Happy September!
Can you smell it? The season is almost here!
Fantasy drafts are upon us. My league of record drafts on Thursday night, but I got my first taste of action last night in my work league.
With the 10th pick, I decided to take more risks than I normally do by taking a quarterback on the 4th/5th round turn. I don’t foresee myself taking the same route in Thursday’s draft, but I like to mix things up!
Here is how my team ended up:
Aaron Jones
Najee Harris
CeeDee Lamb
Josh Allen
Mark Andrews
Myles Gaskin
Kenny Golladay
Deebo Samuel
Curtis Samuel
Melvin Gordon
Darnell Mooney
James White
Terrace Marshall Jr.
Washington D/ST
Carlos Hyde
Matt Prater
The most glaring thing that pops out when analyzing my roster is the fact that I completely disregarded the WR position in six of my first seven picks. Lamb provides extremely high upside and can end the season as a top-5 WR, but the rest of my WRs leave a lot to be desired.
Deebo Samuel will start as my WR2 until Golladay is healthy, and I’m hoping Curtis Samuel can shine in Washington. With Mooney and Marshall Jr., as seen in my draft day sleeper posts, I’m banking that one of them can explode onto the scene and become a flex-worthy player.
Neglecting my WR position allowed me to stack my first three RBs in Jones, Harris and Gaskin. Gordon is an interesting pickup in the 10th round, as the value was just too good to pass up there for me. I will most likely drop Hyde before the start of the season.
I also get last year’s No. 1 QB in Josh Allen who can easily repeat, and a top-5 TE in Mark Andrews who will dominate the targets in Baltimore, especially with all the team’s WRs injured.
If you haven’t drafted yet, I have three tips to help you through your draft. A couple of these even came into play last night during my work league draft.
Don’t Tilt
We’ve all been there. You’re eyeing a certain player and counting down the picks until it’s your turn to select. And with just one pick between you and your prize, BOOM, he’s gone.
What can end up happening more times than not, is you go on tilt and don’t put thought into the selection once your guy is drafted. You make a split-second decision and moments later you’re asking yourself why you made that pick.
The best way to avoid going on tilt is using your queue. Fill that sucker up with players you are targeting and players you would be happy drafting.
Some people like to set up their entire queue at the start of the draft, I prefer to populate it every round, the moment after I make that round’s selection. Make sure to have more players in the queue than the number of picks in between your selections.
There’s Prep and There’s Over-Prep
As someone who counts down the days to the start of the fantasy season the minute the previous season ends, I know how easy it is to over-prep for your draft. Trust me, I’ve done countless mock drafts, read hundreds of articles and studied numerous strategies.
That being said, when it comes to draft day, don’t let your preparation derail you from the rhythm of the draft.
What do I mean by that?
Simple. You may have a player slotted at a certain draft position, or you may have come into the draft thinking you won’t draft a QB early, but you have to go with the flow.
If you have Josh Allen is ranked as your No. 1 QB and he’s still there in the 5th round, it’s perfectly fine to take him there even if you weren’t considering an early-QB pick.
The same goes for a player you don’t love. I’ve previously written that I’m not a huge fan of Kenny Golladay this season at his ADP in the 5th round. Well in my work league draft last night, he was available at the end of the 7th round. I was lacking WRs and the value to me was worth it at that spot.
In other words, be flexible and don’t stick to one formula.
Know Your Opponents
If you’ve consistently been drafting with the same people and your league stays mostly intact, you should have a pretty good idea about the competition.
Are they a Packers fan? Do they always reach for a QB? Do they like to stack RBs early?
It’s important to know your draftmates and their tendencies so you can better plan your team and strategy.
In my league of record, I know the person drafting in front of me is a hardcore Steelers fan. So if I pass on Diontae Johnson in round 4, I know he’s not coming back to me in the next round. I also know I could really piss him off if I select Najee Harris in round 2 right before him 😉