The 2024 NFL season is finally here and it's time to prepare for championship glory in your fantasy football leagues.
As fantasy has become increasingly popular and prevalent, there are numerous strategies players employ to gain an edge on their competition. There's no one guaranteed way to win your league, though players can give themselves a better chance at victory by following some simple guidelines.
Most drafts use a "snake draft" format, reversing the draft order in each round. The first overall pick in the first round will draft last in the second round and so on. If your draft is fast approaching and you aren't yet prepared, keep these strategies in mind to maximize your championship window.
10. Know Your League's Rules
This seems obvious, but there are a surprising amount of different rules in the modern era of fantasy football. Point-per-reception (PPR) leagues are increasingly popular, rewarding an extra point for every catch, while some leagues are half-point PPR or don't give points for receptions at all.
Do quarterbacks receive six points for a TD pass or four? Do players get bonuses for reaching statistical thresholds such as 100 yards rushing or 300 yards passing? How are defenses scored? Can players earn extra points for return yards on special teams?
These are just a few examples, but knowing the answers to those questions can dramatically influence your draft strategy. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the rules before jumping into your draft.
9. Use a Tiered Rankings Draft Strategy
Fantasy football rankings are easy to find, but it's hard to know exactly how to use them. Using a tiered system clarifies tough decisions, particularly in the middle rounds.
If you're on the clock and there are five "Tier 3" wide receivers available but only one running back in the same tier, it could be wise to draft the running back and hope one of the receivers comes back around to you in the next round. Perhaps the receivers are ranked higher individually, but your opportunity cost is greater if you pass on the running back.
Rankings are not gospel. However, they can inform those hard choices and leave you with a stronger team overall, even if you aren't just drafting the highest-rated player on the board each time.
8. Don't Be Afraid to Fill Your Bench Early
Fantasy football drafting is not a race to fill your starting lineup first. Given week-to-week matchups, injuries, and a variety of unpredictable factors, it's overwhelmingly likely that your lineup will change frequently over the course of a season.
If there's a quality wide receiver available that you love but you've already picked your starters, don't feel like you have to draft a tight end or quarterback early just to get one. That could be advantageous, though it all depends on the structure of your team and the players available.
Positions like wide receiver and running back typically require more depth than quarterback or tight end, especially because you start more of them. More can go wrong with injuries or poor performance, so players benefit from loading up at those positions in drafts even if the starting lineup isn't completely full yet.
7. Be Bold With Defense and Kicker
Conventional wisdom suggests waiting until the very last two rounds to draft a defense or kicker. However, fantasy players can gain a huge advantage by drafting the best defense and kicker a round or two early before the rest of the league catches up.
According to FantasyPros' 2023 points data, the Dallas Cowboys' defense/special teams averaged 10.5 points per game last season to lead the position. The Kansas City Chiefs finished 12th at 7.9 points per contest. On average, that's a built-in 2.6-point weekly advantage over one of the top units. If your opponent had an even worse defense/special teams, the discrepancy grows.
Since drafters are typically looking for sleepers in the late rounds anyway, it's unlikely your 14th-round dart throw will provide that kind of weekly edge. Players have to start defenses and kickers anyway, so they might as well give themselves the best possible ones at a small opportunity cost.
It's hard to know exactly which defenses and kickers will lead the league in points. However, targeting kickers on good offenses or in domes is a sound strategy, while defenses with easy schedules and excellent pass-rushers will usually put you ahead of the competition.
6. Target Dual-Threat Quarterbacks
Inspired by two-time MVP Lamar Jackson, dual-threat quarterbacks are quickly becoming the best way to lock down points at a position that can be hard to find value in. Quarterbacks get points for both passing and rushing statistics, so finding a player who can score with his legs can be the difference between you winning and losing your league.
Players like Jackson, Josh Allen, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, and even rookie Jayden Daniels all look like values at the position. Pure pocket passers like Tua Tagovailoa or Brock Purdy can still be top-five players, but their margin of error is much smaller than that of rushing quarterbacks.
Case in point: Tua led the NFL in passing in 2023, but he finished as just the QB9 in total fantasy points (dropping to an ugly QB19 on a per-game basis).
A quarterback who throws for only 150 yards but rushes for 60 more and a TD will be more valuable than one who throws for 250 yards but offers nothing with his legs.
5. Strategically Target Depth Based on Starters
This is an inexact science, but knowing your team and the associated risk profiles of each draft pick is vital when filling out your bench. If you use a first-round pick on a high-volume running back, it's wise to draft that player's backup in the mid-to-late rounds to ensure you don't lose out on that value if your first-rounder suffers an injury.
Likewise, injury-prone receivers or tight ends require more caution. Players like Tee Higgins, Cooper Kupp or Christian Watson, who routinely miss games with various injuries, are riskier picks than guys like Amon-Ra St. Brown or Garrett Wilson.
If you draft an injury-prone receiver, be sure to pick up a couple of extra receivers to ensure you're not scrambling if they get hurt again.
4. Trust Your Gut
Fantasy football is an impossible game to perfect. Players are wrong every single week. If you're going to be wrong anyway, you might as well go down with your convictions. Don't be afraid to draft a player early if you truly believe they'll have a breakout year just because the rankings you searched have a different player rated higher.
It's a lot more fun to get a high-upside pick right than it is to trust the rankings and watch someone else reap the benefits of taking your guy.
There's nothing wrong with being all-in on a player you love. Everyone is going to be wrong many times throughout the course of a fantasy season, so trust your gut when making tough decisions.
3. Prepare Yourself to Be Flexible
Especially near the end of your drafts, prepare yourself to be flexible early in the season and active on the waiver wire. Rams WR Puka Nacua was available in most leagues on the waiver wire after Week 1 in 2023, and he became the single biggest breakout player of the season.
If you aren't willing to quickly drop a player to chase upside on the wire early on, you may miss out on someone who could wind up winning your league.
From Kyren Williams to Amon-Ra St. Brown to Nacua to Rashee Rice to Sam LaPorta, there are numerous examples every year of players available late or even on the waiver wire who can transform your entire season. Be strong in your convictions but flexible enough to adjust when new information presents itself.
2. Pay Attention to Other Rosters
When you're drafting, you can start to guess what positions your opponents will target in the draft based on who they've already drafted. For example, if the five teams before your next pick are all set at running back but don't have a quarterback, it's probable that at least one quarterback will go off the board.
You can use these opportunities to find values. In that example, perhaps you take your favorite quarterback and start a run, letting a quality running back fall back around to you while your opponents try to fill their starting lineup.
Conversely, you can predict how and when runs will begin using the same strategy. Taking your opponents' rosters and flipping the odds in your favor is a fantastic way to ensure you maximize the value of each pick.
1. Target High-Volume Offenses
At its core, fantasy football is a statistics game. Points are derived from the box score, so you need as many shots on goal as possible to give your players the best chance at success. Efficiency isn't king, volume is.
Consider what teams typically play at a fast pace and have the most plays to give yourself an edge. According to TeamRankings' 2023 data, the Cleveland Browns led the NFL by averaging 69.8 plays per game. It's no surprise that players like Amari Cooper and Jerome Ford became league-winners given all of that opportunity.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Tennessee Titans ranked 31st with 58.9 plays per game. Targeting offenses that have more plays gives your players more chances to compile stats, plain and simple.
There is no one "perfect" way to draft a fantasy football team. That said, using these strategies will give you a higher chance at success. You can't necessarily win your league in the draft but you can certainly lose it. Stay flexible and stay active throughout the year, then you just might be raising that trophy once it's all said and done.
Looking for more preparation for your draft? SI has you covered with everything you need in our 2024 fantasy football draft kit.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fantasy Football Snake Draft Strategies to Win Your League in 2024.
