Fantasy football magazines? Not yet

Poor fantasy baseball. As the month of July nears its end, fantasy sports fanatics are starting to realize that NFL teams will be reporting to camp in a matter of weeks. The fantasy baseball team becomes less of a priority to some, knowing that the NFL's 32 teams will be reporting to college dorms for some shoulder pad and shorts practices.

Training camp may mean little to many, but there are a lot of fantasy football nuts who will be keeping a close eye on many camps. Fantasy football draft guides are already popping up on store shelves, but they're somewhat useless this time of year. It's hard to truly gague what's going to happen when the NFL kicks off in early September by mid-July.

Fantasy football magazines can be a valuable asset, but they're definitely not worth the hassle right now. They'll be a waste of $10. It's safe to say that you can find the easy rankings (you know, rounds 1 through 3) on the Internet, or you probably have a good idea that Chris Johnson should go No. 1 in any format.

I'm not saying fantasy mags are useless. They can be great for depth charts or can serve as a good basis of camp battles to watch.

I've been in drafts in the past where someone is going off a magazine and didn't realize Tatum Bell was injured and grabbed him in one of the top two or three rounds. People forget that those mags were published way before the season to get a jump on all the other companies.

If you're going to get a fantasy football magazine, buy it later when you're getting closer to the draft. Try to find one with the latest published date. Use tham as a basis for your Internet research. Use them for some rookies to look into. Use them to see which RB battles are out there or what teams are pondering a RB-by-committee.

By all means, don't think a fantasy football mag is the end-all, be-all answer to your draft night. It will only cost you in the end. You will end up thinking Josh Cribbs is a third-round pick or the Raiders are top 10s at every position.