Fantasy football is upon us, and if your league hasn’t yet drafted, you’re in luck because you can utilize our ASS News Fantasy Football Supplemental Draft Kit.
This guide will leverage insights and data points no one else utilizes, so you can be one step ahead of your league mates. This guide is here to offer you supplemental draft strategies for you to slap on top of the research you’ve already done.
Let’s get to it:
Birthday Draft Strategy
Did you know that players put up better numbers on their birthdays?
According to a study done by PFF.com in 2017, they found that QBs in the NFL put up better fantasy numbers on their birthdays. In fact, their stats generally rise by 20% when playing on their birthday vs. playing on non-birthday dates.
So, we’re going to take those findings and assume they apply to all fantasy players regardless of position.
We looked at the top 150 ranked players in fantasy football this year, and highlighted players whose birthdays fall on a game day:
With only 7 of 150 players playing a game on their birthday, this strategy could quickly fall apart, but you’d be a fool if you let it.
Instead, let’s apply this birthday performance phenomena to the entire week of one’s birthday. Everyone knows that special birthday feeling kicks in well before the actual date, so let’s add the players who play on the week of their birthdays to our dataset:
Including the players who play on their birthday week increased our number to 54 of the 150 ranked players.
So, with that list of 54 players, here is one example of a player ASS News would recommend you target to take advantage of their birthday:
Draft Kenneth Walker III & Trade Post-Birthday
Walker is a big birthday guy because over the past 3 seasons on his birthday game, he’s scored 7 points higher than his season average fantasy score. In fact, in 2022, Walkers biggest game of the fantasy season was his birthday game. However, his weekly fantasy point totals tend to decline after his birthday (see below).
So, our advice is to draft Kenneth Walker III as your RB1 or RB2, and then sell high on Walker after Week 7 (his birthday week), ideally for an elite RB with a good remaining schedule - Walker should fetch that return just after his birthday.
Hostage Draft Strategy
Drafting a fantasy football team is all about getting the most value at your given draft position.
The Hostage Draft Strategy says to draft players that are most valued by your league mates, hold them hostage, and then trade them to said league mate for a premium.
To most effectively utilize this strategy, learn your league mate’s favorite NFL teams, or the fantasy podcasts they listen to so you know their most desired fantasy targets. Below is a chart showing you who your league mate might want most based on their favorite NFL team:
Harasser Draft Strategy
Did you know negative comments “trigger a much stronger and more immediate electrical response in the brain's cerebral cortex compared to neutral or positive stimuli?”
Did you also know that social rejection, which can be triggered by negative comments, activates the same brain regions associated with physical pain?
This is why we feel such strong distress from critical words, and why we go to great lengths to avoid negative comments or social rejection.
But how can you leverage that to win your fantasy football draft?
Throughout your fantasy football draft, as you see a league mate drafting well, or if there’s a league mate you want to fall into a more “auto draft” predictable style of drafting, use these phrases in the platform’s chat function to attack their brain's cerebral cortex:
With these three supplemental draft strategies, you should be equipped with the strategic advantages to secure yourself a grade-A team in fantasy.
Good luck, and happy fantasy football season!