Are you prepared to kill the snake -- snake draft, that is? If you want to field a dominant fantasy football team in redraft leagues in 2025, then you should be — or you can expect to fail to slither away with a great roster.
Preseason rankings and sleeper picks differ every year, but there are always other variables in need of reevaluation. As factors such as your first-round draft position or the other owners in your league change, all the draft strategy tips and advice highlighted in your past cheatsheets also require updating.
One constant is planning to own the draft from the first round to the last. If you do your preseason research and take part in some mock drafts, you would be primed for a finish in the money.
Nearly endless resources are available, from player rankings to statistical analysis to customizable mock draft simulators. One thing you should never miss is Sporting News' annual comprehensive, step-by-step Fantasy Football Draft Kit and cheat sheets that break down how to get to that desired domination.
Though playing in superflex/2QB leagues, Tight End Bonus scoring, and other unique formats can alter strategy from this plan, use this as a foundation just about everywhere else in 12-team fantasy football drafts.
Fantasy football strategy tips for snake drafts
Start with a five-round plan of attack
Going into a 12-team fantasy football draft, you will end up with five of the Top 60 picks.
Once you draw a selection between No. 1 and No. 12, it's easy to think too much about that first pick and not about the other core-four picks that follow. In most leagues, these are the players who should consistently make up at least half of your weekly starters.
A no-brainer first-round pick of an elite RB1 or top WR1 means little if you can't back him up with a bevy of support.
Participate in mock drafts with your pick position and league specifics to know what combinations of talent you can get. Then, when you're on the clock for real, you will know your best options and how you can audible if a pick doesn't fall as you expected.
This is the fantasy football version of your opening drive by an NFL offense. Whoever scripts their first series the best often ends up having the most success all season.
PPR RANKINGS: TOP 300 Cheat Sheet | QB | RB | WR | TE | DST | PK
Go early and often with running backs
Running backs are back in a major way. For those winning fantasy managers in the know, they never went anywhere.
Like with every position, talent reigns, but volume is just as important. Considering your league's format — standard vs. half-point PPR vs. full PPR — is valuable, but regardless of the format, you're looking for the best bottom-line production with scrimmage yards and TDs.
Looking at the top two running back tiers this season, the workhorses are varied.
Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs and Saquon Barkley are in a special feature tier of their own, but right behind them are Christian McCaffrey, De'Von Achane, Derrick Henry, Ashton Jeanty, and others.
totally get that derrick henry is 31 years old but am going to continue drafting the running back with a projected 80%+ rush share that led all running backs in yards per carry last season (min. 100 carries) at picks 9-12 pic.twitter.com/Lfptebh9nG
— Tej Seth (@tejfbanalytics) July 8, 2025
Those guys should dominate high-leverage touches and key opportunities through the red zone, though they will go down different paths to get their numbers with running and receiving yardage plus touchdowns.
In your RB1-RB2 combination, you should have one dependable, often explosive back and one consistent, complementary runner.
If you are required to start just two, you should draft five or six among your 17 total players. If you have a flex position, having up to seven backs would be acceptable.
The key to your backups is diversifying your portfolio. Draft some who have well-defined roles for early in the season and some who have massive upside for the second half.
Late in the draft, make sure you try to land whatever insurance you can. It's a good idea to handcuff your top backs or even someone else's, depending on the injury history of said backs atop a team's depth chart.
There are a few durable rushers at the top, but there tends to be a lot of attrition tied to both fading veterans and injuries. Make sure you have done enough to hedge your bets and land a few lottery tickets.
2025 DRAFT SLEEPERS: QB | RB | WR | TE | DST | Deep Sleepers | 1 From Each Team
Pick at least one elite wide receiver
The best running backs might seem to have the ultimate relevance in fantasy football, but the league's passing boom has brought standout wideouts to a whole new level.
Studs such as Ja'Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, Amon-Ra St. Brown are so good at racking up targets and catching passes from any quarterbacks that they serve as safer picks than most running backs. They carry more top-24 weight in PPR-leaning leagues, but they are also standard-league stars.
The key is knowing your wideout tiers across positions.
With running back becoming deeper, you should take a receiver somewhere before the mid-third round. Should you start by picking between No. 7 and No. 10 overall -- followed by picking between No. 15 and No. 19 in the second round -- it's OK to open WR-WR with a combination starting with, say, Amon-Ra St.Brown, because that's the better value play in relation to forcing a pick on a back.
If you begin with a good baseline of a tried-and-true game breaker or two at receiver, that can take the pressure off hitting on all the right high-upside sleepers later.
There is also less attrition at WR with most of the top players being durable, so in more drafts than not, you should want to tap into wideout twice before the noticeable fifth-round positional drop-off.
NON-PPR RANKINGS: TOP 300 Cheat Sheet | QB | RB | WR | TE
Be calculated when addressing tight end
There's been a general philosophy at this position to either address it early or wait until much later. That would be ignoring some good value between the surefire WR1-like options and the back-end TE1s.
No longer do you need to lock into a top tight end such as Brock Bowers or George Kittle or be out of luck drafting a great tight end value for a while. Sam LaPorta and Trey McBride have added to elite company behind them. T.J. Hockenson, Mark Andrews and now Travis Kelce are now available in the middle stanzas.
Gorgeous TD throw from J.J. McCarthy to T.J. Hockenson!pic.twitter.com/QcwPTrDVF3
— The Purple Persuasion (@TPPSkol) August 14, 2025
Tight ends can be taken now at many right spots in a draft between in Round 1 and 2 or Round 7 and 8.
Strike a balance between being obsessed with an absolute stud and getting nonchalant about what's still a key fantasy position, even with only one lineup spot. Treat tight ends like the WRs and RBs from which you're deciding to draft, only with needing less depth, a la QB.
WARNING: Avoid these fantasy draft busts
Find the best values at quarterback
Quarterback remains one of the deepest positions for top production in the NFL, and in 2025, more teams than ever throughout the league have exciting options. When seeking a QB early, dual threats Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, and Jalen Hurts form the top tier, ahead of Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes.
That means you will need to pay a premium draft pick to get them as early as the late second round to early third round. Although there's nothing wrong with banking on all four living up to their recent elite production, savvier drafters will look for a bigger return in relation to investment.
Expect Allen, Jackson, Daniels, and Hurts to go earlier than expected (or where they are in most rankings) in many drafts. That will give greater appeal to tapping into the stacked second tier, either the high running-oriented floor (see Justin Fields) or the gunslinger ceiling (see Baker Mayfield), who are also set up for rewarding ROI.
Digging deeper into the borderline top-12, high-upside Caleb Williams, in an improved offense with better weapons, has a case to go higher than his current eighth-round average draft position (ADP) given how well Daniels, as a rookie, delivered in a good offense last season.
Everything you want to see from Caleb Williams. pic.twitter.com/6IfSyAw4Yw
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 18, 2025
Quarterback production tends to look very different from preseason projections, so the goal should be finding someone who far exceeds projections vs. just meeting expectations. There are plenty of QBs ranked after the top 12 who carry upside, including two more second-year players, Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy.
Streaming multiple QBs over the course of the season based on matchups has proven to be a smart strategy for some.
If you do that, ensure to add upside options in the middle and late-middle rounds so one could emerge as an every-week play. If you have two solid options in the end, you can have the luxury of playing the matchups week to week.
EXPLOIT LEAGUE APPS: Yahoo, ESPN rankings can reveal sleepers, busts
Know why you're taking a player
Sounds simple, right?
Make sure you've heard of the guy you're taking in each round. Have a general idea of his talent level and what his potential role can be, both on his real team and your fantasy team.
Don't go for some shaky veteran WR5 when you can take a more valuable young RB4 who is an injury away from big touches.
You're not taking a player because you like his name or where he went to college. You're making every pick count with the intent that each pick can help you win a championship.
MORE: Fantasy auction league strategy & bidding tips
Don't be stuck following the rankings
While you want to somewhat follow a script early, be prepared to pivot and freelance a little once you see your early draft results develop.
Are you happier about some positions more than others? If a player doesn't excite you or can give you only limited help, you shouldn't take him.
Use your fantasy player cheat sheet as more of a rough outline than a stone tablet. Use your gut and make every draft your own. The one predictable thing about a fantasy draft is its unpredictability.
Don't be influenced by other picks
This is an addendum to the previous tip. During your draft, you’ll encounter positional runs or drafters going straight down the list, filling out their starting lineups before getting backups.
Every pick should be your own. Don't base it on what everyone is doing because you think that's what you should be doing.
Avoid getting too caught up in bye weeks
Other than making sure you don't draft two QBs who are off during the same week — Mahomes, Burrow and Dak Prescott all have byes in Week 10, for example — you don't need to pay much attention here.
Does it matter that Justin Jefferson, Jaxson Smith-Njigba and Davante Adams are all off in Week 8? If you can get all three early to have a loaded wide receiver corps, you would do it.
For the backfield, the same goes for drafting say, Henry and James Cook, both off in Week 7? Sure, you will have a tough go of it that particular week, but you will be in great shape for the rest of the season.
The goal is to have as much productive talent as possible, then worry about minimizing availability conflicts.
Things also can change so much at the non-QB positions that a seemingly solid bye-week fill-in on draft day is a waiver-wire afterthought come late in the season. Know the fantasy byes schedule so you are prepared during and after the draft, but obsessing over them is a waste of energy.
Embrace the stream with defenses
There's always one defense that has a ridiculous season and becomes a team-lifting fantasy force.
In 2024, the Broncos were terrific. In 2023, the Cowboys and Ravens stood out from the crowd. In 2022, it was the Patriots, who finished in the top 60 overall in scoring. In 2021, that group was again the Cowboys, whose big takeaways spike with Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs raised them to the value of a mid-WR1.
In '20, it was the Rams. The year before, it was back to the Patriots. In '18, it was the Bears; in '17, it was the Jaguars.
That all being said, fantasy defenses struggle to sustain a high level of playmaking (sacks, interceptions, and especially TDs) in an offensive-minded league, especially if they face a tougher set of matchups in subsequent seasons. There are many breaks involved with a unit's defensive scoring from year to year.
Don't spend a pre-10th-round pick trying to outsmart everyone at D/ST: You can get fortunate with the next Broncos, Patriots, Cowboys, Rams, Bears, or Jaguars, but wait everyone out to try to get that unit. The 49ers and Jets are two of the more intriguing sleepers for 2025.
Look at the early part of the schedule to see who has the best matchups and think about taking a second defense that can be of great service in subsequent weeks.
That gets you ahead of the mad dash to get the D/ST everyone is recommending on the waiver wire. Most importantly, unless it's evident you're right on a team that can be a weekly play, treat the position as disposable and interchangeable.
MORE: Track key fantasy injuries before drafting
Take kickers in the last round (if your league still uses them)
Much like in DFS and Best Ball, this position needs to get the boot from redraft leagues for good, and 2025 seems like another ideal year for that kind of cancellation.
It's lucky to win with your kicker and frustrating to lose because of your opponent's kicker. We all know the best kickers usually play for the better offensive teams, making the weekly results random from that point.
If you're in a league with kickers, you shouldn't make that pick until the final round, and when you do, just go for someone accurate who can make a few long ones.