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Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet
Build your own customized fantasy football draft cheat sheets in seconds. Configure your league settings, select PPR, Half-PPR or standard (non-PPR) scoring, and you will get customized rankings and projections. Download, export, or print your cheat sheets easily as PDF, Excel, or .csv. Powered by our friends at Lineup Experts.
Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet Overview
Configure your custom Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet based on your league setup and scoring. Choose between RotoBaller’s various rankings, and be prepared for any pick. Have you ever had one of your picks sniped right before you’re on the clock and then panic looking for your next pick? Remove yourself from that situation this year.
Top Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet: Essential Picks and Strategies
In fantasy football, each manager will draft a team consisting of NFL players. Typically, most rosters consist of one quarterback (QB), two running backs (RB), two wide receivers (WR), one tight end (TE), a kicker (K), a defense (DFST), and several bench spots.
These players will score fantasy points based on their real-life production in that week. For example, if Derrick Henry rushes for 100 yards and two touchdowns, he will likely be one of the highest-scoring players that week.
To find the right players during your draft, fantasy managers must utilize a fantasy football cheat sheet. A cheat sheet helps managers pinpoint value picks and sleepers in the player pool. A well-designed chat sheet also contains all of the up-to-date news regarding player injuries and transactions that will give you a significant edge in your draft and improve your chances of winning your league.
Understanding Draft position
A key to finding success in your fantasy drafts is to understand your draft position. By utilizing average draft position (or ADP), fantasy managers can predict which players will and will not be available at their draft positions. This will allow them to enter their fantasy football draft prepared and have a refined strategy.
One way to find success in your draft is to understand the strength of schedule and weaknesses of each team. For example, a team like the Dallas Cowboys is projected to pass the ball quite often, which should push several of their WRs up your draft board. However, teams like the Las Vegas Raiders and Houston Texans are expected to have a more run-heavy approach.
In addition, savvy managers will pay close attention to their specific league scoring to gain an edge. In PPR leagues, it would be wise to draft WRs earlier, while RBs typically carry more value in standard formats. Understanding your exact league settings will put you at a significant advantage.
Creating a Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet
A well-designed fantasy football cheat sheet should contain information, projections, rankings, and depth charts from all 32 NFL teams that will assist you during your draft.
- Buffalo Bills
- Miami Dolphins
- New England Patriots
- New York Jets
- Baltimore Ravens
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Cleveland Browns
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Houston Texans
- Indianapolis Colts
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Tennessee Titans
- Denver Broncos
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Oakland Raiders
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Dallas Cowboys
- New York Giants
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Washington Commanders
- Chicago Bears
- Detroit Lions
- Green Bay Packers
- Minnesota Vikings
- Atlanta Falcons
- Carolina Panthers
- New Orleans Saints
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Arizona Cardinals
- Los Angeles Rams
- San Francisco 49ers
- Seattle Seahawks
A significant portion of the cheat sheet should be reserved for the most important moves in the offseason. Many of your league mates may conduct their draft by using last season’s end-of-season rankings. While this may not seem like a bad idea on the surface, this way of thinking is quite flawed and will provide you with a significant advantage.
If you understand the fantasy implications of big offseason moves like A.J. Brown joining the New England Patriots, Kenneth Walker III joining the Kansas City Chiefs, and Stefon Diggs joining the Washington Commanders, you will have a better understanding of what to expect from them in 2026.
Another component of offseason moves is coaching changes. This past offseason, the coaching carousel was quite active as there are now 10 new head changes in the league. In addition to this, many coordinate positions have shuffled which could open the door for several offensive units to take a massive step forward this fall.
Analyzing NFL Team Strengths
Another concept to highlight in your cheat sheet is the strengths of each NFL team. As noted above, fantasy managers can already begin to project the typical offensive game plan for many teams given their current roster construction.
For example, it may be wise to stack offensive players on the Cincinnati Bengals, given their poor defense, as they will likely participate in high-scoring affairs. By using this analysis, your team will be well-equipped to succeed in 2026 and not in 2025.
Player Projections and Rankings
Understanding a player’s ranking and projection in relation to others at their position is critical to finding success in fantasy football. When looking at quarterbacks, there are several top options like Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Jalen Hurts who have a higher projected rushing total, which gives them a much higher ceiling in comparison to more pocket passers like Joe Burrow or Matthew Stafford.
In addition, projections can often change pretty quickly if a presumed starter were to get injured. During training camp, many players suffer an injury which could open the door for a "backup" to emerge as an early-season waiver wire hero.
Also, projections can play a key role in assisting you to identify potential sleepers and busts for players broken down at each position. Last season, Omarion Hampton entered the NFL with high expectations given the immense upside he showed in college, which had already been baked into his projection for the upcoming season, given his higher ADP.
Depth Charts and Sleepers
Knowing a team’s depth chart can also assist you in identifying potential sleepers, breakouts, and busts for the upcoming season. In PPR formats, it will be crucial to identify the WR1s on each team as they are projected to see the largest target share. During the 2025 season, players like Chris Olave and Nico Collins took a large target share given their offensive environments.
Another way to find breakouts using depth charts is to highlight younger players behind proven veterans. For example, players like Tyler Warren, Harold Fannin Jr., and Ashton Jeanty quickly claimed a large role on their respective teams given the lack of depth at their positions.
Age can also become a factor in this. In Los Angeles, top running back Kyren Williams is beginning to slowly fall into a timeshare with an emerging option Blake Corum knocking on the door, which could make this a very frustrating backfield for fantasy managers.
Lastly, another way to use depth charts to your advantage is to target players on offenses that are projected to score points, even if they are the No. 3 options. Last season, the Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, and Los Angeles Rams were able to support numerous players given their positive offensive environment.
Fantasy Football Draft Preparation: Strategies and Tips
While the cheat sheet contains league-winning information, it can be a bit overwhelming to read, especially during your fantasy drafts. This is why fantasy managers must enter their draft with a defined strategy that will help them win their league.
One way to do this is to create tiers of players. While this is similar to a standard ranking system, a tier-based approach allows you to understand positional scarcity better and identify when it would be the most opportune time to select a specific position. This will allow you to not only stay organized during your draft but also provide you with the flexibility to make quick and effective adjustments on the fly when you are on the clock.
Avoiding Common Mistakes
Another essential way a cheat sheet can assist you during your fantasy football draft is to avoid the common mistakes made by fantasy football managers. Since cheat sheets typically contain ADP, this will allow you to not reach for a player that is projected to be available at your next pick.
While ADP is not necessarily useful when looking at the high-end fantasy assets like Puka Nacua and Amon-Ra St. Brown, it will play a key role in preventing you from reaching on potential mid-round landmines like Rhamondre Stevenson, DJ Moore, and Rome Odunze. While Stevenson can still produce at his ADP, it would be a massive mistake to draft him in several rounds earlier than where he typically goes off the board. Participating in mock drafts can also better equip you for a live-draft setting.
Staying Up-to-Date with Fantasy Football News
The final point to emphasize is the importance of staying up-to-date with all NFL news. One injury or trade before the regular season can significantly shake up a player’s ADP and potentially an entire team’s projection. If a top quarterback were to suffer an injury at the end of the preseason, their whole offense would take a significant hit in projection.
Follow our RotoBaller NFL news Desk to stay informed of all of the league’s top and breaking news.
Finalizing your Draft Strategy
The purpose of a fantasy football cheat sheet is to organize all of your rankings, projections, and outlooks in a one-stop guide to utilize during your draft. By referencing this, you will be able to stay ahead of your league mates as you will enter your draft with a solidified plan and a greater understanding of how the draft is projected to play out.
When using your cheat sheet, you will be well-equipped to take calculated risks to select the breakout picks and avoid the risky potential busts picks.
