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In this piece, I will be directly responding to a recent post by @Heady_Football in which he describes his ideal redraft draft strategy. In his article, he states that you should start your draft with three straight running backs while waiting on the other positions like wide receiver, tight end, and quarterback. I am here to tell you why I think there are better strategies to employ. So, after reading both you will truly be able to decide what you think is best.
There is no better feeling in fantasy football than calling your shot on a sleeper! Plucking a diamond out of the rough before anyone else realizes the value, is one of the reasons we dynasty managers dig so deep into weeds each offseason. Now that the 2021 season is nearly upon us, here are some rookie IDP sleepers that could become contributors to your IDP title run.
As the NFL finishes their final week of preseason games, it’s important for us dynasty IDP managers to keep abreast of under-the-radar activity happening throughout the league. Tuesday, August 31st is the official NFL cut day, but some savvy NFL franchises are making trades to adjust their rosters prior to cut day. Let’s analyze the latest defender trades to find where IDP value can be had!
Welcome to the fourth entry in our Kickoff Countdown series, counting down the days until we can once again sit and watch some real football! As you already know, each article has a numeric theme, which also counts down as each day is ticked off the calendar. In this piece, I’ll be discussing the nine (see the theme?) players that I had the toughest time projecting and what I ultimately expect out of them this season. Not only is it a lot of fun to look at some realistic outcomes for these players, but looking at these projections can also help you to confidently select one player over another when you are on the clock, even if those two players appear almost indistinguishable at first glance. So, without further ado, I give you my nine hardest players to project for the 2021 season.
Welcome to the second entry in our twelve-part series counting down the days until we can once again sit and watch this sport that we love (and dominate our fantasy leagues in the process). If you missed the first article, you can find it here. The premise is simple: each article will have a numeric theme, counting down as each day is ticked off the calendar. There are just eleven days left until we are blessed with meaningful football and the sweat of Week 1 fantasy football matchups. Eleven days, eleven players on offense. See the pattern here? In this article, I’ll attempt to construct the best starting offense in football. The catch? I can only use one player per NFL franchise. Let’s see who made the cut.
This article will be the first of 12, counting down the days until we can once again sit and watch this sport that we love (and dominate our fantasy leagues in the process). Each article will have a numeric theme, which will also count down as each day is ticked off the calendar. In this piece, I’ll be discussing the top-12 (see the theme?) running backs from our site’s very own redraft rankings and their projected stat lines for the upcoming season. Not only is it a lot of fun to look at some realistic outcomes for these star players–a bit of a preseason appetizer–but looking at these projections can also help you to confidently select one player over another when you are on the clock, even if those two players appear almost indistinguishable at first glance. So, without further ado, I am thrilled to kick off DFF’s first-ever “Kickoff Countdown”!
The first fantasy football (FF) league that I ever played in was an auction league. It has now been running for 12 years and we have our draft scheduled for Labor Day Weekend, like usual. Auction redrafts are so much fun and I highly recommend them! I am very thankful that I cut my teeth for a few years in such a league before eventually started playing dynasty.
I am here today my mafiosos to give you the best draft strategy for Redraft out there. It involves drafting a running back in every round for the first three. Why do you ask? Raise your hand if you have lost a fantasy championship or just a game in the past by eight points or less. I am going to venture a guess unless you are like my idiot neighbor who keeps taking only Kansas State Alumni or Chicago Bears in our home league that loses by double digits on the regular, that is everyone.
Tight end is one of the most infuriating positions to navigate when it comes to draft day. Should you spend an early draft pick and secure one of the elites? Or should you sit back and wait for the later rounds to try and find that diamond in the rough that is basically free? I have approached both strategies, and I don’t believe there is a right or wrong answer. It comes down to what you, the fantasy manager, prefer in your roster construction. Obviously, the league settings may alter one’s strategy, but both have their benefits. This article will highlight one sleeper, one breakout, and one bust at the tight end position. Hopefully, this can narrow down some options and pave the way for how you go about the tight end position.
As draft season inches closer, it’s important to have an idea of who you want to target and when you want to target them on draft day. Below, you will find a list of “My Guys” who I will be heavily targeting at their respective ADPs in all of my redraft leagues. Keep in mind, you want to make sure you are drafting players for positional value, instead of reaching and potentially diminishing your team’s chances right out the gate. Without further adieu, let’s get started.
In 2QB leagues, Derek Carr is sitting as QB25 and is the 102nd player off the board. He isn’t very flashy and in dynasty, he would offer minimal value. But when you take away the questions of long-term value he offers a high upside play as you close out the 8th round. He is a great second or 3rd QB in 2QB leagues, especially if you’re drafting a rookie such as Justin Fields or Trey Lance, who will likely not start for their team at the opening of the season.
Two days ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars sent stand-out linebacker Joe Schobert to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a move that further underscores the rebuild under Head Coach Urban Meyer’s new regime. News of the compensation trickled out a day later; just a 2022 sixth-round pick landed Schobert. Clearly, the move was a salary dump for the Jaguars.
Finding a true bell-cow running back in the NFL is hard to come by these days. Most teams elect to utilize multiple backs for various situations. Whether it is goal-line work, third down, or simply just to keep the defense guessing, more running backs are getting involved on offense at a more frequent rate. While plenty of value and fantasy points can come from running backs on the same team, there are a few backfields that I am avoiding at all costs.
In Redraft 1QB leagues I always try to fade QB and hunt upside “late”, knowing I can more than likely pick up a solid and serviceable QB off waivers if needed. The QB that fits the “late” pick with lots of upside is the Eagles QB Jalen Hurts. The sophomore QB is currently going off the board as the QB12, but his upside is much higher than that. In the three games that Hurts started and completed in 2020, he averaged 22.45 PPG. That slots in just below Lamar Jackson’s 22.71 PPG, (Redraft QB4), and Justin Hebert’s 22.55 PPG (Redraft QB7).
I’ve long been a huge fan of the HBO series “Hard Knocks” since its premiere in 2001. Outside of the expected silliness ranging from former Jets’ HC Rex Ryan’s “let’s get a snack” quote to Vince Wilfork’s “naked overalls” episode with the Texans, the show always does a fantastic job of hyping me up for the NFL season. So when the Cowboys were chosen for this year’s series, I mildly cringed at the idiocy that was inbound. And, spoiler alert, Mike McCarthy delivers in droves via an Austin Powers movie clip and fake bravado that brought on a mild panic attack. Yes, it’s insulting to the viewer but even more so to Mike Meyers who’s probably on the line with Jerry Jones negotiating compensation as I write this.
As we approach the peak of draft season, I have been doing tons of mocks and best-ball leagues. These experiences have led me to know who my favorite players are this year, or “My Guys”. In this piece, I will share one guy from each position that I have been heavily targeting in these drafts.
Ryan Tannehill is my absolute favorite “late-round” quarterback this season. On a PPG basis, Tannehill has finished as the QB9* in each of the past two seasons. He also ranks first in yards per attempt, second in passer rating, and ninth in passing TDs during that stretch. With a 28-game sample size in Tennessee, it’s fair to say that Tannehill has fully rebounded from his below-average seasons in Miami. He is now a high-quality NFL starting QB. He’s also a sneaky rusher who has added over 15 rushing yards per game and 11 total rushing TDs during his stint with the Titans.
Two weekends ago the #DFFArmy organized its annual staff redraft league composed solely of DFF writers/editors as owners. Upgrading from 12 to 14 owners this season, your author willingly joined in the fun. The settings of the league are pretty conventional: a 0.5 PPR league with a starting lineup of 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE, 3 W/R/T, 1 K, and 1 DEF. Passing TDs are worth six points while rushing and receiving first downs are worth 0.5 points. There is also a 0.1 point per carry bonus and a 0.5 TE reception bonus.
I don’t typically play in many redraft leagues these days but I’m always game for our yearly DFF Staff Redraft League. This year, with our growing staff, we decided to challenge ourselves a bit more with an increase to 14 teams instead of the standard 10-12 team league which presented difficult decisions from the get-go. I was granted the lovely honor of picking from the dead center of this draft, the 1.07 spot. I wouldn’t have chosen it this way and was titling from the moment I was on the clock for my first pick but I was surprisingly thrilled at the completion of this draft, so let’s dive into it.
When entering a fantasy draft, the first thing I do to plan out my strategy is to look at the league settings. In this draft, there were a lot of irregular rules, like getting points for rushing attempts and first downs, but none of that changed how I evaluated those players. Two rule changes caught my eye as having the biggest impact on weekly scoring. The first is how points are scored for quarterbacks. Instead of the typical four-point passing touchdowns and negative two points for throwing an interception, passing touchdowns are worth six and interceptions take three points away. The next rule change has to do with team defenses. Typically, my strategy is to stream defenses all year long. But in this league, there is a huge bump for allowing low point totals, and there are event points for tackles for loss, QB hits and passes defended.
Hey #DFFArmy, it’s your Director of Information Systems, @DFF_JoeMem, back again with a rankings update! As we enter into August, we are bringing back Redraft into focus. You’ll find those rankings HERE. Look closely and you’ll see that we were able to add Sleeper’s Redraft PPR ADP to our ranking page! For now, it’s only alongside our Redraft rankings, and we believe this will add a lot of value to the #DFFArmy on the road to some Championships. So we have Sleeper ADP, truly the voice of the people, but what about the rankers themselves? Who are the people you’ll be trusting your drafts with? Let’s find out!
Picking out of the one spot is easy this year in regards to who to take #1 overall, but the strategy following that pick can vary greatly. Below is my thought process as I drafted one of my favorite teams thus far during this off-season. Let me know what you think!
For this NFL season, a collection of 14 DFF analysts took their talents to a new Redraft league. As the analyst with the 14th pick, I knew it would be an uphill climb to add value. Despite this being a redraft league, I decided to go with my favorite dynasty strategy, the zero-RB. Knowing that this is a 14-team league, we had to adjust compared to the standard 12-team leagues in which elite positional players hold even more of a premium.
Having a consistently high floor allows for a better chance to make the playoffs. But the title of this series is not how to make the playoffs. Our goal is to win. Assuming you read Part 1 of this series, you know that our plan in rounds 3-6 is to go after high upside wide receivers. This doesn’t mean that we are neglecting other positions and only looking at wide receivers, but the value here is tremendous. This is also why solidifying the running back position is so important to do early. It now allows us to chase value in these rounds.
Robert Woods has been one of the more consistent fantasy players these last few years. Yet, even with his steady production, it appears he always flies under the radar, and down the draft board. For whatever the reason may be, Woods has been vastly underrated by the fantasy community after proving year in and year out that he can put up solid numbers and boost a starting lineup. This article will dive into the numbers and look at the situation surrounding Woods, making the case for him to be a WR1 this season.