Pat Fitzmaurice is here to help you prepare for your fantasy football draft. Regardless of if you’ve spent all offseason preparing for your draft or are walking into your draft later today without any prep, this cheat sheet is what you need. Fitz provides his expert strategy and advice for your fantasy football draft along with targets, busts, sleepers, and more! Here is Fitz’s fantasy football draft cheat sheet.
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Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet: Strategy & Advice
Not long ago, I offered up a 2,700-word dissertation on my 2024 draft strategy for redraft leagues, along with seven of my favorite targets. You can find it here.
For the TL;DR crowd, I present this alternative: Fitz’s fantasy football draft cheat sheet. Let’s start with three guiding fantasy football draft principles:
Fantasy Football Draft Strategy & Advice
- Tailor your draft strategy to the number of WRs your league requires you to start each week.
If your league requires you to start only two receivers each week, you can choose between RBs and WRs in the early rounds based on where the value is. You have tactical flexibility. If your league requires you to start three receivers each week, WR becomes a critical position, and you should attack it aggressively in the early rounds. Your goal should be to outgun nearly every team in your league at the WR position since you’re starting so many WRs each week.
- Be patient at QB and TE.
The “onesie” positions are deep this year. Leverage that depth by being patient. You can wait until every other team in your league has a quarterback and still draft a good one from among the leftovers. (Obviously, this advice doesn’t apply to superflex leagues.) You can also wait to draft a tight end since there are at least 11 good ones.
- Take advantage of discounts on high-upside rookies.
The top rookies are often underdrafted because they haven’t played in the NFL yet, and it’s human nature to fear the unknown. But rookies with first-round draft capital (especially early in the first round) have historically been good fantasy bets.
Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet
Now, my fantasy football draft cheat sheet:
Quarterback Sleepers
Quarterback Busts
Running Back Sleepers
Running Back Busts
Wide Receiver Sleepers
Wide Receiver Busts
Tight End Sleepers
Tight End Busts
Early-Round Value Picks (Rounds 1-4)
Middle-Round Value Picks (Rounds 5-8)
- Kenneth Walker
- Terry McLaurin
- Aaron Jones
- Kyler Murray
- Diontae Johnson
- Jayden Daniels
Late-Round Value Picks (Rounds 9 and later)
- Brian Robinson
- Brock Bowers
- Chase Brown
- Brandin Cooks
- Rico Dowdle
- Dontayvion Wicks
- Kimani Vidal
- Jaleel McLaughlin
- Ray Davis
Deep-League Value Picks
- Daniel Jones
- Tyrone Tracy
- Jonnu Smith
- Drake Maye
- Javon Baker
- Greg Dulcich
- Dylan Laube
Backup Running Backs to Target
- Trey Benson
- Chase Brown
- Tyjae Spears
- Blake Corum
- Jerome Ford
- Jaleel McLaughlin
- Kimani Vidal
- Rico Dowdle
- Ray Davis
- Tyler Allgeier
Backup Running Backs to Avoid
Rookies to Target
Quarterback
- Jayden Daniels
- Caleb Williams
Running Back
- Blake Corum
- Kimani Vidal
- Ray Davis
- Tyrone Tracy
Wide Receiver
- Malik Nabers
- Rome Odunze
- Roman Wilson
- Javon Baker
- Luke McCaffrey
Tight End
- Brock Bowers
- Ben Sinnott
Rookies to Avoid
Quarterback
Running Back
Wide Receiver
Tight End
DSTs to Target
- Baltimore Ravens
- New York Jets
- Cleveland Browns
- Dallas Cowboys
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- New Orleans Saints
- Green Bay Packers
DSTs to Avoid
- Miami Dolphins
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Minnesota Vikings
- Los Angeles Rams
- Washington Commanders
Five-word Draft Tip: Be patient at the onesies.
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