Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet, Rankings & Targets (2024)

The 2024 NFL season is rapidly approaching, so it’s time to prepare for your fantasy football draft. What better way to do that than to practice drafting with our free mock draft simulator! Beyond our tools, we’ll also have you covered throughout the draft prep season with our content.

To help you dominate your fantasy football draft, Andrew Erickson shares his 2024 fantasy football draft cheat sheet, rankings, advice, and more.

Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

Here is my approach to 2024 fantasy football drafts.

Andrew Erickson’s Overall 2024 Fantasy Football Strategy

For a more in-depth breakdown of my preferred draft strategy, check out the critically acclaimed Perfect Fantasy Football Draft Strategy, Advice & Targets (2024) article that precisely explains what to do round by round for the 2024 fantasy football season. It will be updated throughout the preseason (along with middle and late-round snake picks) to make sure you are equipped with everything you need come draft day.

Check out my video on my top targets for the first 16 Rounds of your fantasy football drafts.

But the TLDR version highlights are as follows:

Hero RB Strategy

Draft a top RB early and fill other RB spots with value picks later. Avoid over-drafting RBs (RB Dead Zone) and prioritize WRs if RBs are being picked aggressively.

TE Premium

Target Mark Andrews in rounds 4-5. If you missed out on a quality tight end in the early rounds, your new strategy is to chase quantity with multiple guys in the late rounds.

BPA Focus

Draft the best player available, emphasizing WRs with breakout potential in the middle rounds (5-9). Don’t overemphasize filling your roster spot.

Value in Middle Rounds

Target cheaper WR2s and potential breakout RBs. Wide receivers in the middle rounds tend to take massive leaps and vastly outperform their ADP ie. draft rookie WRs.

Late-Rounds

Take more shots on late-round RBs (especially in traditional redraft formats).

Follow a pseudo-late-round “elite” quarterback strategy

Value is what matters, which is why I stress a pseudo-late-round “elite” quarterback strategy – getting the last or second-to-last quarterback with top-tier upside to capitalize on value. This will change based on where QBs fall in ADP but rounds 4-6 are the appropriate range.

Traditional late-round QB

Among the late-round QBs, you must draft knowing what their schedule is to open the season. Because they are non-established studs, you need to know they have plus-matchups working in their favor to trust them in your starting lineup. There are so many options available with the late-round QB approach that it is my favorite strategy to implement in 2024.

Andrew Erickson’s 2024 Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

Here is my fantasy football draft cheat sheet for sleepers, targets, busts, and more.

QB Sleepers

QB Busts (in relation to where they’re being drafted)

RB Sleepers

RB Busts (in relation to where they’re being drafted)

WR Sleepers

WR Busts (in relation to where they’re being drafted)

TE Sleepers

TE Busts (in relation to where they’re being drafted)

Early-Round Value Picks (Rounds 1-5)

Mid-Round Value Picks (Rounds 6-10)

Late-Round Value Picks (Round 11 or later)

  • Rico Dowdle
  • Zach Charbonnet
  • Pat Freiermuth
  • Jerry Jeudy
  • Rashid Shaheed
  • Ty Chandler
  • Joshua Palmer
  • Adonai Mitchell
  • J.K. Dobbins
  • Tyler Allgeier
  • Chuba Hubbard
  • Dontayvion Wicks
  • Jaleel McLaughlin
  • Geno Smith
  • Hunter Henry
  • Khalil Herbert
  • Jordan Mason
  • Ja’Lynn Polk
  • Marvin Mims
  • Rashod Bateman
  • Daniel Jones
  • Tyrone Tracy
  • DeMario Douglas
  • Tyler Conklin
  • Roschon Johnson
  • Noah Fant
  • Justin Fields
  • Khalil Shakir
  • Taysom Hill
  • Audric Estime
  • Tucker Kraft
  • Juwan Johnson
  • Jonnu Smith
  • Cam Akers
  • Ray Davis
  • Michael Wilson
  • Darnell Mooney
  • Marvin Mims
  • Justin Fields

Deep-League Value Picks

Backup RBs to Target

  • Jaylen Warren
  • Roschon Johnson
  • Jaleel McLaughlin
  • Tyrone Tracy
  • Chase Brown
  • Rico Dowdle
  • Tyjae Spears
  • Ty Chandler
  • Chuba Hubbard
  • J.K. Dobbins
  • Blake Corum
  • Jerome Ford
  • Tyler Allgeier
  • Jordan Mason
  • Khalil Herbert
  • Ray Davis
  • Audric Estime
  • Alexander Mattison
  • Cam Akers
  • Justice Hill

Backup RBs to Avoid

Rookies to Target

  • QBs: Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams
  • RBs: Blake Corum, Tyrone Tracy, Audric Estime
  • WRs: Malik Nabers, Rome Odunze, Xavier Worthy, Ladd McConkey, Brian Thomas Jr., Ja’Lynn Polk, Jalen McMillan, Javon Baker, Jermaine Burton, Luke McCaffrey, Malik Washington
  • TEs: Brock Bowers

Rookies to Avoid

D/STs to Target

  • Dallas Cowboys
  • New York Jets
  • Philadelphia Eagles
  • New Orleans Saints
  • Cincinnati Bengals
  • Seattle Seahawks
  • Detroit Lions
  • Los Angeles Chargers
  • Indianapolis Colts
  • Chicago Bears

D/STs to Avoid

  • Baltimore Ravens
  • Buffalo Bills
  • Miami Dolphins
  • Jacksonville Jaguars
  • Denver Broncos
  • Minnesota Vikings
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Five-Word Draft Tip

Every player has a price.

Andrew Erickson’s 2024 Fantasy Football Rankings

 

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