The best strategy to go with….is it RB-RB, RB-WR, WR-QB-RB?
Your strategy should be developed based on your leagues settings.
There are many different philosophies but it really comes down to league settings. If you are in a custom league you have to make a decision based on settings. Look at your player pool pre-draft and take note of what types of skill positions show up the most in the top-25. If there are 7+ QB’s, you can probably wait on a QB, likewise for RB’s and WR’s, conversely if you only see a few of any of the skill positions in the top-25 or top-50 it would be wise to spend a 2nd round pick on a player of that calibre (excluding TE). The strategy you go with will also be influenced by your draft position as well as positional runs. We suggest RB-WR-RB-RB this year in standard leagues. Larger league sizes may mandate a RB-RB-RB-WR strategy. In two QB leagues a RB-QB-RB-RB-QB or a RB-QB-QB-RB-WR-RB strategy may be employed.
Wide receiver seems exceptionally deep this year but it may pay to land a top-5 option in round 2 if you like one of the studs over the running backs that are still on the board when it is your time to select. Quarterback and Tight End have also emerged as positions with legitimate depth so stockpiling running backs in the first four rounds could go along way to winning your fantasy league.
Upside and floor should also be factored in when making your selections in your fantasy football drafts. High upside is great but a low floor means the player in question is a boom or bust pick like Darren McFadden or Michael Vick. Vick and McFadden both have top-5 talent but due to injury concerns they have a lower floor than Lamar Miller and Tony Romo both of whom do not have the upside of Vick or McFadden but have siginifcantly higher floors.
PPR vs standard makes a huge difference in draft strategy as can be seen with our rankings where CJ Spiller, Jamaal Charles and Reggie Bush all have considerably more value than they would in standard leagues.
We suggest you create your own cheat sheet as always and eliminate players whose ADP is too high for your liking like Roddy White in Atlanta and Eric Decker in Denver.
For those of you with a little cash to spare we suggest signing up for cheatsheetwizard.com where you can create your own cheat sheets, one of your own making and a consensus cheat sheet where you can choose to aggregate your rankings with your choice of over fifty of the top fantasy football minds on the planet.
Avoid the standard rankings given to you by your fantasy league provider
Fantasy league providers such as Yahoo and ESPN’s default draft client rankings are notoriously unreliable so you should take the time to do your own pre-rankings; also take a look at the rankings done by the writers as opposed to the rankings the fantasy game provides.
Do a mock draft or two
It is best to participate in a mock or two before draft day to help give you an accurate depiction of where players are going and which players are falling through the cracks. ESPN and Yahoo have mock drafts running for about 12 hours a day. Mock drafts are the best way for to fine tune your cheat sheets/draft boards. Try and get one in close to your draft day so you can see any new emerging trends or players that are going off the board way too late.
Rankings, Rankings, Rankings:
QB
RB
WR
TE
Scroll to bottom to see our as well as consensus rankings.
Projections:
The two best free providers of projections are, in this order, CBS and ESPN. Fantasypros has ingeniously compiled consensus projections here.
Draft guides: Should you buy any?
If you really want to gain that competitive advantage, there is no better draft guide than Rotoworld’s Fantasy Football Season Pass. I purchase it myself but mainly for the dynasty league rankings. Their projections are good and their constantly updated rankings are also some of my most used features. They have a wealth of information and it is actually worth the money. If you are just looking for projections than CBS Fantasy Football’s are more accurate, but you have to love the ability Rotoworld presents to get customized projections roughly based on your own leagues settings. ESPN has a FREE draft guide that is second to none as far as free draft kits go. But this year I am strongly recommending the great ‘My Playbook’ tool over at FantasyPros who are quickly becoming the go-to site behind Rotoworld, ESPN and Yahoo for fantasy football information.
Sleepers to know: Michael Vick, Andrew Luck, Carson Palmer, Tony Romo, Ryan Williams, Shane Vereen, Mikel LeShoure, Daniel Thomas, Mark Ingram, Jonathan Stewart, David Wilson, Giovanni Bernard, Eddie Lacy, Lamar Miller, Chris Ivory, Kenny Britt,, Torrey Smith, Justin Blackmon, Mike Williams, Kendall Wright, Alshon Jeffery, Josh Gordon, Michael Floyd, Kenbrell Tompkins, Chris Givens, Aaron Dobson, Zach Sudfeld, Donnie Avery, Markus Wheaton, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Robert Woods, Keenan Allen, DeSean Jackson, Hakeem Nicks, Golden Tate, Brandon LaFell
Players not getting enough love and may finish top-15 at their position: Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, Carson Palmer, Andy Dalton, EJ Manuel, Steven Jackson, Mark Ingram, Lamar Miller, Jonathan Stewart, Frank Gore, DeMarco Murray, Darren McFadden, Ryan Mathews, Eddie Lacy, Montee Ball, Giovanni Bernard, Reggie Bush, Shane Vereen, Darren Sproles, Chris Ivory, Desean Jackson, Josh Gordon, Mike Williams, Chris Givens, Pierre Garcon, Kenny Britt, Kendall Wright, Torrey Smith, Justin Blackmon, Kenbrell Tompkins, Sam Bradford, Rob Housler, Jermichael Finley, Zach Sudfeld.
Players we are avoiding even though they have upside: Arian Foster, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Rashard Mendenhall, Daryl Richardson, Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer, Ronnie Hillman, Jamaal Charles, CJ Spiller, Joe Flacco, Philip Rivers, Matt Schaub, Josh Freeman, Christian Ponder, Alex Smith, Andy Dalton, James Jones, Danny Amendola, Wes Welker, Roddy White, Jordy Nelson, Miles Austin, Victor Cruz and Antonio Brown (outside of PPR), Eric Decker, TY Hilton, Greg Jennings, Santonio Holmes, Brian Hartline, Martellus Bennett and Owen Daniels.
ADP Info
Not sure which running backs will be left after the third round? How early is Eddie Lacy going? All this information and more can be found via fantasy pros, knowing where players are going on average can be more helpful than mock drafts where people sometimes will avoid their true sleepers in order to not alert others. ADP information is a very helpful tool to utilize leading up to and during your fantasy football draft.
Rookies to know: Eddie Lacy, Giovanni Bernard, Montee Ball, Le’veon Bell, Christine Michael, Kniles Davis, Tavon Austin, DeAndre Hopkins, Kenbrell Tompkins and fellow Patriot Zach Sudfeld, EJ Manuel, Cordarelle Patterson, Robert Woods, Keenan Allen, Markus Wheaton, Aaron Dobson, Andre Ellington and teammate Stepfan Taylor
Super Backups: This year there are quite a few super backups that could find themselves as top-20 options if the incumbent gets injured, they include but are not limited to Giovanni Bernard, Ben Tate, Christine Michael, Bernard Pierce, Montee Ball, Shane Vereen, Andre Brown, Fred Jackson, Mikel LeShoure/Joique Bell, Kendall Hunter, Knile Davis and Bryce Brown. These players should all be rostered in deeper leagues.
IDP Drafts
If you are joining a league with IDP roster spots it would be in your best interest to have a tab or two open with IDP rankings, we suggest fantasypros IDP expert consensus rankings as well as our own rankings here at Win My Fantasy League. Pro Football Focus’ Jeff Ratcliffe is our choice for top IDP expert. We strongly suggest waiting on IDP unless your leagues is full of IDP experts as explained here. Our favorite sleepers are UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon ‘Bones’ Jones’ brother Chandler Jones as a Defensive End, Nick Fairley as a Defensive Tackle, Johnathan Cyprien as a Defensive Back, Morris Claiborne as a Cornerback and teammate Sean Lee as a Linebacker.
