Fantasy Football 2023: When is the best time to draft, and how should you do it?
There’s no wrong way to enjoy fantasy football. Play in big leagues, small leagues, legacy leagues with friends, contests against strangers. However you want to engage, I salute you.
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Today’s assignment was to discuss some of the pros and cons of drafting early vs. drafting late. I’ve decided to expand on that theme and show both sides of some common draft and setup decisions you might be facing.
Again, there are no wrong answers here. However you like your sandwich, go with it.
Debate 1: Drafting Early vs. Drafting Late
The Case for Drafting Early
• Drafting is fun, so why wait?
• If you can connect dots better than others — and sort through nebulous depth charts and situations — you can be richly rewarded.
• Early draft sessions help with learning the player pool, which might be beneficial for the second half of your draft season.
• Scheduling a league before draft season really amps up might be easier. My draft calendar tends to get thickly settled in the final few weeks before the season.
The Case for Drafting Late
• ADPs are more crystalized and position battles are usually sorted out. To some this might be a bug; to others, this is a feature.
•Legacy value — a lot of leagues have a set date that’s right before the season and they like to stick with it. One of my leagues always drafts the night of Labor Day, so our managers remember to make the time slot available.
• By drafting close to the season, you are less likely to get bitten by summer injuries.
• Some high-profile leagues are only available closer to the start of the season.
Debate 2: Snake Drafts vs. Salary Cap Drafts
The Case for Snake Drafts
• They’re less intimidating for novice or new players, and they’re familiar ground with most experienced players.
• They’re quicker than salary cap drafts.
• You can still draft well if forced to multitask during a snake draft; it’s not that taxing.
The Case for Salary Cap Drafts
• The entire player pool is available to you. You won’t be locked out of any player.
• You’re allowed to consider more divergent strategies and roster builds.
• There’s more nuance and skill required during the draft; if a snake draft is limit poker, a salary cap draft is high-limit poker.
Debate 3: Live Drafts vs. Slow Drafts
The Case for Live Drafts
• Everything is finished in one moment in time, with managers working off the same information. (Compare this to slow drafts, where some managers will “squat” on their picks and run the clock down to zero with each pick; there’s optimization at play, but if every manager does this, it can sully the experience.)
• The running clock for each pick brings a cool sense of immediacy and pressure. It will get your juices flowing.
• The shared experience offers social value.
The Case for Slow Drafts
• There’s something fresh to look forward to each day.
• You can do unhurried research for every pick.
• It’s possible to navigate several slow drafts at once without feeling harried.
Debate 4: Small-roster leagues vs. Large-roster leagues
The Case for Small-roster leagues
• Less intimidating for casual players.
• Many, perhaps most, managers will already be familiar with the effective player pool.
• Higher replacement value on the waiver wire when injuries hit.
• Less activity to follow on game day (for some, a feature, I suppose).
The Case for Large-roster leagues
• More challenging for experienced players, who often pride themselves on deep knowledge of the NFL player pool.
• Injuries and outlier events are less likely to swing results; more data points per week and season will theoretically lead to more skill-based results.
• More activity to follow on game day.
