Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet, Rankings & Targets (2024) (2024)

The 2024 NFL season is rapidly approaching, so it’s time to prepare for your fantasy football draft. What better way to do that than to practice drafting with our free mock draft simulator! Beyond our tools, we’ll also have you covered throughout the draft prep season with our content.

To help you dominate your fantasy football draft, Andrew Erickson shares his 2024 fantasy football draft cheat sheet, rankings, advice, and more.

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Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

Here is my approach to 2024 fantasy football drafts.

Andrew Erickson’s Overall 2024 Fantasy Football Strategy

For a more in-depth breakdown of my preferred draft strategy, check out the critically acclaimed article that precisely explains what to do round by round for the 2024 fantasy football season. It will be updated throughout the preseason (along with middle and late-round snake picks) to make sure you are equipped with everything you need come draft day.

Check out my video on my top targets for the first 16 Rounds of your fantasy football drafts.

But the TLDR version highlights are as follows:

Hero RB Strategy

Draft a top RB early and fill other RB spots with value picks later. Avoid over-drafting RBs (RB Dead Zone) and prioritize WRs if RBs are being picked aggressively.

TE Premium

Target Mark Andrews in rounds 4-5. If you missed out on a quality tight end in the early rounds, your new strategy is to chase quantity with multiple guys in the late rounds.

BPA Focus

Draft the best player available, emphasizing WRs with breakout potential in the middle rounds (5-9). Don’t overemphasize filling your roster spot.

Value in Middle Rounds

Target cheaper WR2s and potential breakout RBs. Wide receivers in the middle rounds tend to take massive leaps and vastly outperform their ADP ie. draft rookie WRs.

Late-Rounds

Take more shots on late-round RBs (especially in traditional redraft formats).

Follow a pseudo-late-round “elite” quarterback strategy

Value is what matters, which is why I stress a pseudo-late-round “elite” quarterback strategy – getting the last or second-to-last quarterback with top-tier upside to capitalize on value. This will change based on where QBs fall in ADP but rounds 4-6 are the appropriate range.

Traditional late-round QB

Among the late-round QBs, you must draft knowing what their schedule is to open the season. Because they are non-established studs, you need to know they have plus-matchups working in their favor to trust them in your starting lineup. There are so many options available with the late-round QB approach that it is my favorite strategy to implement in 2024.

Andrew Erickson’s 2024 Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

Here is my fantasy football draft cheat sheet for sleepers, targets, busts, and more.

QB Sleepers

• Jayden Daniels
• Tua Tagovailoa
• Trevor Lawrence
• Caleb Williams
• Justin Herbert
• Geno Smith
• Deshaun Watson
• Daniel Jones
• Sam Darnold
• Justin Fields

QB Busts (in relation to where they’re being drafted)

• • Josh Allen
  • C.J. Stroud
  • Dak Prescott
  • Brock Purdy
  • Kirk Cousins
  • Aaron Rodgers
  • Will Levis

RB Sleepers

• Tony Pollard
• Jaylen Warren
• Brian Robinson Jr.
• Tyjae Spears
• Devin Singletary
• Chase Brown
• Blake Corum
• J.K. Dobbins
• Jordan Mason
• Rico Dowdle
• Ty Chandler
• Javonte Williams
• Jaleel McLaughlin
• Tyrone Tracy
• Roschon Johnson
• Audric Estime
• Trey Sermon
• Jerome Ford
• Chuba Hubbard
• Tyler Allgeier
• Khalil Herbert

RB Busts (in relation to where they’re being drafted)

• Christian McCaffrey
• Kyren Williams
• D’Andre Swift
• Zamir White
• Aaron Jones
• Najee Harris
• Raheem Mostert
• Jonathon Brooks
• Trey Benson
• Austin Ekeler
• Gus Edwards
• Zack Moss
• Clyde Edwards-Helaire

WR Sleepers

• Rome Odunze
• Xavier Worthy
• Brian Thomas Jr.
• Christian Watson
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba
• Khalil Shakir
• Josh Palmer
• Darnell Mooney
• Rashid Shaheed
• Jerry Jeudy
• Dontayvion Wicks
• Ja’Lynn Polk
• Andrei Iosivas
• Jalen McMillan
• Javon Baker
• Luke McCaffrey
• Marvin Mims
• Troy Franklin
• Rashod Bateman
• Malik Washington

WR Busts (in relation to where they’re being drafted)

• Drake London
• Marvin Harrison Jr.
• Nico Collins
• Cooper Kupp
• Keenan Allen
• Jordan Addison
• Jameson Williams
• Hollywood Brown
• Tyler Lockett
• Curtis Samuel
• Mike Williams
• Adam Thielen
• Roman Wilson
• Odell Beckham Jr.
• Quentin Johnston

TE Sleepers

• Pat Freiermuth
• Brock Bowers
• Tyler Conklin
• Juwan Johnson
• Hunter Henry
• Tucker Kraft
• Taysom Hill
• Noah Fant
• Jonnu Smith
• Mike Gesicki
• Zach Ertz
• Colby Parkinson

TE Busts (in relation to where they’re being drafted)

• Sam LaPorta
• Dalton Schultz
• Chigoziem Okonkwo
• Cole Kmet
• Luke Musgrave
• Ben Sinnott
• Michael Mayer
• Cade Otton

Early-Round Value Picks (Rounds 1-5)

• Ja’Marr Chase
• Breece Hall
• Bijan Robinson
• A.J. Brown
• Jonathan Taylor
• Garrett Wilson
• Chris Olave
• Travis Etienne
• Jaylen Waddle
• De’Von Achane
• Michael Pittman Jr.
• Rachaad White
• Lamar Jackson
• Patrick Mahomes
• Mark Andrews
• Amari Cooper
• Malik Nabers
• Stefon Diggs
• George Pickens
• George Kittle
• Tee Higgins
• Dalton Kincaid
• Rashee Rice

Mid-Round Value Picks (Rounds 6-10)

• Kyle Pitts
• Tank Dell
• Evan Engram
• Zay Flowers
• Terry McLaurin
• James Conner
• Kyler Murray
• Jordan Love
• Chris Godwin
• Calvin Ridley
• Diontae Johnson
• Javonte Williams
• Jaylen Warren
• Tony Pollard
• Rome Odunze
• Christian Watson
• Ladd McConkey
• Brian Robinson Jr.
• Xavier Worthy
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba
• Tyjae Spears
• Jayden Daniels
• Brock Bowers
• Devin Singletary
• Tua Tagovailoa
• Brian Thomas Jr.
• Jared Goff
• Caleb Williams
• Chase Brown
• Blake Corum
• Trevor Lawrence
• Jerome Ford

Late-Round Value Picks (Round 11 or later)

• Rico Dowdle
• Zach Charbonnet
• Pat Freiermuth
• Jerry Jeudy
• Rashid Shaheed
• Ty Chandler
• Joshua Palmer
• Adonai Mitchell
• J.K. Dobbins
• Tyler Allgeier
• Chuba Hubbard
• Dontayvion Wicks
• Jaleel McLaughlin
• Geno Smith
• Hunter Henry
• Khalil Herbert
• Jordan Mason
• Ja’Lynn Polk
• Marvin Mims
• Rashod Bateman
• Daniel Jones
• Tyrone Tracy
• DeMario Douglas
• Tyler Conklin
• Roschon Johnson
• Noah Fant
• Justin Fields
• Khalil Shakir
• Taysom Hill
• Audric Estime
• Tucker Kraft
• Juwan Johnson
• Jonnu Smith
• Cam Akers
• Ray Davis
• Michael Wilson
• Darnell Mooney
• Marvin Mims
• Justin Fields

Deep-League Value Picks

• Zach Ertz
• Tucker Kraft
• Luke McCaffrey
• Colby Parkinson
• Hayden Hurst
• Greg Dortch
• Jamaal Williams
• Jalen McMillan
• Trey Sermon
• Blake Watson
• Cordarrelle Patterson
• Malik Washington
• Jacob Cowing
• Cedric Tillman
• Andrei Iosivas
• Jalen Tolbert
• Jordan Whittington
• Bo Melton
• Dawson Knox
• Cam Akers
• Carson Steele
• Emanuel Wilson
• Pierre Strong
• Dyami Brown

Backup RBs to Target

• Jaylen Warren
• Roschon Johnson
• Jaleel McLaughlin
• Tyrone Tracy
• Chase Brown
• Rico Dowdle
• Tyjae Spears
• Ty Chandler
• Chuba Hubbard
• J.K. Dobbins
• Blake Corum
• Jerome Ford
• Tyler Allgeier
• Jordan Mason
• Khalil Herbert
• Ray Davis
• Audric Estime
• Alexander Mattison
• Cam Akers
• Justice Hill

Backup RBs to Avoid

• Austin Ekeler
• Zack Moss
• Kendre Miller
• Antonio Gibson
• MarShawn Lloyd
• Tank Bigsby
• Clyde Edwards-Helaire
• Isaac Guerendo
• Dameon Pierce
• Gus Edwards

Rookies to Target

• QBs: Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams
• RBs: Blake Corum, Tyrone Tracy, Audric Estime
• WRs: Malik Nabers, Rome Odunze, Xavier Worthy, Ladd McConkey, Brian Thomas Jr., Ja’Lynn Polk, Jalen McMillan, Javon Baker, Jermaine Burton, Luke McCaffrey, Malik Washington
• TEs: Brock Bowers

Rookies to Avoid

• QBs: Bo Nix
• RBs: MarShawn Lloyd, Will Shipley
• WRs: Ricky Pearsall, Roman Wilson, Xavier Legette
• TEs: Ben Sinnott

D/STs to Target

• Dallas Cowboys
• New York Jets
• Philadelphia Eagles
• New Orleans Saints
• Cincinnati Bengals
• Seattle Seahawks
• Detroit Lions
• Los Angeles Chargers
• Indianapolis Colts
• Chicago Bears

D/STs to Avoid

• Baltimore Ravens
• Buffalo Bills
• Miami Dolphins
• Jacksonville Jaguars
• Denver Broncos
• Minnesota Vikings
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Five-Word Draft Tip

Every player has a price.

Andrew Erickson’s 2024 Fantasy Football Rankings

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Andrew Erickson is a fantasy football analyst at FantasyPros.