SOS - Got Roped Into a Fantasy League That Drafts In 5 Hours

[ndirish1978]

Mods feel free to move this to off the wall. Hoping I can get some help from people who enjoy fantasy football to advise me on a website where I can find a cheatsheet. I jumped into a buddy's league as a favor after someone dropped out last minute and they were on the verge of cancelled rather than having an odd number. I'm not a FF savant - I follow the Bills as closely as the compression sleeve on Stevenson's leg but I don't care about parsing stats for most other teams other than watching them before we play them. Anything you could send me would be greatly appreciated as I am now pairing ignorance with a fairly unhealthy competitive drive. Thanks board!

[Simon]

I'll leave it right here for maximum exposure for 5 hours and hope you get some help. 🤞

[Forward Progress]

Sign up for The Athletic. They have a cheat sheet that downloads into Excel that works really well. 
 

Then you can enjoy The Athletic all year - it’s the only sports content that I’m willing to  pay for. 

[Rc2catch]

Fantasy leagues are rarely won on draft day. It’s the waiver wire that separates the men from boys. 
I’m teasing a little. 
You can find all kinda rankings, it depends on the league. What site is it on? Is it a ppr league? Idp? All those factor into rankings by round 

[ndirish1978]

1 minute ago, Forward Progress said:

Sign up for The Athletic. They have a cheat sheet that downloads into Excel that works really well. 
 

Then you can enjoy The Athletic all year - it’s the only sports content that I’m willing to  pay for. 

 

I have a subscription. I will do this asap. Thanks 

 

[716er]

Sort by rank when you draft

 

Don’t make any off the wall picks 

 

You’ll win or lose fantasy football in free agency, anyway. 

 

[MJS]

Just focus on filling out your roster with good players. Every online platform will already have players ranked, so just generally follow the existing ranking system. It's ok to take multiple running backs and receivers in a row because that's the bulk of your team.

 

A rookie mistake is taking a QB too soon. QB's score a lot of fantasy points, but there are a lot of QB's that can get you good points. Running back gets drafted early because there are a few elite guys and then a huge dropoff of production, so you want to get at least one good running back if you can.

[MasterStrategist]

10 minutes ago, ndirish1978 said:

Mods feel free to move this to off the wall. Hoping I can get some help from people who enjoy fantasy football to advise me on a website where I can find a cheatsheet. I jumped into a buddy's league as a favor after someone dropped out last minute and they were on the verge of cancelled rather than having an odd number. I'm not a FF savant - I follow the Bills as closely as the compression sleeve on Stevenson's leg but I don't care about parsing stats for most other teams other than watching them before we play them. Anything you could send me would be greatly appreciated as I am now pairing ignorance with a fairly unhealthy competitive drive. Thanks board!

I've used a multitude of sources, and will always check "rotoworld" (search the player I'm about to draft to make sure he isn't injured or something else newsworthy).

 

But here is the source I rely on:  https://fantasyfootballcalculator.com/mock-draft/results

 

You can pick between PPR or not.  it's a mock draft compilation, and also has position rankings.  I find it very helpful for planning when to take a player in later rounds and overall thoughts.

 

Best ones are those without a lot of CPU picks, so you can get an idea on how others value certain players.

 

Good luck!

[YoloinOhio]

10 minutes ago, Forward Progress said:

Sign up for The Athletic. They have a cheat sheet that downloads into Excel that works really well. 
 

Then you can enjoy The Athletic all year - it’s the only sports content that I’m willing to  pay for. 

Where do I find this cheat sheet. Do you have a link? I have a subscription so I’ll be able to download it.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Just draft all Bills players. 

[Logic]

Make sure to go kickers early and often. You can never have too many kickers.

[Bangarang]

What pick do you have?

[ndirish1978]

5 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Where do I find this cheat sheet. Do you have a link? I have a subscription so I’ll be able to download it.

 

https://theathletic.com/2786655/2021/08/26/fantasy-football-cheat-sheet-fully-customizable-rankings-and-projections-for-your-league-scoring-updated-aug-23/

 

bottom of page

[buffaloaggie]

Get your RBs early. Mocks seem to have plenty of WRs late, but good RB picks seem hard to come by this year

[uninja]

Is your league PPR or standard scoring? That affects drafting SIGNIFICANTLY.

 

 

[GoBills808]

2 minutes ago, uninja said:

Is your league PPR or standard scoring? That affects drafting SIGNIFICANTLY.

 

 

Yep post the scoring rules and roster sizes for better help

[H2o]

What site are you all using? NFL, ESPN, Yahoo, CBS? Is it a PPR league (Point Per Reception)? What's the scoring breakdown for your QB's? That can change strategies a bit. I've been in some where it's more shifted to the other skill positions. The big names that come to mind which you hear on NFL broadcasts and TV shows are always a good place to start. Your first round pick needs to be a hit so the Derrick Henry's, Dalvin Cook's, Josh Allen's, Aaron Rodgers', Patrick Mahomes', of the world are where to look. Guys basically guaranteed to put up numbers every week. Do the same thing every round following. Once you get to the middle to late rounds you just have to have a bit of luck on your side. Watch the bye weeks as well. You don't want to have to take an L because there's a week where 3/4 of your team aren't playing. 

[Forward Progress]

24 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Where do I find this cheat sheet. Do you have a link? I have a subscription so I’ll be able to download it.

https://theathletic.com/2786655/2021/08/26/fantasy-football-cheat-sheet-fully-customizable-rankings-and-projections-for-your-league-scoring-updated-aug-23/?source=user_shared_article

 

 This link should work… you will need to scroll to the very bottom of the page for the link to the spreadsheet. 

[That's No Moon]

20 minutes ago, buffaloaggie said:

Get your RBs early. Mocks seem to have plenty of WRs late, but good RB picks seem hard to come by this year

And either be first or last picking a TE. Of you dont get Kelce or Waller just let it go for awhile

[EmotionallyUnstable]

Pick high floor players on good offenses with good QB plays, especially in rounds 1-5, if you want to swing and miss, do it late. 

[maddenboy]

Match-up proof.

 

I like to target 1 or 2 players who I know I will never sit based on that week's matchup.  I will usually draft them a round or two earlier than projections, to make sure I get them.  I'll be guaranteed 17 weeks of steady production and wont have to comb the waiver wire.

 

Gronk a couple years ago, for example.   Bills or Ravens D (my league uses D and also Defensive players).

[EmotionallyUnstable]

39 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Just draft all Bills players. 

A friend of mine said this year he is taking all Falcons…100% vaxxed and thus, likely to be available!

[That's No Moon]

2 minutes ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

A friend of mine said this year he is taking all Falcons…100% vaxxed and thus, likely to be available!

Knowing who is vaxxed and who isn't is potentially a huge advantage, sharps in DFS are going to kill the general public this year.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

11 minutes ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

A friend of mine said this year he is taking all Falcons…100% vaxxed and thus, likely to be available!

So, Rosen's your friend's QB?  Asking for another friend. 😁

*
EDIT: He'll probably get a hand written 'thank you' note from Rosen.  Oh, wait...Rosen...nahhhhh.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Ridgewaycynic2013

[Gambit]

Draft soon to be MVP Josh Allen.

[billybrew1]

Draft only Bills.....

[Cray51]

Some other things to consider (if you want to get into a lot of detail)

 

look for #1 receivers.  Don’t worry about the team.  #1 receivers on any team will VERY LIKELY our score a #2 on a great team.

 

remember, QBs on bad teams will throw a TON towards the end of the game.  Although rookie QBs are always a big risk to take.

 

I did an analysis a few years ago, the consistent best defenses over the past decade have been the Steelers, New England, Ravens.  I’d also look at an average defense that plays in a bad division.  Think Washington.  That’s 6 games a year where your defense will likely put up points.

 

WRs don’t have much difference in scoring between rankings 15 and 50.  Focus on getting GREAT players at a position.  Draft a Kelse early compared to your WR2

 

kickers are a crapshoot usually

 

Bye weeks matter, but if you lose one week because your top 3 players are on the same bye it’s not the end of the world

 

lastly, try to pick a WR from the team your QB plays on.  If you trust your QB, that WR will get points.  Think AJ brown (or Julio) and Tannehill, or Adams and Rodgers, Metcalf and Wilson.  Of course Allen and Diggs

[ndirish1978]

54 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

What pick do you have?

 

Randomly assigned an hour before draft

 

49 minutes ago, uninja said:

Is your league PPR or standard scoring? That affects drafting SIGNIFICANTLY.

 

Standard scoring

[That's No Moon]

8 minutes ago, billybrew1 said:

Draft only Bills.....

My winning strategy for years has been to NEVER draft Bills. I never draft Bills or bet on their games. It's too hard to be objective. It's like mixing church and state, you just can't. 

 

This goes doubly if you know other players are Bills fans, they will overdraft players. Let them, and take the players that fall to you as a result.

Edited August 26, 2021 by That's No Moon

[ndirish1978]

thank you guys. I'm fairly confident that my general knowledge and these sites can at least get me to the playoffs

[uninja]

Alright, standard scoring means you'll want to prioritize RBs that get a heavy workload. Look for teams that have a dedicated RB or main back and don't do the committee thing (stay away from Bills RBs). Think Derrick Henry, Ezekiel Elliot, Nick Chubb, AJ Dillon, Jonathan Taylor, those types of players.

 

Standard scoring also puts a greater emphasis on WRs that get chunk yards, catch TDs and get a lot of volume, so shifty slot receivers or RBs that catch passes out of the backfield are less desirable. You want someone that gets yards and gets the ball thrown to a lot. 

 

Your RBs and WRs are gonna be your workhorses in your league and where (typically) most of your points will come from, so draft some consistent production guys early and try to take at least 1-2 RBs and 1-2 WRs before looking at other positions.

 

TE position is very boom/bust and quality thins out SIGNIFICANTLY once Kelce and Waller are off the board, although teams that play a lot of TEs in sets might give you a couple of sneaky good options beyond that. Prioritize WRs and RBs, if a top guy is there after that, grab him. Otherwise you can wait until the back end of the draft to grab a TE.

 

QB you can typically wait until later rounds 5-7 to grab one, although watch the action in the draft room. If a run starts on them earlier you might want to grab one earlier. Most guys in the upper tiers give you decently good floors, and if a QB has rushing skills and takes goal line carries that has surprising value in FF. Even bad teams with meh QBs can give you good production (Blake Bortles was a great fantasy QB because of garbage time).

 

Defense/Special Teams is very streaky, unless you have a team where you know their defense is just owning the ***** out of everything (see Patriots, 2019). Note that very few of these defenses exist so the good ones will come off the board quickly once people fill in the regular roster spots. My personal favorite strategy is to stream a different defense every week and just find the team in the league with a really putrid offense (prolly the Texans, Jags or Bears this year) and just play whatever defense is playing that team this week. It has worked very well for me but it requires management and foresight to rotate defenses out.

 

Kickers you can take at the back end of the draft after you've filled your main spots, your bench and just about everything else. Just look for someone consistent if you want to set it and forget it. I personally like to stream kickers or find teams that historically have kicked the most field goals and go from there.

[MJS]

1 hour ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Just draft all Bills players. 

This might be the only year that this might be an ok strategy. Of course, until the Bills have their bye week...

 

Your team would be strong at QB, average at WR, and very weak at RB. TE would be a weak spot, but it is usually a weak position unless you have one of the top 2 or 3 guys anyway. Defense could be strong.

 

Overall, an all Bills team would not be great, but I bet you could get some wins.

[YoloinOhio]

56 minutes ago, maddenboy said:

Match-up proof.

 

I like to target 1 or 2 players who I know I will never sit based on that week's matchup.  I will usually draft them a round or two earlier than projections, to make sure I get them.  I'll be guaranteed 17 weeks of steady production and wont have to comb the waiver wire.

 

Gronk a couple years ago, for example.   Bills or Ravens D (my league uses D and also Defensive players).

Diggs, who I got in the 5th last year lol), was that guy for me last year 

[WMDman]

Take duke williams with your first pick

[nucci]

if it's an auction draft then you need to set $ for each position. If it's a snake draft just wait your turn and pick best player 

[Rc2catch]

Make sure to post your team and who was drafted where so we can nitpick it to death lol

[Einstein's Dog]

I recommend fantasyfootballcalculator.  They have an ADP (Average Draft Position) option that gives you a great idea of when people will be drafted.  You put in standard and how many teams in the league, so it's quite specific.  

 

You didn't mention if you have a flex.  If you do, in a standard league, it is advantageous to be able to play a workhorse back in the flex position, making RBs even more desirable.  Decent RBs can give you around 11-12 fpg's (Fantasy Points per Game) vs about 9ish for later decent WRs.  To be one of the teams to get this good RB3 you will need to sacrafice in other areas.  I suggest holding off on TE and WR2 to get the shot at a good RB3.  

One thing to be careful of with the ADP are recent movers.  For instance D Henderson has moved significantly up because he was being drafted as a backup before the Cam injury.  Likewise the Jax RB should be moved up with the Etienne injury.

 

What number are you picking?

 

 

[DJB]

If this is redraft go after stud RB's early and often through rounds 1-3. 

 

There is a ton of WR depth and almost no decent RB's. 

 

If you can grab one of the elite TE's that's a big advantage as well. 

 

Unless its a 6 point TD for QB (most likely a 4 point for TD) go with QB middle to late rounds. Lots of quality available so you can load up on WR and RB

 

Good luck!

Edited August 27, 2021 by DJB

[Paulus]

Drafting a kicker first is a highly underrated powerflex.

 

Edited August 27, 2021 by Paulus

[nedboy7]

Usually the top guy on the available players list is actually a solid pick.  Of all the bills I enjoy having the D the most.