6 Easy Brees-y Tips to Nail Your First Fantasy Draft
Follow these guidelines and make ’em think you totally know what you’re doing.
You are dipping your toe into your first Fantasy Football League. (👏 Very proud.) By now, you’ve talked all your friends into joining your league (if not, read this). You’ve come up with a hilarious and timely team name (if not, read this).
But you are now in that dreadful “fear of the unknown” space, where you are terrified of screwing up your draft and getting mocked by those trash talkers in your league.
Here, six easy Brees-y things you can do to make ’em think you’ve been Fantasy Footballin’ your whole life:
- DO YOUR HOMEWORK (BUT YOU CAN WAIT TIL DRAFT DAY)
> You’re not studying for the LSAT here, but you should take a peek at ESPN, CBSSports or NFL.com’s list of top ranked fantasy players in every key position (RB, WR, QB, TE, Kicker and Defense). There are online draft kits, printable cheat sheets. But that’s for people with way too much time on their hands (see photo). The farthest I will go is printing out the top rankings for each position, and highlighting the players that I really want. I hang them up in my Ultimate Fantasy Football Draft HQ (see #2), as inspiration. Also keep an eye on injuries and suspensions. (Meaning do not draft Tony Romo and think long and hard about drafting Tom Brady early.)
> BUT the truth is, you don’t have to go that crazy if you’re doing an online league if you’re using one of the biggies (ESPN, Yahoo, NFL.com, CBS), because you’ll have plenty of tools at your disposal as you draft. You’ll have access to the best available players, as well as the top ranked player in each position still on the table.
> If you have time, try doing a mock online draft so you feel more comfortable, and so there are no surprises on draft night.
> If you’re in a live draft, bring all of your cheat sheets, but most leagues will let you use laptops/smartphones for reference. If not, find another league! These people seem like jerks.
2. MAKE TIME + CREATE A ZEN DRAFT ZONE
> You do realize that this is a 2–3 hour commitment for the actual draft, right? Do not plan an 8pm dinner with friends, and just pop into Starbucks real quick to do your draft on your phone at 7pm. YOU ARE IN IT TO WIN IT. So make time.
> In fact, you really should create your Ultimate Fantasy Football Draft HQ. Find yourself a quiet space where no one will interrupt you. Make sure you have great wifi and the ability to pull up additional info at any time. I highly recommend drafting from your desktop/laptop. In fact, I use both: Desktop for the actual draft picks, and laptop for side research. (Plus, all my nerdy highlighted sheets up on the wall.) Don’t draft from your phone. First, you want the full experience and to be able to jump to your online resources easily, … Second, because you want to be able to type quickly and trash talk in a timely manner. DO NOT PHONE IT IN.
> Oh and most of the online drafts allow you to do a pre-check of your browser and make sure all of your software is up to date before the draft begins. You don’t want to be THAT GIRL who makes the Commish pause the draft because you need to update your dang plug-in.
3. EAT, DRINK & DRAFT LARRY (FITZGERALD)
Ok, don’t draft Larry (at least in an early round)—but order in food, grab a beer or a glass of vino. (BUT DON’T OVERDO IT … YOU NEED YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU!) Be sure to use the loo, silence your phone, and be 100% ready for the draft to begin.
4. DRAFT ORDER IS 🔑
> You should find out right before your draft what order you’ll draft in, but don’t get upset you don’t get an early pick. There are benefits to being in the middle of the pack, and even at the end.
> Chances are you are in a snake draft, which means that if you do get an early pick, you have to wait until the rest of the league makes their picks, and it snakes it’s way back to you. But if you’re the very last pick (number 10), you get two picks in a row—pick 10 and 11—because you get the first pick of the second round. Check out this little chart to help understand the snake:
> You usually have around 90-seconds to 2-minutes from the last person’s pick to make your decision. Then you wait til it’s your turn again, so take another swig of that vino and start making fun of everyone’s picks. DEFINITELY make fun of someone who picks a QB in round 1, or chooses their favorite QB from their favorite team. (See #5.)
5. PLAY FANTASY WITH YOUR HEAD, NOT YOUR ❤️
Do not get emotional. Do not pick your favorite players from your favorite team, unless it makes sense. In fact, I try not to choose a lot of players from my beloved Steelers because if they happen to lose that week, I know I can still have a great Fantasy Week and turn that frown upside down!
6. KNOWING WHEN TO DRAFT EACH POSITION IS ALSO 🔑
> First, know exactly what you’re drafting for: Most starting lineups consist of a Quarterback, two Running Backs, two Wide Receivers, a Flex player (either a RB or a WR), one Tight End, a Kicker and one Defense. Plus, your beach of backups that you can sit or start, depending on who they are playing against and if the team has a bye. Keep that in mind as you draft your team.
> IMPORTANT: Your first draft pick should be a great Running Back or Wide Receiver. Typically people tell you to grab a great RB in the first round, but Receivers have been racking up a lot of points in recent seasons. In round one, especially if you didn’t get one of the early draft pick positions—if you can’t scoop up say a Todd Gurley, David Johnson, Lamar Miller or Adrian Peterson, try for Antonio Brown, Julio Jones or Odell Beckham, Jr. instead.
> IMPORTANT: Do not draft a QB in the first round. Everyone will laugh at you. In 2011, I drafted Michael Vick in the first round (THANK YOU MATTHEW BERRY), which was against my better judgement for a number of reasons, but I drafted him because he could throw and run. It was a DISASTER. It screwed up my entire season. Just don’t do it. You will get a good QB in a later round. Promise.
> In round two, if you got a great Running Back … go for a Wide Receiver. And vice versa.
> In rounds 3 to 5, keep alternating between RB’s and WR’s (but if you see that Cam Newton or Aaron Rodgers is still up for grabs, you have permission to scoop one of them up.)
> In rounds 4 to 6, if you see a tempting Tight End still on the board, like our pal Gronk, go for it. Otherwise, keep pulling in those great RBs and WRs.
> By round 7, 8 & 9, you should have locked in three solid RB’s and three WR’s, so make sure you have a great QB (if not Cam or Rodgers, say Andrew Luck, Drew Brees, Russell Wilson) and a Tight End (like Greg Olsen, Jordan Reed or Delanie Walker), if you haven’t already.
> IMPORTANT: Keep an eye on the byes. Make sure that lots of your players don’t have byes on the same week, or else you’ll be in trouble.
> Rounds 10, 11, 12 & 13 are all about looking at the Best Player Available chart and increasing your depth at each key position. Get some sleeper Running Backs, Receivers and TE’s (here’s a good list), and get a decent backup QB for your bye week and in case your starter gets hurt. If you happen to see one of the top kickers available (like a Stephen Gostkowski or Steven Hauschka) go ahead and grab him. These guys get little credit, but the better ones can rack up almost as many points as a decent Tight End.
> Rounds 14 & 15 are perfect for a kicker (if you couldn’t snag one of the good ones) and a Defense. Don’t even think of drafting a Defense earlier than these last two rounds. You will be mocked.
CONGRATULATIONS! 🍻 You did it. The draft is over. Hopefully you actually got a few of the guys you were gunning for, and hopefully you’re not still at Starbucks, three hours later, trying to do this on your phone.
Is your team great? Does your team suck? It will all change the moment the NFL action starts on Thursday. Just hope for no injuries, and remember, if your team is a little lackluster—you can always ride the waiver wire (like our Fantasy Football pro right here.)
Tweet us about how your draft went. Ours is Tuesday night, September 6—and you’ll be hearing lots from us over here at The Relish Football League.
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