Fantasy football is hard.
Yes, you need a bit of luck. Ideally, you need healthy players. If possible, you need to avoid the highest-scoring opponent in your league every single week. (I'm definitely not speaking from personal pain.) But ultimately, you need to put together a successful draft -- and properly play the waiver wire and trade market in-season.
It's just not easy.
Last season, Christian McCaffrey and Tyreek Hill were consensus top-two picks in fantasy. McCaffrey was absent the first two months with Achilles tendinitis, showed up for four relatively lackluster games, and then missed the rest of the season with a knee sprain. Meanwhile, Hill played a full 17 games but busted to a baffling degree, finishing with 959 receiving yards and six touchdowns as the fantasy WR18. Meanwhile, some of 2024's best players -- like Brock Bowers (TE1) and Baker Mayfield (QB4) -- were drafted after the first eight rounds.
So, what do you do? Well, you've come to the right place. In fact, I've got nine things you should do … and nine more you shouldn't. This is the third annual edition of my fantasy football DOs and DON'Ts column, and it's got just about everything you need to prepare for the challenging rigors of your own fantasy draft.
Buckle up, grab some popcorn, hold onto your hats, deploy some other random idiom about preparation ... I'll see you in Week 17 for the 'ship (because, bonus tip, you should never have your title match in Week 18).
NOTE: Discussions of rounds, ADPs, etc. are based on 12-team PPR leagues, using NFL.com ADP.
DO ...
... have a plan. It sounds obvious, and if you're reading this, I imagine you're already on board. But you'd be surprised how many fantasy managers show up to the draft with a one-page cheat sheet, a Todd Gurley jersey and a dream. Fantasy drafts are complex battlegrounds, and if you go in without a solid strategy, you'll end up panic-picking by Round 6. Instead, get to know the relevant rankings, average draft position (ADP), positional scarcity, league tendencies and everything you can to build a solid blueprint for the chaos to come. Oh, and read the next 17 tips.
... be familiar with the new NFL landscape. Did you know Aaron Rodgers is now quarterbacking the Pittsburgh Steelers? That Davante Adams now plays for the Rams? That the Raiders' RB1 is a rookie drafted sixth overall? OK, you probably know the major offseason headlines … but have you factored in the fantasy implications of former Lions offensive wizard Ben Johnson departing to coach the Bears, or former Bucs OC Liam Coen becoming the HC in Duuuuuval? If you haven't paid careful attention to the league since January, you might not notice some of the more fantasy-relevant comings and goings ... and that will be to your detriment. One great place for a summary on every team: Cynthia Frelund's division-by-division projection videos.
... follow the volume. Last year, the top five running backs in scrimmage touches all finished in the top seven at the position in fantasy points. All six of the wideouts with 150-plus targets were top 10 in fantasy by season's end. Opportunity is king in fantasy football. Finding the rosters where opportunity tells a promising story is a key component of smart drafting. One example in 2025: Neither Tank Dell (injury) nor Stefon Diggs (signed with the Patriots) is in line to play for the Texans this season, which means someone must step up behind Nico Collins in the receiver corps. The team picked up two Iowa State wideouts on Day 2 of the draft -- Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel -- and I'd bet at least one of them has a breakout year.
... invest in ascending offenses. Everyone knows the Eagles and Bengals are going to churn out points and yards, and their star players are priced accordingly. The real value comes from upside offenses primed to outperform expectations. Last year, the Falcons and Commanders were far better on offense than they had been in 2023. They also gave us the RB3 (Bijan Robinson), WR5 (Drake London), WR7 (Terry McLaurin) and QB5 (Jayden Daniels), with the latter three names returning massive value relative to draft cost. My favorite teams to target in 2025: the Chicago Bears (with new play-caller Ben Johnson) and Jacksonville Jaguars (with new play-caller Liam Coen).
... go for "elite" or "fringe" players at the onesie positions. This is one of the most specific tips in the entire column, but it feels uniquely fitting in 2025 drafts. Both quarterback and tight end have sifted into similar tiers for this season: a small, elite group at the top, a smattering of known commodities with question marks after that, and then a few discount values at the fringe of QB1/TE1 range. I'm (mostly) avoiding the middle group at both spots. At quarterback, that means snagging Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts, or Joe Burrow (the Elite Five) OR waiting on someone like Dak Prescott or Justin Fields, while avoiding names like Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff in between. At tight end, it means locking in Brock Bowers, Trey McBride and George Kittle (the Elite Three) OR waiting for Evan Engram or rookie Tyler Warren several rounds later (while happily passing on Sam LaPorta, Mark Andrews and Travis Kelce).
... stuff your bench with league-winning upside. Last August, deep in the double-digit rounds, many faced a choice between Khalil Herbert, a perennially middling backup RB in a suspect offense, and Bucky Irving, a fourth-round rookie with a shot at the starting RB job for the Bucs. If you picked Herbert, you got the RB99. If you picked Irving, you got the RB13 (and the RB6 over the second half of the season). Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but the point is, it's (usually) better to shoot for upside in the unknowns. Aim to draft potential league-winners. The names in this section last year included Chase Brown and Brian Thomas Jr. For 2025, take a long look at this group: Ricky Pearsall, Emeka Egbuka, Cam Skattebo, Tank Bigsby, Tyler Warren (again) and Trevor Lawrence.
... handcuff running backs -- from other managers' teams. If you read this tip last year, you might have picked up Jordan Mason before CMC's two-month season-opening absence commenced. And while Mason suffered his own injury midway through the campaign, he was a fantasy revelation for several weeks. This is the simplest way to follow the "league-winning upside" tip above. Injuries are unfortunately common in this sport, and a handful of backups will be starting by October. A few of the top names to know in 2025: Ray Davis (BUF), Braelon Allen (NYJ), Trey Benson (ARI) and Tahj Brooks (CIN).
... target rookies. Last year continued the ever-blossoming trend of rookie relevance, with three rookie wide receivers, two rookie quarterbacks and a rookie tight end all finishing top-12 at their positions in Year 1 (including the TE1 overall). The league has been steadily shifting in this direction in recent years, and fantasy managers need to take notice. Rookie RBs Ashton Jeanty, Omarion Hampton, TreVeyon Henderson and RJ Harvey are all worth drafting in the early rounds. Wide receivers Tetairoa McMillan, Travis Hunter and Matthew Golden are worth considering in the middle rounds, and both Tyler Warren (earning recognition in a third tip so far) and Colston Loveland might have value down the stretch at tight end.
... draft players you like. As always, it's important to remember fantasy football should be fun. When Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays (and sometimes Fridays and Saturdays) roll around, it's more enjoyable when the players you'd root for naturally are also putting up points for your fantasy squad. I'm a Patriots fan and believe TreVeyon Henderson is a superstar in the making. I will be drafting accordingly. (Ideally, his preseason highlights will fade into memory to the point that his price is not any further inflated.)
So now that you know what to do, you're good to go, right? Wrong. There's a whole lot of potential pitfalls in the course of a fantasy draft, and avoiding catastrophic mistakes is just as crucial as executing the strategic "DO's."
DON'T ...
... overplan. Wait, what? Didn't I just write a thousand words telling you to have a plan? Which one is it? Both, dear reader. You should have a thoughtful approach to your draft (as per all the other tips). But that doesn't necessarily mean "start RB-RB-WR-TE" or "draft your QB specifically between Picks 83 and 107," or "Kyle Pitts, no matter what!" Take-lock strategies are a surefire way to set yourself up for "draft tilt," when someone inevitably snipes your player or derails your plan. Be fluid and flexible, let the draft come to you, and then lean on your preparation to help you execute in the moment.
... let recency bias reign. As a human being (unless you're an alien reading this, in which case, welcome), you're hard-wired to prioritize recency bias. "What has a player done (or not done) for me lately?" Flush that mindset. Situations change, injuries heal and talent (usually) wins out. Last year, I highlighted Josh Jacobs and Aaron Jones as bounce-back candidates, and both thrived in their new homes with top-15 finishes among running backs. In 2025, I really like Jordan Love, Christian McCaffrey, Kenneth Walker III, DK Metcalf, Jaylen Waddle, Jake Ferguson and Deebo Samuel to wipe away poor 2024 showings with major fantasy comebacks. Don't be caught napping.
... buy the "injury-prone" narrative. With rare exceptions, players are not injury-prone just because they've missed games in multiple seasons. Many NFL injuries are freak accidents, not the product of brittle bones or imbalanced hamstrings. James Conner earned that label after seven incomplete seasons in the league ... then played 16 games and finished as the RB11 in fantasy last season. (I even included him in last year's version of this blurb, along with George Kittle.) A few players who have struggled with injury in the past that I'm drafting in 2025 include Christian McCaffrey, Kenneth Walker III and Dak Prescott.
... be afraid to buck the trends. If you have the 1.01 and don't take Ja’Marr Chase, your league will probably laugh at you. And fair enough; he's as foolproof a top pick as you'll see. But consider this: Six straight consensus 1.01 picks have missed at least five games in the ensuing season, and the last guy to repeat as the WR1 overall was Antonio Brown a decade ago. "Consensus" does not always mean "right" or even "best." I wouldn't shame anyone for taking CeeDee Lamb, Bijan Robinson or even CMC at 1.01, nor would I shame you for taking Drake Maye three rounds ahead of his ADP or drafting multiple Packers wideouts in the middle rounds, hoping to hit on one. If there's anything we know for sure in fantasy football, it's that we don't really know much at all.
... fear bad offenses -- in all cases. Ideally, you want to target the best players on the best offenses, but those are in limited supply. Landing the high-volume anchors of iffy offenses can be an underrated consolation. In 2024, Alvin Kamara was the PPR RB9 on one of the league's worst offenses, and Breece Hall was even better on an even worse squad the year before. As you may have guessed, three-down running backs are the best pieces to target on these teams -- players like TreVeyon Henderson and Tony Pollard come to mind for 2025.
... avoid RBBCs (running back by committee). That's right, DON'T avoid RBBCs. In 2024, I listed Miami, Detroit, the Los Angeles Chargers and Cincinnati as strong teams to target despite unclear RB depth charts. Those teams ended up producing five top-24 running backs, including the RB5 (De’Von Achane) and the RB10 (Chase Brown). Both players had fewer than 300 total touches on the year. Running back committees are the way of the modern NFL, and we have to evolve. For 2025, I'm once again targeting the Chargers, while adding the Jets, Broncos, Patriots and Cowboys as intriguing multi-back contenders.
... let "schedule difficulty" sway your decisions. In 2023, the Cowboys defense allowed the fifth-fewest points in the NFL and were consistently stingy to opposing fantasy stars. Last season, Dallas allowed the second-most points in the league, including the most fantasy points to quarterbacks. The NFL is ever-changing. Don't let a player's "strength of schedule" -- whether enticing or daunting -- significantly shift their place in your rankings.
... pass the positional cliffs without drafting at least one relatively safe player. At each position in fantasy, there's a "cliff" beyond which you're going to feel very uncomfortable taking your highest-rated remaining option. While there are still sleepers aplenty, confidence takes a nosedive past these marks. For me, they occur after RB18 (James Conner), WR20 (Davante Adams), TE8 (Evan Engram) and QB14 (Dak Prescott). If you can have one of each position by Round 7 or 8, you'll leave your draft feeling much more stable.
... run from risk. Embrace it. If you're happy to make your fantasy playoffs and lose in the first round, you can ignore this tip. If you're gunning for the championship (as you should be), then listen up: This is a game of risks, and you have to take big shots to win big prizes. Whether it's the sleeper you snag two rounds early or the blockbuster trade you make in Week 2, we're not here to "play it safe." Good luck. And please direct any thank you notes after you win your championship to @MattOkada on X.
