Draft Dos and Don'ts
#NationalDraftWeekend is upon us and every year more and more players flock to get involved with fantasy football. Whether it is to chase a big win on a daily site or to kick their friends in the nuts through the course of the season, you can be sure the game will be a heavy focus of millions this season. I have been playing fantasy football for about 20 years. During these 2 decades I have participated in hundreds of drafts. What surprises me most is the mistakes that people make year after year. I understand that there are casual players and those who are less consumed than I am but I feel like if you are putting money on the line you should be preparing to win. With that in mind I want to cover a few points that will help most novice player and even some experienced players who may have overlooked them.
- Know Your League Settings: This sounds obvious but, well, it isn’t always. You have to know how many teams are in your league, the starting positions, the scoring settings, how waivers work, trade policies, etc. The reason is this; if you know the number of teams, the starting positions and scoring you can create custom cheat sheets for your league. This will give you a leg up on those who are using ranking magazines that are probably outdated and those who depend on the rankings from your given website host. You can do an engine search for custom fantasy football rankings and find plenty of free ones. I have one that I have been using for 10 years but I won’t share the info because it is no longer a free site and they don’t pay me to promote them. Knowing how waivers works is important too because you’ll want to be selective picking up a player if your system is a revolving one that doesn’t reset each week. You can be more aggressive if it does reset or if you are at the back of the line anyway.
- Attend Your Draft and/or Rank Your Players Ahead of Time: Most drafts are planned well in advance so making arrangements to be there shouldn’t be too difficult. Sometimes things come up so be ready. By ranking your players on your draft site you can be sure to prioritize who you want and remove anyone you don’t who might still be on the draft board. For example, an injured player that the site hasn’t removed yet. Your season may be over before it starts if Derrius Guice is your RB2. Also, be sure to utilize your queue while doing your online draft. Try to have at least 5 or 6 players in there at all time in case you lose your connection or the clock runs out on you. This is also handy as a reminder if you have a sleeper in mind or someone you like more than the default rankings do.
- Play Your Position: There are strategies for each spot in the draft. These are learned through experience and trial and error but I have a few that I utilize every year. The first is go best player available for at least the first 2 or 3 rounds. Don’t get caught up in following the draft runs. For example, if the first 5 picks are RBs, and you aren’t in love with any of them at your turn, don’t take one out of the fear that the pool is watering down. Take the highest ranked player on your cheet sheets and keep it moving. There are always players at each position that slip and you’ll have to take advantage of them in the next few rounds. Another strategy is specific for those who have back to back picks at the end of round 1, beginning of round 2. Don’t give the person in front of you an advantage by filling up all of your starting players at a given position with back to back picks. If you only start 2 RBs and you take two with your first two picks you give him the advantage in the third round of assuming you won’t grab a bench RB over a starter at another position. He can then take another position and gamble on you leaving him that RB he really wants for his 4th pick. Conversely, if you have the pick before that back to back person and they make that mistake, make sure you use it against them.
- Don’t Be a Homer: It doesn’t make you less of a Patriots fan if you don’t take Gronk, Brady, Hogan and Gostkowski with your first 4 picks. This is fantasy, not reality. Welcome players from your division rivals if they are going to help you cash in January.
- Let Someone Else Take the Risk in the Early Rounds: I’m not taking anyone coming off of a ACL, MCL, PCL or any other major injury in the first couple of rounds. Dalvin Cook? Have at him! Deshaun Watson and Carson Wentz? That’s all you. I’m all for high risk/ high reward but not before having a solid foundation of players who can carry me if one of the injured players doesn’t bounce back right away.
Hopefully you found some of this information useful as you prepare to draft your team. I will be publishing weekly blogs once the season starts where I address waiver adds and start/sit recommendations. As always, I would love to interact with anyone you wants to run an idea by me or has questions about anything I have written. I can be reached on twitter here: or on Instagram: MicL_Bo_Fantasy_Football.
