Like most everything in life fantasy football rewards those that prepare. If you have a fantasy football draft strategy tailored to your specific league’s rules in and are fluid, proactive and you will succeed. Ever wonder why the same handful of league members keep cashing year in and out? It’s because of preparation. If you’re interested in beating your friends and dedicated enough to getting an extra chunk of change this holiday season, then read the helpful tips below.
Know Your League’s Rules!
Guys and gals. I cannot stress this enough. KNOW YOUR LEAGUE’S RULES. What works in a standard league will work differently in a PPR league and vis-a-versa. A league that uses two flexes players should be valued differently than one flex leagues. Players need to be analyzed separately between standard leagues and PPR leagues. If there are bonuses for certain individual milestones make sure you’re aware of them.
For ESPN leagues click on ______>_______, This league settings page will identify the points added and deducted for each category. Any bonuses will be outlined as well on this page.
How Do I Prepare for My Fantasy Football Draft?
From Worst to First
Let’s use a case study from my own life. I’ve been playing in a fantasy league since 2005 and competitively since 2011. From 2005 – 2010 I missed the playoffs every year never finishing with a winning record From 2011-2020 I made four championship rounds winning two of them. So what changed?
To put it simply I learned the waiver wire settings. From 2005-2010 I put in a waiver claim every week. I would put in a claim for a kicker, quarterback coming off a big week, 4th string wide receivers who hit a home run td… What was I thinking? Don’t be like me from 2005-2010.
The Olden Days of Fantasy Football
Before the times of smart phones and fantasy football applications I simply added a waiver wire every Monday or Tuesday night so I didn’t have to add anyone that week. Man was I wrong with that approach.
As a result of not knowing how my waiver wire settings worked, I would make a worthless claim that pushed me to the back of the waiver order. I’d put in a claim every week for a big beneficiary of an injury, coaches decision or suspension. I was never able to land the big in season fish.
In 2011 I figured out how the waiver wire worked. I’ve been in the green ever since.
Have a Pre Draft & Draft Strategy!
Going into the draft make sure that you have a plan. Break out the google sheets and compile a list of payers with their target round or auction salary. Make sure you compile a list of a few guys at each position that you like. I’ll grade them with tier levels (not pictured below)
Here’s a screen grab of some pre draft notes from 2019.
As you can see above I get a list of roughly 6-8 options for 1 player position start. Defense is different and will compile roughly 3-4 teams to target. I’ll have a column for notes and update it regularly leading up to draft season. Not necessary to watch every preseason game, but does make sense to look at whose getting touches with the first team.
Don’t be afraid to be fluid with your strategy. Once the draft gets going you may have to adjust the original plan. That whiskey driven comment you made to your buddy at the bar about that sleeper you love could come back to haunt you. So, it might be a good idea to be tight lipped for the few weeks leading up to a draft (although let’s be honest we all wanna hype up our sleeper no one else sees in the dog days of summer ).
I personally believe in doing a dozen or so mock drafts starting as early as June of the calendar year. I’ll do about one every two weeks in June/ July, then do roughly two per week in August. I try a few different strategies and compare and contrast what worked and what didn’t work.
How does my team look with a WR in the first two rounds? How bout no wide receivers in the first five rounds? Drafting a TE in the first four rounds or grabbing a QB in the quarter of the draft?
All these decisions will impact your future decision so it’s important to think about when to draft someone. What positions to go all in on, and what positions will you punt on until the late rounds?
Look at the NFL Schedule
Looking at the early season schedule can give you a big edge over your opponents. Finding a defense with a soft first four games can be the difference between a first round bye and missing the playoffs (see Pats D 2018)
Break the Season into four segments
Look at rankings such as ______ and ______. These tend to be fairly accurate and can help form a pretty solid picture of an opponents
Go With Low Risk in First Three Rounds
Watch The Game
Roster Construction
Roster Construction has a hell of a lot more to do with winning than you probably think. It’s imperative to both know the rules of your offline or online draft before formulating a strategy. The amount of positions you start also greatly impacts their value. 3RB no ppr leagues put an extra heavy emphasis on the backfields and 3WR PPR leagues put tons of value on wide receivers.
Know your league, your IR slots available, any max position spots and get to work. In 0 ppr and .5 ppr leagues I find running backs have higher upside than any other positional player. In 1 point per reception (PPR) leagues the average seasonal top ten players over the past 5 years have been ____% RBs and _______% WRs
With 16 person roster spots in non ppr formats. I generally like to draft 1/2QB, 8 RB, 3/4WR, 2TE, 1DST 0K. If your league allows it I highly recommend not drafting a kicker. Instead load up on valuable running backs in the early rounds and target upside pass catchers and quarterbacks in the later rounds.
1QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1 Flex, 1DST, 1K – If you play in a 1QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1DST, 1K you will most likely put more of a focus on running backs than any other position. In non-ppr draft formats you will see that most of the first round positional players in any given year are running backs.
If healthy no other positional player ranks in the top 5 year and year out (citation and additional info required to back up statement).
2QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1 Flex, 1DST, 1K – Two quarterback leagues are starting to gain some steam. Not the traditional lay out for fantasy, the two quarterback league puts much more emphasis on the most important position in sports. If you like to punt on the quarterback in drafts like some savvy players in 1QB leagues do, you will have to adjust your strategy for this one,
In two quarterback leagues, most of the first round is littered with quarterbacks. If you were smart enough to get Patrick Mahomes last year and pluck a mid round flyer of Lamar Jackson you likely took down your ship.
1QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 2Flex, 1DST – One of the most popular trends over the last five years has been to eliminate kickers. Following suit with some large daily fantasy outlets, many season long leagues have shifted towards removing kickers.
In these 1 QB position leagues, extra value is implicitly p[laced on running backs and then wide receivers. I like to take high volume running backs early and go with high upside wide recievers. The NFL is a pass first league and as a result you can find stealthy wide receivers with upside on the weekly waiver wire. You normally cannot find those same daily fantasy heroes on the waiver wire for running backs.