Fantasy Football Starter (or brush up) Kit

RB = Running Back
WR = Wide Receiver
QB = Quarterback

Make sure you have a trustworthy league operator. This is so important because he controls everything and anything that goes down. He makes the scoring system, vetos/allows trades, holds the prize at the end of the season awarded to the winner, and worst of all has to deal with all the headaches of any problems that he may encounter (and believe me there will be plenty).
Establish how many people you'll be playing with so you can determine how to draft your team. If there's 8 teams instead of the traditional 12, you're sure to have a better team, but so will everyone else!

Every player in the NFL is good, otherwise they'd be sitting at their computer playing fantasy football just like ourselves. So now the problem is determining which players are going to score the most points in your league. Just because ESPN ranks LaDainian Tomlinson (RB) #1 draft pick every year doesn't mean he's best for you If your league is quarterback friendly, say, you might consider picking up Tony Romo or Drew Brees before a running back.
Know where your league stands on how many running backs, quarter backs, and wide receivers you're allowed to start, and keep on your bench. This is important so you can fill your bench up with RB's and WR's during later rounds.

I can't stress enough the importance that lay on your running backs (in normal scoring leagues). Pick up running backs early and often. If you can start 2 RB's and have a flex position available, pick up a third RB to fill that position. RB's are guaranteed to touch the ball the most in any game. You're going to want to pick up a 4th RB in later rounds to put on your bench in case of injuries. WR's and QB's have the most value after RB's. Since RB's are often drafted 1st, you're sure to get stud QB's and WR's as early as round 4.
DO NOT PICK UP YOUR FAVORITE PLAYERS!
Your favorite players may not be fantasy worthy. I mean, if your favorite player is someone like Peyton Manning, or Adrian Peterson then be my guest. Remember, you're trying to beat out your opponents, not trying to have a team in which you think looks good.
DO NOT PICK UP KICKERS OR DEFENSES UNTIL THE LAST ROUNDS OF THE DRAFT. Usually the point difference between the best and worst kicker are so little that it really doesn't matter which kicker you pick up. The same rule applies for defense.
Consistency outnumbers "Sleepers". If someone puts up consistent numbers every year, but not great, you might want to pick up that player over someone who's supposed to be a sleeper. IE. There's a guy in my league who picked up Tedd Ginn Jr. in the early rounds because he was supposed to be great on Miami (check out his stats). If he would've picked up someone like Vincent Jackson on San Diego who isn't the fastest or scoring the most touchdowns, but puts up decent numbers's every week, he would've been much better off. I'm not saying forget about "sleepers" all together, more or less don't bank on them to be your All-Stars.
WORK HORSES VS. TIME SHARES
My opinion is to try and find teams with one "go to guy". If the RB you drafted is on a team where theres 2 great running backs, (ie. Jacksonville has Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew) then your player most likely won't put up great numbers because he's in a time share. Try to find NFL teams with star players on them.(ie. Redskins only use Clinton Portis). Same goes for your WR. The Texans target Andre Johnson 12+ times a game. That's a lot of looks, where if you look at teams like The Cardinals, they have Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin who are each star players and most likely will share those targets!

Great players can put up great numbers, but they won't do you any good if they're injured all the time. Take Brian Westbrook. Great player, and one of my favorite running backs of all time. Drafted #2 in the 1st round of my draft. If you did your research, you'd might want to pass up on him and his big number capability simple because he's notorious for getting injured and has never finished an entire season. Of course if you're a risk taker than fine, just make sure you pick up his backup later on in the draft so you'll have someone to play incase injury does happen.
Before you draft, make sure you know every team's schedule. This may sound rediculous, but when you draft, this is a great advantage. You'll know who to draft based on there schedule, simply because of the bye weeks coming up. Say you have to pick up a WR and there's 2 great ones out there and you don't know which one to take. If you know the schedule of the teams, you can pick up the WR who doesn't have a bye week the same time as your other players.
Also if you know your teams schedule, you'll know what teams they play at the end of the season. This is a HUGE advantage during your draft and after! At the end of the season is Fantasy Playoffs. You can either pick up, or trade for players who have an easy schedule at the end of the season to up your chances of winning when it counts.
Remember though, if a team is great and is guaranteed to make the playoffs in the NFL, they usually sit their star players at the end of the season, and save them for NFL playoffs. You might want to pick up star players on not so good teams!

Simple, if you need a QB (or any position you're weak in), trade for one. Just remember, if someone offers you a trade, 9 times out of 10 you're getting ripped off. Most fantasy "GM's" over value their players, so buyer beware!
Star players aren't going to put up star numbers every week. If a star is off to a slow start, you might want to offer a low trade to that player's owner. They just might bite into it. (ie. I picked up Steven Jackson off low trade 2 weeks into the season, now it's mid-season and he's doing work for me)

Quick tips to remember before you go.

-Study up on Rookies, teams, schedules and players.
-Make sure your players aren't injury prone.
-Practice doing some Mock Drafts before you get into the real one so you know what kind of situations you could get in to.
-check the waiver wire often, you never know who's going to explode this season and who other teams in your league will drop that might catch your eye.
-Only trade if you benefit.
-Pick up Defense then Kicker, last rounds.
-Take a risk on some sleeper players, but don't take them until later on in the draft.
-TE's shouldn't be picked til mid rounds, there's simply too many of them out there.
-Try to pick "workhorse players" before players in a time share. If a team is flooded with great WR's, avoid the picking the WR's and PICK UP THAT QB!
-Have some fun, but try not to make it your life, remember, thats why its called FANTASY football.

By the way, I'm no football expert in any way, these are all my opinions on what I feel will make you win your fantasy league, but just for the record, I'm undefeated in my fantasy league as of right now!