10 fantasy football draft tips ranked from simplest to most advanced you should keep handy

Fantasy football draft season is upon us! Whether you're new to fantasy or have been playing for years, analyst Joel Smyth brings useful strategies that will help you this season. From No. 1 being the simplest to No. 10 being the most advanced, here are 10 tips to help you win your fantasy drafts.

1. Know the settings

This may be the simplest tip, but it is also the most important. Fantasy football has blossomed over the years and now comes in all shapes and sizes, and it's extremely important you know what shape and size your draft is. The difference between a Superflex 10-team league and a half-PPR 14-team league is night and day - more on scoring here. Find out every possible detail, how many teams are in the playoffs, how many starting spots per team, even what week your fantasy championship will be, and research from there.

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2. Draft Kickers & D/ST last

It may be fun to draft a kicker in the 10th round, but it isn't very profitable. Fantasy is already unpredictable, and when it comes to these two positions, not only does that remain true, but there are endless options and the tiniest of edge to work for. Last season, the No. 1 fantasy defense was only a couple points better than the 12th-ranked team, and that 12th-ranked team went on to outscore the top team by a mile in the fantasy playoffs. Don't buy your lottery tickets early if the odds are the same later on.

3. Don't finish position runs

It's tempting when you see four straight receivers being drafted in front of you to follow suit. For the most part, you shouldn't. If you love a player, or truly believe the tier continues, go for it; otherwise, panic usually leads to loss of value. Rather than getting the lowest of a position to follow the herd, taking the best player available elsewhere naturally leads to more overall value. If quarterbacks are flying early, be patient, and capitalize on the value at other positions while people reach for others.

4. Upside/Insurance

It may be unwise to take huge risks in Round 1 or Round 2, but the late rounds are made for upside. Fantasy leagues are won by a small group of players each season. That is never the biweekly flex plug-in. Once the late rounds arrive, shoot for the moon. That can be the talented backup RB, a rookie WR, a rushing QB or any player with a larger ceiling than the veteran that will fall somewhere in between WR30 and WR40.

5. Streaming defense in Week 1

On top of drafting defense last, you could just... not draft them at all. Or plan to have them for only a week or two. A common, smart strategy in fantasy is using the waiver wire to constantly be changing D/STs based on weekly matchups. You don't have to start when your drafted defense is on bye, but rather on draft day. For example, you can wait and pick up the Chargers defense before Week 1 as they will start the season at home versus the Arizona Cardinals.

6. Take advantage of end of round turns

If you are drafting anywhere from 2-4 or 9-11, take note. At the turn, being aware of the other teams around you is extra crucial. Say, for example, you have pick 10, and in Round 6 both of your friends took QBs at the 11th and 12th slot. When it comes back to you in Round 7, right before having two selections in a short time, don't select a QB, wait, and select a QB four picks later, knowing your leaguemates are not going to be selecting a QB2 with their next two picks. You can do this for TE very easily as well, and occasionally RB and WR if a team has drafted really heavy at one spot.

7. Balance early risk players

Swinging for the fences is a great way to go for the championship in fantasy. However, don't swing every pick. Taking Malik Nabers with his ACL concerns, a rookie RB in Jeremiyah Love or George Kittle off his Achilles tear is okay, but I wouldn't suggest taking all of them. In 2022, with now Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur, rookie Breece Hall had over 20 touches per game from Weeks 4-6 before his injury. Looks great for Love, but the first three weeks Hall was a dud as his volume was ramping up. I wouldn't suggest taking multiple players early that may start the first month slow. Starting off with a losing record puts you in a horrible spot for making the playoffs.

8. Take advantage of Week 1 panic

When I say starting with a losing record, I more so mean 1-3, not 0-1. After a summer full of researching and mock drafting, that Week 1 loss can hit hard when a second-round pick has 30 receiving yards. Panic ensues, and opportunity awaits. If you were to predict a fantasy player's season-long outcome solely on Week 1, it would be a losing game. There is next to no mathematical correlation in past years because it's only been one week! Use the panic in your favor. Trade for star fantasy players that had one bad game for cheap, or the reverse, sell high on the lower draft pick for a more established asset drafted earlier.

9. Consider a player in the IR spot last

One thing to check when learning your settings is the injured reserve spot. You can get sneaky and give yourself another player to stash before Week 1. By using your last fantasy pick on a player that's on IR, you can then add another last-round caliber pick off of waivers. It may not be much, but every inch counts. Players like Puka Nacua and Jaxson Dart were selected in final rounds in recent years.

10. Use ADP from the last seven days

Being aware of Average Draft Position is valuable. What's even more valuable is the real-time ADP. By narrowing it down to the last seven days, available for Yahoo Fantasy Plus subscribers, we get a more accurate picture of where players are being selected. If camp news about an RB's usage is incredible, his ADP will be rising, but not fully caught up to where he's being selected by the time of your draft. It can be a tool to see where and when to "reach" for rising players, when you're really getting them right around their draft-day ADP. I like printing out ADP to have during my draft.