FantasyPros - Top 12 Draft Tips to DOMINATE Your 2025 Fantasy Football League (Ep. 1612) - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I
am Ryan Warmley, joined today by Jake Seeley from The
Athletic and by Tom Stracking from across the Pond. Tom,
you know you said it's not that late where you
are right now, but it's a lot later than it
is for us, So thanks for making the time.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
To be on the show today. Buddy.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Hey Mom, when it comes to football season, you just
got to get into it. About of all time of
the year it.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Is, and we're getting ever closer to football season here.
You know, past fourth of July is typically the kind
of milestone where we really dive in and start getting
We do stuff all off season, of course, but we
really start getting, you know, even more into the weeds
and having a little bit more fun. Jake at the Athletic,
you just released your tight end breakout switch. I don't
know how fun that was to come.

Speaker 4 (00:40):
Up with for you. I think the best part about
it so far, at least on the feedback, was what
I called Kyle Pitts, and I said, going back to
Kyle Pitts is like trying to look at taco bell
at two am when you're thirty years old. To being like, man,
that's gonna be good, and then you immediately regret it
and you probably get diarrhea.

Speaker 5 (00:56):
That's Kyle Pitts.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
I have never had Taco Bell in my life. I
have drafted Kyle Pitts though, so I can.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
Like me you, I.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Don't even know if I've stepped inside a Taco Bell,
let alone eating food there.

Speaker 5 (01:13):
Ever.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
I just like, as a kid, I was really picky
and I didn't want to you know, like Mexican food
or anything. And then as an adult, where I like
expanded my horizons, it just never came up.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
I was never like, why would I go to Taco Bell.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
I'll go to I don't know, like Chipotle or something
else if I want like a fast food Mexican.

Speaker 4 (01:29):
So it's tom and I might as well just jump
if nobody's listening to this podcast anymore, Like I'm not
listening to a guy who's never been to Taco Bell.
You have to go before our next podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
It is like a pretty good fun fact for people
like you need one of those like two truths in
a lie or something of those icebreaker moments that and
not being able to smell or usually my too.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
But yeah, like it is a. I just I just
have never come across. I'm not opposed to it.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
I'm not like actively, you know, digging my heels in.

Speaker 5 (01:57):
I just yeah, you're less American than Tom.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
What should I order if I go?

Speaker 5 (02:03):
Oh, like crunch wrap?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
For real? Like crunch rap? Okay, yeah all right?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Let us let us know in the comments to the
listeners who are still with us and powered through that,
let us know what item I short when I finally
make it to Taco Bell, maybe on a team trip
or something.

Speaker 5 (02:15):
You missed your opportunity. Twenty years ago.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
You could have ordered the entire menu to find out
what you wanted and still only spent ten dollars. Now
it's like two things and you spend ten dollars.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
My dad used told me a story he used to
do that with my grandpa when when like my dad
is a kid and my grandpa would take him to
Taco Bell. They would like see how much money they
could spend at Taco Bell before getting full, and it
was never never a lot. So it does run in
my family to like Taco Bell. I've just maybe it's
skipped a generation.

Speaker 5 (02:40):
Taco Bell will run in your family.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, good, good phrasing on that one. Let's dive into
our episode. Our tips today will not include going to
Taco Bell, but maybe that's that's my tip to dominate
my draft. We're gonna be giving you guys going from
six to one from each of the two of you.
We're gonna be giving the listeners our top twelve draft
tips to dominate your league this season. So this is
going to be, you know, less player driven. We can

(03:05):
mention players if there's a guy that maybe fits an
example you're trying to think of to make one of
your points, but this is more macro level, more conversational,
more just hey, these are the tips that we try
to remember every year. This gonna be something that you're
applying specifically to twenty twenty five drafts, however you want
to approach it. Again, we're going six to one for
our top draft tips here for the next couple of

(03:26):
months in draft season. Quick reminder for everybody to all
of our twenty twenty five consensus rankings and tiers can
be found at fantasypros dot com slash rankings.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Tom, Let's start with your number six tip.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
So this one is probably going to seem a little
bit obvious, but I think it's always worth reinforcing some
of the simple stuff here, and that's remember that the draft,
it's not one. You know, you don't win your championship
based on your draft. Like you can go back to
last year and we had a number of players who
were really meaningful for fantasy who probably weren't drafted, like
Baker Mayfield had in ADP of around about one hundred

(03:59):
and sixty two one hundred and seventy depending on your platform,
probably wasn't getting drafted every draft. John new Smith undrafted
tight end four, Sam Donald QB eight undrafted, Zach Ertz
tight end ten, undrafted. You go back to twenty twenty three,
and of course, like that was the mother load for
guys who were like on the fringe of being drafted
in Karen Williams and Pookinakua. So like draft day for

(04:20):
me is about building that solid floor and then the
moment the draft is over, it's time to analyze the weaknesses,
work out what's still on the wave a while, look
at your opponents rosters, and just say, well, I like
what i've got, but maybe there's an opportunity for me
to start making a trade, whether it's a two for
one or anything like that and not get glued to

(04:41):
those draft picks, but you've just drafted a few hours before,
because you know, staying glued to your draft picks is
one of those awful situations where you get to week
four and you're still like, yeah, I drafted that guy
in around three. I've got a start. I've got a start,
and it's like the draft has to go, and it's
time to just turn the page and start trying to
look at it with fresh eyes. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Almost like sunk cost fallacy type stuff. I've had this
conversation on the dynasty side before where at one point
I made a trade offer. I forget the specifics, but
I was trying to get sky Moore. This is early
in his career, and the person I was trying to
negotiate with said, uh, oh, you want me to give
up a first round pick because he had taken sky
Wore and with a late first And I said, no,
I want you to give up sky Moore. The pick

(05:22):
is done like you that you have spent that capital.
I'm trying to acquire the player now. And thankfully he
declined the offer and I did not get saddled with
sky More. But I think It's a good example of
you know, once the draft is done, it is done,
and this is now your team.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Jake, do you agree with this? And also on the
on the flip side of this.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
You know, remember the draft isn't where championships are one.
Can it be where you lose your league?

Speaker 5 (05:43):
Though, I'd say it could be.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
I mean, but you'd have to really screw up your draft.
I go all the way back to the Justin for
Set year, and I say that because he got hurt
and I drafted CJ. Anderson, as everybody well knows, in
the first round that year. So you have bust over
first pick Justin Force set In that year. And this
was an industry league that I still won.

Speaker 5 (06:02):
Like, I think, it's hard to really lose your league.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
But it's the same way what Tom's saying, it's hard
to say that you have definitively won your league on
the draft. I completely agree because I always say this.
I think there's one third, one third, one third, one
third is the draft. There's still two thirds left two
thirds another third being roster in management and then the
other third unfortunately being luck. Like you're just not gonna
get away from it. But even if you threw out
luck and then say, Okay, what's the rest. It's still

(06:26):
only fifty to fifty in that aspect, like the trading,
as you said, taking advantage of like the highs and
the lows, the waivers, the roster management, and up and
down the line. So yeah, it's only one piece of
the puzzle as you draft.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
And also, Tom, I know you kind of mentioned that
this is like, you know, maybe a little more I
don't know, like obvious or more basic of a tip.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
I think those are very important.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
It's very easy to get so just dive so deep
into the players and the values and everything that you
sometimes kind of need to take a step back and
remember like this is kind of the tried and true,
like you want to remember these tips going in on
more macro level.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
So I think it's totally fine to include stuff like
this one. Jake, let's go to your number six.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
Yeah, I'm glad it ties into the draft here, honestly,
because I'm going to say, remember why you drafted a player,
And I can just go back to last year and
pretty much ask anybody who dropped Bucky Irving after Week
two how they're feeling this year or even at the
end of last year, and you said, bring up players
that you can make the comparison this year to a
healthy trade Benson or you know, look at the backfield

(07:26):
that across the league, anybody backup wise, Zach Charboney.

Speaker 5 (07:29):
You know, kath Walker is probably.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Gonna get hurt at some point, but if he doesn't, like,
don't drop him three weeks into the season. Kim Kenith
Walker is healthy. Don't drop Trey Bentson three weeks into
the season because James Connor is healthy for the first
three weeks, because otherwise, why did you draft that player.
You drafted him because the upside if said player in
front of them gets hurt.

Speaker 5 (07:48):
Now I understand, we.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
Get to buy mcged in and you just have nobody
left to cut on your roster because you're not going
to cut your starters. And I understand that. So I'm
not saying you can't. You have to hold onto these
guys to week twelve. But if you're just going to
drop him in the first three or four weeks because
the lead running back stayed healthy, then you should have
never drafted in the first place, because you basically threw
the pick away.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
How do you approach Jake those early season drops, because
I think it's really an important part of most leagues
is those first couple of weeks of waiver wires. There
are always league winners that pop up in weeks one
and two, and sometimes the really tricky part isn't identifying
those guys, it is identifying the right guy to drop.
So when there is somebody that becomes available that you

(08:31):
are really excited about, what is your approach for deciding
how to make room for those guys?

Speaker 4 (08:36):
So the first one gone is a tight end. Like
I'll give you example, Like you we brought up Kyle
Pitts as a joke, but the thing is, we'll know
the book on Kyle Pitts very soon. Like you can
drop them after week two or three. If it's that's
not working, move on. Those kind of players are like
in their own classification. You took them for a reason,
and like maybe like Jaden Higgins, like if he doesn't
have the job on day one, Like, yeah, you should

(08:57):
probably try to hang on to them. But I'm more
likely to give up on a wide receiver than a
running back because there's a quicker path to the running
back of an injury or opportunity. I mean, you could
look at this whole situation of people not being enamor
with Kyra and Williams. The kiro Williams has two or
three bad games in a row, Sean McVay might pull
the plug on him and turn to Hunter or Quorum.
Whereas if you're talking about the second, third, fourth wide

(09:18):
receiver on a team and like the opportunities aren't happening,
you know it's gonna say, Okay, well what if the
injury happens? And even then it's not a guarantee. So
I look for the clearest quickest path to being a
top twenty five player. And then the second part of that,
why I say top twenty five mostly running back on
wide receiver, maybe top thirty five wide receiver. But if

(09:39):
that player is just a wide receiver five or an
RB five, they're getting kicked off my roster too.

Speaker 5 (09:44):
I mean, I'm probably not drafting them in the first place, Buddy.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
If there's somewhere on there because maybe I had an
injury risk, those guys are going to find on the
waiver wire every single week. Those should be the first
to go if they have zero upside.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Tom, what do you think?

Speaker 1 (09:56):
How do you approach determining guys to drop early on
that you drafted.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah, I think Jake summed it up so well, and
it just it typically comes down like those wide receiver
three types. And obviously this varies depending on how deep
or shallow your roster is, but if you're playing in
a league where you're only starting a couple of wide
receivers and a flex like the wide receiver types can
be an absolute nightmare. The guys who are so heavily
touchdown dependent, And if we're seeing guys like Jalen Knowle

(10:21):
who Jake mentioned like not have a role immediately, or
like other rookies where we feel like they warranted the
draft capital because they've got the draft capital in the
NFL and we're pushing them up in ADP. If you
can see the role clearly isn't there, If you can
see the reports not there, if you can see that
the coaching staff aren't fully trusting a player yet, then

(10:41):
it's time to pull the plug, and very much so
for running backs, who it becomes clear, aren't just one
injury away. You know, you're talking about guys who if
the lead running back gets injured, are the team really
going to give it all to this guy? And they're
a little hints. You know, you see stuff earlier in
the season and where it's like, okay, well they've pulled
the start. They clearly trust VRB two. But if you're

(11:04):
getting none of that, then they become the guys who
just starts sliding down my roster. And I'm ready to
give up on earlier.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Obviously, I enjoy football and I'm always hoping for it
to come back, and I, you know, don't enjoy the
off season as much as in season. This conversation is
already making me like just so excited. I'm like, I
need football to be here. Like we're talking real strategy now,
not just like yeah, you know a list of busts
and sleepers. It's like, this is the stuff I love
thinking about. And I just in hearing you guys talk already,

(11:32):
I'm sitting here like, man, I wish it was like
late August, early September.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
I can't wait for the season. Tom. Let's go to
your number five tip.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, And honestly, for me, this could be if I
was doing a list. It was very just personally for me,
this could be my number one because it's adjusting from
the best Bawl mindset and like, I think it's so
easy now to draft hundreds of teams in an offseason.
Like last year, I think I hit four hundred teams.
This year I'm at like two hundred already. And moving
from Best Ball ADP or the way that you construct

(12:02):
the Best Ball roster into redraft is so different because
in best Ball we're building for ceiling. You're looking for
late season breakouts. You've also got wildly different ADP, Like
you can look at consense CDP as it starts forming,
and the running backs in particular tend to get pushed up.
My home league drafts running backs like absolute sickos every

(12:23):
single year. So being aware of those nuances, not trying
to stack as aggressively, like you know, the odd stack
is fine, like you know, quarterback and one pass catcher,
but going out of your way to sort of add
two three players to a quarterback like you might if
you want to win one of these massive Best Ball
tournents because you need that single week upside, it just
doesn't translate to redraft. And lastly, all the kind of

(12:47):
micro strategies that we talk about, like hero RB, robust RB,
zero RB, they look very different in redraft. If you're
playing in a shallower league compared to if you're playing
in best ball, where you've got twenty rounds and swears.
If I'm going zero RB or hero RB like I
might be looking to take my second running back in
round six seven or my first running back in that range.

(13:10):
But in home leagues, if you're in one like me,
where the guys all take the running backs early, the
running back quality that you get in round six or
seven is going to be drastically different in best ball
to what it will be in redraft.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Jake, I don't know if I've ever talked to you
about this, but do you do a lot of best Ball?
Is this an adjustment that you have to make yourself
as we get into redraft season?

Speaker 5 (13:31):
I don't know, Well, a lot. It's kind of tough.

Speaker 4 (13:34):
I'll qualify it in the fact, that's probably twenty percent
of the leagues I'm in, So if that seems I mean,
and it's us, so that's probably more than.

Speaker 5 (13:41):
Most people are playing.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
But I'm not on the end where you know, I
have fifty rosters already at this point. There are people
like that, and I'm not coming for them. I'm just
saying I'm definitely not on that end of the spectrum.
But I do think it's a very valid point because
you could argue both ways for it. You know, we're
talking in best Ball, We're like, okay, I'm looking at
weeks fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and trying to stack for these
good matchups, Like everybody went for the Chiefs and the Bills,

(14:04):
and obviously the situation with that kind of skewed it
that year. But point being is like, these are the
reasons we're looking for this the Bengals that year. So
like that's a completely different strategy because in seasonal you're
more depth to being able to.

Speaker 5 (14:16):
Adjust for you know, best ball.

Speaker 4 (14:19):
I think the biggest thing here to go deeper with
Tom said is like a lot of times we look
at strength of schedule, which we can change, we know
can change in season. I go back to the one
year I think it was two thousand and eight, but
like the Giants defense was do not play people against
them in the first half of the season, and the
Saints were start all your studs, anybody could possibly think
up even bench options, and people were stacking and thinking

(14:41):
of Julio Jones and Matt Ryan because they got the
Saints twice in the last three weeks, and that season,
this is why it always stands out to me that
season it flipped one hundred percent on its head. The
Saints ended up being a top three defense down the stretch,
and Julio Jones got shut down one of those games,
and the Giants were just start anybody you could possibly
find against them. So I say that to say, we're

(15:02):
stacking in best ball because we don't have any control,
like we're just hoping our strength of schedule plans play
out in season. You can adjust for these things, so
you're not thinking as much for weeks fifteen, sixteen seventeen.
You're not thinking as much of like, oh, I got
to get four guys from the Bengals offense because they're
gonna stack. So it's a really good point by Tom,
and I think too many people go with the best
ball mindset into redraft and that ends up hurting them sometimes.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
And for me, it's the same thing, not for best Ball,
which I don't do as much of, but for Dynasty.
I have been thinking through the prism of rookie draft
and through the prism of dynasty trading for so many months,
and it's the same. It's in a different sense, but
right it's a similar like transition. You have to adjust
to the daling these guys in redraft, which is different
in a lot of cases. I want to let everybody

(15:48):
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(16:08):
slash kit. All right, Jake your number five tip?

Speaker 4 (16:12):
Yeah, my number five. It kind of goes back to
the drafting again. And this is more so for redraft. Obviously,
if you went this round and best ball, it wouldn't
work at all, probably, but I go with in the mindset,
is a top tier quarterback or tight end or just
wait till the.

Speaker 5 (16:27):
End, do not draft in between.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
And now obviously this is gonna be relative and people
are like, well, in the twelfth round, Justin Fields was
still there and like, okay, of course, like I've probably
taken justin fields in a ninth round. But the overall
strategy of if I don't get a top tier quarterback
and it's about four guys maybe five tight ends three
if I don't get those, I'm waiting till the end
because the gap from four or five at both these

(16:50):
positions to fifteen is a point per game. Like think
about like a point per game is not going to
make the difference in your matchup. If it is, you
have a really weirdly because I've never seen that matter
that much. So what I'm looking for is who can
put up those five, six, seven ish kind of player
numbers at the end of drafts. That's why the top

(17:10):
five I don't even would call them breakout tight ends,
just it was more from the lens of Okay, what
of these tight ends could actually be those guys that
people are jumping on in the seventh in the eighth
round because I'd rather get more depth at running back
and wide receiver than take a seventh eighth round quarterback
or tight end, because I know those are replaceable. As
Tom said off the top, we were talking bringing up

(17:31):
tight ends and quarterbacks that were undrafted finishing as ones
top tens at their position, So I'm just going to
avoid those in the middle rounds just because I find
the strategy of your team being more a dept to
overcome injuries and potentially make trains.

Speaker 5 (17:45):
If you have that depth at running back and wide receiver.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
Jake, are you willing to take a top tier quarterback
and a top tier tight end in the same draft
or if you take one, does that rule you out
from taking the other because you just can't pass on
that many running backs and receivers.

Speaker 4 (17:58):
I would say it probably leans to ruling it out,
but I'm never gonna not do something. If to throw
out the double negative there, like I want to get
a Bell Cow running back in the first two rounds,
but if I don't, like I've started a draft with
three straight wide receivers because of how the draft fell
to me. You know, the better question. I think we're
not to say the better question because that sounds like
that's a bad question, really bad question, worm. But the

(18:20):
better way I should put it is that if I
were to take a tight end the end it like
Bowers is there at the end of round two, I
would consider it. I want them in a round three,
but I would consider them at the end of round two.
If I did that, I wouldn't turn around around three
and take Lamar Jackson. You know, if Bowers or you
know McBride is there in round three and then in
a round five that can take Hurts. That's still taking

(18:42):
two top tier players at those positions, but there is
more balance and the value for the rest of my team.
So that's where I say, like it could happen, but
probably not because the majority of draft that that's not
usually how those guys fallow out.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Tom, how do you approach these two positions? If that's
a good enough question for you.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
I won't push back. No, I love that. I think
that what Jake's saying, like, I'll just expand a little
more on that. Like when it comes to the titan
position versus so few guys who command serious volume. Ver
are so few guys who can hit one hundred yards
in a game, and it's those guys at the top
who really are able to do that for three maybe

(19:22):
four games a year, which doesn't sound that much, but
really that's all it takes at tight end to be
a dominant force. Like you go back to the year
where Sam Laporta was tight ended one as a rookie,
He's scored nine touchdowns. Nobody else scored more than six.
So it's really easy to separate at titan position if
you're able to do that. And I do want the
guys who are able to do it or who have

(19:42):
shown us that they can do it in the past.
But perhaps the situation is a little different, and you know,
I'm not prioritizing guys like Mark Andrews or Travis Kelcey
this year because of wider concerns, but it's looking at
Brock Bauers, Trey McBride, George Kill and then Sam Laporter
as well. I think is definitely some either I want
a lot of exposure to this year, and then if

(20:03):
a quarterback position for me, it's duel frets or putting
it later, because if you don't, you know, I'm willing
to take Drake May where every lands in kind of
like round nine to ten range and just in field
similar But otherwise, if I'm just getting a pocket passer,
then yeah, I'll just say, Okay, I'm going to get
fifteen to eighteen points most weeks from this quarterback and

(20:26):
I'll play the waive a whire.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Do you have a preference Tom, Like, if you could
only go top tier on one of these two, is
it tight end just because quarterback is deeper? Or would
if you could only pick one, would you rather go
tap to your a quarterback?

Speaker 3 (20:37):
Well, I mean, come on, where you know I'm a
Ravens fan like you, so it's quite hard for me here.
I mean, look, when you have Lamar Jackson on your team,
it's just you know that every week it's going to
be fun.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Jake, what about you?

Speaker 1 (20:51):
If you had to pick one or the other to
go top tier on what to be quarterback or tight end, it'll.

Speaker 4 (20:54):
Probably be a quarterback, mostly because Dad Bowers and McBride
cost a quarterback is usually around like to start, and
then on top of it, you know, I feel like
that advantage is just stronger because you go back to
even the best Kelsey seasons, like you have to be
those three really good seasons, which were seasons that he
finished as a top ten wide receiver at the tight

(21:15):
end position. Those are the kind of seasons you need
from Bowers and McBride to really give you that second
round value because of what you have to give up.

Speaker 5 (21:22):
So it's it's.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
Hard for those tight ends even when you take them
that early. Even with the position of Vanas, you get
to actually still return costs on their value.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
And also like it is really fun to have a
Tremickbrider or Black Bauers on your team, but it doesn't
compare it to the just the pure fun as a
fantasy manager of every week watching Lamar Jackson or Josh
Allen or you know, Jade Daniels last year, Like it
just is so fun. So all right, Tom Lea's go
to your number four draft tip.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
Yeah, so this one is don't just draft with last
year's results in mind, because it can be very easy
at full and invotropical. Okay, they wide receiver one last year,
so we should be the wide receiver one vis year.
And obviously at the top there's probably less of a
difference between the talent. Like this year's first round in
draft feels really fun across the board anyway, But as

(22:10):
you get further down and there's guys like Lad McConkey,
who now goes ahead of aj Brown in current best
ball ADP, and you know, we're not quite at the
point where we've got enough redraft ADP to see if
that's going to be the case. But Lad mconky, Like,
did he sorry, did the Chargers pass more because mconkie
got healthier as the season went on? Or was it

(22:31):
because JK. Dobbins slowed down and wasn't finding those explosive
run plays, Like, we don't really know exactly how the
Chargers truly want to play things this year. So for me,
it's taking that kind of approach of going, yes, Ladd
McConkie finished for year with that unbelievable performance against the
Texans in the playoffs, but what is it that I'm

(22:51):
getting when I draft him in the middle of round two?
The same for Jonathan Taylor, a guy who won people championships.
If you had Jonathan Taylor in the championship rounds, but
he also got forty two percent of his total points
for the season across week sixteen seventeen, And you know,
one over a week, I think it was around week
thirteen he was aid be fourteen or worse than seven

(23:13):
of thirteen games that he played last year. So just
try to take a slightly zoomed out view and not
just remembering the positional finishes and how things ended over
those last few weeks.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
What do you think about this one?

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Jacin In a pie chart of what you care about
and what you're thinking about making your draft picks.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
What percentage is last year's.

Speaker 4 (23:33):
Results sixteen point eight three something like, it's definitely a factor.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
And to kind of met Tom do with my last one.

Speaker 4 (23:43):
I'll even take it a step further here with this
is that I often find some of the best value's
article are right is last year's players that burned people
because all they remember is last year and like, oh,
not taking him again. You know what he did to
me last year. You know how much that wasted my
seventh round pick on that guy. And they don't go
back because they're just bitter and angry and the like

(24:03):
I get it, Like nobody wants to go back to
the players that burned you, especially those two or three
times Kyle Pitts. But like, if you go in with
that mindset and like automatically write these players off, you're
just gonna miss on the value because the biggest thing,
like out I threw a Trey Benson earlier, Like Trey Benson,
like you could be frustrated he didn't do much and
then got hurt on top of it last year. But
if you go into this year and like just ignore

(24:25):
the fact that he's still the clear number two behind
James Connor, who has an injury history, and you're just like, well,
I'm not taking him, And now he's coming at a
discount on top of it, Like, why were you in
on him last year for a very good reason. You
should be in on him this year and you shouldn't
just be because oh I never got to use him
last year.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
It's funny, I was thinking of a different cardinal. I
was thinking of Marvin Harrison Junior and.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
His latest Trey Benson.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
But like where you took him last year, he definitely
burns you, but in a vacuum, it was still a
pretty good rookie season. If he comes back, you know,
it takes a step forward in a year or two.
That's somebody that I could see managers say, well, why
would I trust him?

Speaker 2 (24:59):
He didn't do anything.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
You're supposed to be the greatest things to slice bread,
and now at a discount actually.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
Could be a value.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
And I would love to meet the person who hasn't
been burned by Kyle Pitts at least once across their
fantasy leagues. That guy should win a trophy or something. Jake,
let's go to your number four.

Speaker 4 (25:15):
Yeah, I'm gonna near and dear to our good friend
Joe ps and p as Hart. Remember positional if I
could say it, positional value and what this means, and
he talks about it every single year in his Black Book.
It comes down to the fact that as the draft
is going, understand your roster construction, you're not going to
come out of the draft being dominant at quarterback, running back,
wi receiver, in tight end. It's just not feasible. Maybe

(25:37):
in an auction, maybe your auction with some really dumb people,
then maybe that's the only world you can do it in.
But inherently, especially in snake drafts.

Speaker 5 (25:44):
It's just not going to happen.

Speaker 4 (25:46):
So too often you bring up taking a quarterback early,
and I'll go even to super flex on this one.
You know, you take a quarterback early, take a quarterback
in the first round, worm, and then I'll see people
not draft their second quarterback until it's like QB twenty five.
You threw all that value out because you started with
a quarterback that's better than at least ten teams, possibly
the entire league. And now you've brought your quarterback position

(26:10):
to level with the league because you waited so long
on the second one. You went wide receiver, wide receiver
to start, and then you start going running back, running back,
running back, and you don't take your third wide receiver
until the sixth seventh round. And now you had an
advantage as the number one, possibly the best number two
wide receiver in your league. But now again your position
is brought back to league average because you waited so

(26:31):
long on the third option. And I think too many
people just kind of look for like, oh, I need
a running back. I can't keep waiting, and sometimes it
doesn't feel good to only have like three good or
two good running backs out of your draft, But you're
going to be so well positioned at the other opportunities
that like that makes up for it. So like, just
remember the value that you drafted and how you're building

(26:51):
your team and pay attention to that as the draft
goes on.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah, I think this is a really interesting insight. It's
also really helpful. Like let's say you really into the
receivers even though you went them early, and so now
you're stacked there and you got a luxury tight end
a quarterback, so it's just running back that you're weak
at rather than trying to be just okay everywhere. Now,
you know, on the waiver wire, I don't need to
waste my time thinking about all these other positions because

(27:15):
I am already like the others.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
You can narrow your focus, I guess is what I'm
trying to get to.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
You can really dilate and say with my late round flyers,
with my you know, early waiver wire priority and fab
I can really focus in on the one area that
I know I'm gonna need help in. I think that
that simplifies it and streamlines it, which I always like
with my rosters.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Tom, what do you think about this one?

Speaker 3 (27:36):
Sometimes you see people in single quarterbacks will pay up
for the elite quarterback, but then later on they can't
help themselves. They take the breakout guy, the rookie guy.
You know, it's like going, okay, well, I'm going to
draft Josh Allen and then later on I've got to
be the person who rosters Club Williams or something like that,
just because it's about feeling if they don't want to

(27:57):
miss out. But it's like you were sacrificing everything that
you paid for Josh Allen by now waste in a
roster spot on another quarterback who you're barely going to use.
So yeah, just understanding what each draft pick that you're
making means for what you're going to do for the
rest of the roster.

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Speaker 2 (29:22):
All right, Tom, you're number three.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
Tip Now, this one is quite a fun one, I think,
because you can take this as deep as you want
to go, but be mindful of your opponents. And that
can be whether you're on draft day, whether it's through
the league season. Knowing like I have a guy who
is one of my very best friends, but I know
he will not trade unless the trade off it is
heavily weighted to him because he's so attached to his players.

(29:47):
And then there are other guys who will make trades
for the sake of trades. And there's people within your
league you know, who are going to be incredibly on
it when it comes to waivers, So there's all those
little bits, but then draft like which content like provider
do they lean on. And obviously this is easier in
home leagues, but even if you're drafting in a dynasty

(30:09):
league and it's a lot of people who you don't know,
it can be quite easy to go with their Twitter
account and see what they're interacting with, who they're following.
I my co host over at Fantasy Sanctuary, Rich Rich,
goes as far with this as anyone I've ever met,
and he keeps spreadsheets on his dynasty opponents. He keeps
lists of like how much people will be paid, attention

(30:31):
on waivers, what team this book, because that's a big one,
Like knowing that somebody supports, say the Ravens for us
were if there's somebody who likes to make sure they've
got players from their team on their roster, you know
they're probably going to reach at a certain point and
be able to leverage this. Or somebody who's massively rookie heavy.

(30:52):
Are they somebody who's obsessed with the draft. Are they
going to be trying to grab those rookies? And does
that mean that you can then push veterans in the
draft because they should slip to you, or does it
mean that you can try and acquiere veterans off their
roster in exchange for rookies.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
So I'm in a salary cap format league that I've
been in for many many years and there's like seven
Ravens fans in there, and I don't participate in this,
but literally every year in the first round, somebody nominates
Justin Tucker. Obviously not anymore, but somebody would nominate Justin
Tucker and he would go for like nine dollars, and
it just waste your money on this kicker, even though

(31:30):
he's a great kicker or was and was a Raven
and some of the people wanted on their team.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
You could take advantage of stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
I know you didn't pick this, Tom, so I could
seamlessly bring up this tool, but I have.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
To mention you tell I'm too perfect. It's too perfect
of an opportunity.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
This isn't even one of my batterid's on the show,
But like draft Intail, and I say this all the time,
it genuinely is my favorite tool of fantasy pros.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
I think it's so cool that they do that.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
If you're in any kind of long running league that
you are saying with Fantasy Pros. In my playbook and
Draft Wizard, we can look at the history of all
the guys in your league and say when you were
on the clock. You can have this in your actual
draft during draft Assistant, it will say, Hey, the person
picking after you never has taken a quarterback before round ten.
He's always a late round QB guy, so you can

(32:17):
probably wait till your next pick to take it.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
It will actually analyze to that level.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
If you're in any kind of long running league that
has a couple of years of data, we can look
at that and let you know, like, oh, this guy,
he always takes a tight end early, so if I
want one, I have to take one there. It's super
super helpful. I use it in all my drafts. I
think it's the best tool we have. So draft Intel
I would strongly recommend. If you guys agree with what
Tom is saying and being mindful of your opponents, there's
no better way than draft Intel.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
Jake, what do you think about this one?

Speaker 4 (32:45):
I love it too, and I even think about it,
and I should have said this. I did a show
with ELFREDA. Brown the other day and he was like,
what's something that you would try to think that you're
really good at that you hope other people can learn.
And I think what I said on that show and
what I think ties into the trading. It's like also
knowing what the other opponents in your league like do
they like Cowboys?

Speaker 5 (33:05):
Do they like Ravens? Do they like young players?

Speaker 4 (33:08):
And I'm just thinking to my home league, I like
have a Cowboys fan, I have two good brothers that
are Vikings fans. I have a guy that always has
like five rookies on his bench out of the draft.
Like knowing these things, but it's not just a draft
because then, like I said, it carries into the season
and is like, hey, I know if I come to
this person with like equitable two wide receivers are basically
the same exact thing, but one is the player from

(33:30):
his team, like he's going to pay up more in
the trade. One of them's the young player, He's going
to pay up more in the trade. And it's just
knowing that stuff about your opponents that just so it's
a great point by Tom.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
I also like when I could take advantage of it
the other way, Like I'm pretty down on Zay Flowers,
this year. But because I'm a Ravens fan, anybody that
he's talking to me about the Ravens or is in
a league drafting with me, is like, oh, I gotta
get Zay before word does.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Because he loves the Ravens, please go go right ahead.
I happily pass on him this year.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
So I once gave some last year somebody like dms
me and asked, you know what I thought about Derrick
Henry and I think it was in a trade or something,
and I gave my opinion that I was really high,
and I said, very tongue in cheek, but I am
a Ravens fan. And then the guy literally followed up
with would you mind asking your other coworkers so I
can get an unbuiased opinion?

Speaker 2 (34:18):
And I was like, well, no, I'm giving you my
real opinion.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
I just also I was I was being joking, but yeah,
sometimes you could take advantage of it the other way too, Jake.
Let's go to your number three.

Speaker 4 (34:28):
Yeah, this comes back to something. It kind of ties
into some of the things we've said already. But don't
buy all the risk. And when I say buy all
the risk is buying players. And of course first two
three rounds is tough not to do it because there's
not much room to improve from there. But we're doing
this show and we're not talking about a lot of players,
but all on the shows leading up to this and
for the rest of the preseason from July and through August,

(34:50):
we're gonna be talking about players. Then I'll probably get
echoed on these shows by people with Fantasy pros it,
I'll get echoed on other podcasts or other sites that
you might visit and listen to. And the problem is is,
because there's so much content out there, you kind of
get like industry, and I mean industry is like us
the people or whatever, like kind of a group think.

(35:11):
Like you'll see some and I don't know any names
off the top of my head, so I'm not coming
for anybody, but you'll see some people that will start
to move their players based on things they've heard from
other intelligent people that they respect. So you kind of
get like a group think in the industry, which leads
to group think in your leagues. It's like, oh my gosh,
I got it. You know, Tom brought up Caleb Williams before,
Like Caleb Williams comes out hot and then you know,

(35:34):
they start getting to the preseason and everything looks great
with Ben Johnson and the reports are glowing and everything,
and then it's like, oh my god, gotta get Kleb Williams.
Gotta get Kia Williams. Got and then all of a sudden,
kayle Williams is going off the board as the sixth
quarterback in the draft, and like, where is the upside
return on Caleb Williams Because you bought he now has
to be the breakout that anybody thought he could be
just to return the value of the cost you placed,

(35:56):
let alone positive return value. So that's why I say
don't buy all the risks, because there will be players,
probably ten to twenty of them every single year where
they get so hyped that their cost ends up being
prohibitive on trying to get any return on value.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
Tom, what do you think about these guys who you know,
helium kind of makes it the risk?

Speaker 3 (36:15):
I love that, yeah, And it is yeah, because we
just we see even fly up and like how many
years in a row have we seen Chiefs running back?
Two is getting all the touches in camp, and like
and then it turns into nothing. I mean, like generic
Prince was such a hot name to talk about last summer,
and I haven't heard his name whatsoever this year, Like

(36:36):
he's completely gone. So like learning to take shots at
risk where you feel like it warrants it and where
the profile fits is massive and not taking too much
of it is a great point because redraft is so
much about finding a high floor as much as anything,
Like how many weeks do you go through the season

(36:57):
and it's like I just needed ten more points there,
I just need five more points there, rather than saying, well,
if all this had worked out, then I would have
scored like two hundred points and been fifty points clear
of anyone. Like it doesn't do you that many favors.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
Tom, Let's stick with you for your number two tip.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
So this one is usually last pick to get ahead
of the waivers. And this is particularly useful if you're
drafting a few weeks before the season starts, like I've
had my home league is drafted in July previously, just
because we can get together any weekends through August and
then other weeks where it's like, you know you're drafting
middle of August, ready to start when the league starts.

(37:36):
So if you have kickers or defense, then I'm absolutely
not drafting them unless I have to. I'm not drafting
a second tight end. I'm not drafting a second quarterback
in single QB. What I want to do at that
point is start taking some shots at some of the
guys who could rise in ADP, who are starting to
get a steady drum beat, who look to be getting

(37:58):
playing time with first in preseason, or in the case
of a team like the Rams, aren't playing whatsoever. Those
are the guys. But I want to be trying to
pick up at the back end of my draft rather
than having to battle it out on waivers, because we know,
come week one, if those guys go out there and
have like Puku Nakua Kaien Williams type week one, or

(38:21):
go back to like James Robinson, then somebody in your
league might be willing to drop sixty seventy percent of
the fab on it. And I don't want to be
battling like that. I would much rather try and take
a few shots in the draft, and then if I
end up having to drop a bunch of people, I'm
sure that I can get replacement level production for those
last few spots.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
I think what Tom is saying is to draft and
Eric Prince with your final pick.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
Yeah, but that was absolutely it.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
Jake, how do you approach these final picks? Do you
do the same thing.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
I think that's a really smart thing to do. Also,
it kind of leeds into the regular season. David Ganos,
who's in the Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame, used to
do an article for us over at the Athletic and
it was the for next week, and it's like kind
of like it's the same thought process as those last
few draft picks. It's like, Okay, do I have something
and it's gonna tie into my very last one, So

(39:09):
I'm trying not to spoil too much of my last
piece of advice, but like, what does this person do
on my bench for me potentially next week? Is there
a path where next week, like, okay, you bring up
funny enough, Like let's just say we'll use then airprist.
Let's say he was clearly the number two running back
sitting on waivers behind Asaea Pacheco, and he's still out
there even in week two. It's like think of it

(39:31):
that way as like, Okay, if Pa Checko gets hurt
on Sunday, everybody's gonna go nuts.

Speaker 5 (39:35):
For this guy.

Speaker 4 (39:36):
And I think that's actually on Sunday mornings is really
important too. Like, maybe you have somebody on your bench
as your fifth wide receiver because there's an injury risk
and you don't know if the guy is going to
be playing, and then he actually does, get rid of
that fifth wide receiver. Go pick up Marshaw Lloyd for
the Packers just in case Josh Jacobs gets hurt, and
it like, so it's not just the draft, it's like,
use that final bench spot or two, which again is

(39:58):
going to lead into my main point that it's say
for last, but use that spot to get ahead of
the waivers and beat everybody to the punch. So instead
of spending ninety in FAB, maybe you're spending one dollar
in FAB.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
You know, I really should have full of that point
considered an I've right look ahead waivers post for each Sunday.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
Yeah, yeah, I should have been in front of mine
for you. I know I already talked about a draft intel,
but I do want to let everybody know about Draft
assistant in general. Draft Assistant helps you make the best
decisions during your fantasy draft. It connects directly to your
draft and provides both real time, pick suggestions and estimations
on which players might get taken before your next pick.
Draft Assistant fully integrates your customized cheat sheets and suggests

(40:37):
picks based on your rankings, team build, ADP and other
factors dominate your draft in real time without the guest.
Work with Draft Assistant at fantasypros dot com, slash Assistant
or on the Fantasy Football Draft Wizard app. All right, Jake,
you've got two left here? What's your number two tip?

Speaker 4 (40:52):
Yeah, this one probably gonna feel obvious these days at
this point for everybody watching this show, but it's still
it's important enough to worth mentioned for everybody is to
use tiers. And the reason why we talk about them
and the reason we put players in tiers is not
giving like, oh, these guys are all the same, Like, yeah,
that's part of the point. But part of the point
is because they're the same, it helps you make these
tougher decisions in your draft because you can sit there

(41:15):
and say, oh, RB fifteen versus Wide Receiver eighteen, like,
who's really better for my team? Well, if Wide Receiver
eighteen is the last wide receiver in the tier, but
RB fifteen, there's still six other guys in the tier
with him, and you're up again in five picks, Well,
then you should take the wide receiver because you're gonna
have to jump into that next tier when it comes
back around if you want the wide receiver, whereas you're

(41:36):
probably still in the same rage as running backs. And
that's really what it comes down to is trying to
get it kind of ties into the tiers. What I
talk about with the quarterbacks and the tight ends. It's
trying to get similar value at the least cost possible
and build your team the proper way.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
This is also a great opportunity to mention the cheat
Sheet Creator, where you can make your own tiers on
the Fantasy Pro site so you don't have to follow.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
The tiers of whatever site you're using.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
Man, those are just a podcast advertisement basically.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
Yeah, pretty much.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
It's hard not to mention them when you guys are
given these tips because our tools can do this. So yeah,
check check out the Chee Cheek Creator everybody too. And
sorry for.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
Those who hate the uh the promos, but it's just
too such a low hanging fruit.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
But yeah, I mean using tears is like uh not,
I wouldn't like frame it as a no brainer because
I don't want to make it seem like, oh, it's
too obvious, but like it definitely is like the smartest
way to approach your draft. I think, like for sure,
if you're if you are not. And again it doesn't
have to be I said it jokingly, but you should
have your kind of own tiers of comfort and what
you're looking for. It doesn't have to be just oh,

(42:41):
I'm drafting on Yahoo, so where do they have kind
of the breakdowns or or ESPN or whatever it is
that you're doing it. You should come up with your
own tiers and the guys that if they're the last
ones in the tier on the clock, you want to
make sure you get. You should know that ahead of
time rather than trying to determine it during the draft.

Speaker 5 (42:58):
Before you toss it to Tom.

Speaker 4 (43:00):
I just thought of something too, is especially like this
comes into value and I think might get overlooked because
not enough people play this way. But in auctions too,
because a lot of times you'll see and everybody's who's
been in an auction has probably experienced it is like, oh,
you know, I get Derreck Henry He went for thirty.
Jonathan Taylor went for twenty eight. Christian McCaffrey. He went
for thirty two, and all of a sudden, you know,

(43:20):
Bucky Irving's the last running back in that tier, and
all of a sudden, Bucky Irving goes for thirty seven
because everybody wants to make sure they got the running
back inside the top twelve, and everybody else is like
James Connor level, and then you end up spending money
way worse than you possibly ever could have been in
a draft, in an auction draft, because you weren't paying
attention to all of a sudden, oh my god, it's
the last good running back that I wanted to get.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
It's a great point.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
It's important in both formats, but in that format especially,
it comes into play even more. And you're right, everybody
who has played in that kind of format has been
burned at some point in like, oh, I should have
gotten a guy earlier. I shouldn't have saved the money
because now he's the last one. Everybody knows it and
they're going for way more. How do you use tiers
in your draft?

Speaker 3 (44:02):
Yeah, I mean I'm a big believer obviously, Like it's
easy for us to say that we rely on rankings
and tiers and stuff. But I think that tiers, even
if you aren't putting together your own rankings, it's easy
to take something like the expert consensus rankings and just
go through and just underline where you feel that you've
got tiers, unless you want to use for tier cheat sheet,

(44:23):
but it's very easy to print them off and then
just go That is the point where I do not
want any of the next four or five guys beneath
that player, and it can make life a lot easier
when you are on the clock. It's such a no
brainer for me that I can't imagine drafting, particularly a
live draft, without it.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
Yeah, one hundred percent and like and to the point
about making your own you know, if you look at
the tiers, I'm just telling you right now.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
Let's say I'm really down on Amara Saint Brown this year.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
When I'm looking at Tier two of the overall players,
it's Pooka, Malik Amorat Nico and Nasha Genty. I want
to know going in that, Okay, there are five guys
in this tier, but I actually don't even really like
one of them. So now it's I do like Saint Brown.
But I'm just using an example where you want to
know your own like who am I actually comfortable taking
in this range of the draft, and who are the

(45:10):
guys that I would prefer not to take here. So
all right, we have one final tip from each of you.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
Tom, what do you got?

Speaker 5 (45:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (45:17):
So this again, I mean, I hate to set you
up for another plug worm, but leverage ADP wherever that's
through the expert consensus rankings. Consensus ADP just being able
to take a look at the inefficiencies of platforms. Like
last year, I did a video series which was just
looking at the worst and best picks for each individual platforms,

(45:38):
and the differences between platforms are so incredibly wild, even
if they've got similar scoring. Like NFL's Fantacy platform last
year had the San Francisco forty nine is defense going
in round six as an ADP, and I have no
idea how they ended up there, but they were there
for a good month of drafts being open. So looking
across where the value use on you, you know, you

(46:01):
compare that against VCR and see where your favorite analysts
rankings bring up those players and look and then comparing
it to ADP and saying, okay, well, that seems like
a complete bargain. Maybe I don't need to reach thirty
picks ahead of ADP, but maybe if I'm reaching around
ahead of it, then that's still a great pick.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
Yeah, the ADP in whatever platform you're on is going
to look very similar to the rankings in the draft
room or whatever platform you're on. People are just naturally
anchored to the numbers they see besides those names, and
it's it's you know, a lot of casual users, but
also even I'm not going to say like industry experts
or anything, but like it is just natural for your

(46:42):
brain to want to kind of match the ranking that
the platform is telling you these guys should be going in.
So it's one of the best things you can do
every single year is familiarize yourself with with the ADP
and rankings in the system you're on and what the
key difference is the player, Because you're right, you'll see
these sometimes, like between ESPN and I Who, there will
be like a thirty or forty spot gap between certain

(47:04):
players that you really like, and it's just because on
that platform, for whatever reason, the rankings haven't moved and
the ADP doesn't change, and then it just kind of
gets stuck there. By the time you get to mid August. So, uh,
this is extremely smart. Yeah, like fantasypros dot com slash rankings,
if you want to see the expert consensus rankings, you
know consensus ADP data on there. But yes, just whatever
platform you're on, find those differences before draft day and

(47:27):
you will be the guy who takes somebody and then
everybody goes, oh, they didn't even appear in my window
on my scroll down. They're like, oh, I forgot I
was going to take this person, but I forgot about it.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Yes, scrolling down going to page two.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
If that's the way the draft room is set up
is very very smart.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Jake, how do you use ADP?

Speaker 4 (47:45):
Yeah, one hundred percent, and like it even ties to
like if you don't want to use consensus in your
or you do, but you want to use it on
a specific three analyst or you know, like to teut
myself for a second, like maybe like I just want
Jake's ranks. I'm not saying I'm just presenting it to
make my argument here is that like just because I
have somebody or another expert on the ADP, you or
the ECR consensus has somebody thirty spots over doesn't mean

(48:09):
you have to take them there like that's why that's
the other piece of the ADP that comes into play.
It's like, oh, all right, clearly they see something here
and are saying, like, you know, this player is where
he would be at the end of the season, where
his rankings or whatever it might be. But I know
I can still wait a full round and a half
and still getting before anybody else is taking them, and
not buying all the risk, but still getting the player
you want to get over the consensus. So I'm glad

(48:32):
you brought that up because also I'm going to bring
it up with my final pick, as I actually just
did a CBS mock with Jamie Eisenberg and I took
Justin Fields referenced him earlier in the show.

Speaker 5 (48:40):
I took him in the ninth round.

Speaker 4 (48:42):
I had to scroll down the quarterbacks to get him
because CBS did not have them as one of the
eight best quarterbacks still on the board, even the fact
that four quarterbacks had already gone, so he's outside the
top twelve and I'm like, no, this is dumb. I
need to scroll down to find them. So this exact
point of like it just came into play for me
earlier today.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
Yeah, And before we get to your final point, Jake,
I want to make another point on the ADP, which
is like, obviously within reason, you don't want to be crazy.
You don't want to take a guy like sixty spots earlier,
you know, around eight value in round two just because
he's your guy and you really want him. That would
be an insane waste of resources. But in general, the
idea that ADP is a myth and you can just

(49:21):
get the guys you want on your team. If we're
talking around maybe two, depending on the player and where
in the draft, you are just get the guys that
you like. You're gonna be kicking yourself if you really,
let's say you do really like Zay Flowers and you're like, listen,
I like him so much. He's going in the sixth round.
I think he should be a fifth rounder. But I
just can't go against ADP and go against his value.

(49:43):
It wouldn't be smart drafting to take him. Then he
goes somewhere else and he has his breakout season, You're
gonna be.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
So upset because you knew it was coming.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
You wanted to take him, and you didn't just be
willing to pull the trigger and take the guys that
you want again within reason, there is a rage where
it begins to be kind of insane, but toa the
guys you want don't don't worry.

Speaker 5 (50:02):
From last year.

Speaker 4 (50:03):
And I like Brian Thomas had as a fifth round
value which actually undersold him last year. And but his ADP,
you guys remember this was like ninth tenth round and
everywhere I was, I was taking him this seventh to
make sure I got him. So like you can to
your point where I'm so you can do both sides
of It's like know that, like, okay, the ADP has
this enormous gap and I can still take them well

(50:24):
over ADP to make sure I get them, but also
not doing it at a sane rate one percent.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
All right, let's wrap up with your number one tip, Jake.

Speaker 4 (50:31):
Yeah, And it just came at the play, and I
think this is gonna I'm gonna bring in some names
for this is don't waste your bench. And that's why
I was trying not to lean into too much with
Tom's previous point and kind of echoing what he said.
But I see too often that people waste their bench.
And where I say waste their bench. Is like, the
first two spots on your bench are going to be
good players. Like I say that all the time, Like
it's hard not to be like the first and I'm

(50:51):
going to reference that draft, but it's for the reason
not to be like, Haja, look at my team, but
the first two players on my bench in that draft
were Roma Dunes and Brian Robinson. Those are if you're
playing in a two flex league, those are drafted players
that might even be starting on some teams. That's those
are good players. But after that, the rest of my bench,
Jalen Wright, Tyler Alzier, Trey Harris, Jaden Higgins, what is

(51:14):
that breakout potential, breakout potential, injury breakout potential, injury breakout potential.
And that's what I'm saying is like the other four
spots are much better. And I hate to come for
two of your guys, but they were drafted in these
last three rounds. Justice Hill Overshad Bateman. Where is the upside? Like,
if something happens to Derrick Henry, we've seen Justice Hill.
He is going to what Tom's point earlier, he is

(51:35):
going to be part of some time share. He's not
going to all of a sudden be a top twenty
running back. Rashad Bateman? What is Rashad Bateman?

Speaker 3 (51:41):
Ever?

Speaker 5 (51:42):
Like you hope you get a touchdown? You hope he's
your wide receiver.

Speaker 4 (51:45):
Four in the week, another one that went in the arrange,
I won't just come for your ravens.

Speaker 5 (51:48):
Is Romeo Dobbs.

Speaker 4 (51:49):
Like, I'm sorry, Romeo Dobbs, but like eight point five,
eight point two of the last two years, do you
know how many times Romeo Dobbs has hit twenty points
in the fantasy season In the game zero, he doesn't
even have a c And that's the thing is, like,
why is Romeo Dobbs on your bench?

Speaker 5 (52:03):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (52:03):
Because you might have a by to slide the manager
wide receiver four? No, get rid of those guys. You
want guys that could potentially be top twenty, twenty five
thirty at wide receiver and running back again after those
first two if you're in a deeper league, Okay, maybe
Romeo Dobbs actually needs to be there, but you get
My point is that.

Speaker 5 (52:20):
Those first two spots pretty good players.

Speaker 4 (52:23):
Those next four upside, upside, upside, and again upside, which
ties into Tom's point about using that last pick and
looking at waivers and trying to jump ahead of everybody else.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
Yeah, I think it's really worth emphasizing the difference between
value and upside because I do think with this later
on picks like and it's not just upside overall, it's
weak to week upside. It's I whan a guy who
like realistically could could help me win an individual week
because it is a week to week game. Like Rashaw Baatemen,
he's wide receiver fifty six right now, just these examples
he brought up for Shabaatemen is wide receiver fifty six,

(52:55):
Justice Hill is running back sixty two. I'm actually reasonably
confident that if those guys stay healthy, they are going
to outperform those values, but it won't be in a
way that helps.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
You win their league.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
But they are if they're yet if they're wide receiver
forty you know eight and running back fifty one. Yes,
those are technically values where you got them, but that
doesn't mean they're going to help you win your league.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
Like some of these other guys who may.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
May fall lower than they are but then could actually
be real league winners if the situation changes or circumstance
you know, ends up in their favor, So I think
it's a great call to highlight the difference really between
upside and value. Tom, what does your bench typically look
like by the time you're done with the draft?

Speaker 3 (53:31):
I end up quite often going running back heavy for
my bench, and that's because it's just it's so easy
to understand which of them have roles, which of them
have the potential to a role, and which of them
are going to be relevant enough for me to use
them quite quickly into the season. So I'm always willing
to take shots on RB twos or rookie running backs,

(53:52):
and even if it means they don't have much wide
receive a depth for my bench. Well, generally, speaking to
the wide receivers i'm drafting, I'm hoping that they're going
to be good enough to carry me to the bye
week anyway.

Speaker 5 (54:03):
Oh you know what, Sorry, I want to jump in.

Speaker 4 (54:06):
You're about to say quarterback? Was Tom said this earlier
that you just hit me with this one. One of
the biggest wastes I see people do is drafting Lamar
Jackson and then not only drafting a second quarterback, because
you are never using that second quarterback except for Lamar
Jackson's by week that is the only time he's ever
getting in your lineup. But so far so is that
they do that And like you said, the Caleb Williams,

(54:27):
it's not even like the Kile Williams. They'll draft guys
that don't even run, which what is the upside? Like
Jared Golf is your second Why the hell did you
take a top five quarterback and then draft Jared Golf
just because he's still there in the fifteenth round, Like.

Speaker 5 (54:40):
That is one of the biggest wastes of running or
bench space I ever see in my life.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
Yeah, you shouldn't.

Speaker 1 (54:47):
And I've seen some people justify a move like that
by saying, well, I just couldn't let somebody it was
too good a value. I didn't want somebody else to
get him this lay. I'm like, I live on your
own team, and like like I like, make make your
team better, not your don't make your team more valuable? Right,
Like what will be the we will put your best
starting lineup week in and week out out here, It's

(55:08):
not whatever is giving you like, oh I won the
draft in terms of value based on what the ADP
was or what consensus thought.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
It's what will give you the best chance to win.
That's what matters to the end.

Speaker 4 (55:19):
I'll tell you what, if y'all who are ESPN gives
you an A on your draft, you probably did it wrong.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
And I see this with with with trading too, which
is a little bit of a different conversation than we're
talking about, but like I'll see it all the time
where people will say, like, well, I need to win
this trade. But even if you are sometimes taking a
value hit, your team is now better if you have
eight amazing wide receivers and no good running backs. If
technically you're getting a value decrease in the receiver you're

(55:46):
trading for a running back, it still gives you a
better lineup to put out there. That's like kind of
the N season version of the same idea, which is
your goal is to give yourself the best team possible
and the best chance to win that That should really
be your only goal in the draft. It is not
to win the draft. It is not to have everybody
walk away saying did you see all the values that
guy got? It's win to win the league. So that's

(56:07):
kind of my final thought. Do you guys have any
final thoughts here? I know we just throw out a
bunch of tips. But Jake, any kind of last thought
before we wrap.

Speaker 4 (56:13):
Up, I'll go back to trading one more time, and
I'll say this, it didn't really fall into my top six.
But for trading in general, I don't feel like happens enough,
mostly because people are scared. But here's the biggest part
of it. I don't even think it's people are scared,
like you said, they don't want to look like the idiot,
Like I can't believe I lose one on probably one
out of four trades I make like it just happens like.

Speaker 5 (56:32):
But the thing is is be active.

Speaker 4 (56:35):
Everybody playing fantasy, well not every ninety percent of the
people playing fantasy are lazy with trades. They say they
put they use the trade block on all these apps
because they want people to come to them. They don't
want to put in the effort. They're just looking for
somebody to come into their inbox. And then how many
times have the people listening. Are you guys even with
me right now? Have you seen a trade go down?
And you'll be like, I would have given more, I

(56:56):
would have done more than like. It's because people sit
on there and they don't try to talk to people.
Don't try to get the conversation going, what do you
need in trades? What do you think of this one?
This is why I always thinking be more active, just
put in the effort, and you were going to be
a better trader and have a better team at the
end of it.

Speaker 1 (57:12):
It's such a great point, and I like use the
word laziness like that that might be right. I don't
know what the right word is, but like there's there's
just no willingness to Hey, I'm gonna look at my team.
I'm gonna look at your team. I'm gonna find a
deal that makes sense for both of us. It's just like, hey,
I'm interested in maybe moving this guy. Let come to
me with your best offer. Okay, like that that's not

(57:33):
a give and take. This is this supposed to be
a negotiation. It's not supposed to be like, let me
blow you away with this offer just so you can
go brag about how you got so much value for
this player.

Speaker 3 (57:42):
So it's also like, once you see one trade go
down in a league, how often do you then see
a glove of trades. It's like, yeah, you make in
that can really spur people into action. Other people will
see that you're making a trade, and then other people
will be like, hey, ever anyone else on my team
that you fancy, Like, making trades in general just helps
the league becomes so much more active, And.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
I would say, to this point this will be almost
becoming like a trade advice show. But like, I think
it's really important and I always talk about this on
the dynasty side, but it is also true in the
redraft side. It's really important to be good at self
evaluation and know what your team is actually good at
or what isn't. So like I run into this on
the dynasty side with like people who really should be rebuilding,

(58:23):
Like it's very obvious they have like two good pieces
they should be trading for as much as they can get.
But then they're like, well, no, I'm trying to win
this year. I'm like that lack of self scouting is
going to hurt you in the long run. And it's
the same thing in the redraft. You need to know
like hey, I actually am weak at this spot and
it would benefit me to make a deal, or I'm
overly strong at this spot and I have too much
depth here and it would behove me to make a deal.

(58:45):
Like that ability to self scout I think is really
undervalued in fantasy.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
In general, but it is really important.

Speaker 4 (58:52):
I see people too unwilling to give up the best
player because it's the best. Meanwhile, their rosters constructed like
the Giants, it's Molik Neighbors and nobody else. And it's like, well,
you're not going to win this league with only two
good players. You need to you know, I understand you
don't want to give up Malik Neighbors, but at the
same time, the only way you're making the playoffs is buy.

Speaker 5 (59:12):
A better constructed team.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Everybody's afraid to get screenshot at Oh, can you believe
I bought this tray?

Speaker 2 (59:17):
You know what a loser? U tom. Anyfinal thoughts will wrap.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
Up, Yeah, nothing quite as deep as some of the
stuff we talked about, but just particularly if you're in
a home league, just enjoy it. Like I think it's
so easy to go to live drafts or being drafts
where people are so so desperately worried about making a
bad pick, and it's like, for all the reasons we've
talked about tonight, like you can recover from making a

(59:42):
bad pick and enjoying it is what this is all about.
Like and you know, getting your guys where it works,
getting the guys with upside and being at a steaky claims.
That's all what this comes back to. And sometimes maybe
we just lose track of that enough. And it's just
a timely reminder to enjoy it, but don't get don't
get too drunk.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Sits up, make a quote unquote bad pick, and then
if it pans out, you get to just rub it
in the face of everybody who laughed at you for
the next four.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
Months, and that is super fun. Yeah. Yeah, it's all
about having fun at the end of the day.

Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
And you know, we might know more than the average
person because we put a lot of time and effort
into this as our careers, but at the end of
the day, we.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Don't have crystal balls.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Right, you should just go out and get the players
you want to root for that you think are going
to help you win the league, and have fun and
you know, have conviction, and yeah, enjoy it. You're you're
doing this with friends and family, maybe co workers, and
have a good time.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
I think that's a great note to end it on.
So we will go ahead and wrap up.

Speaker 1 (01:00:37):
There lots of good advice in this one, even beyond
just draft ding, some trading advice in there as well.
Thanks everybody for tuning in. For Tom and Jake, I'm
Ryan Warmley.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
We'll see again next time.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast.
If you love the show, the best free way to
support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple
podcasts at Fantasypros dot com, slash review, or on Spotify.
Follow us on x, Instagram and TikTok at Fantasy Pros,
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slash Fantasy Pros

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FantasyPros - Top 12 Draft Tips to DOMINATE Your 2025 Fantasy Football League (Ep. 1612)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}FantasyPros - Top 12 Draft Tips to DOMINATE Your 2025 Fantasy Football League (Ep. 1612)