Eight Rules to the Draft: Fantasy Football

Fantasy drafting is an art. It is something that some people can truly step in and perfect on one try, but for others, it can take years to learn how to draft. Drafting is very hard and takes a lot of concentration. You really need to look out for a lot of important things while you’re drafting.

1. The Draft Does NOT Determine Your Fate

Truly, you don’t need to sweat the draft. The league winner is not solely determined by the draft. Trading and winning the waiver wire is way more important than the draft. Last season, for example, I ended up doing a series of trades that basically flipped Ryan Fitzpatrick for Melvin Gordon. It’s all about current value.

There have been times where I start out the season averaging 65 points per game, and then slowly start getting more and more points per game. I made the playoffs last season with the least points per game (I got lucky a lot), but when playoffs came around, I averaged 100 points per game. The draft isn’t something that makes or breaks your team.

2. Do Not Be the First to Begin a Trend

Never take the first quarterback, unless the value is ridiculous obviously. I’m a big believer anyway in the double-digit round quarterbacks. It’s always smart to wait on a quarterback and tight end in your draft. Let another league mate make the mistake of reaching way too early for Patrick Mahomes believing he will once again repeat his 5000 yards and 50 touchdown season.

3. Focus on Touches

It’s pretty plain and simple. The more touches that a player gets, the more opportunity he gets to score you points. It’s much better to get a three-down back than a runningback that will split time in a committee. If the touches are there, the points will be as well. You can find guys like this in every round of the draft.

4. Don’t Focus on A Certain Draft Order

A lot of people focus too much on the way they want to draft. For example, someone may want to go the “Zero Runningback” approach. I’m not a huge fan of locking onto this idea before a draft, because you never know until the draft starts. I believe the best strategy is to draft the best player available. Don’t solely focus on filling your starting roster; just draft in a way you’re confident in.

5. Always Find Value

Always look for guys you believe can return you value. This goes for every round. Middle to late-round picks are the most important when it comes to finding value. For example, I love Allen Robinson’s seventh-round value this season. He’s the go-to guy on an offense looking to take the next step and has the upside to be a starter on your fantasy roster. I love DeVante Parker’s very later round value for the same reason. He could be the go-to guy for Ryan Fitzpatrick who we all know loves to throw the ball. He could love throwing to DeVante Parker because of his size and speed. Try and find value in the later rounds.

6. Don’t Draft too Many Players from the Same Team

It’s very good to stack your roster with for example Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, and Austin Hooper. It could be awesome for you especially with all the domes they play in this season, but what if Matt Ryan goes down? Now your whole team is dependent on the old-timer Matt Schaub to distribute your entire team the ball. It’s very risky and could hurt your team greatly if your starting quarterback were to go down.

7. Don’t Draft Sleeper Heavy

It could be very easy once the later rounds hit to just draft sleepers. Drafting your whole bench of sleepers could be extremely destructive to your team resulting in you cutting your entire bench if they don’t pan out. It’s smarter to draft players you know is a solid player and will return some decent value.

An example of this is to draft just receiving backs. In a guy like Nyheim Hines you know what you’re getting: a great pass-catching back that doesn’t have upside but has a solid floor. The other guys around him are backups like Jamaal Williams or Alexander Mattison who’s floor is literally zero points. You need to balance out the sleepers on your team with players that will give you a solid floor and could be good bye week fill-ins for your team.

8. Sometimes Just Go With Your Gut

Research can only take you so far. Anytime a player like Damien Williams can come out of nowhere and explode. Sometimes you need to take all of the analysts, sleepers, breakouts, busts, and everything else you’ve written down and throw it away and draft the player that makes you feel the most confident about your team. There are guys that look great on paper and you just aren’t feeling it. You want to feel good about your team so you feel confident going into the season.

To help with your drafting process check out my sleepers, breakouts, busts, and types of players to avoid in redraft heading into the 2019 season! Be sure also to check out the Forums Page on Overtime Heroics for great discussion. Lastly, follow me on twitter @FF_JoeH for more great fantasy content and advice.