Fantasy football drafts are officially taking place. You may be looking at mock drafts, TikTok videos, and good old-fashioned game film for advice. It’s easy to overthink your draft, but don’t forget the simple do’s and don’ts.
All fantasy stats are PPR scoring from FantasyPros.
Everyone has a plan going into their fantasy football draft. Whether you have the first or last pick, you’ve already planned your strategy. Don’t abandon that strategy entirely.
It’s easy to fall into a pit during a draft. You had your eyes on a player, and the person ahead of you takes him. The next thing you know, you’re scrambling for the next-best player, regardless of position, and you’re in round three without an RB1. Don’t let your draft go up in smoke thanks to someone stealing your pick.
Every year there are videos, articles, and talking heads on TV talking about the biggest sleeper picks of the season. Listen to them but do your own research. Last offseason, players like Drake Maye, Harold Fannin Jr., and Parker Washington surprised league managers by rising in the rankings.
There is a caveat here, and it’s not to reach for your sleeper picks. Players might look promising, but if their average draft position (ADP) has them in the sixth round, don’t take them in the fourth. Simply put; don’t put your lottery ticket above a legitimate starter.
The key is to draft your players at the right value, rather than reaching for them. Maye was QB23 in 2024 with 187.1 fantasy points (FPTS), then ended 2025 as QB2 with 359.5. If you snagged him late in your draft last summer, you looked like a genius in December.
I mentioned earlier to do your own research, and that’s extremely important. You’ll see hundreds of articles and videos promising you that a player will be worth an early pick. Don’t dismiss that opinion, but make your own analysis.
The Minnesota Vikings went 14-3 in 2024 with Sam Darnold under center. Everyone believed head coach Kevin O’Connell was a QB whisperer, and he might be. One QB that didn’t work out in 2025 is J.J. McCarthy. There were plenty of opinions stating the former National Champion was a sleeper pick, but he finished as QB30 with 137.4 FPTS.
When you hear about an underrated player ahead of drafts, especially at a high volume, it’s worth looking into. It’s even more worth it to do your homework first. If you make picks purely off of other people’s opinions, you’ll only have yourself to blame if your season falls apart.
It’s easy to draft well for your starting lineup only to put on auto-draft for your bench. Those bench players could have breakout potential and might even become your starters.
Trevor Lawrence, Jameson Williams, and Rico Dowdle were drafted with bench player expectations. Lawrence finished as QB4 with 350.2 FPTS, Williams was the WR10 with 187.4, and Dowdle finished with 196.8. Breakouts happen every year; account for them.
Injuries also happen every year. If you drafted Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, or Malik Nabers, you learned this the hard way. All three stars missed multiple games due to injury. Just as depth is important in the NFL, it’s important in fantasy. Don’t look for star power alone; look for depth and upside as well.
It happens more often than you think. One tight end gets drafted, followed by another, and another. It could happen with any position group, no matter what round you’re in. Now you’re wondering if it’s time to take a tight end of your own. It’s not.
As always, there are exceptions to the rule. If you have five tight ends on your watchlist, and four of them were just taken, it might be worth snagging that last one. In most cases, let the run happen, and reap the benefits.
You just watched four tight ends go off the board, and a receiver fell past his ADP. You were just handed a gift; don’t turn it down to follow suit. That leads into my final “do” of fantasy football drafts.
The NFL is a league of constant change. Last year’s star might be this year’s bust. Justin Jefferson was the WR2 in 2024 with 266 FPTS. He followed that up in 2025 as the WR25 with 159.5. George Pickens was the WR42 in 2024 with 134.0 FPTS, but ended 2025 as the WR5 with 245.4.
Don’t look at last year’s numbers and assume they’ll appear again. The top spots in fantasy football can be taken in a matter of weeks. Nobody is a guaranteed hit or a guaranteed miss, no matter how much they’ve shown in the past.
It’s never fun to accept that a player may be past their prime, or that they’re simply in a bad situation. Don’t let sentimentality or loyalty dictate your picks. Take the best players on the board, even if it means leaving old friends behind.
Fantasy football is a game of luck and educated guesses. You can do all the research in the world, but you can’t predict the future. Make smart moves, don’t panic, and most of all, have fun with it.
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