How to Prepare for Your Dynasty League Rookie Draft (2020 Fantasy Football)

Beyond our fantasy football content, be sure to check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you prepare for your draft this season. From our free mock Draft Simulator – which allows you to mock draft against realistic opponents – to our Cheat Sheet Creator – which allows you to combine rankings from 100+ experts into one cheat sheet – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football draft season.

How to prepare for dynasty league rookie drafts is often one of the most asked questions from those both new and experienced in dynasty leagues. Some people play in leagues who draft late enough that they already know who won camp battles and have a wealth of information from virtually every source about who the top rookies may be. For the rest of us, including those with dynasty league rookie drafts that occur before the actual NFL Draft, that luxury is not available. Since I have already covered this topic here and here, we will dig a little deeper into two of the most important tools in helping prepare for your dynasty league rookie drafts: mock drafts and devy leagues.

Ready for your draft? Try a FAST mock and get an instant grade

Mock Drafts

Mock drafting is one of the most ideal ways to prepare for your dynasty league rookie drafts. Studying our ECR, and examining ADP is, of course, your first step, but once you get the theory down, it is time to apply your knowledge to a practical exercise. Mock drafts allow you to get a better handle on how actual draft rooms differ from each other, and thus how draft results may look different than ECR or ADP. If you go into your rookie draft without honing your skills in a mock draft or 10, you have done yourself, and your dynasty team a disservice.

When mock drafting, the recommended draft strategy is to go a little vanilla with your picks. This means that it is not wise to reach for your guys and that you may just want to make your picks based on ADP. Mock drafts are to allow you to see where your draft targets may go without your interference. You may have someone ranked top 12 in your personal rankings, but if you pass on them at 12 for the consensus 12th overall dynasty league rookie draft pick, you can see where the player you had targeted may actually go when it comes time for your actual draft day. The only time to select the players you would actually take in a mock draft is when your mock was created specifically to help establish ADP. If you are mocking with people from your league, pay special attention, as they may not be adhering to this strategy, and could be tipping their hand as far as how things may play out on draft day.

While there are various tools and providers that allow for mock drafts, there are none that present the simplicity and ease of use of FantasyPros Mock Draft Simulator. Instead of worrying about having to draft against bots, or participating in a slow draft that could take days to complete, this tool allows you to complete mock drafts in mere minutes. In fact, you can mock draft from every draft position before you finish one live, timed mock draft.

When participating in dynasty league rookie drafts, or even the mock drafts on our Mock Draft Simulator, it is important to come into the room with a cheat sheet created by our Cheat Sheet Wizard tool. Now, this should not necessarily be your one and only cheat sheet, but having it handy when using our Draft Assistant (or Draft Simulator) feature is critical. The tool allows you to create your own consensus rankings so to speak whereby you can select two or more experts that you are comfortable with to create your own ‘personalized’ rankings.

Mock draft, mock draft, mock draft. Mock drafts are an invaluable tool to take advantage of when preparing for your rookie drafts. Even if you cannot watch any tape or dig through analytics, cannot read any articles, or listen to podcasts, mock drafting is the one draft prep tool you should look to utilize.

Devy Leagues

For those of you unfamiliar with the devy format, devy stands for developmental. In devy leagues, you are afforded the opportunity to draft and roster college players before they ever declare for the NFL Draft. This can be in the form of the latest top high school recruits, top freshmen, top sophomores, and in some leagues, even juniors and seniors. Devy leagues are a fun and entertaining way to help you prepare for your future dynasty league rookie drafts.

Devy leagues allow dynasty league owners to get an early jump on prospect knowledge. This can be invaluable when trading for future draft picks. The deeper knowledge of rookie prospects participating in devy leagues will afford you, will provide you with a potential competitive advantage in your non-devy dynasty leagues. In devy formats, you will be informed about incoming rookie prospects well before they decide to make the jump to the pros. A dynasty league owner may be down on a player who did not perform up to expectations in their final college season. A devy player would likely better understand context and would weigh that prospects breakout freshman, and tremendous sophomore season more heavily into the equation. This will help you find values, and in turn, can help you become a better dynasty player.

Finding devy leagues is often one thing that prevents interested managers from participating in this league format. The solution to this is simple. Start your own devy league with friends even if the buy-in is just $5. The total pot can go to something simple like a championship ring from one of the various fantasy football belt/trophy companies. If you cannot find 11 other owners willing to pay for the devy experience, you can consider sponsoring the prize or going completely free to play if you can find 11 interested owners. Every dynasty league owner should be participating in or joining at least one devy league this season.

View real-time recommendations for each pick with our Draft Assistant