Do you have your big fantasy football draft coming up? Avoid these common mistakes!
The most exciting part of the season for many people is the fantasy football draft. You get the opportunity to act as a general manager and craft the team that you want. There are countless strategies to follow; drafting two running backs to start, taking a quarterback early, or stacking teammates. While there is not one set strategy that is guaranteed to win you a championship, there are a couple of tricks to increase your odds.
When participating in your fantasy football draft, consider these tips for your best success. After that, read our best 150 fantasy football team names for 2025!
Don’t Make These Mistakes During Your Fantasy Football Draft
Don’t Reach For a Tight End Just to Fill Out Your Starting Lineup
One of the biggest stories of the fantasy football world last year was the incredible play of Brock Bowers. It is somewhat unheard of to see a rookie tight end and have as much success as the Georgia alum had. Given his incredible performance, Bowers is being taken as TE1 this year with an ADP of 17. That means that Bowers is going in the middle of the second round. It is not uncommon to see a tight end go that early, as guys like Travis Kelce, Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham have been first or second-round picks at points in their careers.
Now, when drafting, I usually stay clear of tight ends early, as running backs and wide receivers are more important in my eyes. This leaves me holding off on tight end for several rounds. With that being said, I don’t want to dissuade you from taking Bowers, because he is a superstar. So, if you draft Bowers, fine. If you don’t get Bowers, you have to wait on tight end for a long time. Trey McBride is the next tight end being taken, in the early third round, followed by George Kittle in the late third. Instead of spending picks on two players who aren’t as likely to get as many scoring opportunities as an RB2 or WR1, opt for players like Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Tyreek Hill, DJ Moore or Courtland Sutton.
Building depth at your wide receiver and running back positions is more important than dealing with the boom/bust potential every week at tight end. With that being said, if you take this advice, you are going to get to the ninth and 10th rounds without a tight end. That is okay, especially if your league mates are starting to clear out the tight end position. Continue to focus on getting starting running backs. This will set you up with an abundance of riches comes the middle of the season to give some flexibility in building lineups and trading.
Look at it this way, Sam LaPorta is being drafted around Aaron Jones, Jerry Jeudy and Jaylen Waddle. David Njoku is being drafted around Jordan Love, Brock Purdy and J.K. Dobbins. While it is tough to wait so long at a starting position, it makes no sense to me to draft Sam LaPorta in the sixth round when you can take Dallas Goedert in the 14th round. Last season, there was just a one-point difference between the two on a week-to-week basis.
Don’t Go in Blind, Get a Fantasy Football Draft Kit
You should do a little bit of research prior to your fantasy football draft. You can do your own research, get a draft kit, or do a bit of both so you know which players are most valuable, where they are being selected, and where you can find value in your draft. If you want the best value draft kit in the industry, check out the Award-Winning FlurrySports Draft Kit!
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Don’t Reach for a Stack in the Draft
Stacks are one of the more interesting draft strategies for your fantasy football draft. For those who are in their first year or don’t know, a stack is taking two or more players from the same team who are positively correlated, thus maximizing the points scored on any given play. As an example, one of the more popular stacks a few years back was Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. For every pass that Gronkowski caught, you were getting points for the passing yards, reception, receiving yards and touchdown if he scored. While this strategy certainly has a high ceiling, it has just as low a floor. If your receiver gets shut down or the offense has a bad week, then two of your positions suffer as your quarterback likely has a bad week. If two of your star players underperform, then it probably leads to you losing the week.
On the other hand, let’s say your receiver goes for 150 yards and two touchdowns; that is an extra 14 points you are getting from your quarterback on top of everything else that they throw. So, there is certainly potential for big weeks. On top of the extra points, it makes fantasy football that much more fun to watch.
That brings about my advice for stacks. While I love rolling the dice on any given week to be the highest scorer, I would say don’t reach for a stack in the draft; let it come naturally. The most popular stack this season is going to be Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow. For those who want this stack, you have to draft Burrow early in the third round. Doing this may leave a hole at another prime position for you. Given Burrow’s play, I don’t hate taking a little reach on Burrow.
For another example, if you draft Amon-Ra St. Brown, you probably have to spend a sixth or early seventh round pick on Jared Goff to complete the stack. Reaching on Goff does not make a lot of sense to me, when guys like Justin Herbert and Jordan Love are going almost two full rounds later than him. When it is all done, does it make sense to reach on Goff, when he probably scores a minuscule amount of points more than Herbert or Love?
Don’t Draft a Defense or Kicker Before the Last Two Rounds (Or Don’t Draft Them At All)
As fantasy football continues to evolve, there have been more discussions around the kicker and defense positions. Some leagues have completely eliminated them, while others have put an emphasis on points regarding them. Either way, when it boils down to it, there is such a minuscule difference between kickers and defenses that you can make them an afterthought.
If you are in a league that allows you not to fill out a starting lineup in the draft, avoid taking these two positions, as they can occupy valuable roster spots that you use for a handcuff running back or two players involved in a position battle. If you are given an IR spot or two, this is also a situation to draft someone with high upside after they return from an injury. You can immediately place the injured player into an IR spot and pick up a kicker or defense after the draft.
If you have to fill out a starting lineup, wait until the last two rounds to fill these positions. There is value late in the draft. Last season, Bo Nix had an ADP of 192, Bucky Irving of 164 and Jerry Jeudy of 138. There are good players that will be slept on, so let your league mates take the players that are only going to score seven points a week, while you take the Irvings and Nixs of the world.
Not only that, but everyone in your fantasy league makes fun of the guy or girl who takes the first defense and kicker. Don’t be that person, as streaming these positions are just as beneficial as spending a 10th-round pick on them.
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