Welcome back to Cap’s Fantasy Corner, your go-to article series for all of your fantasy football needs! In this week’s edition, I’m breaking down my 3 most important tips to win your fantasy football draft. If you have specific fantasy questions, feel free to ask me in our Free Chat Room on Discord.
Before I jump into the tips, I want to make sure you’re on top of your DFS game this season. There’s no better way to do that than by checking out our NFL Projections Portal. It’s the best tool on the market that can instantly help you increase your DFS bankroll this season. If you want to up your game to an even higher level, I encourage you to join Karma Nation as a premium member. Start dominating DFS in every sport the way you should be this season!
1. Use Tier-Based Rankings
Gone are the days of being able to print off the ESPN Top 300 list and expecting it to give you a true edge in your fantasy drafts. With such an increase in quality fantasy content providers over recent years, your league-mates are much better-informed going into a draft than they were just three years ago. Just drafting off a list of people being sorted one through three hundred is not going to give you the leg up you’re looking for in your draft anmore. So, what are tier-based rankings?
Tier-based rankings are similar to a normal list, except each position is broken into tiers. Each tier is a grouping of players that should score about the same amount of fantasy points in a season. For example, Davante Adams, Calvin Ridley, and DeAndre Hopkins would be in Tier 1 of the wide receiver group, because they all should score around the same amount of points and could be in the conversation to finish as the WR1 overall for fantasy. You’d repeat this strategy for each position. The benefit of using tier-based rankings to draft is when you “lose out” on a guy, you usually don’t panic because there are guys still in the same tier you can draft. Miss out on DeAndre Hopkins? Then take Calvin Ridley at your next pick so your team isn’t behind the proverbial eight-ball after one pick.
2. Be Willing to Change Strategies Mid-Draft – Practice Multiple Strategies
Everyone touts a strategy as a golden rule when going into your drafts. Zero RB, Zero WR, Modified Zero RB, Hero RB, there are many names for many different strategies. Practitioners of certain strategies will often tell you that one strategy is better than the other. I always advocate to learn each strategy and keep it as a tool to deploy in your drafts if you need it. Did all the running backs get taken in round 1? Time to pivot to a Zero RB build. Did all the elite tight ends get taken in the first two rounds? Then it’s time to wait until the end of your draft to take one.
The point of being willing and able to move from one team to the next is so you don’t panic on draft day. You need to have multiple plans in mind so you can always have a good draft and don’t end up reaching on players you shouldn’t be drafting in certain spots.
3. Draft for Value, Not for Need
Sometimes you find yourself in a draft where a guy falls in your lap that you didn’t expect to be there. There’s only one problem, you’ve already filled out that position on your roster, or you weren’t planning on taking that position until later. For example: if you need a running back for your roster, but Travis Kelce is sitting there in the 3rd round–you take Kelce in the 3rd round. The idea behind this is to raise the points ceiling and floor for your team. Why would you take a running back that might get 200 fantasy points in the 3rd-4th round, when you can take a tight end that will get you 300 points? This is a hypothetical situation, but is applicable to how you approach your drafts. Going back to the tier-based ranking point, let’s say you need a running back, but all that’s left are tier three guys. On the board, there is still a tier-one wide receiver, but you already drafted one earlier and don’t need the position. You take the value and draft the tier one guy over the tier three guy. This is how you raise the points ceiling for your team on the season and you can always backfill with depth options at positions of need later on in the draft.
I hope you enjoyed these tips and find them helpful to prep for your draft! Need more help for your home league fantasy draft? Give my most recent episode of No Cap by DFS Karma a listen if you do. I review more in-depth how to navigate your home league drafts. Click the image below to listen now.
