This article is brought to you by Draft, the best place to play daily fantasy drafts.
Fantasy football is probably more popular than actual real life football. Fantasy football is like ‘Pokemon’ for sports-nerds, gamers get to stack their teams with the best possible players in order to duke it out every Sunday during the regular season. The most exciting time of the year for fantasy football fans is in the final week or so of the preseason. This is when leagues start drafting their fantasy teams. The odds are good that if you are reading this right now that you might want to improve your odds of drafting the best team possible. Fortunately, we can help you out.
Lock Down the First Round
We’ve always lived by the adage that you cannot win a league in your fantasy draft, but you can certainly lose one. The easiest way to lose in fantasy football is to blow your first round draft pick. Your first round draft pick is your stud. They have to be good week in and week out for you to have a chance to succeed. What does this mean? Don’t play it risky here. For 2017 there are two players locked in at #1 and #2: LeVeon Bell and David Johnson. Then we have a string of receivers: Julio Jones, Mike Evans, Jordy Nelson and Odell Beckham Jr. Outside of those players, there are very few ‘locks’. It is up to you to research who belongs in that tier. Don’t go crazy and pick an unproven guy like Jay Ajayi with your first round selection.
Draft for Value
As long as you are playing with a league of reasonably knowledgeable players, you shouldn’t run into any real surprises through the first couple of rounds. Knowing that your league will draft a certain way allows you to script out the way you want to approach your draft. This year there is a very real lack of running back talent so that means that mediocre players like Isaiah Crowell or Jay Ajayi are going too high above their actual value. Knowing this, you can plan your draft accordingly. Script out grabbing a stud wide receiver while everyone else is going for mediocre running backs. Drafting for value over ‘position’ is one of the most fundamental rules of fantasy football success.
Learn the Snake
If this is your first year to fantasy football then you are going to need to get familiar with the snake draft format. In daily fantasy websites, where most people play, selections are made based on a salary cap format. Websites like DRAFT are going to the snake format of drafting for DFS which we find to be much more effective. The snake format allows you to plot out how you want to order your draft picks. If you select first overall you can snag LeVeon Bell, sure, but you’ll have to wait until #24 for your next pick. If you draft 12th overall, last in the first round, you get to make back to back picks. Learn to plot out your draft position in the snake.
Don’t Abide by the Rules
Well, we mean this more in a general sense. In reality, there are no tried and true rules to fantasy football. There are no guarantees. David Johnson could have a terrible year. LeVeon Bell could get suspended in the first week. Don’t constrict yourself too much with drafting rules. Go out there, research, and follow your gut.