Hopefully most of you already drafted this weekend, as this past weekend is the biggest weekend for drafts in the country.  However, the advantage of drafting later is more information.  We have one more pre-season game in the books.  The depth charts will begin to solidify, and by the end of this week the rosters will be severely cut down.  Those are all positives.  In my early years in fantasy in the mid-90s, we always held the Draft on the Friday before the games started.  That way all the rosters were set completely.  The advent of the Thursday night game to start the season has really killed that possibility.  There are older leagues that still draft on the Friday or Saturday before the main slate of games (or even on that Thursday).

So, before, I list my updated rankings – Top 150s for Standard and PPR to use at your Drafts, let’s review some common pitfalls to avoid on Draft Day (which I saw this weekend in both my drafts Saturday).

Pitfalls to Avoid on Draft Day

  1. Draft Magazines – Oh, the Draft Magazine, the hallmark of the 1990s and early 2000s fantasy world. I love these magazines for 2 reasons – they have last year’s statistics listed and most of them have good team by team breakdowns. However, all of them were published or written at least in April and May. So, the information is OLD!! If you want to have a magazine at the draft, that is fine, but create your own list!! Or grab a rankings list from a guy who updates their ranks daily. We had a guy who drafted 2 people – WR Alshon Jeffery of the Eagles in like the 4th round (he is likely to start the season on the PUP list or Physically Unable to Perform list and may not play for 6-8 weeks of the season!) and they drafted Hunter Henry, TE San Diego. Well, he tore his ACL in the first week of camp and will not play in 2018. Don’t use magazines as your sole source of information.
  2. Using ADP vs Your list – So many people will pull a list from the hosting website to get their draft list.  The problem with these lists is that they are often based on Average Draft Position or ADP.  The main issue with ADP is that it uses data from every draft this draft season as far back as April sometimes.  So, players who have lost their starting jobs may still be listed higher than they should be.  A great example of this is Tampa RB rookie, Ronald Jones.  Jones was highly touted coming out of USC to take the starting spot.  So, his ADP is really a 4th or 5th round grade.  However, he is not the starter at all, Peyton Barber is, Jones has struggled in pass protection and catching passes.  He will definitely need to prove himself to ascend to the starting position.  How do I know this?  I listen to Sirius XM Radio – Fantasy station, Podcasts – CBS and ESPN.  I pay attention.  So, do not be that guy who just looks at the list and picks a guy because it says to.  Use a rankings list that was updated within a day or less, if possible.
  3. Position Runs – This is more of a strategic pitfall, but often times, an entire league will follow a herd mentality.  If one person starts to take a QB, then a 2nd, then a 3rd and so on, the novice fantasy owner will think – “I have to take a QB because there will not be any left.”  Well, this is false.  Sure, you have to take a player in that position group, but sometimes it is ok to go “contrarian” and just stick to your plan.  If everyone (and I mean everyone) is taking RBs in the 1st round, then don’t feel compelled to grab one, too!  In our 14 team draft on Saturday, literally 11 RBs went in the 1st round and only 3 WRs, and 14 of the first 18 picks.  There were guys like Christian McCaffery, who is not a 1st rounder in Standard leagues, and guys like Devonta Freeman and Joe Mixon went about a half a round to a round early.  Teams passed on top flight WRs there – Julio Jones and Keenan Allen.  Look, I’m a huge RB proponent and especially this year, but you should never reach for a guy just because everyone else is acting crazy.  If top WRs are falling to you, the pick them.  Avoid the runs.  QBs are the same, you need to wait and target guys you really want late.  However, if your guy goes, that is fine, the position is deep.  The bottom line here is to not thing like everyone else all the time.  That is why you need to Mock Draft a bit to take out that reactionary approach to drafting.
  4. Stay Focused – The last pitfall I’m going to talk about is focus.  Look drafts are fun, and they should be.  I like beveraging as much as the next fantasy owner.  However, if you are drafting for 3-4 hours, then you have to pace yourself.  To be honest, the early rounds are the easiest to stay focused since everyone knows those guys.  However, in the later rounds are when you can win your league.  Whether you make a “Target” list, which I did not discuss, but it is a good strategy in the later rounds.  A Target List is simply a sub-list of players you really like late.  Call them “Sleepers” or “Lottery Tickets” or guys you really like to have a good season, the target list is a group of players you would like on your team after Round 9-10 of your draft.  Depending on the format, you should have a list of guys that could break out or be special this year.  So, stay focused, don’t get completely hammered and put in the same focus you have in Round 1 as you do in Round 10 on.  Your team will be better and you will have less work to do during the season.  A Target list of late round fliers is always a good way to do that, if you get tired of tracking every single pick.  Here are a list of late round guys I have targeted so far:
    1. Nick Chubb, RB Cleveland – solid rookie who will likely get time midway through the season
    2. Jordan Wilkins, RB Indianapolis – another rookie RB who on a team that does not have a clear #1 RB in place – costs nothing in the draft, but could start soon
    3. James Connor, RB Pittsburgh – Le’Veon Bell is a top RB, but he has gotten beaucoup touches the last 2 years and he is not on a long term contract.  The Steelers will run him into the ground or until injured, which something tells me is this year.  Connor could step in and be a starter on your team if that happens.
    4. Michael Gallup, WR Dallas – a rookie from my alma mater, Colorado State, on a team with no true #1 WR – why not him?
    5. Paul Richardson, WR Washington – a really good deep threat who used to be on Seattle – no real #1 WR there, either
    6. Mike Wallace, WR Philadelphia – I have not drafted him yet, but I may regret that.  Wallace is a deep threat, but a more complete player than people think.  Injuries to Jeffery and Agholor could open the door for a really solid season, and he is going undrafted in most leagues.
    7. James Washington, WR Pittsburgh – Another rookie who is skilled in a great system.  Steelers know how to identify WRs in the draft, JuJu Smith-Schuster killed it as a rookie last year.  Washington could get a fair amount of targets and excel later in the season.

Ok, be sure to avoid those pitfalls, so you can dominate your Draft and have a team ready to compete for a championship.

Here are the updated rankings:

Standard 150 List

Fantasy List 2018 – Standard 2

PPR 150 List

Fantasy List 2018 – PPR 2

Good luck in your drafts.  Let me know how you did.

Wegs

About the author

I'm a 49 year old, twice divorced guy with a 20 year old. The blog has morphed a bit lately. Not just sports or dating, social commentary and now some stories from my past experience.