You’ve secured the five other addicts, agreed upon scoring and rosters, and made your individual Team Rankings. You’ve grinded out your Positional Rankings and noticed the major talent / upside dropoffs:
Now it’s time to combine them all into one “Big Board” cheat sheet to help you navigate through your draft. Remember, this Big Board assumes 2 QBs, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE. If you only play 1 QB, include kickers / defenses, or have flexes your strategy would need to change. Slide into our Twitter DMs @RotoStreetJ or send us a message at Facebook if you’re seeking some advice.
See how we utilized (or how some of us didn’t utilize) the Big Board in our Experts Draft.
After going in depth on each individual player throughout my positional rankings, this Big Board is going to focus much more on Draft Strategy and the logic behind each tier; if you’re looking for thoughts on a specific player, just click the positional links above.
Keep in mind my main two rules for flowing through the draft:
Rule 1: Pick an AFC and NFC horse and draft accordingly
Once you draft your foundation players in Round 1 and 2, you’ll want to build a team that complements these anchors. This means drafting from teams that don’t project as immediate or near-future opponents. You might, for example, pick sixth and your top three QB options are taken. If you’re now forced into Eli Manning, don’t suddenly draft Jordy Nelson in Round Two, as your going to lose one automatically in the Wildcard Round.
Rule 2: Trust your gut
As is true in any regular draft, follow your immediate instincts. If you feel the Falcons are going to crap their pants, pass on Matt Ryan in favor of Russell Wilson. If you’re a rambling lunatic and think Detroit is going to shock the world, please seek immediate attention. And still draft Matt Stafford. (And join my league).
With these in mind, here’s my 2017 Playoff Fantasy Football Big Board:
Tier 1 – Anchor QBs
As we’ve ideally made clear throughout this process, you’re not going to win your league without at least one point factory QB (although I am slightly intrigued to see how a loaded skill cast would fare…). No, Connor Cook and Matthew Stafford in the final two rounds aren’t going to get it done, no matter how explosive the skill players are around them. As such, your first round pick should absolutely be a QB, and maybe even your second rounder if you like who falls.
1) QB1 Tom Brady (NE)
2) QB2 Aaron Rodgers (GB)
3) QB3 Russell Wilson (Sea)
4) QB4 Ben Roethlisberger (Pit)
5) QB5 Matt Ryan (ATL)
6) QB6 Eli Manning (NYG)
7) QB7 Dak Prescott (DAL)
Again, base your own rankings on a combination of your individual Team Rankings + maximum upside; while I think Eli has a great shot at four games, his per-game production is so inconsistent that his ultimate ceiling is nowhere near Rodgers. If you feel the Cowboys will make it to the ‘Ship, Dak should be up at #2 and not #7. Regardless, the top-seven on your big board should absolutely be signal callers.
Tier 2 – Anchor Skill Talents
After securing your top-dog, big-dick QB, it’s time to fill out the skill positions (especially when the drop off is so steep at signal caller after the top-seven). As a reminder, your first round pick absolutely needs to influence the skill you invest in; ideally, I’m looking at the other conference, so if my quarterback is from the NFC, Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown, and Julian Edelman get a whole lot sexier. This way you’re not overly loaded. The other option, however, is to lock up your QB / WR hookup — if Eli Manning is your first rounder and you truly feel your getting four games, Odell Beckham should absolutely be your next round pick given his historic upside.
Additionally, the turn presents the interesting question: do I snag up that last top-seven QB and be set here but thin elsewhere?
8. RB1 Le’Veon Bell (PIT)
9. WR1 Antonio Brown (PIT)
10. WR2 Julian Edelman (NE)
11. WR3 Odell Beckham Jr. (NYG)
12. RB2 Ezekiel Elliott (DAL) – Bump Zeke higher if you feel the ‘Boys will go on a run / if you’re already invested deeply here
13. WR4 Jordy Nelson (GB)
Tier 2.5
14. WR5 Julio Jones (ATL)
15. RB3 LeGarrette Blount (NE)
16. RB4 Devonta Freeman (ATL)
17. WR6 Dez Bryant (DAL)
18. WR7 Doug Baldwin (SEA)
Ideally, by the time these top-18 are gone, you’ve secured a QB1, RB1, and WR1, or two very strong wideouts. The talent, potential games played, and thus overall upside begin thinning out very quickly from here.
Tier 3 – Quality Skill Complements + Elite TEs
With a top RB and WR ideally secured, now’s the time to consider plunging on an elite TE, especially Martellus Bennett; in fact, if you’re not a particular fan of the tail end WRs and RBs from the group above (or feel another would fall in Round 4), and want to plunge even earlier on Bennett, you’d receive no argument here.
Oftentimes, a talent from this tier explodes as his team goes for a lengthy run, so kee focused. Remember to keep in mind your overall team makeup, and adjust the players accordingly — try to avoid early-on opponents wherever possible.
19) TE1 Martellus Bennett (NE)
20) WR8 Davante Adams (GB)
21) RB5 Lamar Miller (HOU)
22) WR9 Tyreek Hill (KC)
23) TE2 Jimmy Graham (SEA)
24) TE3 Travis Kelce (KC)
25) RB6 Thomas Rawls (SEA)
26) RB7 Dion Lewis (NE)
27) RB8 Ty Montgomery (GB) – *Be sure everyone’s on the same Montgomery page prior to your draft*
Tier 4 – Round out your skill players
By now QBs and remaining TEs are so thin, so the best plan of action is to rack up skill players you covet. If you don’t love any remaining RBs or WRs, however, the TE dropoff between 4-8 and 9-12 is very significant — perhaps plunge in on the upside of Ladarius Green or Jason Witten early.
Overall, I like the RB depth that falls
28) RB9 Tevin Coleman (ATL)
29) RB10 Paul Perkins (NYG)
30) WR10 Malcolm Mitchell (NE)
31) TE4 Ladarius Green
32) TE5 Jason Witten
Tier 4.5 – A lot of potential one-and-dones
Note – your RBs and WRs will likely be filled out at a certain point (12), but I’m just including extra names in case you like the others more OR you use a flex. Cross the extra names out once your position is filled.
33) RB11 Jay Ajayi (MIA)
34) RB12 Latavius Murray (OAK)
35) WR11 Chris Hogan (NE)
36) RB13 Spencer Ware (KC)
37) WR12 Golden Tate (DET)
38) WR13 DeAndre Hopkins (HOU)
Tier 5 – Finalize the roster
If you haven’t taken the plunge on your crappy TE1 or horrendous QB2, here are the remaining names to consider
39) TE6 CJ Fiedorowicz (HOU)
40) QB8 Alex Smith (KC)
41) QB9 Matthew Stafford (DET)
42) TE7 Jared Cook (GB)
43) TE8 Eric Ebron (DET)
44) QB10 Connor Cook (OAK)
45) QB11 Matt Moore (MIA)
46) QB12 Brock Osweiler (HOU)
47) TE9 Will Tye (NYG)
48) TE10 Matt Lengel (NE)
49) TE11 Austin Hooper (ATL)
50) TE12 Dion Sims (MIA)
Other RBs – James White (NE); Rashad Jennings (NYG); Charcandrick West (KC); CJ Prosise?! (SEA)
Other WRs – Eli Rogers (PIT); Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper (OAK); Taylor Gabriel (ATL); Cole Beasley (DAL); Jarvis Landry (MIA)
Now you should be set to dominate your NFL Playoffs Fantasy Drafts. Be sure to tune in tomorrow to find out who the “experts” drafted, and submit some team photos to @RotoStreetJ or our Facebook page for a Team Grade and Draft Breakdown!
