Fantasy Football Draft Strategy – Standard Leagues

Draft day is often the best day of the fantasy football season. However, the season starts long before that. We know that preparing for your fantasy football draft is both an exciting and necessary process. It requires the utmost attention if you want begin your season from a position of strength.

Aside from knowing the player pool and formulating your rankings, winning draft strategy is incredibly necessary. Before sitting down at the draft table, it’s important to take steps to formulate your fantasy football draft strategy. For those drafting in standard formats, let’s take a look at some items to consider.

Fantasy Football Draft Strategy – Standard Leagues

What is a Standard League?

Before you can go any further, it’s important to know what we are working with. Understanding the format then allows you to formulate a strategy. In this case, a standard league refers to both the roster settings and the scoring.

For standard leagues, you’ll only be starting one quarterback. This means a traditional fantasy football league. From a scoring perspective, points won’t be allowed for receptions. This eliminates a good chunk of scoring production and also removes the floor for a lot of players. As we go through some strategy items, that point will come up often.

Yards Matter

Way to state the obvious, right. In fantasy football it’s all about scoring the most points. How those points are scored is irrelevant. Boring points count just the same as flashy and exciting points. With the floor removed of getting a point, or half a point, for every reception, you need your players to run forward and gain yards. A dump off reception for two yards no longer is a positive play.

Not only are you looking for players that will rack up the yards, but you need players with high usage rates. Big plays are welcomed, and quantity is just as good as quality.

Touchdowns Matter More

Let’s just be greedy. While touchdowns are sometimes difficult to predict, we can certainly try.

The bigger the receiver the better. There’s generally a better chance for your big, athletic receiver to catch a contested ball in the end zone compared to your smaller slot receiver.

When it comes to running backs, we want to target those who will receive the ball in short yardage situations. We want the running back who will receive the ball on third and goal from the one yard line.

This along with the two strategy points above, now brings us to the next piece of advice.

Fade Third Down Running Backs and Slot Receivers

While we having nothing against either of these groupings, and they certainly have their place on your team, their value is diminished in standard leagues. Their fantasy value is generally generated on a volume basis, but those four and five yard plays have a limited impact in standard leagues. Based on their utilization, there’s a decreased chance for touchdowns and big plays. And both of those are what we are after.

Boost Quarterbacks – Especially Those That Run

Quarterbacks start every play with the ball in their hand. It goes without saying that this gives them the the opportunity to generally be the highest point scorers on a weekly basis. Since it’s predictability and floor that we are after, quarterbacks provide us the best chance at that.

When you compound that with a quarterback who runs, it’s like you are starting each week with a five point bonus. It’s more important here to secure the main ball carrier in their team’s backfield, but with receiving running backs potentially downgraded, that opens up draft slots for mobile quarterbacks.

Look for Big Play and Athletic Tight Ends

This follows along with the themes from above. In standard leagues, it’s all about touchdowns and yardage. While there is a growing trend of tight ends that could pass for larger wide receivers, the majority spend their time running shorter routes in the middle of the field. That doesn’t lend itself to many big plays. However, that should be our focus here. If your tight end is targeted in the red zone, then even better.

Monitor Red Zone Targets

Six points for a touchdown is what will lead to victories. Your receivers can’t secure touchdowns if they aren’t targeted in the red zone. Forecasting touchdowns does come with some level of variability, but the best way to level the playing field is based on quantity. In this situation, we are looking for the most red zone targets possible.

Fade Running Back Committees

When it comes to running backs, we are looking for yardage and touchdowns. Those running backs who aren’t in true committees have an easier path to both. In PPR leagues, you can make up the difference if your running back doesn’t handle goal line work or is in a timeshare. But when you lose that point per catch, it becomes a harder hill to climb. Ultimately, I want my running backs to be the ones used in goal to go situations, especially short yardage, but I want to maximize my touches and predictability.

Look at Yards and Depth per Target

Moving the ball downfield and creating big plays is what wins games. Whether it’s an NFL game or your fantasy matchup, the same logic applies. While we need to make sure receivers have a consistent workload and target share, we want that work to be meaningful as well. This is where yards and depth per target comes into play. The bigger the number the better here.

Yards Per Reception and Carry Matter

Again, we need the quantity to be there, but once that requirement is checked off, then quality really comes into play. As long as the workload is established, we need players that are going to make things happen when they get the ball.

Yards After Contact and Catch Matter

We don’t want our players to go down as soon as making contact with the ball. Those who can make things happen after getting hit or making the catch are the players who will drive fantasy success.

Conclusion – Yards and Touchdowns Matter

Yes, I probably could have just said that instead of making you read along to this point, but what’s the fun in that? With the security blanket of a third-down running back or slot receiver catching five passes for 20 yards removed, we need real yardage production. Touchdowns are even more important in standard formats because there are simply less opportunities in which to score points.

Excluding quarterbacks, that should be the sole focus of fantasy managers as we draft for success.

For more great fantasy football rankings and analysis, make sure to check out the 2025 FantraxHQ Fantasy Football Draft Kit!