Fantasy Football Draft Strategies to Win Your League

Everyone has their Fantasy Football draft strategies and tricks. I have seven draft strategies and tricks to win your league. Or to put you in a better position to win your league title. I think there are a few ways to get an advantage over your ill-prepared league mates. You know the owners who picked up a magazine just before the draft and didn’t know that Tyreek Hill may be suspended this year.

These are some Fantasy Football Draft strategies or ‘tricks’. They are some common or uncommon moves that you can try that may help your team. Some of these you may have heard before but I hope a few are new to you. I did not include some basic stuff like wait on a QB because this is not a drafting 101 article. I have used all these before so I speak from experience that these can work.

Seven draft strategies and tricks to win your league

1) Do NOT draft a backup QB in a start one quarterback league.

I don’t like to draft a backup because I usually can find someone on the waiver wire that can fill in if my starter gets hurt or has a bye week. If you pay attention to the waiver wire week to week you can also find a breakout player and pick him up. One year I picked up Deshaun Watson and rode him to the playoffs with a bad team upset by massive injuries.

2) Drafting only one TE or stream at the position.

This goes almost without saying that the position has been bad, REALLY bad. If you don’t invest in one of the top 3 (Kelce, Kittle or Ertz) you might as well throw a dart at a list of them because it will be almost impossible to get consistent production from week to week. I almost always wait on TEs in re-draft leagues and stream them honestly. I can usually find that streaming TE every year. Pay attention to that waiver wire and get that one year stud!

3) Draft your Kicker and Defense in the LAST TWO rounds only!

I see this every year that someone drafts Justin Tucker in the 7th round or something silly like that. Then you see the guy that drafts the Bears Defense in the 12th when I am drafting the premium backups. DON’T DO IT! Look you can draft however you want but it has been proven that week to week it does not give you the advantage to draft the so-called best Defense or Kicker. My suggestion? Stream Kicker (every year a guy is scoring more than anyone else so grab that guy!) Stream Defense also. I LOVE to stream my Defense. Take the Defense playing the weakest offense week to week. It works. Trust me.

4) If your league will allow this DON’T DRAFT kicker or Defense at all!

Can you just not draft a D or K? I would rather have the extra spots for backups. If you are drafting before the training camp starts then one of these guys that you threw a dart throw at late could be a potential starter if someone goes down in training camp. Every year there are injuries preseason. This is the perfect time to load up on high upside backups.

5) Draft early.

If you can help it draft as early as possible. I mean June or July early. I know that depth charts are not set in stone but that is the point! A lot of leagues will allow for first come first serve waiver until the season starts so if your guy goes down hurry and pick up the backup that is on the waiver wire for NOTHING. If you are actively looking at your league’s free agent pool of players you can get an advantage over the owners just waiting for the season to start. Turn that into your advantage.

6) Take a chance on those hurt players or players that people are down on.

I know it is a risk so be careful here but I remember the year that Jordy Nelson came off his ACL I drafted him at a discount. HE BLEW UP! He had a great year and took me to the championship! I have had this blow up in my face so tread lightly but this can also work in your favor. Do your research and research these players (you can always tweet me and I will respond). You can try to get a sense for where they are at. Look at the team’s transactions, if they are not signing players or drafting players in that position it could be a good indication that he is ok and ready to ROCK! This year I am taking a gamble on Gurley and D’Onta Foreman even with their injury concerns.

7) Don’t forget those backups and handcuffs!

I don’t really believe in drafting the handcuff I think that is an outdated strategy and doesn’t work usually (plus you will drop that guy after a few weeks anyway) but some of the backups have value. Look at Austin Ekeler last year. He ended up being a RB 3 as a reserve player. I would look to Latavius Murray, Carlos Hyde, and Royce Freeman this year and a bunch of rookies. Justice Hill, Darrel Henderson, Devin Singletary to name a few.

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When your redraft drafts roll around you will have lots of stuff to think about. If you want a leg up on the competition these are some wrinkles to look at that can potentially help you win that league title. I know some of these are well covered and hopefully some you haven’t come across.

There are so many different ideas out there but the most important aspect of this is to win. I am so competitive I want to beat you to the dinner table. I don’t want to give an inch to anyone and I bet you are similar in that regard. Be it fantasy football, horseshoes or trivial pursuit. I want to beat the snot out of you and use every tool at my disposal. I hope you found this article useful and helps get you ready. Don’t forget to mock draft, do your research and I bet you will be the most prepared guy at the draft table.

Good luck from everyone at FanSided Fantasy!

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