Alright, it’s that time of the year again, Draft Day for your Fantasy Football teams. I’ll do a quick review of how to approach your draft and reveal my 150 Players to grab on Draft Day.
Fantasy Basics
Over the years, I have written plenty on strategy, which can be found under the heading – Fantasy Football. I’ll review some basics now.
Know Your Format
Scoring matters. You should review your league’s scoring format before drafting any team. Is it a Standard or Points Per Reception (PPR) league? Do you have Kickers? How many WRs start on your roster? Is there a Flex spot or Super Flex? All of these questions matter. In general, if you start more of a position, like WR, you should prioritize WRs then. If you play 2 QBs or a Super Flex, then QBs move up the board. See the note below in the Top 150 on PPR. Also different drafting formats: Auction, Keepers, Dynasty or Redraft all change how you draft. So, take some time to review how the league works before creating a Top 150.
Tiers
You should think of players by position in Tiers. That means group 3-6 players at a given position together on your draft list. That way when you turn to a position group, you have several players to pick from and you do not freeze on Draft Day if your one guy is gone right before your pick. In general, you would want someone in each tier and not necessarily the last guy in the tier. However, if the tier is exhausted, then do not feel pressure to jump to the next tier if you have another position group rated better. In my Top 150 list, you will find after the Top 10 or so, I group players by position in tiers throughout. As the Draft progresses, I’ll make off the players taken and track how the tiers are holding up.
For example, if you are in the 2nd Round of the Draft and you took an RB in Round 1, you would look to your WR tier in Round 2 – if some some reason the entire tier is exhausted by your next turn, do not be afraid to go to the next RB tier after that. In Round 3, then you can fall to the next tier in lieu of being robotic and dropping down an entire level of players at the WR position in Round 2 passing on better RBs (despite you already having an RB).
Mock Drafting
Whenever possible, it is good to put your skills and list to the test. Use your Top 150 to draft on the website your league has the Draft. See which players are being taken earlier than your list or falling down to later rounds. Now, all Mock Drafts will rely on the specific website’s rankings, so be mindful that not all Mock Drafts are alike. So, if you are doing a PPR Draft on ESPN, then use their Mock Draft function to find the correct sized league with PPR settings, instead of Yahoo or CBS. Another thing to keep in mind is that after about 3-4 picks, a lot of people turn on Auto-Draft, so the picks come fast and furious. So, try to be calm, review your list and make a good pick, but if you cannot keep up, then use the site’s list to best align your Top 150 to their rankings. It is helpful to Queue up players in the Draft just in case the Auto-Drafters are rolling through the Draft at light speed. It is all practice for your big Draft Day when people who are drinking and are not prepared take 3x the amount of time required or miss their pick on a timed Draft.
Kicker and Defense
You will see that I do not have Kickers or Defenses in the Top 150. There is a good reason for that, they should not be picked that early. Save your last 2 picks for Kicker and Defense. If you want to have a separate list of Kickers and Defenses ranked that’s fine, but in general, Kickers and Defenses will not win you a title. You can find one now or on the Waiver Wire. So, do not complicate your life, just have a Top 150 with QBs, RBs, WRs and TEs.
Pick Players You Like
Last tip, when in doubt, if you are waffling between two players at a position in a tier that are close, then pick the player you like. I say that because if you just pick the player that is one slot higher, but you are a fan of a team or really like a player, then you will feel better about having a player you like on your team. Ultimately, Fantasy Football is fun. You should like your team, and do not overthink taking a guy you are excited to root for.
Top 150
Here is my current list of 150 players – now this is based on a Standard League (no PPR). Of course, you can make adjustments based on your scoring format. PPR will drive WRs higher than normal and some RBs beyond this ranking. However, in general, a good player is a good player. I think PPR will move some guys up to a round earlier, but no more. In the Top 10, PPR does affect the ranking a lot, so I have JaMarr Chase #1 for example. Back to point one above, know your format and adjust accordingly. You’ll notice I am down on some and higher on others by choice. So, make your own choices on who you like earlier rather than later. There is no point in following what everyone else is doing.
Good luck in your Drafts this week. I’ll make changes to the list if any injuries come out or are resolved.
Wegs