10 Secrets You Need To Know Before Your Draft | Fantasy Football Draft Strategy 2024

hey glad you're here we're going to let you in on a little secret to help you for your fantasy football draft actually you know what how about 10 of them these are some things that your leag mates probably do not know about and they can definitely come up big helping you on draft day all right what's the first secret we want our endgame viewers to know before they draft well look Christian mcaffrey is the consensus number one pick this year and if you get the number one pick and you draft Christian mcaffrey you're probably thinking maybe it's not a bad idea to handcuff Christian mcaffrey with the backup running back Elijah Mitchell we've seen in the past Elijah Mitchell anytime Christian mcaffrey goes down he's been pretty much great when he's been healthy but that's the thing Elijah Mitchell isn't healthy the guy who has been healthy who's also been impressive in Camp is Jordan Mason it looks like Jordan Mason is actually going to be the Handcuff for Christian mcaffry this year and Jordan Mason has been great this preseason and it's not just the fact that he's been great in preseason I mean lots of guys are great in preseason and then do nothing in regular season it's the fact that Shanahan has been raped about Jordan Mason and I really think that he is the guy Shanahan is going to go to if something should happen to Christian mcaffrey so if you're drafting Chris mcaffrey this year or even if you're not and you want to get an elite handcuff who could be potentially a League winner if something does happen to Christian mcaffrey need to take Jordan Mason and actually get that guy secret number two when you're in the first round if you're going for a stud wide receiver you might get a guy like AJ Brown and you should be pretty happy with that but here's the secret I don't think he's going to be the top wide receiver on his own team that's right you can get Devonte Smith a couple of rounds later most of the time and I really believe he is going to be the number one fantasy receiver on this team because there are some things that are going to change for the better in Smith's favor this season so first of all you know Ken Moore new offensive coordinator that should be good for everybody in Philly right this is especially good for Smith because there's going to be a lot more pre- snap motion which by default has to be more because the Eagles were dead last last season in Priest snap motion they just did not have a creative offense it's going to change we know Kell Moore has gotten a lot of production out of wide receivers wherever he's been and Devonte Smith is going to be in the slot a lot now I know some people worry Johan doson just went there to Philadelphia so despite the fact that they just acquired a talented young receiver this is actually good for Devonte Smith Johan doson is better on the outside than in the slot and Devonte Smith is one of the most effective slot receivers averaging 3.39 yards per route run in the slot last year's leader in yards per route run was Tyreek Hill at 4.05 second place was Nico Collins at 3.37 that would make Devonte Smith one of the most efficient receivers in the league I really think he explodes this year and they acquired doson to keep Smith in that more effective slot roll so yeah AJ Brown's not a bad pick but don't be surprised when Devonte Smith is a number one receiver this year all right what's another secret that our endgame viewers should know I think they need to know about this Bears wide receiver group and how it's going to shake out this year because you know all draft season it's been assumed that DJ Moore correctly is the number one wide receiver here and then Keenan Allen would be the number two and rookie Romo dun would be the number three but that's not how it looked this preseason so when you look at the Bears during the preseason when Caleb Williams was actually on the field they only ran three wide receiver sets 50% of the time in the first preseason game 62% of the time in the second preseason game and you look at the wide receiver snaps of Caleb Williams on the field Romo dun actually had the highest percentage of snaps at 72% DJ Moore was second at 61 Kean Allen was dead last at 59% so it looks like he is the odd man out here also when you look at Target shares DJ Moore tied for the team lead in Target share in the preseason Romo dun tied for third Keenan Allen way down towards the bottom in fact he was tied with DeAndre Swift with a 5.6% Target share I really think Romo dun is the number two Bears wide receiver you want in drafts yet Keenan Allen goes over him in every single draft so let your league mate take Keenan Allen just wait a little bit get Romo dun I think he's the wide receiver you want outside of DJ Moore in Chicago well I'll let you in on another secret there may be another odd man out in chic Chicago and on other teams as well so when you look at snap counts and pff's Nathan janky great at charting this he astutely pointed out that Gerald Everett seems to be the leading receiver in terms of tight ends for this team because he was out there more often than Cole K Cole KT's being drafted as kind of a lowend tight end one highend tight end two Gerald Everson afterthought don't be surprised if Gerald Everett is the one who is out there gets more targets or at least more run Co kand is almost undraftable you know why because Gerald Everett is one of those coaches pets that was brought over by OC Shane Waldren who worked with him both in the Rams and the Seahawks offenses and this is something you need to keep an eye out for because there's some other players that might throw a wrench in your fantasy plans think about in Buffalo everyone's all excited about Keon Coleman this year maybe khil Shakir breaks out except that Joe Brady brought over Curtis Samuel to steal some work in the slot and look he might even steal snaps from James Cook in the backfield and then you know we have to talk about Cordo Patterson in Pittsburgh yeah he's going to vulture some touchdowns from both Naji Harris and Jaylen Warren and steal a lot of touches its history repeating itself all over again if you were frustrated with the Falcons offense last year be prepared for the Steelers this year and then I don't even know how to describe the Chargers backfield Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins both brought by Greg Roman from Baltimore I guess they're sort of vulturing each other and they're go both going to block kman Vidal from his breakout unless somebody gets hurt early on so just be aware that coaches don't always run with a guy you want they like to go with a guy that they trust now how about a backfield where there won't be any vulturing going on that's right and look Jerome Ford is a must draft late round running back you got to get this guy Nick chub going to start the season on the pup list not a surprise here that means he's out a minimum four weeks but look they're not talking like you know oh four weeks and then he's good to go like there's no timetable for his return we don't know when we're going to see Nick chub and when we do see Nick chub he's going to need to be eased back into action he's not going to be ready to go right out of the gate the only other running backs behind him Deontay Foreman just suffered a rib injury in the last preseason game don't know the severity but now he's banged up Pierre strong Jr got a little banged up towards the end of Camp Jerome Ford is going to get so many tou in this Cleveland Browns offense even last year he got 248 touches splitting with Kareem hunt and this is one of the best offenses for a running back they're one of the Run heaviest offenses they run the most plays of any team you know historically over the years this is a great situation for Jerome Ford and he's still going outside the top 120 picks on almost every site out there he's a guy you have to get in the late rounds of your fantasy draft even if at some point down the road Nick chub does does come back and Jerome Ford becomes nothing more than I don't know in a time share a handcuff just getting a guy that late who can carry your team four five 6 eight however many weeks is worth it do you want to win your fantasy league but don't have time to do all the research are you tired of drafting mediocre teams and then having to constantly hope you hit it big on the waiver wire just to compete do you wish you could have a fantasy expert like Pier myself with you while you draft well now you can with our app draft Lane and our live draft Pilot We will guide you through every pick of your draft and tell you exactly which players we would pick if we were on the clock our proprietary algorithm will take into account your league settings scoring and roster requirements to identify the best picks every time you are on the clock to ensure you have a winning team from week one it's the closest thing you can get to having us there drafting with you get the biggest Edge in fantasy football just go to your App Store and search for draft Lane and download it today and get ready to dominate your draft well I don't know if this is a secret but a lot of people don't seem to know there's some running back you really don't have to draft and those are the ones who seem to be lighting it up in the preseason sorry to break it to you but preseason rushing leaders mean absolutely nothing look I want to believe just as much as anybody else that Israel aananda still might have some glimmer of hope of having fantasy value I really want Frank Gore Jr to be a stud in the NFL and of course there's my guy cam Acres but you should not waste a Draft pick on any of these guys maybe not even in best ball let me just go back and read to you the list of last year's top 10 running back leaders and fantasy points throughout the preseason let's see how well any of these panned out for you Julius Chestnut Jalil mlin Emanuel Wilson Trey Surman Chris Brooks Jes Johnson John Kelly Mike Boon Savon ammed and Elijah Dodson how many of those guys are actually still on an NFL Squad and well I tell you that out of the top 20 Running Backs from last year only three of them are even on a roster this year so no matter who shined no matter what injuries are going on these guys are rushing leaders because they are not starters and they're actually playing the preseason so don't go too deep on your sleeper list especially a running back all right is it possible we you have any secrets about tight ends yes I just called Jerome Ford a must draft I think Evan Ingram is a must draft not a late round tight end but like the non- elite tight end you know everybody trying to get Sam leapa this year t McBride still trying to get Travis Kelce and and look I like those guys but you can get Evan Ingram later and potentially have the tight end one in that last preseason game when the starters played Evan Ingram had two touchdowns and okay it's preseason like whatever two touchdowns in the preseason here's why I think it's significant though you look at Evan Ingram last year had the most receptions of any tight end had the third most receiving yards of any tight end but he had the 12th fewest touchdowns that's what really held him back from honestly being the the tight end one he was still a top five tight end Calvin Ridley Z Jones they're gone they took 31 Red Zone targets with them they were the top two Red Zone Targets in that Jacksonville offense last year if a good chunk of those Red Zone targets go to Evan Ingram and this year he gets eight nine 10 touchdowns to go with being one of the leaders at tight end in receptions and receiving yards he legit has a chance to be the tight end one and when you look at the other guys here Christian Kirk he's not a big red zone threat Gabe Davis I don't even know what threat he is Brian Thomas Jr I like him but he's a rookie it wouldn't surprise me at all if Evan Ingram leads the Jaguars in Red Zone targets and shocks everybody when he scores double digigit touchdowns this year and helps people win leagues so don't feel like you have to reach on one of those early tight ends take the mini discount on Evan Ingram you'll be happy you did well here's a secret and maybe a shock to you that guy I think could be a League winner at tight end may not even be a starting tight end on his own team and I'm talking about first round pick Brock Bowers why because this is a team that is going to use Michael Mayer yeah guy they drafted early last year as their traditional starting tight end Brock Bowers will be exactly what we want him to be the do everything kind of tight end hybrid he's going to line up at halfback he's going to line up in the slot he's lined up out wide fullback he's already been doing this in the preseason if you saw that Vikings game the other day it's exactly how you want to see him used get in the back field play action catch the ball and then run with it they're going to use him in creative ways this is why they drafted him everyone's all confused why they took another tight end because they're not just going to use him as a regular tight end he's not going to block I mean come on he can but that's not why they spend a first- round pick on him so I encouraged by what I've seen and you know what Chris you've been encouraged by the fact that Gardner minchu out there might actually be good for somebody like jacobe Meers get those short passes because let's face it that's kind of what Gardner muu can do I think this is good for Brock Bowers short quick passes not have to rely on down the field accuracy Brock Bowers is going to take some time to round in shape but honestly by the second half he might be leading this team in targets especially if Devonte Adams does get traded all right I think you have one more draft secret for us all right this is the Deep League special for those of you in deeper Leagues with deeper benches Cedric Tillman is actually the Browns receiver you want outside of Amari Cooper this preseason he had a 100% route participation with the starters he also had a 30% Target share and a 44% air yard share now of course part of that was Jerry Judy's been banged up Amari Cooper's been a little banged up but I really think Cedric Tilman is going to be the guy out there in wide receiver sets along with Amari Cooper not Jerry Judy now hopefully nobody is still excited about Jerry Judy this year but he is still getting drafted relatively High I like late rounds but Cedric Tilman is not even being drafted at all in any leagues don't be surprised if Pierre is dropping his week one waiver wire video saying Hey you need to go pick up Cedric Tilman I really think Cedric Tilman is the number two wide receiver in Cleveland look maybe DeShaun Watson never gets back to what he was in Houston but if he does that's going to be good for Tilman or look maybe he just never gets healthy and then we get slinging jamus Winston and that'll be great for Cedric Tillman but either way if you're in a really deep League and you're looking for like kind of a last round flyer take a look at Cedric Tillman I think he's got the number two job in Cleveland well you know sometimes fantasy studs come from Bad teams let's look at New England not expected to be a playoff team this year so well here it comes you know who's going to be the starting quarterback for the Patriots week one I don't know and head coach Jared Mayo doesn't seem to know either cuz every other day he's saying something different okay no matter who it is how about this who is going to be the actual receiver that leads this team in receptions fantasy points and all that it doesn't matter because I don't want any of them on fantasy team this is a mess this offense is going to be terrible the offensive line is already showing that it's going to be one of the worst in the league and you should be very concerned by what you've seen in terms of usage in this preseason the guy who's been out there the most with the starters is taquon Thornton do you remember him maybe you do and if you don't then there's a reason for that they're trying to resurrect his his career uh let's see Demario Douglas has been banged up I think he'll be okay but I don't want okay KJ Osborne has been getting a lot of run remember KJ Osborne yeah he's with New England now Javon Baker arguably their most talented receiver has been running last and so I just don't want to deal with this there's not enough upside for any of these players look Sometimes the best picks you make are the ones you don't make avoiding those bad offenses I already expressed my concern with New England New Orleans and Denver there might be some value on some of those teams but for the most part I think the secret is out here that New England is going to be bad before you go to your fantasy draft those are some things that could definitely help you out but of course what helps the most picking those League winners you want to know who they are this year check this out