In fantasy football, draft day is perhaps the most important day of the season. Before the season, you draft your players onto teams that you āown.ā You track your play as you follow the actual NFL.
Youāre making a virtual roster of real NFL players, and then you compete against the rosters of other people based on the real game stats of players. A traditional league will last for a season, and there are daily leagues where you might draft a new set of players every week.
Leading up to a draft, youāll do your research and prepare with everything from fantasy football videos and articles to podcasts.
The wins and losses of the teams themselves are fairly irrelevant. Instead, itās all about your individual players. The players accrue points through things like catches, yards, and touchdowns.
Just before the start of the season, you and the other owners in your league hold a draft, picking the players you all want on your team. There are usually 10 or 12 owners in a league. Every player can only be on one team in your league. Then, after the draft and as the season goes on, you can adjust your roster by picking up players who werenāt drafted, dropping players you donāt want, and trading.
For every week of the regular season, youāre choosing a group of players who are your starters.
With all that being said, you can see how your draft is going to be what plays a big role in the success of your fantasy football season, and the following are things to know.
1. Planning The Draft
One of the toughest parts of the much-anticipated draft for a lot of people who play fantasy football is finding a time thatās going to work for everyone. The aim is to have the draft as near to the start of the regular season as possible.
In a typical year, the third weekend of the preseason is when a lot of leagues hold their draft because itās the final week starters play.
The reason the draft needs to be scheduled as close to the seasonās start as is so you can be up-to-date.
Youāll have seen new players, and youāll come prepared with information.
2. Draft Order
There are a lot of ways a league can approach the draft order. There are apps and platforms that will randomize it for you, which can help prevent too many hard feelings.
Some leagues like to be creative in their draft order, though.
If your league has existed for a while, then you might base your draft order on the finish from the past year. The team with the worst record can get top pick in the draft, replicating the NFL.
3. Draft For Value
If youāre new to fantasy football, you may not have heard the phrase draft for value. If youāre not completely new, youāve probably heard it a lot.
So what does it mean?
In your draft, you have to find value. If youāre new to fantasy football, you might think this means that youāre going to choose the names youāre familiar with, like Tom Brady. You could think that since Tom Brady, at least last season was one of the highest-scoring players in fantasy and real football, youāre going to get him, and itāll be great.
Thereās an issue here.
A quarterback is one of those positions where thereās a distinction between fantasy and real football. Itās easy to find a quarterback in fantasy, and the top 12 in scoring average during the last season posted at least 18.8 points in each game.
On the other hand, only three running backs scored at least that many points per game. Youāll have to start a minimum of two running backs each week and just one quarterback. This all means that a running back is more valuable because of supply and demand.
Itās harder to find quality running backs as well as wide receivers and tight ends compared to a position like a quarterback, so these are the players you want to prioritize early on.
4. Focus On Running Backs
The reason running backs are so important in fantasy football is something we started talking about above. A good draft strategy is going to be built on running backs in almost all cases of fantasy football.
There is a lot of value in an elite running back because of the consistency in the lack of available running backs and the fact that elite running backs have a better chance in any week to score a touchdown than any other position.
When youāre drafting, also draft a backup for your running back. Youāre then protecting yourself against the likelihood of your star running back getting hurt.
5. Be Patient About Quarterbacks
If you havenāt played fantasy football before, you might not realize that experts will tell you in your draft strategy, donāt rush into drafting a quarterback. Again, there are just so many quality quarterbacks in football that you donāt have to try and get one right off the bat.
6. Be Cautious About Overvaluing A Rookie
You might have your eye on a rookie, but donāt overvalue them, and donāt draft them too early on. You might want to wait until later in the draft to take a chance on a rookie that youāre eyeing.
7. Stack Your Bench
Youāll need at least four running backs and wide receivers who are part of your lineup every week, and you can have up to five in all. These positions are, as such essential to your rosters.
If you think ahead to the potential for players who struggle in their performance, bye weeks, and injuries, youāll realize you need a deep bench in these certain spots to carry you through rough patches.
8. Target Upside
Finally, you arenāt rewarded in fantasy football for finishing in the middle of the pack. You need a roster with true upside. Keep the upside in mind when youāre drafting.
An upside player is one who has the potential to exceed expectations, giving you a lot of fantasy value. The key to upside players is that expectations about them are low, so you can wait and draft them in your late rounds, or you can add them from free agency. You, as a general manager, then donāt have to use one of your top draft picks.