When doing your fantasy football (or any sport for that matter) drafts, it is very important to remain flexible during the draft. That doesn’t mean you go into a draft blind, you should still do your research and develop an idea of how you want to draft; but things will happen during the draft that should make you adjust. For this week, we will go over some do’s and don’ts while drafting to help you avoid making some big mistakes during draft day. Always have a strategy.
Do: Pick a guy that you think will have a really big year even if it is slightly earlier than his ADP. ADP is a tool, a tool that should be used, but not something that should make you draft simply based off of. If you really like a player, you should draft him. For this example I will use Terrelle Pryor. His current ADP is 26.51. You are on the clock at pick 21, and Amari Cooper is also available on the draft board. His ADP is 22.05. Just because Cooper has an earlier ADP does not mean you have to draft him over Pryor. If you believe that Pryor will have the better year than draft Pryor! He is not going to be available at your next pick. In the long run drafting a guy earlier than his ADP doesn’t mean anything. If it works out for you at the end of the year you won’t care what the original ADP said to do. Never allow yourself to become a slave to rankings or ADP. Do what you think is the best move for your team.
Don’t: Draft a position simply because everyone else is doing it. You have that one crazy guy in your league, he takes Denver’s D/ST early in the draft, and before you can blink the next two league members select Seattle’s D/ST and the Texan’s D/ST. You are now on the clock. I will make this very simple; you DO NOT have to draft a defense for the simple reason that everyone else is, and not only do you not have to, but you shouldn’t! You don’t have to follow what everyone is doing, and in fact your team will turn out much stronger if you don’t. Because if you select a D/ST at that point, not only are you stretching for it, but you are also missing out on other good players that will have a much greater effect on your roster. This doesn’t just go for D/ST either; this goes for all positions. A run on a certain position doesn’t mean you are forced into also drafting that position.
Do: Pick a player that is sliding in the draft. One of the silliest thought processes you can take is “well everyone else is avoiding him, I guess I should too.” Just because your other league members are avoiding a player, does NOT mean you also have to do it. For example, say your league members are completely avoiding a guy like Keenan Allen because he is injury prone, and you see him sliding down the draft board, take him! As mentioned above in the first don’t on the list, you can draft differently than your other league members. The risk/reward on a player sliding down the board makes him such a great pick if you get him much later than he should go. While the reasons for the player to be sliding may be legitimate it does not mean you should let good value go by the wayside. Keenan Allen has an ADP of 37.56 and you are picking at 52 and he is still there, take him!
Don’t: Draft an excessive amount of risks. This one can be tough sometimes, as the players that carry risk a lot of times carry high upside. It isn’t wise to completely avoid them altogether, but you should also keep your number of selections of risky players under control. Risky players would be your injury prone guys (Keenan Allen, Sammy Watkins, Alshon Jeffery, Rob Gronkowski, Jordan Reed, etc.) your rookies (Leonard Fournette, Christian McCaffery, Dalvin Cook, Corey Davis, Zay Jones, etc.) and your suspended players or players with suspension history (Doug Martin, Ezekiel Elliott, Martavis Bryant, etc.) If you fill your team with too many of these risks, you are leaving yourself at a potentially disastrous season. A smart strategy to take when selecting a couple of these type players is to match them with some of the safer players. Safe guys are ones that consistently play all sixteen games, and put up solid point totals. Maybe they don’t have an exceptionally high ceiling, but that is what you have the risky players for. Just remember to keep it under control, if your team features an excessive amount of the above players, you may want to look into doing some trading.
Do: Wait on QB, D/ST, and K. You can find reasons all over our site on why this is the optimal strategy. Of course there is some variance to this, depending on league settings and flow of the draft. You can find strong QB plays late in the draft without costing yourself at the RB and WR position early in the draft. Guys like Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Kirk Cousins, and Carson Wentz all can be had later in the draft and will provide plenty of fantasy points. You should be open to changing this idea though if the rest of your league is doing the same thing and the elite QBs slide down the draft board. At that point it is fully okay to pounce on Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady. As for D/ST and K there is simply no reason to reach on one earlier in the draft as those positions are not fantasy difference makers. The point difference between the number three ranked kicker last season and the number eighteen ranked kicker (presumably a free agent) was just 25 points, or less than two points per week. You can never have too many RBs and WRs. They are the two most crucial positions to fantasy and also the two with the highest likely hood of injury. They also have larger gaps in talent and fantasy production from elite to middle tier.
Don’t: Draft too many players from the same team. This is not one that many people will think is a big deal, but personally I think it is something you should try to avoid. This doesn’t mean you have to avoid getting any players on the same team, but more so just try to have a limit. Having too many on the same can lead to a few issues. The first being bye week problems. Yes, if you draft a lot of players from the same team, they will all have the same bye week (shocking, I know). You almost end of having to forfeit that week, because it can be very difficult to work around so many players having the same bye week. The second reason you want to avoid doing this is because any time the team has a rough week it equates to your fantasy team having a rough week. That rough week could be a playoff week, and now you are eliminated. I would try limiting yourself to no more than three players from the same team.
Do: Pay attention to whose ADP is rising and whose is falling as the preseason is going. It is important to know why these players have such changing ADP’s. Don’t be caught in the dark on why a player has a changing stock, there could be good reasons behind it. The more you know about each and every player at any given time, the more success you will have at drafting the best team possible. Player’s perceived values are constantly changing, don’t let your other league members have any kind of leg up on you with player knowledge.
Do: Check out everything that FantasyAlarm offers to assist you in having the best draft and season possible! #FANation. Current ADP results can be found here: 2017 Mock Draft Army Fantasy Football ADP.