We’ve put out a lot of fantasy material this offseason. (Trust me, as the person writing this, I’ve also edited all of it. It’s a whole whole lot.) And we've done it since February. (Again, as the person writing this, my wife will tell you that I take almost no days off.) That much material just out in the ether over that much time can be daunting for someone trying to get ready for a fantasy draft.
Want to be the most comprehensive fantasy player possible? The most well-read one anywhere? Sure, scroll back over six months of material, read every last piece, research every last data point, have fun. Maybe you don't need a job.
But for everybody who needs a job, who can't take that sort of time, we have this.
This is our cheat sheet for 2018. As you prepare for your draft, whenever it is, and whatever structure it is, keep this bookmarked. Here, you can access our rankings, our analysis, and our previews, along with much more.
It's not everything. But it's everything you need.
Start here: The Fantasy Playbook
The Playbook is our 2018 draft guide, complete with bios of every fantasy-relevant player, key statistics, and draft boards for multiple kinds of leagues. It will be updated multiple times before the season begins and is as comprehensive a preview as you’ll find.
How to make the most out of a PFF subscription
Scott Barrett offered up thoughts and ideas for every last feature offered within a PFF subscription, so a fantasy owner knows what there is to use on the site and how to get the most out of it.
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The PFF Fantasy YouTube page
Our articles are great. Our podcasts are great. Our YouTube page? Also great.
Previewing the divisions
For our last bit of preview before the season, the staff goes division-by-division to identify the top players to watch for every reason:
- AFC East: Sept. 3
- NFC East: Sept. 3
- AFC North: Sept. 4
- NFC North: Sept. 4
- AFC South: Sept. 5
- NFC South: Sept. 5
- AFC West: Sept. 6
- NFC West: Sept. 6
Fantasy football rankings
“Rankings” sounds like such a simple term, but there are so many ways to look at it. Different league types, different categories. We’ve offered up rankings in a lot of ways. Check out a few of them:
- PFF Fantasy staff rankings landing page
- Ranking the 2018 rookies:
- As a group, before and after the draft
- Quarterbacks
- Running backs
- Wide receivers
- Tight ends
- Rookie draft strategy
- May 18: Jeff Ratcliffe’s top 200 for PPR
- July 27: Curtis Patrick’s top 60 for devy leagues
- Aug. 1: Scott Barrett's top 150 keeper rankings
- Tiers:
- Dynasty tiers:
- IDP tiers
- Aug. 10: Jeff Ratcliffe's top 150 for PPR (UPDATED Aug. 21)
- Feb. 5: Injured players to remember, by Walton Spurlin
- Feb. 11: Comeback candidates, by Dan Schneier
- Feb. 16: One-hit wonders, by Walton Spurlin
- March 12: Players who won’t bounce back, by Tyler Buecher
- May 8: 6 starters with low ADPs, by Dan Clasgens
- May 16: Second-year players not to give up on, by Mike Castiglione
- June 6: 10 to avoid in the first five rounds, by Mike Castiglione
- June 6: Post-hype sleeper RBs, by Dan Schneier
- June 8: Post-hype sleeper WRs, by Dan Schneier
- June 19: Boring-but-solid picks, by Dan Clasgens
- June 27: Draft This, Not That, by Tyler Buecher
- June 29: Yo-yo players, by Tyler Loechner
- July 25: Sleepers who could jump a tier, by Tyler Buecher
- July 26: Busts who could fall a tier, by Tyler Buecher
- July 27: Hot finishers of 2017, by Dan Clasgens
- July 30: Low-ADP players worth a pick, by Scott Barrett
- Aug. 4: Buyer Beware, by Walton Spurlin
- Aug. 6: The players the PFF staff most agree on, by Tyler Buecher
- Aug. 7: The players the PFF staff most disagree on, by Tyler Buecher
- Aug. 9: The most overvalued players at every position, by Dan Schneier
- Aug. 10: The most undervalued players at every position, by Dan Schneier
- Aug. 10: A fantasy sleeper on each AFC roster, by Dan Clasgens
- Aug. 11: Fantasy favorites and top players to target, by Scott Barrett
- Aug. 15: The most overvalued players by round, by Tyler Loechner
- Aug. 17: The most undervalued players by round, by Tyler Loechner
- Aug. 17: A fantasy sleeper on each NFC roster, by Dan Clasgens
- Aug. 20: 10 receivers to target if you go RB early, by Tyler Buecher
- Aug. 21: 10 running backs to target if you go WR early, by Tyler Buecher
Bold predictions
The staff conducts their annual Bold Predictions Week, with a whole host of the writers offering up their predictions for the season:
- Scott Spratt on his projection-based predictions (AFC Aug. 18, NFC Aug. 19)
- Tyler Loechner predicts the fantasy rookies (Aug. 20)
- Daniel Kelley with predictions on a sliding scale of boldness (Aug. 21)
- Walton Spurlin with IDP predictions (Aug. 22)
- Pat Thorman's predictions (Aug. 23)
- Curtis Patrick's dynasty/devy predictions (Aug. 24)
- Tyler Buecher's predictions (Aug. 25)
Fantasy team power rankings
Tyler Loechner breaks down all 32 teams in order based on our preseason projections:
| July 23: 32-29 | July 24: 28-25 | July 25: 24-21 | July 26: 20-17 | ||||
| No. 32 | New York Jets | No. 28 | Oakland Raiders | No. 24 | Indianapolis Colts | No. 20 | Detroit Lions |
| No. 31 | Buffalo Bills | No. 27 | Jacksonville Jaguars | No. 23 | Dallas Cowboys | No. 19 | Denver Broncos |
| No. 30 | Miami Dolphins | No. 26 | Washington Redskins | No. 22 | Chicago Bears | No. 18 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| No. 29 | Baltimore Ravens | No. 25 | San Francisco 49ers | No. 21 | Cleveland Browns | No. 17 | Seattle Seahawks |
| July 30: 16-13 | July 31: 12-9 | August 1: Pittsburgh Steelers | August 2: 4-1 | ||||
| No. 16 | Tennessee Titans | No. 12 | Houston Texans | No. 8 | Atlanta Falcons | No. 4 | New York Giants |
| No. 15 | Carolina Panthers | No. 11 | Los Angeles Chargers | No. 7 | Green Bay Packers | No. 3 | New Orleans Saints |
| No. 14 | Cincinnati Bengals | No. 10 | Philadelphia Eagles | No. 6 | New England Patriots | No. 2 | Minnesota Vikings |
| No. 13 | Arizona Cardinals | No. 9 | Los Angeles Rams | No. 5 | Kansas City Chiefs | No. 1 | Pittsburgh Steelers |
News, reactions, and deep dives
Sometimes, our material doesn’t fit into a nice box, but it’s still important come draft time. These are those:
- Free agency: PFF Fantasy reactions to every move
- 2018 storylines: Our writers’ best guesses in February what the big storylines will be in 2018:
- The return of the fantasy wide receiver, by Tyler Loechner
- Saquon Barkley, dominant rookie running back, by Tyler Buecher
- The DL resurgence in IDP, by Walton Spurlin
- Jimmy Garoppolo, fantasy QB1, by Michael Moore
- The fantasy-relevant Cleveland Browns, by Daniel Kelley
- Top-tier fantasy quarterback Patrick Mahomes, by George Kritikos
- Amari Cooper, potential WR1 under Gruden, by Dan Clasgens
- Coaching change winners and losers
- A primer on 2018 keeper value
- Teams set for more or less fantasy success
- Fantasy breakouts for 2018
- Best and worst offseason moves
- Overrated and underrated quarterbacks by traditional numbers
- Running backs most helped and hurt by their offensive lines
- Upside players at every ADP tier:
- Scott Barrett's Actual Opportunity
- Players whose ADPs have fallen the most since 2017
- Players whose ADPs have risen the most since 2017
- Our favorite player prop bets for 2018
- How to stream defenses and which ones to target
| Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | |
| Sleepers | 6-Mar | 13-Mar | 20-Mar | 27-Mar |
| Busts | 8-Mar | 15-Mar | 22-Mar | 29-Mar |
| Starter shelf life | 30-Mar | 6-Apr | 13-Apr | 20-Apr |
| Strength of schedule | 18-Jun 19-Jun 20-Jun |
23-Apr | 24-Apr 25-Apr (updated Aug. 23) |
26-Apr |
| Second-year players | 3-Apr | 10-Apr | 17-Apr | 24-Apr |
| Position battles | 3-Jul | 5-Jul | 10-Jul | 12-Jul |
| Players who could finish #1 | 15-May | 22-May | 29-May | 5-Jun |
| Bounceback candidates | 25-May | 30-May | 1-Jun | 8-Jun |
Offseason series
Sometimes you can’t get the entire point across in one piece. Some of our writers have had longer series, covering a broader topic or topics or going team-by-team or division-by-division. Check them out here:
- Scott Barrett’s Metrics that Matter
- Daniel Kelley’s Crazy Fantasy Stats
- Michael Moore’s Player Showdowns
- Pat Thorman’s 32 Questions
- Dan Schneier’s Players to Watch in Training Camp
Fantasy football mock drafts
The PFF Fantasy staff (plus sometimes some helpful outsiders!) has spent the entire offseason participating in an entire series of mock drafts, from the perfectly normal 12-team standard to a pre-NFL draft six-round rookie draft to an IDP to just about everything else. Below are all our results and analysis and strategy breakdowns. (Drafts are 12-team unless otherwise noted.)
- Feb. 22: PPR
- March 26: PPR
- April 11: PPR
- April 19: Pre-draft rookie mock
- May 4: Post-draft rookie mock
- May 18: Best-ball
- May 31: Drafting for 2018 while ignoring 2017
- June 7: 16-team PPR
- June 15: 10-team PPR
- July 2: Superflex
- July 25: IDP
- July 30: Standard
- Aug. 14: Half-point PPR
- Aug. 15: Staff ADP trends
- Aug. 16: Drafters' favorite picks
Draft how-tos
- Dynasty snake startup
- Dynasty auction startup (Parts 1 and 2)
- Superflex
IDP leagues
Walton Spurlin and Ross Miles are our resident IDP experts, and they’ve kept up with plenty of IDP material all offseason:
- March 16: IDP bounceback candidates
- March 23: IDP options who won’t bounce back in 2018
- March 25: IDP winners and losers from free agency
- May 31: Using PFF data to identify safeties with big IDP potential
- June 7: Using PFF data to identify defensive ends with big pass-rushing potential
- June 14: Using TPOP to find sleeper IDP linebackers
- June 21: IDP options who are better in fantasy than real life
- June 28: Draft-day IDP bargains: Linebacker
- July 13: Draft-day IDP bargains: Defensive back
- July 19: Draft-day IDP bargains: Defensive linemen
- July 27: Buyer Beware: The riskiest IDP draft picks
- Aug. 2: IDP targets with under 600 snaps in 2017
Devy leagues
Curtis Patrick has captained our devy material, looking at college players who should offer particular value down the road:
- Previewing the 2019 draft class:
- Conference previews for 2018:
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