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, league size and 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 late in round one or two 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 a position 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 Arian Foster. Foster and McFadden both have top-5 talent but due to injury concerns they have a lower floor than Toby Gerhart and Bishop Sankey both of whom do not have the upside of Foster or McFadden but have significantly higher floors.
PPR vs standard makes a huge difference in draft strategy as can be seen with our rankings where CJ Spiller, Shane Vereen 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 Juian Edleman in New England and T.Y Hilton in Indianapolis.
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. Fantasy Pros also offers a second to none free mock draft service that you can customize based on your leagues settings.
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. Pro Football Focus is now working with Yahoo which has made their projections a lot better. 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 used to 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, Pro Football Focus and Yahoo for fantasy football information.
Sleepers to know: RGIII, Jay Cutler, Johnny Manziel, EJ Manuel, Ben Tate, Steven Jackson, Jeremy Hill, Trent Richardson, Jonathan Stewart, Darren McFadden, Tre Mason, James White, Hakeem Nicks, Kenny Britt, Aaron Dobson, James Jones, Jordan Matthews, Odell Beckham, Marqise Lee, DaVante Adams, Allen Robinson, Martavis Bryant, Rod Streater, Anquan Boldin, Jared Cook, Richard Rodgers, Eric Ebron, Jace Amaro
Players not getting enough love and may finish top-15 at their position: RGIII, Jay Cutler, Johnny Manziel, EJ Manuel, Ben Tate, Steven Jackson, Jeremy Hill, Trent Richardson, Jonathan Stewart, Darren McFadden, Hakeem Nicks, Kenny Britt, Aaron Dobson, Jordan Matthews, Torrey Smith, Michael Crabtree, Michael Floyd, Wes Wekler, Marques Colston, Jared Cook, Eric Ebron, Jace Amaro
Players we are avoiding even though they have upside: Nick Foles, Andy Dalton, Joe Flacco, Alex Smith, Rashad Jennings, Shonn Greene, Riley Cooper, Julian Edelman, Victor Cruz, Reuben Randle, Cecil Shorts and T.Y Hilton. Some of these players are listed here based on their ADP as opposed to flat-out bust potential.
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: This years class is exceptionally deep and there are over 50 rookies primed to make dynasty league impacts but for those in redrafts the following names should be on your radar in some way, shape or form: Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans, Brandin Cooks, Jordan Matthews, DaVante Adams, Kelvin Benjamin, Marqise Lee, Allen Robinson, John Brown, Martavis Bryant, Donte Moncrief, Cody Latimer, Paul Richardson, Jarvis Landry, Carlos Hyde, Jeremy Hill, Tre Mason, Terrance West, Devonta Freeman, Bishop Sankey, Andre Williams, James White, Jerick McKinnon, Lorenzo Taliaferro, De’Antony Thomas, Josh Huff, Eric Ebron, Jace Amaro, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Troy Niklas, Johnny Manziel and Terry Bridgewater
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 Knile Davis, Christine Michael, Bernard Pierce, Jeremy Hill, James White,, Andre Williams, Fred Jackson, Mikel LeShoure, Joique Bell, Carlos Hyde, Chris Ivory, Terrance West, Khiry Robinson, DeVonta Freeman, KaDaeem Carey, Jerick McKinnon, Storm Johnson, Cody Latimer, Paul Richardson, Jeff Janis and Donte Moncrief. These players should all be rostered in deeper leagues and draft champions formats.
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 Olivier Vernon as a Defensive End, JaDaveon Clowney as a Defensive Tackle, Johnathan Cyprien and Tyrann Mathieu as a Defensive Back, Morris Claiborne as a Cornerback and Alec Ogletree and Paul Worrilow at Linebacker.
