Tips and Strategy for Nailing Your Fantasy Football Draft

I've been playing Fantasy Football for about 12 years now, and I'd like to hope I've picked up a tip or two about the tips and strategy it takes to nail your Fantasy Football Draft. For some very odd reason I've decided to play in FOUR (woof) Fantasy Football leagues this year. I have my last and final draft this evening, and if you include the three mock drafts I did, this will be my 7th time drafting this season. One live, in-person draft, the rest online. I don't work for the ESPN Fantasy staff or anything, but I like to think I have a solid strategy for nailing a fantasy football draft.

The leagues I'm in are all quite different, one is the NFL Fan Style Blogger Leauge I told you about already, CB's all guy league, then there is my Mom's league that includes my 90 year old Grandmother who, bless her heart, took Dallas Cowboys' Kicker Dan Bailey in round two of the draft. Now, ok yes, if you want to take a jab at the Cowboys, Dan Bailey was technically our best player last year, he certainly put more points on the board than anyone else. That doesn't mean you take him anywhere before the very last pick.

Say it with me.... KICKER = LAST PICK.

Let's say it 4 or 5 more times, just for emphasis. Kinda like writing, "I will not pass notes in class" 100 times on the blackboard as punishment.

I will only take a kicker in the last round

We good?

Why, you ask? Well, the kickers are really all the same. Yes, some kickers are more accurate than others, but they aren't worth giving up an early round Running Back, Wide Receiver or even QB for. There will always be an available kicker on the waiver wire, so don't even stress your pretty little face about a kicker until the end.

Some may argue with me on this, but I feel very similarly to defenses as I do to kickers. I usually take a defense NO EARLIER THAN THIRD TO LAST ROUND -- this will probably be round 13 or 14 based on league and bench size.

WHY? I personally like to pick up a new defense each week based on who they are facing.

For example, last year I tried to pick up whatever defense was playing a terrible offense. I couldn't tell you what Defense I initially drafted, because I had probably dropped them by week 3.

Now that we have that out of the way, let's dig a little deeper. Before you draft, take a look at your league's settings. Find out how many roster spots you have for each position.

Generally a roster looks like this...

Quarterback

Running Back

Wide Receiver

Tight End

FLEX (You get to choose: Running Back or a Wide Receiver)

Kicker

Defense

---

Plus 5 bench spots

There are variations though. Some leagues have fewer Wide Reciever positions. Keep your league's roster spots in mind while drafting. If your league is Wide Receiver heavy, I'd go in focusing on grabbing those guys right off the bat.

To keep it simple, let's talk about how I break my draft down, round-by-round.

Round 1

Wide Receiver/ Running Back

Round 2

Wide Receiver/ Running Back

Round 3

Wide Receiver/ Running Back

Round 4

Wide Receiver/ Running Back

Round 5

Wide Receiver/ Running Back

Round 6

Wide Receiver/ Running Back

Round 7

Wide Receiver/ Running Back

Round 8

Quarterback

Round 9

Tight End

Round 10

Best Available

Round 11

Best Available

Round 12

Best Available

Round 13

Best Available / Defense

Round 14

Best Available

Round 14

KICKER

There will be people in your league who jump at Cam Newton and Aaron Rodgers in round one. The best QB's will be gone, and you won't have a chance at them using my strategy... which is OK! I promise, come Round 8, there will still be solid QB options for you that will produce on Game Day.

What QB to take that late?

Take a chance on one of these guys this year, I bet he will still be there in Round 8

Jameis Winston

Blake Bortles

Andy Dalton

1. If you can get him in Round 2 or Round 3 - Grab Le'von Bell.

He is only out 3 games, that's no big deal and he is a BEAST.

2. Take a gamble on Josh Gordon if he is still available in a late round -- 9 or 10.

Gordon is out 4 games, but has a connection with RG3 that dates back to College Days.

3. I like Greg Olsen in Round 3 or 4 more than I like Gronk in Round 1.

(After those two guys, don't mess with a tight end until Round 9)

4. In a LATE round, I like to grab the backup to my best Running Back.

Running backs go down like flies, hoarding his backup on your squad's bench is a solid idea.

5. Print out a depth chart for each team.
This allows you to see who the starter (i.e. RB1) and backup (i.e. RB2) is for each NFL team at each position!

So --- those are my secrets!
Have any questions? Fire away in the comments, I'll do my best to help!

P.S. - Don't Forget to use my hashtag #GamedayVibes again this season to link up all of your sports related Instas!!

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