The 10 Commandments of Fantasy Football (Plus 10 Bonus Commandments)

Every league has one. The manager who drafts a kicker in round nine, benches their best player on a “gut feeling,” and trades their only good tight end for two receivers they could have found on waivers.

Don’t be that manager. These are the rules. Carve them into your group chat.

The commandments at a glance

1. Thou shalt know thy scoring rules.
2. Thou shalt not trade a scarce position for a plentiful one.
3. Thou shalt draft value, not names.
4. Thou shalt chase opportunity, not last week’s points.
5. Thou shalt start thy studs.
6. Thou shalt check the injury report before every lock.
7. Thou shalt not draft a kicker or defense before the final rounds.
8. Thou shalt work the waiver wire every week.
9. Thou shalt play for the playoffs.
10. Thou shalt not fall in love with thy draft picks.

Bonus commandments:

11. Thou shalt wait on quarterback (unless thy league is superflex).
12. Thou shalt draft floor early and upside late.
13. Thou shalt honor the Vegas lines.
14. Thou shalt respect the wind.
15. Thou shalt know thy bye weeks.
16. Thou shalt seek a ceiling as the underdog and a floor as the favorite.
17. Thou shalt trust points-for over thy record.
18. Thou shalt never leave an empty lineup slot.
19. Thou shalt only offer trades thou wouldst accept.
20. Thou shalt write down thy league’s rules before the draft.

The 10 commandments

I. Thou shalt know thy scoring rules

Before you draft, trade or set a lineup, read your league settings. All of them. Scoring decides who’s valuable. A receiver with 100 catches is worth 100 more points in full PPR than in standard, while a touchdown-dependent running back gains nothing. Six-point passing touchdowns add 60 points to a 30-touchdown quarterback. TE premium, points per first down and return yards reshuffle the board again.

The rankings you read online were built for somebody else’s league. Yours is the only one that counts.

Tools: PPR vs Half-PPR vs Standard · 4pt vs 6pt passing TD rankings · scoring settings explained for ESPN, Yahoo, Sleeper and NFL.com

II. Thou shalt not trade a scarce position for a plentiful one

A player’s value is the gap between them and whoever you’d replace them with, and that gap is wildly different by position. In 2025 (half-PPR), the TE1 outscored the TE6 by more than 100 points over the season. The WR24 outscored the WR36 by 22.

So when someone offers you two solid receivers for your elite tight end, do the math. The receivers are replaceable. The tight end isn’t. Trade depth at plentiful positions for difference-makers at scarce ones, never the other way around. (In superflex, quarterbacks become the scarce asset. Same rule, different position.)

Tool: Fantasy points leaders shows how steep each position’s drop-off is this season.

III. Thou shalt draft value, not names

Draft day isn’t about collecting famous players or filling every position by round six. It’s about points above replacement: how many more points a player gives you than the best one you could still get later. That’s why a running back can be the right pick over a quarterback with more projected points, and why “best player available” beats “I still need a receiver” in the early rounds.

Build your board on value and let the roster sort itself out.

Tool: VBD cheat sheet generator builds value-based rankings for your league size, starters and scoring.

IV. Thou shalt chase opportunity, not last week’s points

Touchdowns are loud and random. Opportunity is quiet and sticky. Targets, target share, snap share, carries and red-zone touches tell you who’s going to score next week. Last week’s two-touchdown game mostly tells you who got lucky.

When a waiver add is on the table, ask how often the ball is coming to that player, not how often it ended up in the end zone.

Tools: NFL target share leaders · Red zone & goal-line stats

V. Thou shalt start thy studs

You drafted them early for a reason. Benching a top player for a hot waiver pickup because of a tough matchup is how you end up watching 30 points on your bench. Tough matchups dent elite players. They rarely erase them. Save the agonizing for your flex spot.

Tool: Team score calculator shows exactly how many points you left on your bench.

VI. Thou shalt check the injury report before every lock

Final game-status designations usually land on Friday for Sunday games, and inactives are announced 90 minutes before kickoff. An Out player in your lineup is a zero you chose. Check the report, check it again before the early games lock, and have a backup plan for anyone listed Questionable in a late game.

Tool: NFL injury report lists every team’s report, with game status and practice participation.

VII. Thou shalt not draft a kicker or defense before the final rounds

Kickers and defenses are the hardest positions in fantasy to predict, and the best play changes every week with the matchup. Taking one in round eight costs you a real player at a position you can stream off waivers.

Wait until the last two rounds. Then stream: pick up the defense facing the shakiest offense and the kicker in the highest-scoring game.

Tools: DST streaming rankings · Kicker streamers

VIII. Thou shalt work the waiver wire every week

Leagues are won on the waiver wire as often as on draft day. Injuries, depth-chart changes and new roles create fresh starters every week, and the manager who checks before waivers clear gets them first.

If your league uses FAAB, have a plan for the budget. Don’t blow it all in September, and don’t be the manager sitting on $97 in December.

Tools: Waiver wire risers · FAAB bid calculator

IX. Thou shalt play for the playoffs

Most leagues crown their champion in weeks 15 through 17, not in week 3. When two players look similar, lean toward the one with the softer playoff schedule, and stash playoff-friendly defenses a few weeks early. A 9-5 team with a great playoff schedule can beat a 12-2 team that ran out of good matchups.

Tool: Fantasy playoff schedule tool

X. Thou shalt not fall in love with thy draft picks

Where you drafted a player is a sunk cost. Your league doesn’t care that you spent a second-rounder on them, and neither should you. If a player’s role has vanished, bench them or drop them. Judge every trade on what each player will do from here on, not on what you paid in August.

Tool: Rate My Team gives your current roster an honest grade, by position.

The 10 bonus commandments

XI. Thou shalt wait on quarterback (unless thy league is superflex)

In a one-quarterback league, only one starter per team is needed and there are plenty of good ones. In 2025 (half-PPR), the QB12 finished 93 points behind the QB1, a smaller drop-off than at tight end (117), receiver (128) or running back (147).

In superflex and 2-QB leagues that math flips, and quarterbacks go early for good reason. Know which league you’re in.

Tool: VBD cheat sheet generator handles superflex too.

XII. Thou shalt draft floor early and upside late

Early picks should be players with secure roles, because you can’t afford a bust in round one. Late picks are lottery tickets: the backup running back who’s one injury from a workhorse role, the rookie receiver climbing the depth chart. A safe, boring veteran in round 13 has no path to winning you anything.

XIII. Thou shalt honor the Vegas lines

Sportsbooks put real money behind their numbers. A team’s implied total, its share of the over/under after the spread, is the best free estimate of how many points it will score. A 47.5-point total with a team favored by 3.5 means that team is implied for 25.5. When you’re stuck between two similar players, the one on the higher implied total usually wins the tiebreak.

Tools: NFL implied team totals · Implied team total calculator

XIV. Thou shalt respect the wind

Rain and snow get the headlines, but wind is what really hurts passing games and long field goals. When sustained winds reach around 15 mph, downgrade the kickers and deep-ball receivers in that game. Don’t panic over a light drizzle.

Tool: NFL weather report

XV. Thou shalt know thy bye weeks

Bye weeks don’t care how good your team is. Before you draft a backup quarterback or trade for a tight end, check whether the byes stack up. Six starters off in the same week is a loss you signed up for in August.

Tool: Bye week checker

XVI. Thou shalt seek a ceiling as the underdog and a floor as the favorite

If you’re projected to lose by 20, a safe 10-point player won’t save you, so start the boom-or-bust player who could score 30. If you’re the favorite, take the steady points and let your opponent chase variance. Your weekly matchup should change your lineup, not just your nerves.

Tool: Boom/bust consistency rankings

XVII. Thou shalt trust points-for over thy record

Head-to-head records are full of luck. You can post the second-highest score of the week and still lose. Points scored is a better read on how good a team really is: check yours before you panic, and check your opponents’ before you trade with them.

Tools: Power rankings generator · Playoff odds calculator

XVIII. Thou shalt never leave an empty lineup slot

An empty slot, a starter on bye or an injured player you forgot to swap out doesn’t just cost you. It hands a free win to someone in a playoff race. Set your lineup every week, even after you’re eliminated. That’s how leagues stay fun.

XIX. Thou shalt only offer trades thou wouldst accept

A lowball offer wastes everyone’s time and makes the next negotiation harder. The best trades help both teams: your surplus for their need. If you wouldn’t accept your own offer with the rosters swapped, don’t send it.

Tool: Draft pick trade calculator for when picks are part of the deal.

XX. Thou shalt write down thy league’s rules before the draft

Trade vetoes, tiebreakers, payouts, keeper deadlines, the last-place punishment: settle all of it in writing before the first pick, not in the group chat in week 11. A written constitution ends arguments before they start.

Tools: League constitution generator · League payout calculator · Last-place punishment wheel

Keep the commandments

Every tool above is free, with no signup, and the weekly cheat sheet puts this week’s Vegas lines, wind, streamers, waiver risers and byes on one page. Pin this list in your league chat, and the next time someone offers you two receivers for your tight end, send them commandment II.