When preparing for a fantasy football draft it’s important to do your research beforehand and come up with a plan to help you draft the best possible team in your league. There are plenty of different strategies to try but today we will focus on a select few that can help you best the rest of your league mates.

• Robust Running Back

Robust running back is one of the most popular draft strategies in recent years. When someone drafts robust RB they have their mind set on crafting their team around using their first 3-4th round picks strictly on running backs knowing that ideally, they can secure a solid WR 1 and 2 later on in the draft. If the RBs drafted in the early rounds of the draft turn out to be great and the Wideouts selected later on are at least decent this strat might just secure you front-row seats to the championship game.

• Zero RB Strategy

Zero RB is the strategy that is the inverse of robust RB. So instead of drafting high-value running backs, you select the top-tier wide receivers and tight ends early on but risk-taking running backs in the “RB Dead Zone”. This draft plan is usually only taken on by crazy individuals but this season it has actually turned out to be a pretty effective plan with how inconsistent most of the top-tier RBs have been and how amazing the wide receivers have performed.

• Late Round Quarterback

When Drafting with the late-round QB strategy the name of the game is PATIENCE. Early on you fill out your roster with your starters and even some backups, and let your opponents take the other quarterbacks. Now when your league mates need to fill their bench, you already have most of your bench filled and can still get a good QB. Most quarterbacks besides a select few have very similar ppg meaning they are all basically in the same tier levels, giving your team much greater depth.

• The late-round Flyer Strategy

This is a strategy that I love to do in all my drafts. You can match it with any other strat because it only requires action to be taken in the final 2 rounds. At the end of the draft look to draft young players that you believe have a shot at potentially breaking out during the season. These late-round picks have very low value so there is no risk in taking that random rookie RB who has a shot at taking over the starting job if the starter gets hurt. That pick will most likely be a bench spot anyway so why not take a chance on a player who could end up winning your league.

• Tier-based Rankings

This strategy is slightly different from the others but can be implemented with each of the prior ones easily. Tier-based rankings are rankings that you make prior to the draft in which you take each position separately and create tiers of rankings where you put each player in their own tier. For example, an RB teir list could go 1. Cmc, J.Taylor. 2. D.Henry, J.Mixon, D.Cook. Etc. The entire point of this strategy is to structure your draft plan in a way so that you are always prepared to stay fluid and call any audible needed during the draft. If one WR from your fourth tier is taken there are 4 other valid options for you to choose from. Tier-based is a safe way to become one of the prolific drafters in your league.