I can give you people to draft all I want, but even draft day is as strategic as figuring out who to draft. Having the best draft strategy can set you up with the best fantasy team you can get in your league. This will help leave your friends, or rivals, in the dust from day 1. First, let’s go over the basics.
The Basics
The best league for me is a PPR league, or Points Per Reception. Some think this league format is dumb, but I love this format myself. This means that the more receptions a player gets, the more points you will get. It seems pretty simple. This give WRs more fantasy value and receiving RBs more value.
As for the best roster set up. I like a deep roster format, more strategy and more fun, in my opinion. I usually play a 2 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex, 1 Defense, and 1 Kicker starters league. On the bench, you would have 1 QB, 2 RB max, 2 WR max, 1 TE, 1 Defense, and 1 Kicker. So, 3 total QB, a max of 4 RBs, max of 4 WRs, 2 TEs, 2 Defenses, 2 Kickers. You must also be careful of bye weeks, if you draft players with the same position and bye weeks, it can really ruin your Sunday.
Don’t start getting impatient with me, you’re here for the best strategy, but context is key in this situation. We have the league type and now what the roster looks like. Now, we can start with the strategy to win your fantasy league.
DRAFT RBs EARLY
To start off our best fantasy draft strategy, I’m saying to draft RBs EARLY. This one can REALLY bite you in the ass if you don’t. In my opinion, there are only about 10 RBs you can count on in this league. Those are the RBs that don’t have a tandem on their team and can really score you points. TEN! Out of 32 teams. That means they’re slim pickings on those RBs. You’ll have time for the WRs and other positions, but if you can get your RBs set, you’re looking a lot prettier as the season goes on. I’m not saying draft 2 RBs with your first pick (Not that bad of an idea), but your first 2 picks should have 1 RB on one of those picks. If you can’t get a top 5 WR, I would definitely encourage taking 2 RBs to get the best ones you can.
DRAFT WRs NEXT
WRs are usually your players that get the most points on your team, but we want to get those RBs under control first. There are so many WRs in the league, that getting one right away and reaching for one is a bad move. If you can’t get someone like Michael Thomas, Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, or Davante Adams, you can wait for a WR. There are plenty of solid WRs to hold up your fantasy team. After you draft RBs, get your WRs settled.
DRAFT QBs NEXT
REPEAT AFTER ME: I WILL NOT DRAFT A QB UNTIL I HAVE 2 RBs AND A WR. That is the only time you should grab a QB and even then that is hella early. But if no one has taken a QB and you want one of the best, this would be the time to do it. Still, there are going to be 32 QBs that have to be under center. Compared to RBs, QBs are not that important, and WRs will usually get more points than QBs. Still, getting the best QB you can for your team can be beneficial. But you don’t want to overreach and waste a pick on another player that could have got you more points.
DRAFT YOUR BENCH
Now, that you have taken my advice on the best fantasy draft strategy for your starting lineup, we get to the bench. You know what is better than having a great starting lineup, a great bench to coordinate with. Having a great bench can help you when your best players have terrible matchups. Let’s say you have a great RB but he plays a stingy defense like the Bears, but you have a decent RB with the worse defense in the league (Pick a team), you can start him and not worry about losing points. For the same reason as I said before, get your RBs first, fill them out, if you can get 4 RBs and not have to worry about that for the rest of the year, the better.
I wouldn’t touch defense and kicker before I fill out my bench. Shit, I wouldn’t even mess with TE unless I can get a top 5 one. Only the top 5 TEs get you a lot of points, after that, they’re worthless. Even then, the top TE average 15 points, so they’re a little overrated. Fill out your bench of RBs, WRs, and QBs in that order. After that, get your TEs.
YOU ONLY NEED 1 GOOD DEFENSE
If you don’t want to fill out your bench before drafting a defense, fine, but listen to me closely, YOU ONLY NEED ONE GOOD DEFENSE. That defense will play 16 games and have 1 bye week. Even if you have the best defense and the worst defense on your team, the bad defense only has to play one week. Don’t waste a valuable pick by picking two defenses.
WHO CARES ABOUT THE KICKER
Not me. The absolute last two picks in your draft should be your kickers, even then it doesn’t really fucking matter who you pick, they are just kickers.
RECAP
Draft RBs early and often. After the first 10, the fantasy value falls off a cliff. Getting as many top 10 RBs as you can can make you the best team.
Draft your WRs first and then QBs. WRs are more important than QBs, but getting a great WR and the best QB can work wonders.
Draft your bench before getting defense and kickers. Your bench is far more valuable than your defense and kickers. TEs could be an exception if he is top 5, but even then, I value the bench more.
Only get 1 good defense, you don’t need two and it would be pointless. Finish out your bench before you draft another defense. Also, kickers are pretty worthless and those guys should be your last picks.
There you have it, this is the best fantasy draft strategy that you can have. This can win you your league. Check out our other fantasy content on WHO to pick and get your draft board ready. The Fantasy Football season is just around the corner, go win your league.
