The Re-Draft Roundtables Series
The Footballguys staff looks at various strategies to help you in redraft leagues.
Participating in a redraft league is a process that starts with the draft and hopefully ends with a championship. The Footballguys staff has answered several questions about various strategies to help you achieve your championship dreams. From the beginning to the end and everything in between, we've got you covered to give you the tools and knowledge needed to dominate your redraft league.
Do you draft with a winning lineup in mind for the playoffs, or is that too far in the future to plan? Explain your thought process here.
CRAIG LAKINS
Like bye weeks, I don't pay much attention to a player's playoff schedule when drafting. If anything, it's a tiebreaker for me if I'm torn between two players. It's something I start considering a few weeks into the season if I know my team is primed for a playoff run. Stashing away a player or defense with a good Week 14 match-up is a smart play.
CHAD PARSONS
I rarely plan for the playoffs in the draft. There are so many twists and turns from player health, matchups looking strong or weak, waiver wire addition, and more from August until December, it is tough to have a true coin flip decision in a draft where a bye week or late-season matchup or two determines the selection.
BEN CUMMINS
I’m drafting with this mindset in best ball since all the money is won during the playoffs, especially Week 17. Thus, I’m optimizing for upside, stacks, and game correlation. But I’m rarely thinking about these things other than favorable fantasy playoff schedules when drafting redraft teams.
JASON WOOD
No disrespect to those who say they plan for the playoffs, but empirically it's a fool's errand. Given the injuries that befall NFL rosters and the total unpredictability of opposing strength of schedule from year to year, trying to craft an optimized roster for the final few weeks almost guarantees you'll miss the playoffs because you won't have optimized for the first 13 weeks. Suppose you're in a super deep league (25+ roster spots), and the waiver wire is essentially a non-factor during the season. In that case, I think you can build your end-game roster with players you think are more likely to crest late in the season but might not help early on -- for example, some developmental rookies or players entering the season hurt.
JORDAN MCNAMARA
I draft with the intent to get a bye. Playing one less game in the playoffs is the best way to increase your odds of winning a championship. When you get to the playoffs, you have to let the chips fall where they may.
ANDY HICKS
That seems a difficult task. There are normally 13 weeks before the playoffs, so unless there is an obvious advantage in the playoffs, it is best to focus on getting there rather than presuming it’s a certainty. Season management is where you can start focusing on the playoffs when the dud teams and fantasy schedule sort themselves out. Players get injured, teams fall apart and new superstars come through the waiver wire. There seems arrogance in projecting a roster with the playoffs in mind.
CHRISTIAN WILLIAMS
Winning championships extends far beyond your draft. Even as someone who prefers not to seek trades actively, it's essential to realize that your final team will look vastly different from the one you draft. With that said, looking to the playoffs while you're drafting isn't something I do. Last year, Amon-Ra St. Brown was a constant in playoff lineups. He was undrafted primarily but rather a waiver addition later in the year. This type of instance happens every year, rendering a plan for the playoffs irrelevant.
WILL GRANT
It's nearly impossible to win your fantasy league with the draft. You have to play the waiver wire hard as well. There are just too many in-season things where someone gets hurt, a player emerges, or the schedule favors one team or another. To make the playoffs and have a chance to win, you need both the draft and the waiver wire.
Understanding that - your best draft strategy is just to stockpile value. Keep picking strong players with upside, and figure out the playoffs once you get there. When it becomes obvious you have a good team, you can focus on the players with the best matchups during the fantasy playoffs. But not until you are about 2/3 of the way through your regular season.
Drafting your team with the best matchups during the fantasy playoffs won't help if you lose too many regular season games and don't make it.
GARY DAVENPORT
I pay even less attention to playoff schedules than bye weeks, and I all but ignore bye weeks. Building a potential powerhouse for Week 15 isn't good if said team is 3-7 10 weeks in. Don't make things more complicated than they need to be. Draft the players you believe will score the most fantasy points this season. Period.