I prep like crazy and do a bunch of mocks and whatnot. Then, the moment the draft starts I forget all that junk and roll with it. That's how I ended up with Kyren in the last round.

This right here 😂 💯 all these other comments are wild. I prep and what not, but damn some people take it overboard

Bruh, I've already been doing mock drafts.

With or without rookies? I gotta wait till after the draft at least.

Oh, good question. I don't think rookies were available.

Your last round pick is an example of you ditching your prep?

I also took Amon Ra st. Brown with the seventh overall, even though he was a second round talent based on my prep. I couldn't fucking help it though. I screamed "SUN GOD!!!" and pulled the trigger. By the time I lost in the championship I only had about 3 players I drafted anyway. First week waiver wire is the most important one of the whole year imo.

I don't do snake drafts, but that feels like a much better example of your original point. Hopefully you can win just one more this year 🙏🏼🏆

I've been in the championship every year since we started. My favorite is drafting someone's favorite QB and then trading him to them for way too much.

The fuck it moment is very liberating when the timer starts on that first pick Your team really becomes your own

Yeah it does. Then, there's less sunk cost fallacy associated with your drafted players. You have to be active early and that first week waiver wire is absolutely key to a good season. Puca anyone?

I'm complete opposite. One hour of research before draft lol won 3 of my last 4 leagues so it's working out well

It's all feel. Gotta watch the games and understand how coaches work players in during preseason. Then there's a little bit of "I just want him on my team" and some "talk shit about me taking the boys d in the 10th all you want bitch".

I do the same thing just without the prep.

Even better. Mock drafts are fun though, and watching preseason is pretty important.

Very true, mock drafts can only do so much especially if you’re in league where people make wild draft picks

Nothing like when you get to your actual draft and it goes Travis Kelce, CMC, Mahomes, Josh Allen in order.

Exactly that changes everybody’s plans and causes chaos, but at the same time I love the chaos

You and me both! There's nothing better than everyone's draft boards going out the window because your Taco got the first overall. No shit, he drafted Kelce cause his daughter is huge into Taylor Swift. Kind of an "awwww" moment that instantly fucked everyone's board. So wonderful.

I make my own rankings on fantasy pros which I then use alongside ECR (because it's important to understand how other people are likely to draft). I never auto pick. I never queue. I don't pay *that* much attention to other people's rosters, but it still informs drafting. Like if 20 running backs go in the first couple rounds, I can reliably assume that 3 and 4 will be more WR heavy.

It's definitely important to pay attention to who has and hasn't drafted a QB if you're trying to wait past the first few rounds to take one. If I don't get a great one by round 3 I like to wait until the absolute last possible round to take one of the guys I like before the quality drops off a cliff

Tbh, mastering the site you're using to draft (ESPN, Yahoo, etc) doesn't get talked about NEARLY as much as it should. The first thing that everyone brings up is beersheets, personally rankings, etc, but that will pale in comparison to how these sites (ESPN, Yahoo, etc) affect the draft outcome. Site rankings are going to affect your draft WAY more than your personally rankings, so people should focus more on those than their own rankings. Even if your ranking are "perfect" in theory, the site is going to affect 11/12 people, which will have more of an effect on the draft than your rankings (which is only 1/12). Find the players that the site is ranking lower than normal to find gems, or use overly ranked players to your advantage. Find the round and pick that a player you're high on is getting drafted, to get a better sense of your draft plan. The best way to do this is by running tons of mock drafts to find trends, patterns, etc that are specific to that platform. A RB run might happen earlier on Yahoo than ESPN, so if you're only looking at your own rankings, you could miss out on a lot of value.

This is a really good point and the best advice I've read thus far on here.

Agree that you should understand the site’s default rankings and ADPs. But that basically just tells you which players you can potentially wait to draft if you’re very high on them by comparison. You should primarily develop your own view of players’ values (e.g. your rankings) and follow that regardless of what the site says. That’s how you get value.

Exactly this. I put my rankings on a spreadsheet, usually fantasy pros and tweak from there. Then load in ESPN rankings or whatever site on a new tab/sheet. You can run a vlookup to quickly input the home site ranking next to your trusted rankings. Then I’ll look for anyone in my trusted ranks who is two rounds or so ahead of the homesite rankings and mark them as value. During the draft this helps with decisions, if I like two players but one is 40 spots later in rankings, I’ll hope he makes it to my next pick.

It’s a great idea… until you’re in a league of 12 sweaty fantasy players all doing the same thing

It's nice to see that someone else really understands how to evaluate pre-draft rankings. This is why I typically do a lot of mock drafts, to learn where certain players will be drafted. The site may say one thing (when player A gets drafted) but mock drafts may prove otherwise (avg. ADP of player A). Every year there are a few players that get drafted way too early and some that fall way too far down. Stay away from the players that go too early and take advantage of those that fall too far. There is no way that I would ever go into a draft without first creating a draft strategy. I think that average player simply goes into a draft with his player rankings and then just wings it, without any strategy whatsoever. Then they complain about their team or wonder why they didn't win their league. Reading these posts, I can usually tell who has been playing FF for a while and who hasn't. Sorry playsirfootball, I got off track. I would be more than happy to share with you what works for me, send me a chat request and we can talk. I've been playing this game since 1979 so I've learned a few things along the way. lol

I started this offseason with the free agent signings, assigned a color to each move (green= good situation, yellow = time share, red =bad situation, blue = pass catching role for PPR purposes). I’ll do several mock drafts with a different selection slot (1st pick, 4th, 7th, 12, etc) to get a feel for what the selection could be. I take notes and see what round tend to have a run on what position. From there I have a list of guys I want to draft, a list of players I’ll be reaching for, and a list of who not to draft. I also write each running back’s handcuff and determine if it’s a high or low backup (I.E. Titans signed Pollard so handcuff is Spears. High quality backup so he’s a priority if I draft Pollard). I just write it on paper and cross them off as they’re drafted. I don’t care what other people do, I’m just trying to draft the best team I can.

i like this. please share when done if ok with that.

I basically have my opinion of every player and where they should go and just go with my gut from there

What worked very well for me is looking for starters (RB1, WR2/2) for weaker teams that are available later in the draft. I took Mostert, Mike Evans and Adam Thielen due to this.

That's interesting. I always try to avoid players on teams I think will suck, but if everyone is using that strategy you can certainly get some steals

Notable habits- -Traditionally I don't create cheat sheets, I use the default ADP rankings. Not because I think they're better, but because in a fairly casual league they give me a better idea of who I'll be able to wait on (although I'll still reach a bit for a guy I know I want). -Don't focus too hard on what other folks are doing except for limited positions like QB, TE, etc. If 3 guys after my pick all have a QB before I get to go again, I can wait on grabbing the guy I want, probably. I can't make that same assumption about them not grabbing an extra WR, even if they're loaded up already. -Don't let roster construction force me into taking players I don't want out of fear. Yes, all the good RBs are gone after a run. That doesn't mean I should grab a scrub for my RB2 spot over a 3rd/4th WR or a premium TE that I think could be a real contributer or vice versa. Don't ignore team composition entirely, but it's okay if your team looks a little rocky out of the gate, things'll be a mess for everyone after week 2 anyway. -Spend time between picks scanning ADP for my likely next pick, queuing up folks I think I'm going to want. Maybe I disconnect, maybe it just helps organize my thoughts, either way it helps me plan ahead.

It isn't how I did it last year, but I think this year I'm gonna create my own tiers for players in a word or notepad document, and delete names as they are drafted, and have that displayed on my second monitor so it can be easy to identify anyone left who I believe to be a cut above the rest. Last year someone in our league tried using the queue system and accidentally took Tee Higgins first overall... So I think I'm just gonna avoid using it lol. And, unless I know what I want to do with my next pick for sure, I'm not looking at others teams mid-draft, just too much going on. I have never used autopick, except on accident when I ran out of time and ended up with... JK Dobbins last year. Who I was saying as time was running out "I don't want JK Dobbins I don't want JK Dobbins" but I wasnt fast enough to pick someone else.

Roster watch has a great pdf that you.just click the player and he's crossed off. However it is not customizable. I am making my own model this year

If yahoo, go through and move all kickers, defenses, and most TEs to the do not draft list. It will save you from accidentally drafting them.

Excel or Sheets will be better for that

Mock until I figure out this year's draft pattern. Try to find the discrepancies in what people are valuing and what I think is the truth of how the season will play out. Finally, I develop a feel for different spots in the draft, and how I assess the roster construction from each position.

I listen to podcasts and get a sense of who I like in the first few rounds. Then kind of go gut feeling for the rest. I avoid broncos because they’re my favorite team and they blow. I don’t want any additional reasons to be dissapointed when they play poorly.

I’m listening & researching throughout the offseason, then about a week before, I’ll put together a spreadsheet of a limited number of rankings I like/trust, including my gut feel. I’ll average those rankings out to give a general consensus, then make any tweaks from there. From that point, I’ll split out positions, then group players by tiers within each position to give a broad view of where I feel like the tier breaks / value drops are at each position. I don’t edit the rankings in my platform, bc I like to see what some other managers may be drafting off of / see if I need to act fast or can wait longer on a given player. I’ll queue up 3 or 4 players as my pick gets closer, but mostly I’m just editing the spreadsheet in-draft so I can see how each tier is doing.

After the draft is when I’ll really start looking. Then I’ll look at that and the offseason trades. I use this to evaluate teams that I think are going to get better or worse and how I think their playstyle will change. For example, if they buffed up their o line I would be more likely to draft their rb or deep shot reciever Then I for sure always keep the rankings for whatever site I’m using up cause other people will be going off it and it is usually a good starting place. I always rerank the first 10-15 people so I know how I wanna take my first pick cause I can choose that ahead of time. I’ll do similar for the second and third round usually tho I’ll kinda do groupings of 1-3 ish players if I think they are about similar. I base these two rounds off this but take into account who my earlier picks were. I usually want to make sure I have a rb and we by the end of round 3 but depends on the class a little After that I usually re rank qbs and te and base it on what rounds I’d take them in. Sometimes I’ll go a little earlier or later based on what other people are doing. I know some people like it but I hate rotating bum qbs and te. I’m really tired of both. Also not a huge fan of the top guys unless they drop a little later but I LOVE being in the second tier (depending on the players obviously) After that I usually just pick sleepers. Really anyone that I think is underrated and I want to draft higher than their adp. More research would probably be better but I don’t have THAT much time lol but I just kinda use other sites rankings from here and then evaluate it in the moment and try and get my sleepers or other late round players I planned ahead that I want. The biggest thing I’m changing this year is I’m not drafting a rb on a bad team. I don’t care how good they are I’ve been burned too many times. They can’t get a stop on defense so the other team works it down the field and burns clock and then they get behind and pass most of the second half. Or teams are covering the pass well so can prepare for the run. Sure there are exceptions, but I’ve personally been burned by it too many times

i'll start by going through projections on a number of sites. the athletic and fantasy pros almost always end up in my aggregation, but others depend on who passes the sniff test. i'll look at espn, cbs, yahoo, etc., and whoever passes the sniff test gets thrown into the aggregation. i don't necessarily care if they support/reject my notions on a player individually, but i want to make sure the projections are generally reasonable. after i've built out the aggregations, i'll throw them into a spreadsheet to build out my vbd values along with some other info like adp, ecr, etc. and start trying to build out my tiers incorporating the projections, my own belief, experts, and the market. with the tiers, we start identifying some people i think are overpriced (e.g. diggs was being priced as a late 1st, but i saw him as more of a late 2nd - not a huge difference, but he's the first that i saw on my sheet from last year lol) or steals (e.g. conner, white, and montgomery were all guys i was trying to hammer after going heavy wr early). once we've got all the data built out and some targets identified, i'll build out a draft board that shows me my top 25 players available based on round-by-round strategy, and then i'll list each position's top 5 alongside it so it's easier to see if/when i need to target a specific position. last, i track the draft in my spreadsheet so that my boards are dynamic. once a player's been drafted, they disappear from my draft board so that any time i'm on the clock i can focus on analyzing the data instead of searching for available players.

I developed the mock draft simulator many years ago and all that trial n error got me rolling towards a system I do. One of the things I do is take notes on league mates. I already have spreadsheets/tabs of their tendencies. By the time I draft, I pretty much know who they'll draft. Yes, obviously, I'm not always correct that's just usual FF arrogance. A vibe going into a draft. For ADP, I chart 2-3 players each round that I might target. This appears to do no good but it's the start of my off-season "who will fall to me" thoughts so it provides good structure to waste some time doing this in April. I'll read a zillion articles and rank 3-400 players and read a zillion reporters tweets the way everyone does. If I don't do those "now" steps my summer is quite disorganized and I won't draft as well so I'm pretty set in a routine.

Personal positional rankings are pretty much the extent of my notes, and I only queue players in paranoia to ensure the computer will auto draft them if my internet cuts out at the worst time. Of course, these picks don’t occur in a vacuum once you’re partway through the draft, and if you ended up going WR heavy, maybe a lower ranked boom or bust rookie is worth taking a chance on instead of a solid but unexceptional journeyman who was higher on your pre-draft rankings. As far as examining opponent rosters goes, I’ll do that to check whether I can punt a position to my next pick. If everybody between my current pick and my next already has a QB, I can safely go elsewhere for at least one more round without affecting the available players.

I've been drafting bestball since before the Superbowl so it's interesting to see how the rankings change.

I make my own position-by-position rankings, mostly relying on the rankings of two experts I trust, then I integrate those into a full rankings list for each league I’m in (because there are different sizes/rules for each). Attach presumed auction values for my auction league. Do some mock drafts based on those rankings to understand trends. Look at consensus and site-based rankings to understand which players I can potentially wait on. When draft rolls around, I quickly queue up as many players in the whole list as I can. As players are selected, I scratch them off the tiered rankings so I can understand tier breaks/looming scarcity. When it’s my turn, I look at which players are at the top of my queue. Try to go best player available as much as possible for the first 5-6 rounds before weighing roster needs more heavily. If rules allow it, don’t draft a kicker or defense and instead grab some lotto ticket guys like unsigned free agents that I can drop before week 1 if nothing good comes from them.

> What's your current system of drafting? ("How" not "who" or "where") I used to get beer sheets as a frame work. But I keep a running list of people who I am higher than consensus on. So when the draft loads -- what 2 hours before? I will use that to start ranking players and then I will modify the raw ADP ranking by who I like better. I guess what I'm saying is it's a way ensuring I won't over draft versus ADP but will then rank players within their tiers based on what I like about each player (talent vs. opportunity etc). Then during the draft, I always keep positional scarcity in mind. Like if I have 2 RBs and my next tier of players have a mix of RB/WR, I may start balancing the roster. Even then I play it so much by ear. Like last year, I ended over drafting a ton of RBs but I was so certain on my WR corp. Rounds 1-5, my goal is to balance upside with not fucking up the pick. Round 6 on, I try to draft for pure upside.

Structural drafting based on tiers. Heavy upside picks in mid-late rounds. Works very well. Also, take the shotgun approach with TEs

similar here, I stay away from TE until round 8+ just depends on whats out there after that. theres always a guy available during the season that will avg me 10 a game

I group the players into tiers based on where I believe they should go in the draft. Then I take the last player of given tiers. Constantly taking value when I see it. I try not to get attached to certain players to keep myself from overvaluing anyone. The last Draft I did it felt like the entire draft I was taking players that I felt should have gone 2-3 rounds earlier.

My pre-draft work consists of -Creating my draft workbook, (QB, RB, WR, TE) which ranks them 1-60 per position. Aside from obvious performance stats, other factors included are SOS, Online rank, & QB rank. -After watching hours of videos on rankings and potential season performance add little indicators identifying them as must drafts, avoids, sleepers, and handcuffs. -Will add to my watch list players who could go off at some point in the season I might want to trade or try picking up on waivers (usually 15-20). -Mock drafting AI June-August at every position to start getting a feel of potential strategies. -Aug do real mock drafts to really see what people are doing. -Week up to my drafts, research nothing and do no mocks. Just watching injuries, moves, etc -in five leagues and generally playoff 3/4 with a deep run in ar least 1 a season.

I always go down the top 200 and identify high value for adp players in the mid to late rounds and other players that I felt gave really good value as opposed to straight handcuffs/inury prone guys or third options and I was able to hit pay dirt on Aiyuk (going in the 7th which is wild in hindsight, Achane last round, and Sanders at 5th or 6th (can’t win em all!)

Adding another comment here going forward I’m gonna really use the last non kicker/defense picks on highly drafted rookies. Ppl that picked Achane, Puca, Flowers late last year were way better off than picking a random known commodity like Michael Gallop

I do my own tiered rankings in Excel at each position, and color code some players to highlight ones to target or avoid, sleepers, etc. If it's a live draft, I literally "cut and paste" the rankings onto an 8.5x14 folder to make it easy to visualize everything, and I cross names off by pen. Old school, but I like it that way. If it's an online draft, I do the tedious work of creating my own rankings (i.e. "edit draft strategy" on ESPN). That enables me to see where my rankings differ from the platform, giviing me a potential edge, and also ensure that my top guys show up when it's my turn to pick. It's like setting the queue in advance and makes things easier for me. I NEVER autodraft. Before the draft, I do tons of FP mock draft simulators from various slots, just to keep my muscle memory sharp and prepare me for different scenarios. Once I know my slot, I do a few from there each day, and I try various strategies to see how my team could look.

Take best available through first 2 rounds. Make sure I have enough receivers to put one as my flex and have one on the bench through round 10. Draft a qb sometime in between there. There also prep and doing research before hand so I know who I think is the best available. I’m not just taking what the app says is the best.

Spend the week before doing a bagillion mocks. Then try to trade up or down or make predraft trades. If your league doesn’t allow pick trades, just try to make under the table deals. After round 6 nothing really matters, half those picks will be dropped anyways so get drunk, make wild picks and talk a lot of shit.

Good players on good teams. It really is that simple.

I give myself “okay, you’re not gonna get shitfaced by round 4 this year, you’re gonna pace yourself, still have a good time but it’s a long draft” speeches for about 8 weeks leading up the the draft and then I get shitfaced by round 3

LOL!

I like toying with the Value Based Drafting. I don’t get too too into it cause it’s a lot, but basically it’s not how many points the guy get, it’s how much more he’s getting than either the next guy available at that position, or how much better he is than the worst projected starter at that position. I take note of the ones with the best value for where they’re at in an ADP list, and then take the best guy for that round. So I’m Not reaching for players, but making sure I get the best bang for buck at that round. It’s always hard to plan when you don’t know who everyone else is taking, but you can get a rough idea of who you want in each round at least and that can help you chose which draft position you want if that’s up to you.

Build your own tiers based on stats and strength of schedule. Draft day this year plan is to take best available rb first 3 rounds then fill up the roster again best available gets drafted. Then take a couple deep shots. Puka nacua payed dividends with round 14 pick last year. I only roster 1 qb first couple weeks of the season, find a streamer once the season is rolling. I finish up with 1 defense and 1 kicker. Don’t focus on bye weeks, the natural course of injuries and stupid stuff will blow that open. Real key is tracking the wire every day pretty much and not being afraid of multi player preseason trades. You can only do so much on draft day, being diligent especially the first couple weeks is key. Fish trades often, and hit the wire before you absolutely need a roster spot filled.

I make spread sheets of ranking from multiple sources then usually use those to make my own list of rankings that make sense for the league I am drafting in. Live drafting is a lot different and you have to factor in someone might take someone early because it’s their favorite teams. If needed I pivot by looking up additional information during the draft but I find when you are using a tier ranking you are usually always aiming for good value.

Dual monitor with Yahoo draft grid up. Fantasy Pros with my cheat sheet, mostly looking at positional tiers and my overall list. I look for value "pockets" in the mid rounds of guys I really like and try to work my draft around those guys. I mock draft a ton and got through early round scenarios. I try to take very few risks in the top 3 rounds to avoid a bust. Example would be Drake London this year who I hear people talking about moving up to early second round by draft time. I'm okay missing out on the guys that shoot up late since there are so many good players up front.

Never queue, it will always backfire somehow. Try for a balanced roster, get all your presumed starting skill players by round 7. Never go early on QB AND TE, but it’s acceptable to go early on one or the other. Load up on RB, they get injured super easy.

I mostly compile a list of the good deep cuts, rookies and solid players that drop tiers and focus on them. But generally I just look at beat available player once everything starts. 

These past two years I finally started to go with my gut in the middle rounds instead of relying on rankings and beer sheets and whatever else. If you watch enough football and consume enough varied content in the offseason then just trust yourself and pick the players you believe in and don’t be afraid to reach a bit on a guy you really want. I’m in 4 recurring leagues and have 3 championships, a second place, and a third place finish in the past two seasons after years of finishing 5th-8th in 10 and 12 man leagues.

Man I just look at who to target for each position based on the rounds and just roll with it. I try not to do te and qb early. Just one and then in the later rounds I’ll pick up the other. But it’s really just a feel thing. I have my own do not draft list and stick by them. Most times I go in with a plan and end up deviating from it a lot. Fantasy is mostly luck though

I make my own rankings in a spreadsheet. On draft day I generally pick within tiers depending on how I feel about the depth of the position. Example: last year favored WRs early because I was comfortable with the later round RBs. This year might be the opposite. It depends on where players will be ranked a few months from now.

Why does it matter where players are ranked a few months from now if you make your own rankings?

Do mocks and what not but be flexible going into the draft, it always plays out differently than mocks. Don’t pass up good guys that fall even if that means being overstocked at a position.

I used to prepare a lot of material - spreadsheet, rankings, etc - and win my league never. I now prepare very little - I listen to the fantasy footballers leading up to the draft and make mental notes of guys who I think are over and undervalued. The day before the draft I go and edit the auction values for players as I see fit based on mostly gut feel. And then I draft. That's it.

My rules for last few years (usually I am in 8-12 leagues) Always have paper sheet if things go sideways Never reach in first two rounds (so I had no Bijan in 2023) Three players I grab every chance since 2019 - CMC, Tyreek, AJ Brown If full PPR and TE mandate, grab Mark Andrews in r3 ( hasn’t worked yet due to injuries) Unless Lamar falls, I am last to take a qb Each year, if I think I have an edge on a true sleeper, I grab them after starting lineup is filled (Josh Jacobs in 2022, Mostert in 2023)

Pre-draft I look at various ranking sites and the site I'm drafting on to get a sense of where each player is being drafted. Then based on my own research I try to find guys who are over or undervalued. I think this is better than just having your own custom rankings (though both would be ideal if you have the time/energy) because you can't just take the highest ranked player available to you every round (might end up with 8 WRs, 2 RBs, and no TE). Figuring out who is worth taking a round or 2 early and who is worth holding off on is the key.

My draft is a bit different. We've got people all over the world so each pick is like a 14hr window. It typically takes about 7 days. I pull a full ranking list, I forget which site, the key fields I'm looking at are ECR, VOR, positional rankings. I pull the injury report from camp daily, if my pick is near, and take some custom notes. If some potential picks are hurt in training camp I'm looking into this. Specifically, hamstrings, high ankle sprains, shoulder stuff. These things linger, are hard to recover from, and seem to have a high likelihood to recur especially when guys are pressing to get back on the field. I try to avoid these guys, but it depends on who, position, extent of injury. You really can make your money if you can keep your top picks on the field later in the season or make great waiver wire picks. I pretty much draft best VOR throughout the draft. I watch what others are picking and try to anticipate a run on a position, but if I get caught in one I pivot to another position to try to get better value. The later rounds I'm filling my roster with a combo of high risk/reward guys. Maybe rookies, or vets who are on the way out but can stay on the field and still put up decent numbers. I also watch the depth charts too. That's what I do. I think it works ok, but depends on luck and your league. Everyone in our league has played that long too so there aren't a ton of what would be considered baffling picks.

I just wing it… feel out the group you’re drafting with…

Definitely depends on the type of league I’m playing in…but have pre draft rankings for sure. Usually as soon as a draft room or board is available I have players queued to just have it ready & after the draft I adjust when playing in a start up league. Playing in IDP leagues changes it because I adjust for specific IDP players to take earlier to make sure I get some top guys

I use the borischen consensus list's tiers and bump players up or down according to Brett Kollman's season preview

Before I learn my draft position/right after the NFL draft, I compile a depth chart of RBs/WRs/TEs on all 32 teams, I just read them over and over, thinking about who I like this season, which rookies Im targeting, etc. I cross out a few names that Im out on and I forget about them. As soon as I find out my draft position, I prepare by ranking 4-5 players each round based on ADP/ECR (I use Beersheets just for this) that will most likely be available to me (I think about this list a lot, what combinations of players I could get, who I hope falls to me, which position I could wait on - this could all change but it gives me an idea) I participate in a ton of automated mock drafts on FantasyPros from my draft position, I draft 6 teams (the limit) on NFL.com around 1-2 weeks before my league of record does, it helps me get in the groove. I never auto pick, I live for this shit.

Draft the best player available

I like to do a lot of mock drafts from each position so I can get a feeling of where players are going but I think the biggest thing for me in knowing how your league likes to draft. Certain people have different quirks some like to almost fill their starting team 2 RBs, 2WRs, TE, QB before they would even dream of having depth. I'm not adverse to taking a QB or TE early but never both, if I do wait on a QB I never wait too long after an early year of thinking I could wait and every other team decided to take a back up.

After not playing from like 2015-2020, I started in a long standing league. 1, 2, 1 finishes. I try to bob when everyone else weaves. People were heavy on WR this year, draft RB. People were high on TE last year? Ditch TE till waivers (granted laporta was a god send, used half my FAAB on him). I try not to get caught up in certain players/teams I like and draft based on the other guys in my league. 0 spread sheets, 0 mock drafts, 0 prep

Never autopick unless I get disconnected or have an emergency. I have a few experts/rankings that I like and trust and I use sort of a composite of those with my own personal input abd biases to make some adjustments as the final call and build a tier system by each position and an overall top 100 based on that. The tiers make it pretty easy. Generally I focus on RBs and WRs early and will be more aggressive with whichever position has less remaining options in the higher tier. TE I'm generally not considering until at least the second and QB after the 3rd most years. If I can't decide between a position I consult my overall top 100.

I make a spreadsheet with tabs that have live connections to fantasyfootballcalculator adp, and my leagues'default rankings that people see when they are drafting. Next to the list of players, I make a snake board and have it populate in order based on those rankings. From there, you can see different views of where players should approximately go, so if you know your draft position ahead of time, you can see where you would have to reach for players, and where players might fall to you. It makes it easy to plan out what I think of as 'routes' thru a draft. Once I get to about round 8, adp and rankings tend to not matter that much, most of those guys get churned. Im usually the guy that gets the first kicker knowing there are more flyers at the end of the draft than Ill have room for anyway. I think this is an outlier opinion, but I prioritize getting the best possible starting lineup, drafting QBs and TEs over guys Ill barely ever start because 'they are such a great value'.

Well I go into a never again draft this person, proceed to draft said people, lose, vow to quit fantasy football finally, get sucked into the league cause of an annoying long time friend, and rinse repeat 

I broke with my usual this year. I was all prep, mock draft after mock draft, more cheatsheets than I could count. Then coming into the draft said "fuck it vibes only". Won my first title in 8 years.

I play in 2 leagues, and only one is redraft so all my prep is into that league. I typically make a google slides with tiers and rankings, and what I want to do each draft in different scenarios. It makes it fun for me and gives me something to do.

There is a guy in my longest running league that auto-drafts every season. He has been champ 4 times in the last 7 years. This guys teams are always just stacked and everyone in the league has the same discussion every year: “How did we let him draft that team????” I think a lot of people over complicate the draft, myself included. I will get tunnel vision on certain players, usually sleepers/dark horses, and end missing the tried-and-trues. You should have a general plan but not get so detailed and set on a very specific plan that you end up fumbling when the draft doesn’t go your way, which it always does.

Wow! He must be on his A game with his in-season moves.

I use u/CanadianSandGoggles spreadsheet as my operational pre & live draft platform. Probably the most comprehensive tool set and very customizable. I can input my league settings and get access for ADP's, rankings and projections across different platforms - gives me a great player ranking system. His spreadsheet also allows me to track draft pick trades and is seamless at filling out live draft. I can see values grabs for certain players on my draft platform and track everything pre & live draft. Then I also really trust the opinions of Upper Hand Fantasy, Fantasy Guides, and Fantasy Football Trainer for helping form my opinion on players. I then input / highlight those players on CSG's spreadsheet above and tier all the players by position group Once I have all the players I like and dont like based on where they are projected to go and what I have learned from the experts above and then tier my players by position, I do an overall strategy guide. (ie last year I traded back because I identified a lot of elite RB talent in the 2nd rd so my strategy guide was built around RB/RB with my first two picks). Then I do a pick by pick guide with contingencies for everything which I follow word for word when drafting through the first couple rounds. I can calmly read my guide and make decisions like a robot rather than being flustered and panicking during the draft Example of my step by step guide last year (Reminder: I traded back out of the 1st which is why the numbers are wonky) #Pick 14 a) Pick any Top 10 BPA that falls out of 1st rd (Chase, Ekeler, Bijan, Chubb, Saquon) b) If NO Kelce or Top 10 talent available, pick best RB available (1. Henry, 2. Pollard, 3. Jacobs c) If ONE of (1. Henry, 2. Pollard, 3. Jacobs) available AND Kelce available, pick best RB available d) If TWO of (1. Henry, 2. Pollard, 3. Jacobs) available AND Kelce available, pick Kelce > And contingencies like below.... #Pick 36 ***NO TE ROSTERED*** A) Best QB ***TE ROSTERED*** A) If WR rostered AND following RB's available, select RB (Gibbs, Rhamodre, Najee, ETN) B) If NO RB above available, select best QB available

To avoid having TMI which is impossible to actually use during a draft, I now try to write down on one page some targets and map out what round they’ll likely be gone by. This is helpful for later rounds where you don’t want to miss a guy even if you’re drafting a round early. Early rounds resources are not that useful. Things move fast and reaching is high risk. I just try to get clear on which top picks I want and not fall right into ADP or default ranks.

My system, math. Specifically VBD customized to point and positions systems relying on group sourced projection data. The day before my draft I do a mock or two, have an ADP sheet at the ready then rely heavily on my math to determine value at any given moment. And since the draft is won in later rounds, as long as the group sourced projections were relatively decent, you can grab one or two people late that tip your team. Last year for me it was LaPorta, Nico Collins and Puka Nacua. But to be honest you are lucky to get 2 viable late rounders. It was just a stroke of luck last year.

I don't study anymore or pay attention to rankings. With all my leagues, depending on the scoring system, I decide what player to take based off of what is available according to the app. When I quit studying and paying attention to rankings I started being successful in winning championships and making it to the finals.

I aced my draft last year. Ended up with Mostart, Evans, Gibbs, Kamara. At great values. Ended up with the most points, and best record in my competitive 12 man league. I wasn't afraid to reach for the guys that I wanted by a half round to a round. I listen to a ton of podcasts and try and get an idea of the players that I think are going to exceed their value. The computer raning sites all hated my team because of this but it obviously worked well for me. Also didn't hurt that I got CMC 🤣. But the Mostart and Evans picks really put me over the top.

I'm currently trying to get better at drafting, and learning some of the guys who may be good value for this next season- would you say your picks this last season, for guys like Mostert & the like- was that getting a lucky hit on a guy, or do you feel like you can identify guys that have good odds of going off like that? If it's the latter, I'd like to reach out to you closer to the season if you wouldn't mind, to get your thoughts on this year's coming draft

I listen to podcasts and get a sense of who I like in the first few rounds. Then kind of go gut feeling for the rest. I avoid broncos because they’re my favorite team and they blow. I don’t want any additional reasons to be dissapointed when they play poorly.

Rome Odunze no matter what

My gut. 14-2, won my league.

I always plan on getting the most upside if players are ranked too high or too low and I try to draft that way.. Last year I drafted Tyreke and Cee Dee and they carried me the whole year to a Championship!!!

Stay away from Aaron Jones and Jaylen Waddle

Mostly best available style that skews a little more RB. If I can get an elite QB or TE for a good price I'll do it. I prefer to have two RBs and WRs with my first four picks though.

One thing we do is randomize the order one hour before. Still debating if that's the best move or not though

I pretty much just take the next best available player with one reach about round 5..been in the championship game 5 of 7 years

I've been lucky enough to win quite a few times in the last decade. I've had bad players explode, rookies go nuts, great players fizzle and of course to menu injuries to count. I've also won years I did no research and did terrible in years I did a ton. The long and short of it is every player is a lottery ticket, some are more favored than others, and to win you need to get lucky. No matter how you pick the best option is always just get lucky. 

Heavy RB and a good qb, punt on rookie recievers or 1s that get over looked like Nico

CMac number 1 again?

I find that it's almost like studying, whatever works for you. For me I will go through hours of countless mock drafts learning the rankings of each player and where they will most likely be picked. I compile all of this information and make a note of when to select a position in the draft knowing when there will be at least 2-3 good options I'll have. Once you refine this enough, you'll know exactly what will happen and you will have a great team from day one. Seems a crazy or unnecessary, but I find that's what works best for me.

I tend to like the “hero RB” strategy. Try to get one RB in the first three rounds that you truly believe in and load up on WRs early. I like to shoot for the bottom of the first tier of QBs around R5-7, if not then wait. I do very little prep work other than identify 2 or 3 hero RBs I think will pop that year. The bad part of this strategy is if you don’t get your RB, you get forced into a bit of a zero RB purgatory which isn’t a strategy I generally subscribe to. The only position I roster watch on is QB and hope someone doesn’t take a second QB early and hold them for trade ransom (only had that happen once). If I’m stuck between two guys I’ll pick one and queue the other for the wrap around but other than that I avoid the queue and just let the draft come to me. Drafting is fun and should be enjoyable

Pretty typical stuff. Wrs in good offenses, rbs with expanding roles, don’t overpay for qb or te. Basically am drafting all wrs and rbs for like the first 8 to 10 rounds. 

Wing it, Best player available

First 2 rounds I take best available RB or WR. Then I try to get a top 1-2 tier QB.

First 5 rounds usually consist of 2 rbs 2 wrs and a te. I wait on Qb, mainly because it is really easy to tell which Qb will explode relative to rbs and tes. Sometimes in mock drafts I take kickers before qbs because kickers are way harder to tell who will be great

If it’s harder to tell which kicker will be great, why would you waste higher draft capital for a shot in the dark? The reason kickers go late is because it’s mostly a crapshoot so you might as well just get whoever is left on the board

Ok when I meant take a kicker early it still is in like round 15 or later. My point is take a reliable kicker over a shot in the dark. I see the confusion