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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.
Without getting too much into player evaluation, what, not whom, are you targeting in the later rounds of your draft? Let's remove kicker and defense from this equation.
Ben Cummins
If my league has Injured Reserve spots, I’m targeting injured players I can add straight to the IR. This essentially gives me extra roster spots since I can head straight to the waiver wire and replace the injured players on my bench. I’m also targeting players I view to have extreme upside should something happen to a teammate in front of them on the depth chart. Getting out in front of a heavy waiver wire/FAAB run where everyone is going for the same player can guarantee you get the player and save you waiver priority or FAAB.
Jason Wood
In traditional redraft leagues, I think one of the bigger mistakes can be handling the draft's end game. History tells us that we'll turn over a big chunk of our redraft roster during the season, even if you have a great draft and are instantly a contender. Since you know many of your drafted bench spots will be replaced because of injuries, breakouts, and bye-week maneuvering. It makes no sense to draft slightly above-average players late. Take fliers, or proverbial lottery tickets, who can hit early in the season and act as pre-emptive acquisitions before a lot of other leagues will be spending huge amounts in free agency FAAB dollars on them. Another nuance to this is to avoid drafting rookies who need multiple injuries to matter at the end of your draft. The odds you'll be able to hold onto them deep into your season are slim. Better to grab known No. 3/4 receiver on great offenses or unproven players who earned starting roles in camp.
Christian Williams
Upside, upside, upside! The late-round strategy I have found most successful is to take players with a murky outlook and clarity coming early in the season. The last few draft picks are ideally the players you're cutting after Week 1 or 2 for waiver adds, and taking a known-role veteran with limited upside is a strategy that could complicate waivers early on. Take the No. 3 wide receiver for a team that could see a No. 2 workload in Week 1 and never looks back instead of the No. 2 receiver with a defined, limited-upside role.
Will Grant
Once you have a solid core team, swing for the fence a couple of times. I fully expect to have two or maybe three players on my roster who I can cut at any moment but could pay off in the right situation or circumstances. Since I know going in that I'm going to hit the waiver wire early and often in the regular season - I don't mind having guys who could be great one week and then gone from my roster the next. Aside from quarterback, for any position that only requires one starter, I will almost certainly have only one roster spot allocated to that position. I'd rather draft a running back who won't play until Week 6 but will have top-24 potential per game after that than have a backup tight end in case my starter gets hurt.
Andy Hicks
This can depend on so many factors. Scoring system, starting positions, if players fall through the cracks, your roster to date, early bye weeks, etc. With productive offenses, we can look for young, improving receivers. At running back, a clear backup to an injury-prone starter. A tight end that has broken through in training camp. If I am heavy on a certain bye week, especially early in the season, I look to get players that will not be on the waiver wire long.
Craig Lakins
Later in drafts, I often target running backs that are an injury away from having a lot of opportunities. Obviously, there is no way to predict missed games for the starters ahead of them, but if you believe in the talent of the backup, it's a great time to shoot your shot. This is especially true if they play in a system that provides its running backs with a lot of work.
Chad Parsons
My sole focus in the late rounds is answering the question, "What does this player need to do to secure-warrant-validate a roster spot a few weeks into the season?" The waiver wire will generally stress those roster spots quickly and sometimes even before Week 1. Outside of a backup running back willing to hold until an injury to the starter occurs for the upside attached, every other profile needs to have a simple story path to keeping the player, over the waiver wire, into later September. It sounds straightforward, but many selections fail this threshold test.
Gary Davenport
Given that many of the players you draft late will wind up on the waiver wire, the end of drafts is all about upside for me. Give me an unproven rookie receiver on a potent offense like Skyy Moore of the Chiefs over an uninspiring, low-ceiling veteran any day. I might also look to add insurance policies for my running backs, but that depends largely on the backs and teams involved. If my starter's absence would result in a messy committee, there's no point. Draft lottery tickets—players that could hit big if their number's called. If you're wrong, oh well—folks whiff on late picks all the time. But if you're right…jackpot.
Victoria Geary
UPSIDE! Always look for the most upside a player can have later in drafts. You won't win your leagues playing it "safe," taking a PPR guy like Jarvis Landry catching passes for the Saints this year. Take Cole Kmet, for example, a tight end that has a clear path to be the 2nd most targeted player on his team (a team that will be throwing the ball all year when they are losing). Outside of high upside, I am scooping up backup running backs that are an injury away from a starting role with a decent amount of volume or pass-catching upside.
Sam Wagman
The format does not matter. In the later rounds, the most important thing is upside. You want to figure out who can fill out your roster but at the same time possibly provide a spike to get you over the finish line. Maybe it’s a running back who catches passes who’s an injury away, or a running quarterback who can be a QB1 instantly late in the year.
Jeff Bell
Ambiguity in backfields or among targets. Or clear lines of ascension due to injury in backfields. Situations where people say, “I can’t figure out who it will be,” are my top targets late.