Fantasy Friday: My Top Five Tips For Your Draft

As I wrote last week, my first fantasy football drafts didn’t go so well.

However as I draft the rest of my leagues during this long weekend I feel little bit more prepared. I got my research done and I will have my cheat sleets all set. My last post spurred some questions from my Metblogs colleague Amy on draft advice. While I’m no Talented Mr. Roto, here’s the top five tips I’d give anyone that has a draft coming up:

1. Know Your League

Ever league is different in terms of how you earn points and what players you can start every week. Some leagues are PPR (points-per-reception) which means wide receivers get a bump in value. Other leagues are IDP (individual defensive player) which means you don’t draft a team’s defense but you also draft individual players that only play defense. Some leagues count passing TDs for six points instead of four, which means quarterbacks are worth a little more. Know the rules of your league so you can strategize on how to take advantage of it, and to avoid any surprises.

Also make sure you know how many players you can start and at what position, that also differs from league to league and can change how many running backs and wide receivers you might draft.

2. “The Magic Formula” – Draft RBs Early and Often

To learn more about The Magic Formula read this article written by The Fantasy Football Guys, however to gist of it is, draft running backs early. If you have a later pick in the first round maybe you’ll want to draft a stud QB or WR instead- that’s cool, just make sure you at least get 2-3 RBs in the first few rounds. It helps to have tiers of players so you know where a drop off between groups of players occur.

3. Studs First, Upside Later, Defense and Kicker Last

It’s actually easy to draft at the beginning, everyone just picks from the best top players in the first few rounds. It’s actually in the middle rounds where the true test is. When drafting players towards the middle and end of a draft look for players with upside, the potential to breakout and have a great year. By now you probably have your starting line-up set so when it comes to your bench, take a risk or two- you never know when you’ll find the next Adrian Peterson.

And whatever you do, do NOT draft a kicker or defense until the last two rounds- you may think you’re bored and there’s nobody left that’s any good, but there’s always an extra RB or WR you could pick that could be useful. You could reason that you could get the top kicker or defense early and lock that up- but you have to understand that those two positions are so unpredictable that who knows if you are really getting the top defense.

4. Know a Couple of Sleepers but Don’t Reach For Them

Now like I said above, it’s helpful to know a couple of sleeper names ahead of time for those later rounds- but don’t reach for them because you think they are a sleeper. Sleepers are called that because they could be a valuable player if taken later in the draft. Using your 6th pick on that sleeper doesn’t make him a sleeper anymore- because you wasted a top pick on him. They are also called sleepers because they could wake-up…or keep sleeping and end up being nothing. So just know who they are when you are at the point all the stars are off the board and you want to load up on potential talent.

5. Know How Your Opponents Are Drafting

As different teams draft different players, I like to keep track of not who they are drafting, but what positions they are drafting. This helps later on when you know you can wait longer to get that tight-end because everybody else already has one. This article on The Huddle explains it a bit more.

Bonus Tip: Come Prepared But Don’t Blindly Follow The Cheat Sheets

Last year I talked about what draft-kits I like to check out when preparing for a draft, I encourage you to at least have one handy when you draft just for the cheat sheet. It doesn’t really matter which one you have (you’ll notice they are all mostly the same)- it’s just helpful to have that ranked list of players to refer to. However at the same time, don’t follow it religiously. If you have a certain player you want, go ahead and take him. The cheat sheet is helpful in telling you that if you want Kevin Faulk- he’s ranked low enough that you could target him later. Also rankings may have one person over another- but to me that just tells me what range a player is in, don’t feel like you have to take Philip Rivers over Aaron Rodgers because he’s ranked 25 and Rodgers is ranked 26. Go with your gut.

I hope everyone has a great fantasy football draft! Do you have a tip you want to share? Leave it in the comments below!

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Related posts:

1. Fantasy Friday: Stumbling On My First Fantasy Drafts
2. Fantasy Football: A Long Draft Weekend
3. Fantasy Friday: TMG Draft
4. Fantasy Friday: Fantasy Football The Next Level
5. Fantasy Friday: Starting The Road To A Fantasy Championship