2016 Fantasy Football Draft Strategy Finding Sleepers Building A Winner In Ppr Leagues

To build a winning team with sure-fire studs and high-upside sleepers, you need a draft strategy more complex than that. We’re here to help with five must-consume PPR draft strategies to add to your cheat sheets.

Our five strategies range from focusing on quarterback-friendly, pass-happy systems and heavily targeted receivers – especially the efficient ones – to targeting the running backs who play on third down. We even give you a fail-safe fifth option to go against the grain.

After all, everyone cannot win employing the same draft strategy. You win by setting yourself apart from the herd, not by following the sheep.

Fantasy football PPR draft strategy and sleepers

No. 1: Pick players from pass-happy systems.

Success is the culmination of opportunity and preparation. Prepare your PPR draft board with higher marks for those players in pass-happy offenses.

With this strategy, we try to get you away from the obvious. You cannot just look to the No. 1 quarterbacks and draft their wideouts from top to bottom, even though that seemingly isn’t a bad place to start.

Cam Newton is Sporting News Fantasy’s top-ranked quarterback, and he is going to make his targets productive – just not necessarily in a PPR sense. The Panthers offense was just 29th among the NFL’s 32 teams in pass completions last season.

Instead, draft some sleepers from the following teams figuring to be among the league leaders in passing attempts. The following players might not have a lot of fantasy hype – or, at least, not as much hype in standard leagues – going into the season, but they are in a good position to be heavily targeted PPR threats.

New Orleans Saints: WR Brandin Cooks, TE Coby Fleener, WR Willie Snead, WR Michael Thomas (rookie)

Indianapolis Colts: WR T.Y. Hilton, WR Donte Moncrief, TE Dwayne Allen, WR Philip Dorsett

San Diego Chargers: WR Keenan Allen, RB Danny Woodhead, WR Travis Benjamin, TE Antonio Gates

New England Patriots: WR Julian Edelman (or WR Danny Amendola if Edelman gets hurt), RB Dion Lewis, RB James White, TE Martellus Bennett,

Detroit Lions: WR Golden Tate, TE Eric Ebron, RB Ameer Abdullah, WR Marvin Jones, RB Theo Reddick

The list does not have to end there. In fact, any team with a solid quarterback and a defense that figures to force a lot of shootouts (e.g. the Jaguars a year ago) is a potential source of PPR draft sleepers and breakouts.

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No. 2: Focus on targets.

Most PPR draft prep will require you to sort the leaders in receptions and fantasy points. Everyone does that. Not everyone takes it to the target level to delineate the premium PPR picks.

For instance, which 2014 LSU draft product had the most targets in the NFL in ‘15?

If you said “Odell Beckham Jr.”, you went for the obvious answer – and you would be wrong. It was the Miami’s Jarvis Landry with 167 targets to ODB’s 158.

Now, no one here is suggesting Landry is a better fantasy player, but when you can take him off the board some 50 picks after ODB, now you’re talking about a legit PPR value.

Here are the wide receivers you have to consider earlier in PPR formats than standard leagues because of target totals:

Jarvis Landry, Dolphins Demaryius Thomas, Broncos Mike Evans, Buccaneers Randall Cobb, Packers Keenan Allen, Chargers Jordy Nelson, Packers Kelvin Benjamin, Panthers Jeremy Maclin, Chiefs Julian Edelman, Patriots Golden Tate, Lions Kamar Aiken and Steve Smith Sr., Ravens

And don’t forget about the tight ends. Here were last year’s leaders in targets per game:

Delanie Walker, Titans Jordan Reed, Redskins Rob Gronkowski, Patriots Gary Barnidge, Browns Greg Olsen, Panthers Antonio Gates, Chargers Zach Ertz, Eagles (Note: Philadelphia’s 2015 coach Chip Kelly is now coaching in San Francisco where Vance McDonald is the starting tight end.)

No. 3: Hone in on efficiency.

It isn’t enough to merely be targeted. After all, a drop or a misfired pass doesn’t tally a fantasy point, even in PPR leagues.

You need to sharpen your focus to players who are efficient with their opportunities. We will give you some below, but if you want a really statistically geeky look from this perspective, we point you to Pro Football Focus’ take from Tyler Brandt on wide receiver efficiency ratings. His data supports the big years coming from the following receivers who might be drafted later than their talent suggests.

Alshon Jeffery, Bears Sammy Watkins, Bills Mike Evans, Buccaneers Brandin Cooks, Saints Michael Floyd, Cardinals

Additionally, efficiency isn’t just in the hands of the wide receivers. It starts from the steady-handed quarterbacks. You should consider any of the targets from the following quarterbacks to be efficient options for the targets received.

Tom Brady, Patriots Drew Brees, Saints Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers Russell Wilson, Seahawks Matt Ryan, Falcons

SLEEPERS: 7 QBs | 14 RBs | 9 TEs | 12 WRs | One from each team

No. 4: Don’t lose sight of heavily targeted RBs and third-down backs.

Going back to the first PPR draft strategy above, you may need 32 chances to guess the team that led the NFL in pass attempts last year. You won’t get it without looking it up.

Surprisingly, it was the historically run-heavy, defensive-oriented Baltimore Ravens.

A team like the Ravens can be a good source of PPR running back sleepers, as both Justin Forsett and Buck Allen will be getting targeted in a conservative, short passing game. You know, the kind of attack that has made the career of Brady and can make Pats’ RB Dion Lewis a PPR stud.

Here are the running backs to select a tick (or several) earlier in PPR drafts for a combination of the reasons (strategies) above:

David Johnson, Cardinals Devonta Freeman, Falcons Lamar Miller, Texans Mark Ingram, Saints Matt Jones, Redskins Dion Lewis, Patriots Jeremy Langford, Bears Giovani Bernard, Bengals Ryan Mathews, Eagles Danny Woodhead, Chargers Bilal Powell, Jets Duke Johnson, Jr., Browns Theo Riddick, Lions Chris Thompson, Redskins

No. 5: Go against the grain.

Football is a game that features the following strategy when your best plan of attack fails: Punt.

Most of the players mentioned above can come at a reasonable cost for their talents relative to their projected draft position. Here’s the problem with following the PPR recipe too rigorously, though: Your league’s draft might overreact to your league format.

Some crazed fantasy football player might draft Landry before Round 4 and among the top 15 fantasy receivers. Don’t compound your competitor’s foolishness by matching them with acts of desperation that play to the PPR league manifesto.

Landry still plays for a mediocre passing team, relying on an often-sacked QB to get him targets. And Ryan Tannehill has been no model of efficiency to date in those limited opportunities to throw.

Fantasy points can come from all different directions, even in PPR formats. You do not have to be a slave to the scoring system to win a PPR league.

All fantasy drafts are won by the teams that collect the best and most balanced roster. If the wide receivers are flying off the board in the top half of Round 1, jump on the No. 1 tight end, Rob Gronkowski. If you cannot get either, go with the David Johnson or Freeman from the running back spot and attack the wide receiver position with quantity over quality.

Doing the latter can be a great thing in PPR formats, too, because in many years fantasy breakouts emerge from the second and third tiers of the rapidly expanding wide receiver position.

Fantasy football PPR draft strategy and sleepers#

Fantasy football PPR draft strategy and sleepers