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Are you familiar with Schrödinger's cat? It was the 1935 invention of an Austrian physicist who wanted to show the absurdity of contemporary theories of quantum mechanics. The short version of his paradox is to imagine a cat placed in a sealed box with a vial of poison gas that has a 50-50 chance of opening at any given moment. Until you open the box, you have no way of knowing whether the cat is alive or dead, so in essence he actually is both alive and dead, until you open the box and find out for sure.

That's kind of what it's like playing in a touchdown-only league. The players you draft can run up and down the field, gaining yards willy-nilly, and at any moment, there's a chance they might find paydirt. But at the end of the day, they've either scored a touchdown, or they haven't. There's no paradox to be found here -- it couldn't be more cut and dried. All you have to do is open up the box score. If your player didn't score a touchdown, you get nothing. If he did, so did you.

You can have Adrian Peterson when he rushes for 160 yards against the Colts, and I can have Pierre Thomas that same week, when he gains only eight yards on six carries against the Redskins. In standard fantasy football leagues, you'd feel pretty good about your guy. In a TD-only league, I'm the happy one because Thomas found the end zone, while Peterson failed to break the goal line all day. You get no consolation prize for those yards. You get no bonus for reaching the 100-yard milestone. You get nothing! Good day, sir! You lose! … I said, "Good day!"

That's not to say that you don't want to draft the big names early. After all, it's still better to have the Steve Smith in Panthers blue than the Steve Smith who plays in New Jersey. But because yardage doesn't enter into the equation, you do have to take different considerations into account and adjust your draft boards accordingly. So here is a list of things to keep in mind before you make your selections:

You need a good quarterback

It's true that quarterbacks get only four points for a touchdown in many TD-only league setups, while running backs and receivers get six. However, I still wouldn't have any problem drafting a stud quarterback in the first round. In fact, I might even shoot for it. First of all, every passing touchdown from a quarterback's team, whether it's thrown to a running back, receiver or tight end, is almost sure to come from that quarterback (unless it's a gadget play or the QB goes down). Only in rare cases must quarterbacks fight for red zone opportunities, and heck, when all else fails, they can even scamper into the end zone themselves. While there's never a guarantee a team will score at all in a given week, I would venture a guess and say that it's more likely that the quarterback will get points for you than any other position. After all, 16 quarterbacks threw for 16 or more scores last season (meaning an average of one per week), while the list at other positions who had that rate of success consists of DeAngelo Williams and Michael Turner. That's it.

Beware the vultures

T.J. Duckett , Tim Hightower, Gary Russell … guys like this might not get a sniff until the very late rounds in standard leagues, but in a TD-only league, it doesn't matter that they might get only a handful of carries per game. What does matter is how close to the end zone they are when they get the call. On the flip side, guys like Ryan Grant, Derrick Ward and Willie Parker will get far more carries, but when it comes to clicking for six, they could lose out if someone else gets the call from the coaching staff in close.

Many happy returns

Just think about it: A guy who returns punts and kicks gets roughly 10 free shots at the end zone each game. Don't dismiss these guys. They might end up scoring only three or four times per season, but I'd rather take my chances with Jacoby Jones and Johnnie Lee Higgins than any Titans wide receiver. Versatile return/receiver types such as Josh Cribbs, Eddie Royal, Leon Washington and Darren Sproles all get a huge bump in value. Remember, the more opportunities a player gets, the greater his chance at reaching the end zone.

Don't be afraid to double-dip

If you have Clifton Smith in your lineup and he returns a punt for a touchdown, you get six points. If you also have the Bucs' defense/special teams, those six points just became 12 points. If you draft Drew Brees and follow it up with Marques Colston, you have yourself 10 points each time they connect. True, if the Saints get shut out, you're now skunked in two roster spots, but how often is that going to happen? I don't suggest you use the tactic with, say, Joe Flacco and Mark Clayton, but certainly I'd consider drafting my starting quarterback's tight end to make those sporadic visits to the end zone all the more valuable.

So that's draft strategy, but what about in-season? Well, you'd manage your lineup just as you would in a standard league, but one thing you need to realize: A TD-only league is far more unpredictable than your usual fantasy football league. For instance, the Chargers could have their typical 30-point output in one game, yet Antonio Gates and LaDainian Tomlinson might not get you anything, even if they both rack up 150 yards of offense, if neither is one of the guys lucky enough to score. At the same time, a quarterback such as Kyle Orton could throw four interceptions in a game yet still post positive points because he scored on a bootleg in the fourth quarter.

So go with your gut. If you have a feeling this is the week that Ray Rice goes off, then by all means start him over Brandon Jacobs. If you think the weather in Green Bay might be awful, and you don't want to start Aaron Rodgers, then feel free to put Jason Campbell in the game. Have fun with it and take some chances. That's what this kind of league is all about. After all, unless you're Schrödinger's cat, you live only once.

AJ Mass is a fantasy football analyst for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him here.