OT - Fantasy Football Strategies/Sleepers

I play in a ppr league so I try to balance my first few rounds with WRs and RBs. I don't usually draft a QB until late. My strategy usually works pretty well.

I know a cardinal sin is drafting a defense too early. Same with a tight end unless it's gronk.

 

• Always draft on value given your league's scoring system (standard, PPR, types of flex, bonuses, etc.).
• Running backs are important because the best put up good numbers in weeks 14-16.
• A loss in the first couple weeks is ok because it gives you waiver priority.
• There is at least one FA of nearly every position that will be a top 5-10 scorer. In 2014 Justin Forsett, ODB, Ben Roethlisberger, Mike Evans, and Jeremy Hill were available in a lot of leagues for the first few weeks.
• That player that just put up 30 points out of nowhere will probably not do that the next week.
• Don't mess with suspended players or injured ones. There is better value elsewhere and injuries don't necessarily mean the replacement will be any good.
• Sometimes consistent points are better than having the highest scoring guy.

Take best player available and pray.. My secret strategy

Don't draft Cleveland Browns

No seriously, I'm gunning for Luck in the first round this year and letting everything else fall into place.

Take the best player available. There could be some nice impact rookies like Melvin Gordon, Amari Cooper, Todd Gurley (if healthy) and Nelson Agholor. Of course, most of it is luck.

Joseph Randle is my "sleeper". I think he goes for 1500 if he stays healthy and stops stealing underpants.

Take'em early, and often.

Draft the best play available period. You could potentially go WR-WR (or RB-RB, etc) the first two rounds if you have players falling. Don't overpay for people. You can't win your fantasy draft the first 3 rounds, but you certainly can lose it.

Also, conduct lots of mock drafts. Fantasypros.com has the best draft simulator I've used.

wait a few rounds on a QB. I think Jimmy Graham will have a big year in Seattle. Running backs are a crap shoot this year, but I think Gordon and Abdullah would be good early pickups. Stay away from any defense with a new coordinator. Blair Walsh should rebound well.

Never reach for a player who is projected to be drafted outside the first four rounds. No matter how much you like the player, don't do it. There is very strong chance you have over-evaluated the player, and you are taking an unessesary risk at the expense of a proven player. Ignoring this rule is how I ended up with Cordarell Patterson in the 4th round last year.

My strategy is as follows. Have the highest rated team at the end of the draft. Everyone is jealous of my team, asking "how did you get so stacked."

By 3 weeks in, I'm 1-2 and barely picking up enough FAs to match my injuries, suspensions etc.

7 weeks in I'm 1-6 starting 5 guys who only play 15 plays a day.

By week 10 I am 2-8 with my only other win coming against a team with three quarters of their players out because the guy never checked his roster let alone log in. I have traded all my half decent guys to my friends in the league and taken on their busts for a small % of whatever winnings they get.

My strategy. Take your two running backs first. Then go for your WRs/TE/Flex. It's a pass happy league so it's a bit easier to find solid WRs later in the draft than RBs. Find your QB in round 4-5-6. You can easily find a solid quarterback in those rounds. Then I always start taking high risk high reward picks. Go for guys who might be lower overall in the draft but have a big upside like a first round draft pick, guy coming back from an injury/suspended. I kicked ass with this strategy last year.

I've run my own fantasy league for 17 years now.  In the first fifteen years, I won two championship.  I started using the fftoolbox ranking system the past two years and I've won two straight championship.

I've never going back.  They also have a ranking system where you can input your own league's unique scoring system to rank the players.

You're welcome.

Depending on your scoring system for QB is really the standard by you will need to use. I play wcoff every year and play for big $$$$. Your golden if you got 5 pick this year. I've been going More towards WR and QB early and have running away w leagues for the last few years. If you can get 1 very good RB to team w 3 stud WR and a QB like tannehill, romo, Eli, Roth you w win your league

I read last year on the Yahoo Financial page that this guy wins every year going WRs heavy taking WRs 1st followed by QB, TE and then RBs last. I did that getting D Thomas, Dez and Jordy my 1st 3 picks. They killed it for me. I ran with Cutler (till Playoffs, then Eli), G Olsen as TE and then waiver wire for the "HOT" RB available. I won the league fairly easy.

There is only one real 'insider tip':

Know you league roles and exploit them, obviously, then mock the fucking hell out of your league.
Learn to know where all the tiers are.
Win

It shouldn't have to be said, but alas, don't take a kicker before the last round.

Sometimes I don't even draft one at all (unless it's required). Then I have an extra bench player I can dump to add a kicker but it gives me more time to decide who to keep.

I take as many top-50 guys as possible, regardless of position.  This usually yields a chance to either get a good set of RB's or WR's, and then it's off to get a QB, more RB's and WR's/TE's.  I draft K's and DEF in the last round, and I usually waive them anyways each week.