Expert DRAFTing Week 17

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DRAFT offers weekly snake draft contests with 5-man rosters (1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR/TE) with 0.5-point PPR scoring (the same as FanDuel). There is no salary cap on DRAFT which makes it unique to how you play compared to the other daily fantasy sites. Teams are built through live snake drafts that have 30-second timer per pick. The most common contest sizes are Head-to-Head, 3-Team, 6-Team, and 10-Team.

We will explore both the rankings and draft strategies for each of these four DRAFT sizes. To understand why players are ranked where they are, be sure to check out the overall rankings where I will have in-depth breakdowns of some of the top options and some personal favorites down the list. When developing these rankings we will be excluding the Thursday Night games and only focus on the main slate on DRAFT, the Sunday and Monday games.

If you want to follow me on DRAFT my username is "Eaglezzz" as I sometimes will post contests and would love to play along with fellow Footballguys like yourselves. Please feel free to contact me on Twitter with any questions or if you would like to discuss this article or draft strategies. I welcome constructive feedback on the article and as always best of luck in this week's contests.

WEEK 17 - QUICK NEWS AND NOTES

Week 17 is an interesting week as some teams are still fighting for their playoff lives, while others are battling for playoff positioning and others are completely out of the race. A lot of star players have potential to be rested this week, and because of that, we have to be careful of how we attack this week. Also this week all 32 teams are in play at DRAFT as there are no Saturday or Monday games.

Another critical area to look at is injuries as the weeks go by and in Week 17 they are starting to pile up. At quarterback, we already have Cam Newton, Carson Wentz, Marcus Mariota, and Colt McCoy listed as out or questionable. There are also a few names to worry about at the running back position this week as Todd Gurley, James Conner, Matt Breida, Austin Ekeler, Spencer Ware, Lamar Miller, Tevin Coleman, and Rashaad Penny are either out or questionable. At wide receiver, Odell Beckham, Sammy Watkins, Randall Cobb, Quincy Enunwa, Dante Pettis, Marquise Goodwin, Demaryius Thomas, Keke Coutee, Tyler Boyd, and Cordarrelle Patterson are all names to keep an eye on. These are all big names to watch as we go into the weekend and with only having to roster five players it makes it hard to draft these guys with comparable options out there. It is almost better to see your opponents selecting these players with the questionable tag as it could give you a slight edge on the week.

The popular high scoring games to target this week are going to be Oakland at Kansas City (53.5 O/U), Atlanta at Tampa Bay (51.5 O/U), and San Francisco at LA Rams (49.0 O/U).

Teams that are still fighting for the playoffs and playoff positioning include New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, Minnesota Vikings, and Philadelphia Eagles. Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Texans, LA Chargers, LA Rams, Chicago Bears, and Seattle Seahawks also are fighting for positioning.

HEAD-TO-HEAD DRAFT RANKINGS AND STRATEGY

1. Saquon Barkley RB1
2. Melvin Gordon RB2
3. Antonio Brown WR1
4. Jamaal Williams RB3
5. Tyreek Hill WR2
6. Davante Adams WR3
7. Patrick Mahomes II QB1
8. Nick Chubb RB4
9. DeAndre Hopkins WR4
10. Ben Roethlisberger QB2

For a head-to-head contest you need to look for the top 2 quarterbacks, 4 running backs, and 4 wide receivers/tight ends - For a total of 10 players. The main key to look at when drafting in H2H contests is to know what your opponent is doing. You want to watch if he takes WR/WR to start out the draft you know that you can draft your WR positions with your last two picks. Same goes if he drafts a QB or RB/RB, you know that you can leverage that information and wait at those positions.

In H2H drafts I typically come in with a game plan and like to stick closely to it, and let the other drafter I am up against decide what type of team I will build depending on their picks. Often times you will find others that like to draft their favorite team, maybe they just follow DRAFT's own projections/ADP and stick to those numbers just going down the list. I feel like this week Saquon Barkley is locked in as the top player on the slate, and after that, it is a toss up all around at the running back position with so many question marks. At quarterback, I think at quarterback both Patrick Mahomes II and Ben Roethlisberger are in good spots and you really can't go wrong with either player this week. At wide receiver, I like Antonio Brown the best in a must-win game and would follow it up with Hill, Adams, and Hopkins who all should see their full amount of snaps on Sunday.

3-TEAM DRAFT RANKINGS AND STRATEGY

1. Saquon Barkley RB1
2. Melvin Gordon RB2
3. Antonio Brown WR1
4. Jamaal Williams RB3
5. Tyreek Hill WR2
6. Davante Adams WR3
7. Patrick Mahomes II QB1
8. Nick Chubb RB4
9. DeAndre Hopkins WR4
10. Ben Roethlisberger QB2
11. Derrick Henry RB5
12. JuJu Smith-Schuster WR5
13. David Johnson RB6
14. T.Y. Hilton WR6
15. Andrew Luck QB3

For the 3-man contests, you will need to look at ranking 15 total players consisting of 3 quarterbacks, 6 running backs, and 6 wide receivers/tight ends. The priority here is the running back and wide receiver spots as quarterbacks will often fall and getting any of the quarterbacks at the end really doesn't matter much as their projections are all right in line with each other.

The best advice for drafting in 3-mans would be to come up with your solid 15 player ranking list that you feel most comfortable with and don't get frustrated if the top players that you have on that list get taken right before your pick. If you have picks 1.01 or 1.03 you will be picking at the turn and can have an advantage in following your league mates roster construction closely and be able to know when to take certain positions or if you wanted to stack players you will have an easier time doing so with back to back picks.

6-TEAM DRAFT RANKINGS AND STRATEGY

1. Saquon Barkley RB1
2. Melvin Gordon RB2
3. Antonio Brown WR1
4. Jamaal Williams RB3
5. Tyreek Hill WR2
6. Davante Adams WR3
7. Patrick Mahomes II QB1
8. Nick Chubb RB4
9. DeAndre Hopkins WR4
10. Ben Roethlisberger QB2
11. Derrick Henry RB5
12. JuJu Smith-Schuster WR5
13. T.Y. Hilton WR6
14. Andrew Luck QB3
15. David Johnson RB6
16. Julian Edelman WR7
17. Zach Ertz WR/TE8
18. Robert Woods WR9
19. Travis Kelce WR/TE10
20. Joe Mixon RB7
21. Adam Thielen WR11
22. Jaylen Samuels RB8 (Monitor James Conner's health)
23. Dalvin Cook RB9
24. Marlon Mack RB10
25. Damien Williams RB11 (Monitor Spencer Ware's health)
26. Stefon Diggs WR12
27. Sony Michel RB12
28. Deshaun Watson QB4
29. Jameis Winston QB5
30. Aaron Rodgers QB6

The running back position is weak at the top of the board this week as you have just Saquon Barkley and Melvin Gordon as the two big names to consider. After that, it takes a drop to guys like Jamaal Williams, Derrick Henry, Nick Chubb, David Johnson, Joe Mixon, and Dalvin Cook. These are all nice options but nothing seems like a clear-cut play this week so I feel if you miss out on one of the top two guys I might want to try to lock in on the next best option in Jamaal Williams, Derrick Henry or Nick Chubb. After that, I like to target Patrick Mahomes II as the top quarterback and end the draft with wide receivers.

At wide receiver, I like Antonio Brown, Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, of JuJu Smith-Schuster at the top. The position is loaded at wide receiver this week and I think it makes some sense to go RB/RB with your first two picks this week. At quarterback, it is Mahomes as the favorite and Roethlisberger next in line.

10-TEAM DRAFT RANKINGS AND STRATEGY

1. Saquon Barkley RB1
2. Melvin Gordon RB2
3. Antonio Brown WR1
4. Jamaal Williams RB3
5. Tyreek Hill WR2
6. Davante Adams WR3
7. Patrick Mahomes II QB1
8. Nick Chubb RB4
9. DeAndre Hopkins WR4
10. Ben Roethlisberger QB2
11. Derrick Henry RB5
12. JuJu Smith-Schuster WR5
13. T.Y. Hilton WR6
14. Andrew Luck QB3
15. David Johnson RB6
16. Julian Edelman WR7
17. Zach Ertz WR/TE8
18. Robert Woods WR9
19. Travis Kelce WR/TE10
20. Joe Mixon RB7
21. Adam Thielen WR11
22. Jaylen Samuels RB8 (Monitor James Conner's health)
23. Dalvin Cook RB9
24. Marlon Mack RB10
25. Damien Williams RB11 (Monitor Spencer Ware's health)
26. Stefon Diggs WR12
27. Deshaun Watson QB4
28. Jameis Winston QB5
29. Aaron Rodgers QB6
30. Brandin Cooks WR13
31. Julio Jones WR14 (Questionable)
32. Kenny Golladay WR15 (Questionable)
33. Mike Evans WR16
34. Alshon Jeffery WR17
35. Corey Davis WR18
36. Keenan Allen WR19
37. Sony Michel RB12
38. Elijah McGuire RB13
39. Gus Edwards RB14
40. Peyton Barber RB15
41. Royce Freeman RB16
42. Lamar Jackson QB7
43. Tom Brady QB8
44. Nick Foles QB9
45. Josh Adams RB17
46. James White RB18
47. Jordan Howard RB19
48. Chris Carson RB20
49. George Kittle WR/TE20
50. Kirk Cousins QB10

With the bye weeks now not an issue, you are going to have a bigger player pool to select from but this week almost feels like we have a bunch of bye weeks built in as so many big-name players are banged up. It looks like you should be able to snag a top running back this week and if you don't there are lots of RB2 types that have some nice upside this week that can be considered in rounds 2 and 3. At wide receiver, you can always seem to be able to find value late in these drafts so choosing a second receiver over your second running back seems foolish in the 10-man format. Also look to pair your final receiver spot with a quarterback in the last round to give your team a little boost.

Stacking is something you will want to look at in these 10-man leagues as you will be looking for advantages to put up big points and get on top of the leaderboard. You can look to stack a QB/WR from the same team or if you are attacking a certain game you can try to draft players from both teams. In the 10-man leagues, you are shooting to win it of course but these leagues offer top-three prizes to land in the money. Even finishing in third place out of 10 teams can be a very profitable outcome so building a team with a high floor with a couple of high ceiling type players and a possible stack can help you get there.

The 10-mans look like strong options to play this week as there is plenty of depth to go around this week at the running back and wide receiver positions and you should expect to be able to build some solid rosters because of the depth. Even with the injuries and the player status uncertainties this week it should not affect your ability to build a very competitive 10-man team this week. Follow the news closely this week if you are playing 10-mans and fine tune those 31-50 player rankings as we lead up to the start of the week.

As always best of luck in this week's DRAFTs!