Strategy Tips for Shallow Leagues (2022 Fantasy Football)

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, no two leagues are alike. One thing that can help make things easier is to prepare for each draft like it’s your only one. Preparation is a great way to differentiate yourself from your opponents. Doing mock drafts and reading strategy articles like this one are a great start. In shallower leagues, where there are fewer opponents or fewer bench spots, every edge matters that much more. This article will discuss how I approach drafting in shallower leagues.

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Defining a Shallow League

As usual, we need to define what exactly makes a league shallow. Most leagues have 12 teams, so therefore any league with fewer than 12 teams would be considered shallow, at least for this article. There are some tips for leagues with shallow benches that I’ll get into later, but for the most part, we’ll be reviewing how to draft in leagues with only eight or 10 teams.

Looking at the Big Picture in a Small League

In my opinion, the competition in shallow leagues is higher than in deeper leagues. When you only have to beat seven or nine opponents, everyone feels like they have a shot, which makes it all that more important to absolutely nail your draft. You can’t win your league at the draft, but you can lose it. Before you get on the clock it’s best to decide exactly how you want to differentiate your team from your opponents’.

In some shallow leagues, you still are only required to start one quarterback. In SuperFlex leagues you’re allowed to flex a QB in one slot. This drastically changes the strategy you need to take. In 1QB leagues, QBs aren’t really as valuable because there are only eight or 10 starting each week. In shallower SuperFlex leagues, you still only start 16 or 20; leaving plenty of NFL starters on benches.

This same mentality applies to the other positions though. If you’re required to start two running backs, two receivers and a tight end, you’re only starting between 10 and 20 players in 10-team leagues. That’s not that many. Adding more starters to each lineup, including QB and TE, makes each week a little tougher, but it’s still the same idea. You don’t have as many starters in your league in shallow leagues as you do in a deeper one.

Fewer Starters Means You Need More Studs

Since there aren’t that many players in starting lineups in shallower leagues, the best way to stand out and differentiate yourself is to have the best players at each position in your lineup. This is true for all leagues, obviously, but what this means is that in shallower leagues depth doesn’t matter as much. Starters, and top-tier starters at that, are really all that matter week to week.

Instead of worrying about your lineup requirements in the draft, just keep going for the best player available at every pick. You are much more likely to end up with the strongest team overall and therefore the best lineup. Who cares if you only end up with three RBs in total? If you have eight top 30 WRs you’ll be just fine. The more points you can put at the top of your lineup, the better your lineup will be.

Trading to Consolidate

In shallow leagues, I constantly try to send two players for one. I am constantly trying to consolidate my value as much as I can into a single roster spot. Send your WR3 and your RB2 for a WR1. It’ll be worth it, trust me. You won’t miss that bench player scoring meaningless points for you. Putting all of your points into your lineup will consolidate your power and allow you to crush the opposition week after week.

During the draft, this same strategy applies. If your league allows you to trade draft picks, don’t feel bad about overpaying to trade up. Those studs at each position are like gold and the more of them you can get the better and more optimized your lineup will be. Don’t be crazy and send more value than you need to, but don’t be stingy either. Studs will win you the title and whatever you did at the draft will be a distant memory.

Shallow Benches Make for a Different Challenge

In leagues that have the standard 12 managers but only have three to five bench spots, the strategy gets a little different. In leagues like this, I still like to focus more on my lineup than my bench, but picking the right players is so much more important. I prefer taking guys that are currently scoring points over players with potential upside. You never know when someone will get hurt and you’ll need a spot start. Potential points won’t win you weeks, let other managers have them.

On the other hand, shallow bench leagues mean there is a lot more available on the waiver wire. In these leagues, I’m perfectly fine turning over my bench week to week for whoever has the best matchups. I try to look ahead more than back when picking up players though. Don’t chase guys that had a great week, look for players primed to do it this time around. All in all, get as much value as you can on your team to allow you to trade for studs as the season goes along. That’s the best way to win in my book, and it’s worked out well for me so far.

Andrew Hall is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Andrew, check out his profile and follow him @AndrewHallFF.