Who Should I Draft in My NFL Fantasy League?

It’s that time of year again! The NFL season is just around the corner and that means it’s time to start preparing for your fantasy league drafts. But with so many players and so many statistics to keep track of, who should you draft for your team?

Know the League’s Format

If you are in a standard NFL fantasy league, you will want to prioritize drafting running backs and wide receivers early on. These are the positions that typically score the most points in a standard league. In a PPR (points per reception) league, you will want to prioritize drafting wide receivers early on.

Standard Leagues

In a standard fantasy football league, your team competes against other teams in your league in a head-to-head matchup each week. The team that scores the most points that week wins the matchup. At the end of the regular season, the team with the best record is declared the winner and wins the league championship.

In a standard fantasy football league, each team has 16 roster spots. Of those 16 spots, 10 are reserved for starters and 6 are for bench players. Your starting lineup consists of 1 quarterback, 2 running backs, 3 wide receivers, 1 tight end, 1 kicker, and 1 team defense/special teams. Your bench players are backup players who can be used to replace any of your starters if they get injured or have a bye week.

PPR Leagues

In a PPR (points per reception) league, as the name suggests, you earn a point for each catch your players make. So, for example, if in a standard league you would earn 10 points for a touchdown catch, in a PPR league you would instead earn 10 points for the touchdown and one point for the catch, for a total of 11 points on that one play.

The scoring difference might not seem like much, but it can have a big impact on which players have the most value. Wide receivers and tight ends (and occasionally running backs) who catch a lot of passes but don’t score many touchdowns can be more valuable in PPR leagues than in standard leagues.

Keep in mind that in most PPR leagues, quarterbacks still only get four points for each touchdown pass they throw (compared to six points in a standard league), so there’s only so much value to be had there.

Do Your Research

It’s that time of year again. The leaves are changing, the weather is cooling off, and football is back. That can only mean one thing: it’s time to start thinking about your fantasy football team. Who should you draft?

Understand the scoring system

The first step to understanding the NFL fantasy draft is understanding the scoring system. There are a variety of ways to score in an NFL fantasy league, but the most common is by points per reception (PPR). In a PPR scoring system, each player is awarded a point for every reception they make. This means that wide receivers and tight ends tend to be more valuable in a PPR scoring system than they are in a standard scoring system, as they are more likely to rack up receptions. Running backs and quarterbacks can also benefit from PPR scoring, as they often catch passes out of the backfield or on play-action plays. It’s important to understand how your league scores before you start your draft, as it will have a big impact on who you should draft.

Another important factor to consider when drafting is position scarcity. This means that some positions are much easier to find quality players at than others. For example, there are a lot of good quarterbacks in the NFL, but there are only 32 starting quarterback spots in all of fantasy football. This means that quarterbacks are relatively easy to find, and you don’t need to use an early pick on one unless you’re drafting one of the elite signal-callers. On the other hand, there are only a handful of running backs who rack up enough yards and touchdowns to be fantasy relevant, which makes them much more valuable. When drafting, be sure to take into account position scarcity and target positions that are harder to find quality players at with your early picks.

Doing your research before the draft is essential if you want to have success in your NFL fantasy league. Be sure to understand the scoring system and position scarcity so that you can make the best decisions on draft day.

Use a fantasy football calculator

No matter how confident you are in your fantasy football abilities, a little help never hurts. There are a ton of great resources out there to help you make the best choices for your team, and one of the most useful is a fantasy football calculator.

These calculators can be found online and are usually free to use. They work by inputting a few key pieces of information, such as the scoring system for your league and the projections for each player, and then outputting a list of recommendations for who you should draft.

There are a few different ways to use a fantasy football calculator. You can use it to find out who the best overall players are, or you can use it to focus on specific positions. You can also use it to compare different players side-by-side and decide who you want on your team.

No matter how you use it, a fantasy football calculator can be a valuable tool in helping you draft a winning team. So if you’re feeling even the slightest bit unsure about your choices, be sure to give one a try.

Analyze the Player Pool

In order to have a successful fantasy football team, you need to do your research on the players. You should look at the player’s statistics, their team’s performance, and any injuries that they may have. You also need to decide which positions you need to fill.

Look at the top players

When you’re looking at the top players in the NFL, you want to draft the ones that are going to be the most consistent for you throughout the season. There are a few ways to determine who those players might be.

First, look at how they performed last season. This will give you an idea of what kinds of numbers they are capable of putting up on a weekly basis. It’s also a good idea to look at their team’s offensive scheme and see if it’s a good fit for their skillset.

Another important factor to consider is their durability. You want to draft players that have a history of staying healthy and being on the field for most of the season. The last thing you want is to draft a player that ends up getting injured early on and missing half the season.

Finally, don’t forget to take into account their competition. If a player has an easy schedule, they’re more likely to put up big numbers than someone who has to play tough defenses every week.

Keep all these factors in mind when you’re looking at the top players and trying to decide who to draft for your team.

Find the sleeper picks

In every draft, there are always a handful of players who outperform their expectations. These are the so-called “sleeper picks.” To find these hidden gems, you need to do your homework.

Here are a few tips:

– Look for players who are being drafted in the later rounds but have the potential to produce similar numbers to players being drafted in the early rounds.
– Look for players on teams with high-powered offenses. These players will often have more opportunities to score points.
– Look for players who are in favorable matchups. If a player is going up against a weak defense, he is more likely to have a big game.
– Keep an eye on injury reports. If a player is injured, he may be overlooked by other owners and could be had at a bargain price.

Understand Your Draft Position

The first thing you need to understand is your draft position. If you have a top pick, you will most likely want to select a running back. The reason for this is that running backs have the most consistent scoring week to week.

Early draft position

If you have an early draft position (in the first or second round), you should focus on drafting one of the top running backs or wide receivers. These players are the most consistent producers and will give you the best chance to win week-to-week. You can still get a quality quarterback in the middle rounds, so don’t reach for one early.

Some good choices for early round draft picks include:

Running backs: Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, Alvin Kamara, Christian McCaffrey

Wide receivers: DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, Michael Thomas, Davante Adams

Late draft position

If you have a late draft position, you will need to be strategic in your picks. Generally, the best strategy is to focus on running backs and wide receivers. In the later rounds, you can take a gamble on a quarterback or tight end with high potential. Keep an eye on bye weeks and injuries when making your selections.

Make a Plan

It’s fantasy football season and you want to know who the best players are to draft for your team. But, before you can draft the best players, you need to have a plan. You need to decide what kind of team you want to draft. Do you want a team of superstars or a team of good players that will work well together? Once you have a plan, you can start looking at who the best players are to draft for your team.

Have a backup plan

No matter how much you study and research, you can’t predict the future. Injuries happen, bye weeks come and go, and sometimes players just have down years. The best way to combat the inevitable surprises is to have a good backup plan.

When drafting your team, try to target players with complementary skillsets. For example, if you draft a lot of high-volume receivers, make sure to grab a couple of touchdown-dependent tight ends as well. That way, if one of your receivers gets hurt or has a down year, you’ve got some built-in redundancy.

The same goes for quarterbacks. If you draft a mobile QB like Cam Newton or Russell Wilson, make sure to snag a pocket passer like Tom Brady or Drew Brees as well. That way, if your running QB gets hurt or has an off year, you’ve still got a quarterback who can win you games through the air.

Of course, you can’t draft backups for every single player on your team. That’s why it’s also important to pay attention to the waiver wire throughout the season. If one of your starters goes down with an injury or just starts playing poorly, there’s a good chance another player will be available who can help fill the void.

So do yourself a favor and plan ahead. Having a good backup plan will go a long way towards helping you win your fantasy football league.

Be flexible

The important thing is to be flexible with your draft strategy. You never know how the draft will unfold in front of you, so it’s important to be able to adjust on the fly.

There are a few different ways to approach a fantasy football draft, but one of the most popular is called “value-based drafting.” This approach essentially has you draft the best player available regardless of position.

For example, if you’re up at the end of the first round and both Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown are still on the board, you would take Bell even though he’s a running back and you already have one. The thinking is that Bell is simply a better player than any other player available, so he represents the best value.

Of course, this approach doesn’t always work out perfectly and there will be times when you have to make tough decisions. If you’re torn between two players who are similarly ranked, it’s often best to go with the player at the position that is more difficult to fill.

For example, let’s say you’re trying to decide between Odell Beckham Jr. and DeAndre Hopkins. Both are wide receivers and they’re ranked right next to each other on most lists. In this case, it might make more sense to take Hopkins since wide receiver is generally a deeper position than running back or tight end. This way, you can always snag a good RB or TE later on in the draft without having to reach for someone who isn’t as desirable.