Redraft Strategy, Draft Slot

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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.

Which draft slot do you prefer for this season and why? Are there particular players or position groups that led you to this preference? Is there a particular draft slot that you would least like to draft from? Explain your thoughts.

JASON WOOD

As an industry, we put way too much focus on draft slots. First, most leagues don't give you control of your draft spot. Second, while it might help you figure out the first two or three players on your roster, everyone else's choices quickly make modeling the rest of your roster impossible. The better advice is to make sure you've done enough mock drafting and studying to know where the tiers are at each position and where the drop-offs are, so you can be comfortable maximizing your build regardless of who comes off the board and when.

SAM WAGMAN

I’m mostly looking for a slot in the Top 5 this season. If I had to pick exactly one, it’s probably Pick 2. The reasoning behind this boils down to me feeling that there are 5 ELITE fantasy options this season that combine upside and safety: Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, Justin Jefferson, Cooper Kupp, and JaMarr Chase. Picking at 1.02 when you expect Taylor to go first about 90% of the time means you get four studs who are all safe. You can go for upside with McCaffrey or Chase, but you can look for stability with Jefferson or Kupp. At the same time, I don’t know if there is a spot in the Top 12 (assuming standard size) that I’m avoiding, given that the mix of players in that late first ADP range is pretty solid this year. You can still grab studs like Dalvin Cook or Joe Mixon in that late range and pick up another similarly rated player in the early second. Regarding post-first and second-round picks, everything goes downhill, and you must be prepared to think on the fly.

BEN CUMMINS

I prefer a top 6 draft pick. This guarantees me an elite player in Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, Cooper Kupp, Justin Jefferson, JaMarr Chase, or Austin Ekeler. The second and third rounds where these slots pick remain strong, with many players I like, including Deebo Samuel, Tee Higgins, Javonte Williams, Saquon Barkley, Mike Williams, etc. I view picks 7-12 as relatively the same.

CRAIG LAKINS

A good way to look at this question is to figure out how many guys you consider to be in your top tier and working from the bottom of that tier. For example, if you consider five guys in the highest tier, picking from the 1.05 slot will get you the highest pick in Round 2. I'd like to walk away from the draft with an elite asset with almost zero question marks. This year that means I want the 1.03 spot. If I can begin my draft with whoever is left among Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, and Cooper Kupp, I'll feel confident that I have a cornerstone to build upon.

Conversely, Pick 9 is where I'd like to draft from the least. If current ADP holds through the first eight picks, I'd be looking at Dalvin Cook at the top of my draft menu. I may be out on Cook too early, but he simply makes me nervous. Passing on him there would be tough because he can put up massive games, so I'd rather avoid that decision altogether.