The preparation for your perfect 2025 fantasy football draft begins now.
Have a battle plan when you show up for your in-person draft or fire up the laptop for your online draft. But don’t make it a rigid plan.
Fantasy drafts are unpredictable. Average draft position goes out the window. Your competitors will make unexpected picks. You’ll occasionally get snaked on a player you wanted.
Be flexible. Be nimble. Be prepared.
And get those reps in before draft season arrives! Test your draft strategies by mock-drafting with the FantasyPros Draft Simulator.
Here’s an overview of the battle plan I’ll be using for my 2025 fantasy football drafts.
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Fantasy Football Draft Strategy & Advice
Three Core Draft Principles
Let’s start with three important tenets of draft strategy:
1. Tailor your draft strategy to the number of WRs your league requires you to start each week.
The number of wide receivers you’re required to start each week is far and away the most important setting in your league.
If your league requires you to start only two receivers each week, you can choose between RBs and WRs in the early rounds based on where the value is. You have tactical flexibility.
If your league requires you to start three receivers each week, WR becomes a critical position, and you should attack it aggressively in the early rounds. Your goal should be to outgun nearly every team in your league at the WR position since you’re starting so many WRs each week.
2. Take advantage of discounts on high-upside rookies.
This should be a staple of your draft plan every year, but it’s an especially good approach this year, with an outstanding group of rookie running backs entering the NFL.
The top rookies are often underdrafted because they haven’t played in the NFL yet, and it’s human nature to fear the unknown. But rookies with early-round NFL Draft capital have historically been good fantasy bets.
3. Chase upside.
Upside is important. You need to draft a lot of players with plausible ways of delivering high-ceiling outcomes. Even if such players have rock-bottom floors in their range of possible outcomes, invest anyway.
You’ll miss on a few of these types. That’s what waivers are for. The potential rewards outweigh the risk of a low-end outcome.
Other Considerations
Here are some other things I’ll be thinking about during my drafts.
Anticipate injuries.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking “mission accomplished” after you’ve drafted your starters for Week 1. The injury gods are cruel. Few fantasy teams escape a season unscathed by injuries.
Try this thought exercise: Imagine that your top RB and top WR both get hurt in Week 1. What will your starting lineup look like in Week 2?
Build a deep, robust roster that can weather RB and WR injuries. Depth at QB and TE is less important in 1QB leagues since there are usually playable options available on waivers. You need to have viable backup options at RB and WR.
Don’t handcuff your RBs.
Dedicating two roster spots to the RB position on a single NFL team is a suboptimal strategy. You’re better off spreading your bets around and trying to strike gold in a different backfield.
Drafting the backup to one of your starting RBs robs you of a chance to find the next Bucky Irving – the sort of late-round gem who can tilt the balance of power in a fantasy league. Don’t pick a handcuff RB to solidify your team’s floor; use that pick to try to raise your team’s ceiling.
Draft defenses and kickers in the final rounds.
Don’t be among the first people to draft a team defense or kicker. Scoring is too volatile and unpredictable at these positions to justify addressing them with middle-round picks.
Target defenses and kickers with favorable matchups in the first week or two of the season, then play waivers at these positions the rest of the season, seeking the best possible matchups each week.
Add these wrinkles to your Kentucky Derby strategy.
Some leagues determine draft order Kentucky Derby style, with people getting to pick their draft spots after a random draw. For most, the first consideration in picking a draft spot is trying to get a desirable player combination in Rounds 1-2. Two other things worth considering:
- It’s generally easier to land your favorite draft targets if you pick in the middle rather than on one of the ends, where you’ll have longer stretches in between picks.
- This sounds mean, but it can be advantageous to choose a spot adjacent to one of the less savvy members of your league. It will reduce the odds of seeing your favorite targets drafted directly in front of you.
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