Your fantasy football draft strategy is often much like placing a fast-food restaurant order. Sometimes your league is very simple, so a basic hamburger, fries and a drink order will do. When that's the case in your fantasy football league, default fantasy football rankings will work like a champ. They are direct, simple and easy to follow, thus making your draft day experience smooth and enjoyable.
So, what's the line for when you want more than the basics and need to move from default rankings to custom rankings? This review will detail how league settings, draft strategy, ADP trends, roster builds and more can help determine whether you can go with a default fantasy football cheat sheet or if you would be better served with a customized approach.
When Your League Scoring Settings Change Player Value
The first category that should drive a move to customized RotoWire's fantasy football projections is when your league scoring settings change player values. This is the case if your league uses a non-standard scoring format such as Superflex, half-PPR or full PPR. Default rankings may account for some of the scoring variances here, but you will still benefit from a set of projections based on that specific scoring format.
This is also the case if your league has unique roster requirements such as 2QB or WR/TE positions These alterations can have a major impact on the fantasy football ADP rankings. You should also go the customized route if your league has built-in bonuses for achievements such as 100+ yard rushing game or 300+ yard passing game.
When You Have a Specific Draft Strategy in Mind
It used to be that fantasy managers tended to utilize only a few basic fantasy football draft strategies. That simplicity has now been replaced with a vast array of draft strategies. This includes Zero RB, Hero RB, Late-Round QB and many more. You really don't want to go with the default rankings when using these strategies, so you're best option is to customize rankings through the RotoWire fantasy football draft kit.
These strategic adjustments also take place if you are using heavy stacking approaches. When that happens, it's ideal to get a set of custom tiers to help reinforce your preferred roster construction plan. Doing so will allow you to manage this very focused draft approach that can work like a champ when done properly but can also be a hindrance if draft day goes south.
When ADP Trends Don't Match Your Player Evaluations
Another situation where you will want to use custom fantasy football rankings comes when the ADP trends don't match your player evaluations. This often happens when you are a diehard fan of a team and understand the ins and outs of that club's NFL depth charts better than most fantasy football fans. When that happens, your rankings for that team's players should be different than the status quo, which is something you can achieve with custom rankings.
Custom rankings also allow you to exploit other fantasy football ADP inefficiencies. They give you the opportunity to prioritize breakout candidates or avoid overhyped players in a way that you cannot do through default rankings. In addition, you can test your custom rankings with the RotoWire fantasy football mock draft. If the resulting ADP rankings don't quite match your expectations, you can keep adjusting and testing them until they do.
When Preparing for Dynasty, Best Ball or Keeper Formats
Default re-draft rankings work great in standard conditions, but they fall well short of the mark when you are in specialty environments. This includes dynasty and keeper leagues, as well as Best Ball formats. These rankings all but require a specialized custom rankings approach for those who wish to plan their draft rather than just winging it.
When you subscribe to RotoWire, you have the ability to adjust these customized rankings to your specific situation. You can make age and long-term valuation adjustments in dynasty leagues, gain insights into which players are the best keeper candidates and get a road map for the highest percentage plays in Best Ball leagues. Mastery of long-term valuation in dynasty leagues can make all of the difference if you enjoy sifting for value on your league's trading blocks.
When You Want More Control Over Risk and Upside
There are many fantasy league environments where you will want more control over risk and upside. This includes cash-style drafts, tournaments and competitive leagues. Fantasy managers in these types of leagues want the option to prioritize safer, high-floor players and the ability to mitigate risk inherent in players who frequently land on the NFL injury report.
This ability to tailor rankings to balance risk with your draft goals is invaluable. These league types have very little margin for error, so every edge that you can gain is worth pursuing. The best part of this is that you can get as granular as you like. The RotoWire fantasy football draft kit tools are comprehensive.
