Draft Strategy

Articles

• 2026 Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Data-Driven Tips and Market Inefficiencies

  Fantasy football drafters who rely on gut feel alone are leaving value on the board. The 2026 season presents a unique opportunity to exploit market inefficiencies if you understand the underlying scoring trends and position scarcity patterns. Over the past two seasons, running backs have reclaimed their dominance at the top of the overall scoring leaderboard, yet many draft rooms still overvalue wide receivers in the first round. The key to a winning draft is letting projections, not narratives, drive your picks. This article breaks down the data-backed strategies for 2026, including tier breaks, the RB dead zone, and how to leverage AI-powered rankings for an edge.

  By Andy Troiano · June 30, 2026

• Top 5 Rookie Prospects for the 2024 NFL Season

  As we get ready for the 2024/2025 season, rookies are a major focus of every draft. With every team eyeing a path to success, the demand for new players to make an impact has never been higher. In a league where patience is in short supply, franchises are eager to see their top picks deliver results from day one, leaving little room for lengthy rebuilds.

  By Rob Kusmich · August 22, 2024

• Dominate Your Fantasy Football League with Gridiron AI Projections

  With Gridiron AI projections, you can gain an edge over your competitors and dominate your league. Our projections aren't just numbers pulled out of thin air; they're the result of a sophisticated machine learning model that considers a wide array of factors. Let's dive into how it works and how you can use it to your advantage

  By Nick Gurol · August 21, 2023

• Players to Target in your 2021 Draft

  In fantasy football, there are typically two things I’ve found that consistently lead to championships: 1. Finding value on the waiver wire when a player breaks out. 2. Finding value in the draft. This article will help you find value in the draft

  By Andy Troiano · August 27, 2021

• Thoughts, Results and Recap from my Drafts

  After an extremely busy weekend filled with a 16 team .5 PT PPR draft, and a 12 team 1 keeper .5 PT PPR money league draft, I have some interesting notes, comparisons, and shockers from both. I used a draft strategy taking 4 RBs, then 4 WRs, then filled my bench with more RBs and WRs before ending my drafts with a QB, TE, DEF, then K.

  By Kyle Eller · August 27, 2019

• Finding Fantasy Value Through Efficiency

  I attempt to discover value picks using total potential touches/fantasy points scored. Total potential touches are the sum of reception targets, rushing attempts and passing attempts for each player. High-efficiency players might have value if their overall workload increases.

  By Andy Troiano · August 19, 2019

• 2019 Draft Guide - Sterling Edition

  Welcome Russian bots, cyborgs, Canadians, or (insert word here to describe yourself). I am Canadian, so I will just call you all football friends regardless of who you are. I asked Andy (mediocre blogger at Gridiron AI) and the team to put together stats for me and compare them to some of the big sites like CBS and FantasyPros to see how the GridironAI ranks in comparison. This data allows me to create 3 different draft strategies to try and outsmart your fantasy football competition. For each of the draft strategies, I put the top 200 players and provided the auction values and ADP (courtesy of FantasyPros).

  By Sterling Hamilton · August 16, 2019

• Fantasy Performance of Tight End

  In this article, we examine the tight end position and provide reasonable guidance on how one should draft the position. After we figure out a strategy, we recap the 2018 performance of the top guys.

  By Andy Troiano · June 17, 2019

• Fantasy Performance of Quarterbacks

  In this article, I'll attempt to answer the age-old question, "When should you draft a quarterback?". I'll analyze both seasonal vs. weekly data and PPR vs. Standard scoring. My goal is to come up with performance tiers that you can use to generate a mental model for draft day.

  By Andy Troiano · May 29, 2019

• Fantasy Performance of Wide Receivers

  What are position tier and performance factors of the top wide receivers on a yearly basis? In this article I'll dig into the age-old question of when you should draft a wide receiver over a running back early in the draft. I'll use season and weekly data and look at how your decision might differ based on your league's scoring format.

  By Andy Troiano · May 17, 2019

• Fantasy Performance of Running Backs

  Outside skill conversations, are there other factors about a player's situation you should take into account when it comes time to draft or pickup? Using weekly and season data, I examine the potential tiers and performance of running backs.

  By Andy Troiano · March 25, 2019