Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet | The Dynamic Draft War Room

What makes a winning fantasy football cheat sheet? 

You’ve landed on this page for a reason.

We’re guessing it’s because you’re searching for a fantasy football cheat sheet to help in your upcoming draft.

Good on you – we’ve got a series of generic cheat sheets on our fantasy football rankings pages… If that’s all you’re looking for.

But you need more!... 

The purpose of your cheat sheet should be to give you true player values. Obvious enough, right?

But what most cheat sheets actually do is simply give you a group of static – and then eventually stale – player rankings.

Our research shows that nearly every winning fantasy team drafts players based on 17 value indicators – some of which change throughout your draft. 

We’re talking about things like positional scarcity, your team needs, opponents needs, and breakout potential.

Miss on a couple of these indicators, and you’ll put yourself at a deep disadvantage.  

Check them out for yourself:

The 17 crucial value indicators in any fantasy football draft 

1. League scoring – The most important variable

Your league’s scoring/starting lineup rules go a long way in determining player value. TE-premium, superflex, PPR or half-point PPR. Those are just a few of the scoring rules to consider. Obviously a static fantasy football cheat sheet won’t take your exact scoring into account when ranking players. 

2. Positional value – QB vs. RB vs. WR vs. TE?

Every positional value is different. That’s why RBs typically go off the board long before the top QB is taken. But where – exactly – you should value the top QB vs. WRs and RBs is something you need to know. The Draft War Room considers the projection ranges across positions the whole way, and recommends when to target that WR, RB, QB or TE.

3. Real-time team needs – When to fill each position

What position you should target in any given round also depends on what you’ve already drafted. Should you grab your starting QB before getting your fourth RB? Based on your needs – and how your draft is unfolding – the Draft War Room will tell you when it’s time to fill that QB hole. Or keep waiting.

4. Opponent team needs – What they need affects your strategy

You might know your own team needs at every turn. But what about the other teams in your league? Their team needs will affect which players are likely to make it back to you. We don’t have to tell you how daunting it is to keep track of other teams’ needs while tracking everything else in your draft. The Draft War Room does it for you.

5. Changing positional scarcity – The player pool changes with every pick

Positional scarcity goes a long way in determining true player value. As players leave the board, that scarcity changes the value of the remaining players – in real time. This truth becomes obvious when there’s a “run” on a certain position. But it also happens one pick at a time. If you’re not paying attention, you’ll be the guy making a panic pick when your turn comes up.

6. Player upside – Measure the likelihood a player hits his ceiling

We all think about upside as we draft. But the Draft War Room actually calculates it. You’ll see “ceiling” projections for every player. And the Draft War Room is calculating how likely that player is to hit his ceiling. Come the second half of your draft, Upside Mode automatically kicks in to highlight those picks with league-winning potential.

7. Bust risk – Avoid flaming out on a high pick

You’ll also see “floor” projections for each player in the Draft War Room. Think of a player’s “floor” projection as his likelihood of being a bust.  And we think every winning draft has to account for how likely players are to hit that bust risk. Waste your first 2-3 picks on guys who bottom out, and by October you’ll be waiting for next year’s draft. 

8. Injury risk – Don’t waste draft capital on unnecessary risks

Want to know the percentage chance each player has of suffering an injury this season? This number comes from our exclusive Injury Guide: the largest, most comprehensive database of player injuries anywhere. NFL teams have paid for access to it. And last year, we hit on 11 of the 12 players with the highest injury predictions.

9. Breakout potential – One player can literally win you a championship  

Nothing makes your season like a player dramatically outperforming his draft position. That’s why you’ll get a sense of who’s most likely to break out as you draft.

10. Correlated ADP – Specific to your league format

Every draft room lists average draft position (ADP) these days. Only your Draft War Room, however, includes ADP specific to your league format.

11. Bye week conflicts – Make sure your starting lineup doesn’t collapse 

You’ll not only see each player’s bye week. You’ll get alerted as you draft if an available player’s bye conflicts with someone you already drafted. That solves a big lineup-setting problem before you’ve even begun setting your lineup.

12. Consensus projections from 35 other sites – Another indicator to determine sleepers

Get a quick look at how the fantasy football market values a player. If our projection comes in a lot higher, you’ve got a sleeper pick.

13. Flex options – WRs vs. RBs vs. TEs

Beyond the specific position requirements, you probably need to start a flex player every week. Should you target a WR? A RB? Getting that position right will be key to your season. So you’ll definitely want the flex spot(s) factored into who you pick.

14. Bench depth – You need productive backups 

No matter how carefully you draft, you’re probably not getting through the season with everyone healthy. And even if you do, a strong bench will produce high-value trade chips. Your Draft War Room calculates how deep your bench should go at each position based on your league setup.

15. Personalized projection adjustments – You have ultimate control

Like a player more – or less – than we do? No problem. You can easily adjust his projection up or down to change his position in your Draft War Room. And don’t worry. It’ll save automatically.

16. Positional tiers – See where value clearly drops off

Sometimes the gap between two players at the same position is small. But sometimes there’s a big drop-off in projections between players. You need to see that in the middle of your draft. And you need to see it at a quick glance. The Draft War Room shows you which tier every player falls in.

17. Strength of schedule – Add a guy with a cream puff schedule 

Would you rather have your RB going up against a weaker defense or a stronger one? Easy choice. And that’s why the Draft War Room lists projected strength of schedule for every player. Calculated by position, of course.

Fantasy football cheat sheets can tell you where players rank …

... but the Draft War Room will give you true player value

Let’s take a deeper look at determining dynamic player values vs. static rankings.

Most drafts are a mix of RBs, WRs – and probably a couple QBs and a TE or two – in the first couple rounds.

Here’s why:

What everyone seems to know instinctively is that position scarcity – and not player point projections – are what drive player value.

That’s why you’re far more likely to draft the #5 RB over the #1 QB in a standard league.

But position scarcity is just one of the 17 indicators. 

How do you track all 17?… In real time?!

Plus access a whole bunch of other info vital to your draft?

The Draft War Room

Hundreds of real-time calculations deliver you the most valuable players

The Draft War Room considers myriad inputs and combines advanced functionality to give you a clear path at every turn.

Players automatically get removed from your fantasy football cheat sheet as they’re drafted.

What remains: 

Top 5 draft recommendations -- plus a wealth of other useful info.

Live League/Draft Sync

Start by using the Live League Sync to connect your league.

When you sync the Draft War Room with your fantasy football league, it will automatically load:

1. Your league’s scoring
2. Your draft order and other team names
3. Every team’s pick, live throughout your draft
4. Your league’s roster throughout the regular season

That last factor will be vital to staying ahead of your league mates all year long.

But first:

How does the Draft War Room help you assess player values?

Dynamic Most Valuable Player (DMVP)

You know how important “value” is to your drafting.

Now you get the best representation of player value available in a draft tool.

DMVP takes into account 5 of the crucial 17 indicators:

1. The pool of available players at each position and the expected dropoff in fantasy production by your next pick
2. Your remaining team needs based on the roster spots you’ve already filled
3. Average draft position (ADP) of remaining players
4. A player’s ceiling upside (and likelihood of hitting that ceiling) for players drafted in middle to late rounds
5. Analytically proven positional strategies

The end result for you is the "Dynamic Most Valuable Player" (DMVP) score. 

It's a unique player score determined by a proprietary algorithm we've created and tested.

Doing these calculations manually would take you hours. And you'd have to do it again at every turn.

The Draft War Room does it in less than a second. Every time a player is drafted.

How DMVP Values Are Crucial For Your Draft

Watch Video

The Draft War Room adapts to your league format

Fantasy football cheat sheets can’t cover every league’s rules

You know that there are all different types of fantasy football leagues.

From minor scoring variations to completely different formats.

Whatever your format, the proper setup will have your Draft War Room ready to dominate.

What type of fantasy football league do you play in?

Wait – it does more?! ...

Yeah. After all, it’s not just a cheat sheet.  

The Draft War Room is designed to give you an easy, league-crushing draft experience.

You don’t need to keep track of everything as you make your picks.

But here are a few extras we’ve built in to help you:

Mock Draft Trainer

Want to make sure you know how everything works before your draft goes live?

Practice as many times as you want with the Mock Draft Trainer.

And you can do an entire mock draft in just a few minutes. 

It’ll use your exact league settings and ADP specific to your format to give you a true draft experience.  

The Draft War Room algorithm will even change up the player picks each time you draft. So you’ll be ready no matter what comes at you on draft day.

ADP countdown

You already know that the Draft War Room counts ADP in its calculations. And every draft room shows you ADP at this point.

Your Draft War Room gives you a deeper advantage.

Hover over a player’s ADP, and you’ll see exactly how many picks away from that ADP your draft currently is.

Quick-check icons

Who’s injured? Or a sleeper? Or a potential breakout?

Icons next to player names on this fantasy football cheat sheet give you a quick-glance reminder of those important details.

Player pages

Want to check Shark Bites for the latest news on a player before you draft him?

Just click on that player in your Draft War Room, and his full player page will open in a separate tab.

Get the info you need without losing sight of your draft.

Flag players and leave notes

Want to keep a certain player in mind as you draft?

The Draft War Room lets you flag that player (in advance of your draft) so you don’t lose track of him.

And you can even add a note for yourself, so you can remember why you flagged him.

Draft log and grid view

You don’t need to track all the picks.

But you can easily check on the full draft whenever you want.

The grid view shows you every player who has been drafted and lets you see how each team in your league is building.

Frequently Asked Questions 

How do you use a fantasy cheat sheet?

Fantasy cheat sheets are used as a guide during a fantasy draft. Cheat sheets can contain relevant information like overall ranks, positional ranks, projections, tiers, etc. 

Many fantasy managers are used to having a paper guide as a reference during their draft, but static cheat sheets rapidly become outdated. The Draft War Room is a dynamic fantasy football cheat sheet that uses live-syncing and positional scarcity to update player ranks after each pick.  

You can learn more about the Draft War Room from this short video. 

How do you cheat, or can you cheat in fantasy football?

Collusion and commissioner abuse are two main ways to cheat in fantasy football. Commissioners have a lot of power over other fantasy managers, such as:

• forcing add/drops
• changing scoring or roster settings
• or generally just being able to change settings to benefit themselves

The league chat logs all commissioner actions, so pay attention and look out for any funny business. 

It is much harder to spot collusion because it is typically conducted behind closed doors. Collusion in fantasy football is two (or more) managers working together to gain an advantage over other managers in the league. Fantasy football is not a team sport; we are all trying to beat each other. 

Here are some tips or “cheats” to use in your Yahoo Fantasy Football or ESPN Fantasy Football leagues. 

What are the tiers in fantasy football?

In fantasy football, tiers group positional players with a similar value. Fantasy football rankings are linear, and tiers are an excellent way to look for a drop-off in value. Usually, players within the same tier are nearly interchangeable. 

What is the bye week cheat sheet in fantasy football?

Fantasy managers can prepare for NFL bye weeks with an NFL Bye Week Cheat Sheet. The cheat sheet shows which teams are on a bye each week and highlights the relevant fantasy players. It is a handy tool to gain insight at a glance and make quick roster decisions.

 Who should I pick first in fantasy football 2023?

Whom you should pick first in fantasy football 2023 really comes down to your league's scoing rules and set-up. In PPR leagues, the short answer is almost certainly Justin Jefferson. The Vikings stud WR might also be the top guy in other formats, based on the drop-off between his production and the production of other WRs. The drop-off between CMC and a second-round RB won't be as steep.

What we've learned since 1999

Those free fantasy football cheat sheets from the internet won’t give you an advantage

We’ve been doing this fantasy football website gig for 25 seasons.

And, yes, this is how we feed our families (please don’t hate us) – so we’re hoping to turn you into a Draft Sharks Insider »

But we’re only asking for your partnership if what we’ve learned makes sense to you. 

So here’s a quick breakdown:

• Static fantasy football cheat sheets are a “technology” that belong to the 1990s. 
• To be a consistent winner, you need to track (at least) 17 draft value indicators in real time.
• The only way you can track them in real time is to live-sync your league. And let software keep track of your draft.
• Following the same player rankings as everyone else has zero advantage.

If you’ve read this far, please take a couple more minutes to check out this video.

You’ll actually see the Draft War Room in action. And how you can get an Insider Membership to Draft Sharks!