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Fantasy football drafts are one of the most fun aspects of fantasy football. The anticipation breaks and you can finally see how the board falls.
Determining the draft order is always a fun way to keep everything fresh and mix up the league each year. Different methods can be employed depending on whether your league members are local or spread out.
Whatever you decide to do to determine your draft order, have fun with it, make it fair, and keep it light. It is only fantasy football after all.
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Draft Lottery
My favorite method of determining draft position is the draft lottery, especially since my leagues are spread across the country. The worst teams have the best chance to land the No. 1 pick, but there is no guarantee. It also gives the best finishers in the league a chance at moving up in the draft rather than picking at 11 or 12.
I got this idea from watching the NBA Draft Lottery. The NBA Draft Lottery has far more complex math and calculations than I employ, but I have devised a method that works for me.
Each league member is weighted by their finishing position. For example, the last-place finisher in a 12-team league has 12 entries, the 11th-place finisher has 11 entries, etc. These entries add up to 78 total entries league-wide. In other words, the last-place finisher has a 12/78, or 15.4% chance, at the No. 1 pick, and the league winner has a 1/78, or 1.3% chance, at the No. 1 pick.
I input each entry into Excel and use the random number selector function to select the draft order. Most of the time, each player falls within one to three spots of the inverse of their finishing position. However, now and then, a low finisher will drop several spots and a high finisher will rise several spots.
This method discourages tanking for picks and gives everyone a shot at the coveted No. 1 pick in fantasy while keeping things more even than a simple randomized draft order.
We have a 2% chance of getting the No. 1 pick in today's NBA Draft Lottery... pic.twitter.com/DRcRCXfgMh
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) May 12, 2024
40-yard Dash
While it is more fun if everyone can get together, this method can still be employed by a spread-out league. Provided that everyone in the league is able-bodied, this method is an exciting way to take a page out of the NFL Combine.
The rules are simple, the fastest 40 time gets the highest pick and the slowest 40 time gets the lowest pick. This is a great method to throw in wrinkles to change the difficulty and level the playing field.
Their fantasy league ran 40s to decide the draft order and everyone pulled a muscle 😂
(via shivpruthi/TikTok) pic.twitter.com/BOXKtQdgdE
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) September 13, 2021
40-yard Dash at the Beach
I have seen leagues run a 40-yard dash through the shallow surf at a beach. Each player has to time their start so that they can experience the least amount of wave action possible and finish quickly. This is a great way to level the playing field and get all the league members together for some late-summer beach action.
40-yard Dash with Obstacles
Another wrinkle could be to create an obstacle course that spans 40 yards. This eliminates the absolute differences in straight- line speed between league mates. Obstacles could be anything from physical to intellectual obstacles. It takes creativity, but you can theme your obstacles toward the personality of your league.
Chopped
The wise words of Ratatouille chef Auguste Gusteau that "anyone can cook" simply does not always ring true.
As a guy who grew up watching Food Network, I came to love "Chopped" and I think a "Chopped" competition would be an excellent way to determine draft order. This method would be an event, and would most likely require all league members to live in the same area.
Each player would be tasked with making the same dish. It could be something that is relatively simple and easy to make in a crowded kitchen. A literal single slice of pizza is a great food item for this challenge.
The league could designate three non-league friends to judge each slice and rank them in descending order. The best slice takes the No. 1 pick and the worst slice takes the last pick.
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