For most of the summer, fantasy football managers have their scouting hats on. Who’s running with the starters? What offenses look like fun? What players are likely to exceed expectations, or fall short of them?
But sometimes the discussion needs to be about how to play, as opposed to who to pick. And today we’ll run through some of the draft mistakes I want you to eliminate from your game.
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Mistake 1: Not being familiar with the rules
Just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean it can’t be true. You gotta know the rules. It’s a common error, and I know, because I make it myself sometimes — and there's no justification for it.
It's no fun to read the rules or audit the settings, I get it. In some of the leagues I play in, the rulebook is long and unwieldy, a cumbersome read. And like so many fantasy managers, I'm in a ton of leagues (too many to count), so at times it becomes tempting to cut this corner.
But if you're not clear on the game you're playing, errors are sure to follow. So let's make sure we put in the work. (Even if you don’t want to audit the rules yourself, there are shortcuts — maybe one of the veterans of your league can give you the key points you need. Don’t be afraid to ask.)
And with this overall tip, we’re not just talking about checking scoring rules, but every league setting. Often managers are unaware of when free agency starts or when the waiver process begins, and miss out on key early-season acquires as a result. .
Thirty seconds in your online calendar today can cover you for a missed opportunity later.
Consensus Draft rankings (half-PPR)
Mistake 2: Drafting insurance
Modern baseball theory says that sacrifice bunts are rarely a good idea. The game is dominated by launch angles and home runs, to the point that giving up an out and advancing a runner from first to second is rarely the proper play. When you hand outs to the other team, you cap your scoring upside.
What does this have to do with fantasy football? Well, when you go out of your way to draft the NFL backups of your primary starters (especially at running back), you're essentially bunting. You're capping your upside. You're playing for the small inning.
Early in the fantasy season, I want you to play for the big inning. I want you to try to build the most dynamic juggernaut possible. Sure, you can draft backup running backs, intriguing stash-and-hope runners, but do it when it's not tied to one of your primary starters.
Instead, target the backups that benefit if your opponents encounter bad luck.
We want to build a roster that can spike — not merely survive — when chaos happens. Stop playing it safe and hurting your ceiling.
I’m not dismissing RB insurance completely. The understudy back can make sense later in the year — much like bunting can still make sense in baseball, later in a game. The winning scenario narrows the later we get in any contest, and with that in mind, you act accordingly.
If you're crushing the league come early November and you want Brian Robinson Jr. to insure Bijan Robinson— because your roster doesn't have bigger problems that need solving — I can sign off.
In August, that's the wrong way to think. Your goals should be much loftier the day you start assembling your roster.
Mistake 3: Anchoring to previously-held opinions
Fantasy sports are essentially a game of opinions, your best guess against my best guess. The top fantasy managers are going to have plenty of takes. You compete for a few years, take down a trophy or two, you get some confidence and even some ego.
But remember the NFL is a snow-globe league, the American sport with the most year-over-year variance.
It's also the fantasy sport where context matters the most. Compare Saquon Barkley’s final season with the Giants (a slog in 2023) versus his monster onboard with the Eagles (Offensive Player of the Year) in 2024.
I have plenty of strong player and strategy takes today, just like I did a month ago, three months ago or six months ago. But everything's written in pencil. When the facts shift, I'm certainly willing to change my mind. And when overlooked angles are brought to my attention, I'm willing to change my mind then, too.
We’re aiming to figure out the new season before your opponents do. And with that in mind, let’s be willing to be selectively aggressive when opportunities arise.
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Mistake 4: Being paralyzed by fear
Paradox of Choice is a fascinating concept, the idea that otherwise-smart people can be overwhelmed by alternatives. It's not uncommon for a fantasy manager to tell me they prefer a roster of minimal depth over a roster of fantastic depth, because they aren't forced to make difficult choices each week. (Obviously, a deep team can allow for trades to build an even better starting lineup, but let's ignore that for now.)
Some managers are afraid to bench a player because said player was a high pick, or required a lot of FAB on the waiver wire.
Some managers are afraid to make a trade or a free agent move because they're obsessed with how bad they'll feel if the decision turns out to be wrong.
Friendliest Loss remains a pox in our decision-making world. Too many fantasy players will settle on the choice that will give them the least amount of pain if it doesn't go as planned — no matter if that choice reflects what they view the most likely winning scenario.
Don't be afraid of making a mistake, friends. Tricky decisions are like bluffs in poker — if you don't have one blow up on you every so often, you are playing far too conservatively. Fortune favors the brave.
I'm not suggesting you do wacky things just for the sake of it. I still want you to make good decisions, sound decisions. But focus on the likelihood of your decision working, and what the payoff may be. Don't get tripped up on what the regret will feel like if you're wrong. That's not how successful people think.
Mistake 5: Not updating your queue during the draft
I generally don't touch the preset rankings in any draft applet, because I want to know what most of the league is looking at. But that doesn't mean I rest back in my chair and scroll through emails between picks.
I'm constantly working on some kind of list, be it an off-applet list I'm maintaining, or adding and arranging players in my online draft queue.
A tidily-arranged queue will be your best friend if you get bumped offline mid-draft — and will spare you a possible-disastrous autopick. It's also a good way to keep late-round sleepers fresh in your mind, especially with names who might be buried on the site's preset ranks.
If you're doing an offline draft, you can still maintain a queue — a pen and sheet of paper will do. Just keep it away from curious neighbors.
Yahoo also offers a wealth of options to help managers during the draft with Yahoo Fantasy Plus and Ultra — learn more about tools and advice and consider subscribing.
Mistake 6: Ignoring ADP
It's common to hear established fantasy players zealously proclaiming their disdain for average draft position, noting how they draft to the beat of their own drummer. And hey, I get it, at some point, you have to go get the players you believe in. But you at least want to have a general idea of where those players might come off the board in a typical draft.
When I examine ADP, I like to focus on the trending market, how rooms have been drafting in the past week or so — something you can track on Yahoo if you’re a Plus or Ultra subscriber. Deeper-rooted ADP is going to be more buggy and less useful.
At the end of the day, you want to undercut the market slightly on the later-round picks you covet, not blow the market out of the water. Don't take your hidden gem in the sixth round when context clues make it clear you could have waited until the 10th round or later.
Bonus tips
This article could be a bottomless cup of advice, and eventually we have to hit send. But before we close up shop, here are some other things to consider as you draft
— Don’t forget background checks: Do a quick view of the news a few hours before your draft, and if you have time while drafting, make use of the information tabs in the draft room. You don’t want to be the last to know about someone’s new hamstring injury.
— Don’t worry too much about bye weeks: If you want to break a tie between similar players based on their bye weeks and what fits your roster, I’m fine with it. But it’s a lower priority. When in doubt, give me the later bye week — your roster will look a lot different in late October or November. But for the most part, I ignore the bye weeks. Just go get talent.
— Don’t stop analyzing your neighborhood: The roster construction of teams around you will impact many of your choices. Often times I can break a tie between two different positions of need based on what my neighbors are most likely to do with their picks, based on their current shape.
— Don’t lose sight of tier drops: Understanding where talent clusters and where talent drops off is critical to any successful draft. This is especially paramount in salary cap formats, where you desperately want to be landing your players while your opponents still have similar alternatives — so that panic buying doesn’t set in.