the first three games of the 2015 regular season. Without the suspension, he would be one of the top picks in the majority of leagues, maybe even going one overall. In Bell’s case, this is his first off the field issue and because of the relatively harmless nature of his offense he should still be highly sought after in drafts.

The poster boy for problem players without question is Percy Harvin. If you draft Harvin in anything higher than the 10th round, you are a complete sap. Harvin averages 11.5 games played over his six year NFL career. Percy Harvin is perpetually questionable. Of his first 55 games played in his career, Harvin has left the game with an injury eight times. That is half of a season folks. What’s more is that Harvin has been listed as questionable, doubtful or out an amazing 43 times (out of a total of 96 possible games) in his career. That is 45 percent of the time! You can’t win fantasy football with players that you can’t depend on.

Some problem players are obvious like Johnny Manziel, RGIII, Adrian Peterson, Darren McFadden, Wes Welker and Jordan Reed. Others are not so easy to identify. Players like Tom Brady, Sam Bradford, Arian Foster, Marshawn Lynch, LeGarrette Blount, Dez Bryant, Brandon Marshall, Wes Welker, Michael Crabtree, Rob Gronkowski and Vernon Davis each present an abnormal amount of risk. You won’t be able to avoid them all but if you minimize your exposure to problem players, you’ll greatly increase your chances of winning.