Here is a list of practical fantasy football draft strategy points to consider when you do your draft. This advice has helped me dominate expert leagues and I am positive and confident that the advice I’m sharing will also help you dominate. Enjoy this list and make sure you apply these strategies and take action! Be sure to share with your friends, but not your league mates! To completely dominate your league make sure you get the 16 Rounds Draft Solution and crush it!
Here is the summary of the strategy but be sure to read on to get all the detail of each point
Fantasy Football Draft Strategy 2021
- Load up on running backs
- Know the league rules
- Know the ADP’s of players during the draft
- Wait on Tight Ends
- Anchor your team with an ace QB
- Balance your roster
- Always back yourself up with depth
- Be picky and use the “CUDDY” System when drafting
- Wait on Kickers and Defense
- Stray away from the consensus rankings
Let’s dive into more detail to give you the competitive advantage this fantasy football 2020. Also for news around the league head over to FTFN to get inside information for the leading NFL team ambassadors.
1. Load up on Running Backs!
So here’s the deal, you need to load up on running backs and that’s the bottom line! This needs to be first on your priority when approaching your draft. You have to go into your fantasy football draft knowing who the running backs are that will get the volume and which guys are not in a minimal committee! Listen, more and more often we see coaches implementing running backs by the committee and getting that solid workhorse back is crucial to your success at winning your league. Note a workhorse running back should get at least 70% plus of the workload.

Load up on Running backs!
Here is a solid tip on drafting that solid RB. You need to make sure that the RB has shown that he can handle a full workload and have seen him do it before. There will be rookies that come in every year that will fall under the workhorse title. Try to make sure you target one of them you feel will break out as early as you possibly can without reaching. I understand things change but you need to know that he is primed for a year of high volume and carries. Ezekiel Elliott is a good example of a running back that gets his share of the workload every single year.
Now in later rounds, I do suggest you secure some rookies with major upside. I’ve had great success grabbing the NEXT big rookie breakouts when loading up on young talent. Later rounds is a good time to do this, but sometimes you may want to snipe a rookie RB in earlier rounds if you believe the upside and opportunity is there. Make sure you look at the depth chart and project volume and opportunity for any running back you decide to draft on your roster. In my 16 Rounds course, I release every year I give you my big sleepers and breakouts. My in-depth research gets rid of a lot of you guesswork!
2. Know the league rules
Yeah yeah, this may sound like common sense but common sense is not so common anymore! You have to know your league rules. Some of the league rules and things you need to look at are as follows:
- PPR, half-point or Standard scoring
- Weight of the scoring at each position
- Roster positions. For example, is this a 2 Qb league? How many RB’s do I need and how many bench spots are there
- Is this an 8, 10, 12 or 14 person league
- When is the draft and how much time do I have in between picks?
- Snake draft or auction draft?
Understanding the league rules will play a massive part in the drafting process. A solid example of this is the number of quarterbacks in your league. As a rule of thumb, I always draft 2 QB’S in a single Qb league and 3 Qb’s in a 2 quarterback league. I do this to cover myself and have depth. The point here is that knowing the league rules, scoring system, and landscape. Again, this is critical to dominating your fantasy football league.
3. Know the ADP’s (Average Draft Position)
I can relate to drafting in fantasy football to chess. You need to make a move and draft that player before someone else does. You need to anticipate when a player may be taken off the board. There are many similarities between the two and knowing your ADP’s for the players in that given year is important. The last thing you want to do is get the player you really want to draft sniped by your fellow league mate! Make sure you don’t overreach though.

Drafting is kinda like Chess
The secret to avoiding getting sniped and getting the players you really want is knowing when players are coming off the board on average. The majority of players just follow ADP and draft based on that. If you do that you will lose. You need to think outside the box and draft players with an upside before the ADP at times and get value in later positions.
Mock drafting is the best way to gauge when players are being drafted. You need to do a lot of fantasy football mock drafts. Once you anticipate you will elevate your drafting game. A lot of casual fantasy football players don’t have a clue of players that are being drafted after round 4. Doing a lot of mocks will put you light years ahead of the average gamer. Be a wise player and a drafting genius, know the average draft positions, you will thank me when you get all the players you really wanted.
4. Wait on a Tight End
Waiting to draft the tight end position is something that I have done every year and have had solid success with. Typically there are about 1-3 tight ends from the year prior that put up really solid fantasy points. The tight ends are then put on a pedestal and drafted super early in next year’s draft. (This happens with other positions as well but stick with me for this example). Tight ends are important but NOT as important as other positions such as running back early on. The draft strategy that has worked for me is waiting on tight end until after the 6th round gives or take. After I have grabbed a safe TE in rounds 6-7, I will get a TE with upside at round 10 or after. This way I have a TE that could potentially breakout and a safe one in mid rounds.
I am happy with about 10 points PPR out of my TE every game. I find this position to be very volatile and always end up waiting later and backing him up with an upside TE. Try it out, you will be surprised by the outcome. No matter what happens, you will be happy because you will be loaded at WR and RB after 5 rounds.
5. Anchor your team with an ACE QB

Anchor the ace QB
Always, Always, Always make sure you have a solid QB that puts up points every single week! These guys tend to put up the most points every single year. Usually, 1-3 Qb’s end up being the TOP scoring player each year. The great news is that the trends of quarterbacks are easier to spot. Statistically, you can see how well a QB can perform every single year and there is much less volatility.
As mentioned before don’t be afraid to double up and get yourself a backup QB. There are many reasons I always get two quarterbacks in a one QB league and 3 Qb’s in a 2 Qb league. The most obvious reason to back up your qb is that you want to cover that bye week. No better feeling than having two solid QB’s on your roster at all times. Another reason I make sure I have a back up is to cover injuries or just lack of performance. I tend to draft Qb’s earlier to make sure I have a solid producer every single year. I typically draft a quarterback as early as the 5th round.
NOTE on drafting a QB: Sometimes rookies or second-year players come out and have a breakout year and are inflated for the next draft year. BE VERY careful here, as they have not yet proven they can deliver year in and out. Some people fall into the trap of drafting them as early as round 1 and 2 and then they bust. Secure and anchor yourself with a proven Qb and back him up with an upside QB later in the draft!