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Fantasy football tools can determine if you will be successful in playing fantasy football. They can assist you in making decisions for your fantasy team that will have both short and long-term repercussions.
The last thing you want to do is to rely on a tool or website that is faulty or does not give you the full stats. That is why I’ve assembled and curated a list of the best fantasy football tools for your perusal.
You’ll be able to see who offers the best lineup optimizer, or whose suite of tools gives the most in-depth and accurate feedback. You will also learn about what tools are most important, and which are more fluff than necessary.
Overall, I’ve found that FantasyPros offers the most value and most accurate tool suite, so head on over to that section if you’re in a hurry!
Best Overall: FantasyPros
FantasyPros is the best place to find all the advice from top experts around the world of fantasy. It acts as a conglomerate of all the data, information, and analytics made available to the public, and organizes that information in a simple and educational way.
With a FantasyPros subscription, you will have access to a vast and extensive suite of tools that help you draft, analyze, and determine the best possible team.
Some of the many amazing tools that FantasyPros offers is the Waiver Wire Assistant. This takes a lot of the legwork out of identifying good players. Another one is the Trade Analyzer, which submits instant analysis on whether a potential trade helps or harms your team. Also, there’s the Draft Assistant, which feels like you have a real NFL GM in your pocket.[1]
Lastly, there is the Lineup Optimizer, which leverages the projections of experts to generate the most optimal lineups. In fact, there’s a ton of depth to just the Optimizer, as you have the option to create a custom pool of players and can generate as many as 150 lineups at one time.
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For those who prefer a more hands-off approach, FantasyPros also has an Auto-Pilot assistant that selects the most optimal lineup for you.
Best Value: Fantasy Football Nerd
Fantasy Football Nerd is a great budget alternative for those who can’t or don’t want to shell out a lot of cash. While their suite of tools might seem lighter on features, they gain major points for being so easy, simple, and effective to use.
Among their fantasy tools is their DFS Lineup Optimizer, which is FFN’s crème de la crème. The Lineup Optimizer is designed to find players who give you the most bang for your DFS buck–prioritizing players that give the greatest amount of fantasy points per dollar.
You’ll also find a relatively-barebones mock draft creator, though it is still effective in its purpose which is to practice and get better at fantasy drafts. The customization options are endless here, so all you have to do is pick your draft spot and practice away. The draft takes just a few minutes to complete.
For those who enjoy playing with friends, FFN offers public and private NFL Pick ‘em contests and a full suite of commissioner tools that make running a league so much easier. As commissioner, you can set a random draft order, use a Trade Analyzer to veto bad trades, and easily organize draft day.
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Best Podcast: Fantasy Footballers
Fantasy Footballers is the best place to go for those who prefer to get their fantasy football advice in podcast form.
The Fantasy Footballers podcast features a group of friends who produce fantasy football content all year long, focusing on producing and developing content that is accurate, entertaining and of high production quality.
In terms of tools, Fantasy Footballers offers advice columns from industry experts, stack reports, Vegas odds reports, and more. On the other hand, their lineup optimizer can optimize lineups for different fantasy football sites, which actually makes it the most diverse optimizer on the market.
Another great thing about Fantasy Footballers is that the guys don’t just focus on stat sheets and excel docs, but rather have in-depth conversations on such subjects as mental warfare, which is an underrated but effective tool if you want to tilt your opponents into making the wrong moves.
Lastly, Fantasy Footballers offers a community forum called FootClan, where you can find and ask for all sorts of advice.
Overall, Fantasy Footballers is one of the few podcasts that balances proper, in-depth analysis with a sense of humor, and it works really, really well.
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Most Options: Rotoballer
Rotoballer has a ton of tools for not just the fantasy season, but the pre-season as well!
A subscription to their premium bundle will net you a Draft Kit and Guide, with over 100 analysis articles, printable Cheat Sheets, Draft Sleepers Lists. Additionally, there’s access to a Premium Slack channel where you can get advice for season-long and DFS lineups.
Their in-season lineup of tools features Weekly Rankings from some of the most accurate experts in the game, DFS Value Plays to help you find high-reward, low-risk players, and a DFS lineup optimizer and lineup generator.
That’s not to mention the abundance of other fantasy tools, like the Red Zone Sleepers list, which helps you to find players particularly effective at reaching the end zone. Plus the in-depth fantasy football strategies and draft day tips from Nick Mariano and Scott Engle – two highly accurate fantasy experts.
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Best Dynasty Advice: Dynasty League Football
Most fantasy sites don’t last more than three years, but the Dynasty League Football has been around since 2006. This tells you all you need to know about its success.
In fact, DLF has been so successful because they have dedicated all their time and attention to the DLF format. As Dynasty Leagues have grown, so too has DLF.[2]
On DLF, you will find hundreds of rankings, tools, resources, videos, podcasts and videos – all which will help take your team to the next level.
Moreover, DLF adapts its tools and resources to the current DLF landscape, which is always changing. Therefore, the information you are getting from its tool suite is always the most up-to-date.
You will also find incredibly insightful articles on interesting subjects like the psychology of dynasty ownership and how to turn things around when your team is in a funk.
However, probably the best tool that DLF has is its sizable community forums. This is where people gather to share information and discuss fantasy football.
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Other Sites With Great Fantasy Football Tools
Draft Dashboard
Draft Dashboard has the most user-friendly lineup optimizer around.
That doesn’t mean that their tools are short on features. Embedded within their Lineup Optimizers are more tools such as the Position Optimizer tool, the Perfect Lineups interface, and Top Players widget.[3] All these go a long way in helping you construct the best possible fantasy lineup.
Fantasy Alarm
Fantasy Alarm is the best place to go for Projections and Values. Their projections are not simply derived from numbers, but from analysts who watch the games over and over and over and over again.
You will be able to look at over 30 metrics to help you create your fantasy lineup, and their tools factor in your DFS’s scoring system to make the necessary adjustments to player rankings and scouting reports.
4for4
4for4 is a premium service that provides the most accurate research, analysis, rankings and state of the art decision-support tools. They offer tools such as trade evaluator, strategy hub and podcasts. These help you take your fantasy game to the next level.
The best part about 4for4 is that all their tools are geared toward beginners and veterans alike. So, you’ll never feel overwhelmed by the bevy of information thrown at you nor will you feel like you’re missing out on the minutiae of fantasy football.
Fantasy Guru
On Fantasy Guru, you’ll find a number of guides, tools and resources ranging from articles as simple as ranking the top running backs to in-depth commentaries on the importance of handcuffing.
A subscription also enables you to access their members-only livestreams, where top experts chat with members and give specific, detailed advice.
The best thing about Fantasy Guru is that all their tools can be imported to different fantasy sites, so that all you have to do is focus on making informed decisions and have Fantasy Gurus take care of everything else.
Draft Sharks
Draft Sharks has a number of unique resources and tools that will help you dominate the upcoming season. It has tools like the scientific Injury Predictor, Dynamic Cheat Sheet, and personalized advice.
With Draft Sharks, you know the information you are using is valuable, because the site has won tons of awards over the years thanks to its tools and content writers who write specifically for Draft Sharks.
And, by far, the best thing about Draft Sharks is that it is absolutely free to use.
Rotoworld
Rotoworld has a proven track record of accurately predicting fantasy projections and values. It has been around and operating successfully for many years.
By far, their best tool is their support forum. It has a huge number of players and where many share their information and experience while providing insights if you ask.
You will also find daily feeds and player profiles that are in-depth as well as easy to read, and their articles are second to none.
Important Tool Features For Your Fantasy Football Success
#1 Draft Simulator/Mock Draft
If you’re going to get good at drafting, it’s inevitable that you will need to practice. A good draft simulator is one that you can complete in mere minutes, preferably with no waiting between picks.
You should also have the option of customizing your mock draft with settings that factor in your league’s scoring rules and draft format (i.e. snake vs. linear). This should give you the opportunity to run drafts that closely mimic what you will experience on draft day.
#2 Draft Wizard
A Draft Wizard is important because it gives you the security and comfort of knowing you have an Assistant GM backing up every draft selection you make.
A good Draft Wizard will keep track of your draft and offer consensus recommendations from fantasy experts at every selection.
A great Draft Wizard, meanwhile, will provide instant analysis of your mock and real drafts, Also it will give you an idea of how your team will stack up against your opponents. Plus, it will present you an analysis of your team so you can break down its strengths and weaknesses.
#3 Auction Simulator
Similar to a mock draft, the Auction Simulator is perfect practice for those in Auction Leagues.
An Auction Simulator will give you the benefit of identifying players that provide the most value to your team, and will also enable you to tier your pool of players so that you can calculate realistic dollar values for your player pool.
#4 Cheat Sheet Creator
Having a cheat sheet is the easiest and most effective way to build a fantasy football draft board.
A good Cheat Sheet Creator will allow you to update and adjust the rankings and enable you to create tiered lists, where you can place multiple players of the same skill/demand in the same tier.
This is useful if there are several players available in one tier but only a few available in another – it allows you to draft smarter and more efficiently.
#5 Start/Sit Assistant
A Start/Sit Assistant is a godsend because it gives you recommendations on the best lineup for the week.
That doesn’t mean you can just go on auto-pilot, however. Instead, a good Assistant will allow you to manually swap out players yourself and confirm lineups before game day.
A great Start/Sit Assistant will allow you to view lineup recommendations across your different leagues, all on one screen. You will then be able to submit all of those lineups to their respective league hosts with just the simple click of a button.
#6 Trade Analyzer
A trade analyzer is useful because it is often difficult to judge whether or not a potential trade helps your team. With a Trade Analyzer, you will be able to evaluate any trade offer in mere seconds.
A great Trade Analyzer will tell you whether your team is stronger before or after the trade, and will even give analysis on uneven trades, like where two players are traded for one.
Final Words
Every platform on my list is a good fantasy football tool. However, Fantasy Pros is still the best overall.
FantasyPros has a suite of tools even a handyman dreams of. With printable cheat sheets, auction values, fantasy articles, draft tools, in-season research, and one of the best lineup optimizers around, you’ll find that building a winning fantasy team is as easy as ever.
FantasyPros is also unique in that all of its material and tools are garnered from a consensus of the top experts in the world of fantasy football, and all of it is filtered down into a simple, easy-to-read format. In essence, their tools are designed to eliminate all of the guesswork involved in fantasy football.
FantasyPros
Best Overall Fantasy Football Tool
Resources:
[1] About Us. Retrieved from https://www.fantasypros.com/about/#:~:text=Apps-,About%20Us,How%20good%20is%20your%20advice%3F%E2%80%9D
[2] About DLF. Retrieved from https://dynastyleaguefootball.com/
[3] DD Lineup Optimizer. Retrieved from https://www.draftdashboard.com/optimizer-nfl
