ESPN Fantasy Football Strategy for 2025: Four Keys To Win Your League
Fantasy

ESPN Fantasy Football Strategy for 2025: Four Keys To Win Your League

Ian Hartitz breaks down exactly how to approach your 2025 ESPN fantasy football draft to put yourself in a position to win.

My original home league draft takes place on ESPN every year. If you're reading this, there's a decent chance that you're using their platform for a league as well.

Hey, between you and me—let's win this shit!

Presenting: My ESPN fantasy football strategy guide for 2025. In this article, we'll break down:

As always: It's a great day to be great.

Applying The BADFISH System To ESPN Fantasy Drafts

Shoutout Sublime: This fantasy philosophy and provocative acronym was originally invented by Benjamin Franklin (read: me) last Tuesday night, but features strategy advice I've regularly followed over the years:

Be like water: Zero RB is cool. So is late-round QB. Hell, fantasy football is supposed to be fun, and it's 2025 after all: Robust RB is cool too! However, entering any fantasy draft with a predetermined strategy won't help you capitalize on value as it presents itself. Do you really want to keep riding with zero-RB if your drunken leaguemates inexplicably gift you Bijan Robinson at 1.06? Preparation is great, just make sure to take a page out of Bruce Lee's book and be like water: Adapt on the fly in the way you best see fit based on the new information presented to you during the course of any given draft..

ADP is your friend: But it can HEAVILY vary by site. Luckily for you, Fantasy Life has a handy-dandy ADP tool that shows every player's different price points from all the main sites. This can also be especially useful for checking out what players are being targeted earlier in bigger-money formats compared to home leagues (example: 49ers WRs).

Don't be a hero early: Fantasy ADP is similar to mock draft accuracy: It gets harder and harder to predict and figure things out accurately the further you go. Baller WRs, workhorse RBs, dual-threat alien QBs, and high-volume beast TEs are obvious targets in the early parts of drafts for clear and obvious reasons—you should take them!—I'd generally suggest waiting until about Round 9 or 10 before deviating more than 12-plus picks from ADP. This should allow you to have your cake and eat it too, by hopefully allowing you to get your preferred targets as late as possible.

F*ck kickers: I despise them. Larry David explains why they're useless in real-life football in this glorious rant. And yet, many insist on including these half-breeds in their fantasy league. Whatever. It's a free country (but please at least cut out the 50-plus-yard field goal bonus. It's outdated and ridiculous). STILL: There's no reason to reach on kickers (or DST) and take them before the final round or two of your draft. Kickers from mid-tier scoring offenses are actually better targets than those from super high-end units (the more you know!). Ideally, you don't even have to draft a kicker (or DST) and can instead invest in RB handcuffs who can be cut before Week 1 … unless you happen to be the lucky beneficiary of a sudden diamond in the rough that otherwise would have been still sitting on the waiver wire.

Injury-prone and already injured are two different things: We tend to think of injury-prone players in a binary "they either are or aren't" sort of fashion. It certainly makes sense that older players who have already suffered plenty of wear and tear are more "injury prone" than young 22-year-old rookies, but it's not exactly a 10/10 vs. 0/10 sort of thing, you know? For this reason, I tend to dismiss the notion that "he'll just get hurt," BUT do pay close attention to existing injuries. As my friend Scott Pianowski once said: “Injuries will find your fantasy team during the season, you don’t have to go looking for them in the draft.”

Stick to upside: The idea of forgoing perceived boom-or-bust options for safer, consistent players sounds nice in theory, but the research pretty strongly indicates that there isn't a meaningful difference in production between previously consistent and previously inconsistent players. Shoot for the moon, baby.

Handcuffs are encouraged: Especially in the later rounds of fantasy football drafts. These are the sort of players who are one injury away from being on the cover of every waiver wire magazine out there. Sure, a wild Puka Nacua or Jauan Jennings appears from time to time, but no position produces more sporadic fantasy stars out of nowhere than RB. Prioritize RBs one injury away from entering the position's top-20 conversation over WR5+ types and/or backup QBs/TEs who you'll never feel good about starting anyway.

Sync your ESPN Fantasy Football leagues with Fantasy HQ (below) to get customized advice across FantasyLife.com!

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Best Values In Every Round of ESPN Fantasy Football Drafts

I looked at the Fantasy Life rankings (code "Ian" for 20% off any Tier 1 or 2 subscription!) to determine the biggest round-by-round ADP discrepancies. Now, it's obviously not a given that your specific draft and leaguemates will live and die by previous ADP, but you know what the only thing cooler than getting YOUR guy is? Getting them just a little bit later and strengthening that roster even more.

First: You're going to notice more WRs than RBs below, which makes sense considering the home league stereotype/tendency to load up on the latter position early. Don't confuse this with a round-by-round recommendation guide–we're merely looking at ESPN-specific prices independent of full positional need to get an idea of the biggest potential bargains out there.

With this in mind …

Position-by-Position Strategy for ESPN Fantasy Football

Quarterback

I've actually drafted a fair amount of early-round QB this offseason, but don't plan on going out of my way to pay top-30 pick prices for the position's top-four consensus options with top-12 RBs and WRs still available. Hey, if Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson are available when the iffy WR2 tier comes around in the middle of Round 3 and you don't much care for the RBs, go for it; the key is not playing catch-up once the first few options go off the board.

Essentially, take a page out of Ricky Bobby's playbook and utilize a "First or last" approach at the position. Thinking of it like a barbell also works: If you're going to spend up on a QB, make it a dual-threat alien–mobile top-50 overall picks at the position have generally returned great value in recent years—otherwise, it's FINE, and even preferred, to wait until the double-digit rounds.

Look, I get why Baker Mayfield (QB7, 60), Kyler Murray (QB9, 93), and Brock Purdy (QB10, 96) are top-10 options, but are they really worth taking ROUNDS ahead of guys like …

Hell, even guys like Thor Nystrom's hero J.J. McCarthy (QB17, 140.1) and Liam Coen's protege Trevor Lawrence (QB22, 165.6) are available LATE in drafts—I'd much rather have one or two bullets at these late round picks than spend top-100 draft capital on someone I'm not positive has *that* much more top-five upside.

Running Back

The seemingly endless aforementioned value at WR in the mid-to-late rounds makes me a Smashmouth believer in getting at least one, preferably two, RBs inside the first four rounds. Again, it depends on your draft slot and who is available, but I'd look long and hard at studs like Ashton Jeanty, De'Von Achane, and Derrick Henry in Round 2, while consensus top-10 Fantasy Life RBs Bucky Irving and Chase Brown are available in the early parts of Round 3.

Then, ideally, you, a scholar, can land Mr. Ride or Die himself, Omarion Hampton, in Round 4. Yes, Najee Harris (eye) managed to return to practice. Also, yes, the first-round rookie is a special prospect who could flirt with 300-plus touches if his workload looks anything like 2024 J.K. Dobbins inside the NFL's reigning 11th-ranked scoring offense that seemingly has every intention of pounding the rock this season.

Or maybe Kenneth Walker is your cup of tea in Round 4; either way, securing two dope early-round RBs to build around will allow you to scoop up all sorts of WR value in the middle rounds before re-directing your attention to later-round handcuff backs. The position's aforementioned Round 9-12 values should be prioritized once the WR well begins to run dry, and that's before getting into late-round darts who are just one injury away from rocketing up the ranks like …

Wide Receiver

Feel free to draft multiple baller top-12 options inside the first four rounds, but the aforementioned depth at the position has me willing to generally forgo a true zero-RB approach unless my draft is feeling particularly frisky.

Again: Rounds 5-8 feature a multitude of legit top-30 options with upside for much more at a very reasonable cost:

Additional later-round options like Packers WR Matthew Golden, 49ers WRs Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings, and Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka particularly stand out at cost. I'd much prefer my six-to-seven WRs come sooner rather than later in drafts, considering the heightened potential for late-round RB darts to better boom.

Tight End

Similar thoughts here as QB: If you want to spend up on Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, or George Kittle: I get it. They're the position's big-three options for a reason, and devoting early-round capital to them is fine if you simply aren't a fan of the available RBs and WRs.

That said: Realize that you only need one of these guys if you do wind up spending a top-four pick on them. Worry about the bye week later; you can worry about cutting a bench scrub then while continuing to play the handcuff RB lottery in the meantime.

But yeah: First-or-last, barbell approach for me. There are so many great WR values on the board inside the top-eight rounds that I prefer to throw one-to-two late-round darts on still exciting options. First-round rookies Colston Loveland (TE12, 126.8) and Tyler Warren (TE13, 133.1) stand out to me, as drafters can select safer—albeit still TE1 capable—veterans like Jake Ferguson (TE16, 143.8), old man Zach Ertz (TE18, 160.5), and hell, even Kyle Pitts (TE15, 139.8) when most of the top-tier RBs and WRs are gonzo.

Kicker

Again: F*ck kickers. Draft handcuff RBs if you can and deal with the position later. But if you insist, check out my colleague Matthew Freedman's admittedly awesome kicker preview. 

DST

Look, if you can land elite real-life defenses with comfortable enough opening schedules like the Broncos, Ravens, or Vikings in the last two rounds of your draft, go ahead, but like with kickers, please don't reach on the position when there are capable skill-position players still on the board.

This is largely because of two fun options that: 1.) Aren't expected to totally suck at playing defense, 2.) Possess borderline erotic opening schedules, 3.) Have a good chance of being available after a handful of options at the position are already off the board.

  • Patriots (ADP: DST9): Have some blue-chippers on this side of the ball and start the year with the Raiders, Dolphins, Steelers, Panthers, Bills (ugh), Saints, Titans, Browns, and Falcons.
  • Cardinals (ADP: DST21): Start the season with the Saints, Panthers, 49ers (ugh), Seahawks, Titans, and Colts. Not a great defense, but potential to be good based on the additions of some high-priced free agents and early-round draft picks.

Difference in Early-Round Strategy in ESPN Drafts Depending On Draft Position

Alright, time to put our money where our mouth is. Just kidding. Plenty of time for that later. Let's just eyeball what some potential starts might look like using Fantasy Life's cool ADP tool! 12 teams, 1-QB, base half-PPR scoring. Cool? Cool.

First, we'll peep an early-draft position …

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One of the reasons why picking from the 1.01 is my preferred slot this year is because of the chance to land THE WR1, y'all, in Ja'Marr Chase before likely still getting your choice between a consensus top-10 RB like Bucky Irving or Chase Brown or another sweet top-12 WR like Drake London or Tee Higgins. And hey, in the event your sharp leaguemates soak up all the RBs and WRs that you feel good about, there are still elite TEs and QBs available. Ideally, I would just try to get at LEAST one RB at the Round 2-3 turn before hopefully snagging Hampton at the Round 4-5 turn (James Conner, Breece Hall, or Chuba Hubbard are solid consolation prizes) and then pounding WRs (pause) during the middle rounds.

As for a middle draft start …

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Sign me up for any of those three ballers in Round 1, while Brown and McConkey stand out in Round 3. This makes Round 2 a bit more of a dealer's choice situation–if one BTJ, AJB, or Nico falls, that'd be sweet, if not, I'm more than fine with snagging London, Jacobs, or Bucky. This point is a bit too early for me to look at a QB or TE, but either falling to Round 3 becomes easier to deal with. In Round 4-6, I'd once again lean into the various WR values at play (and Hampton) over reaching on TE or QB.

And finally, the later-draft positions …

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Personally I would take Nabers if available at the turn and then "settle" for any of those three stud RBs at the beginning of Round 2. Another RB-WR duo in rounds 3-4 makes sense considering the high-end options still available at both positions and our aforementioned desire to get RB in a good spot before going hard in the paint at WR for the rest of the middle rounds. Still, Round 4 George Kittle is where I'd be willing to make an exception to our general "wait at TE" mindset.

Oh yeah, one more thing: Have fun! It is just fantasy football after all. Good luck!

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Jauan Jennings
    JauanJennings
    WRSFSF
    PPG
    6.36
  2. Omarion Hampton
    OmarionHampton
    RBLACLAC
    PPG
    6.38
  3. Xavier Worthy
    XavierWorthyQ
    WRKCKC
    PPG
    4.55
  4. DeVonta Smith
    DeVontaSmith
    WRPHIPHI
    PPG
    7.62