This is the first in a series of offseason fantasy football draft strategy articles to prepare you for the 2025 fantasy football season. In this series, we’ll cover various formats, lineup construction, strategies and approaches to help guide you to the best draft possible in dynasty, redraft and best ball formats for the upcoming fantasy football campaign.

I know, I know, I hear it too. “Even for dynasty, drafts before the NFL draft are bonkers,” right? You’re so super valid with that thought. So why do we do this?

First off, it provides us with feedback. Did you know that dynasty start-up drafts and redraft drafts are remarkably similar? What better way to get a leg up on redraft season than to do a dynasty startup with a bunch of friends? You get to hang out with and start talking some crap to friends, you get to see how other people value specific players, and you get to know who you like a bit more or less than everyone else. This brings us to our second point: it allows us to plan. 

Of course, you’ll have a plan going into any draft. However, how do you know what to do when that plan goes off course? Please make no mistake, it will go off course. Dynasty startups this time of year and this article are here to help you stay ready so you don’t need to get ready. 

Dynasty Start-Up Details | Fantasy Football Draft Strategy

For our fantasy football draft strategy purposes, I’ll be using this dynasty startup that a few of my friends just finished up, with the following league settings:

10 teams, 1 point per reception (PPR), +1 Tight End Premium (TEP)

1 – QB

2 – RB

3 – WR

1 – TE

2 –  FLEX (RB/WR/TE)

1 – SuperFlex (QB/RB/WR/TE)

15 – Bench spots

Check out this guide from Richard Sickels for a full list of Fantasy Football Terms. 

The Foundation | Rounds 1 – 4

One thing I hate doing in any draft is staying too long in a run on a position. What I mean by that is you should separate your rankings into tiers. Yes, I have Ja’Marr Chase ranked ahead of Justin Jefferson, but is there enough difference between them to say Chase is worth significantly more? No, absolutely not. Most people, myself included, have Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Jayden Daniels in the top tier of dynasty QB rankings. While Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrow may look like reaches, they’re both a part of the next tier of QB and are a great illustration of the evergreen answer when it comes to fantasy football – “it depends.”

“Should I trade Player X for Player Y? Should I pick up Player A off the waiver wire? Is it worth a flyer to draft Player B?” The honest answer to all of those is “it depends.” I have many more QBs in my 2nd tier of rankings, but people may have them standing alone. It’s reasonable to expect neither would make it back to be able to take them in the 2nd round, and as such, the slight reach for them in the 1st round makes sense.

So with that “it depends” in mind, who stands out as a reach? In all honesty, there’s not much in these first four rounds, which is as it should be. These first rounds are about building the foundation of your team and no matter how high you build, you will fail if your foundation has a crack. With that in mind, Jared Goff, Jordan Love, and Trevor Lawrence all stand out as slight reaches. The young guns of Drake Maye, Michael Penix, and even JJ McCarthy look safer and more secure to build on. Given that they’re all fourth-round picks, I can’t quibble too much with the picks, though, as it’s simply a difference in valuation.

Fantasy Football Draft Danger Zone | Rounds 5-8

I know, I know. “Why do you call this the ‘Danger Zone’? This isn’t Top Gun!” Alright, fair, but now you’re thinking about the song, and that’s just good living. Don’t bother fighting it, it’s OK.

Alright, silliness aside. We call it the Danger Zone because even Sir Mix-A-Lot would be proud of the size of the “buts” that come along with the picks in this range. Which, of course, is why they’re not picked in the first four rounds. 

• “Chase Brown is great, but Cincinnati could easily add an RB to the draft or a free agent that would wreck his value.”
• “Chris Olave is a fantastic WR but he hates Derek Carr, and who knows how long he’ll be stuck in New Orleans.”
• “Anthony Richardson is phenomenally talented, but will he remain the starter and/or be in Indianapolis?”

You get the idea. Great big “buts.” So let’s highlight some picks that feel out of place in either direction. Some of the TEs might seem like reaches, but with it being TEP, it makes sense. It’s rough out there after the top 5. Even with that, though, it’s tough to look at a TE who had five or more targets only five times last year and feel good about it. Especially when the offense doesn’t look like it’s changing for the foreseeable future. That’s what you get with the mercurial Tucker Kraft, though.

The flip side is Ricky Pearsall, who looks like a massive value to me at the end of the 8th round. Coming into the NFL, he profiled as a WR who could be a legit number one WR for a team, and we got to see glimpses of that promise late in 2024. He’s still got his “but,” however, his upside for players in that range is almost unmatched.

“I don’t know what to do with my hands” | Rounds 9 – 12 

Alright, the guidelines are off, we’re in full anything goes territory now. So what are we doing in this range?

First off, let me get this out there: You do not need to fill out a starting lineup until September. You don’t have lineup needs in March. Ever. The first goal should be to acquire value. Don’t get me wrong, there are many different ways to build a dynasty squad during a startup, and there’s no one way to eat a Reese’s. Let “acquire as much value as you can” be your guiding star , and in an active dynasty and you won’t go wrong.

“But Lou, what about your ‘it depends’ credo?” You’re right! We can take a look at CH_Herms‘ team to see exactly that. Herms took zero RBs through the first eight rounds, instead grabbing value after value at WR and QB. Then he pivoted hard to RBs, taking one in rounds 9-12. Beyond that, each RB he took has a good chance to see their value appreciate in a big way in 2025. So even though Herms is chasing a specific build, he’s still got his eye firmly on acquiring as much value as he can.

This is also the area where we see the TEP scoring impact the draft. Beyond the value shifting to TE in general, we see the more marginal dynasty TEs of Travis Kelce and Jake Ferguson start to go, and the +1 per reception for them helps it make sense. Keith Flemming has my two favorite picks in this bloc with David Njoku and Isaiah Likely, though. Njoku has been absurdly productive when healthy and not paired with DeShaun Watson, and Watson won’t be playing in 2025. Flemm doubled up by taking Likely, and with all the talk of Mark Andrews moving on from Baltimore, that would leave a lot of work for the ultra-athletic young TE.

It’s Getting Late | Round 12 & Onward

It gets late very quickly in these drafts. All of a sudden, you go from getting excited about taking a player to thinking, “Well, I’ll take a shot on this guy, I guess.” As a general rule, the fewer barriers a player needs to overcome to have fantasy relevance, the better. Let that be your guiding light through the later rounds and chase that value wherever it may run!

Oh Yeah, It’s All Coming Together | Fantasy Football Draft Wrap-Up

So where do we go from here? We sum it all up. Start your drafts by building your foundation. Make it solid, make it strong. Avoid danger as much as you can throughout the next section. Follow that up by executing your plan, but chase value where you can. Bring it home by continuing to pursue value wherever you can. Above all else, remember that this is a game and you should like your team; take the players that make you like your team!

Lou Brunson is a lead dynasty analyst and THE social media guru for Optimus Fantasy. Find his dynasty stylings here and at draftbuddy.com.