Draft Strategy Analysis: Group of 5 Half PPR
Purple Reign must start by pointing out there is no “one way” to approach drafting a CFF team. This guide represents the strategy I have come up with after reviewing the 2025 player pool. You can follow this guide to the letter, or incorporate ideas into the draft strategy you already use. It is purely up to the reader how to use this information.
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TIER ANALYSIS
I assign players into tiers based on several pieces of criteria. I start with the fantasy point projection I have made for the player within the specific scoring format. I then review the player’s position battle status and move players down the more uncertain that position battle status is. Then finally I review the profile I have assigned for that player. Players are moved down again based on the level of fantasy production potential.
Tiers go from 1 being the best, then counting their way downward. I consider all players from a position group in the same tier can be viewed as “equal” which allows a drafter to select the player that they like best.
Once I have finished my first round of player rankings I look at how many players from each position group are in each tier. This gives you a feel for how much depth, or lack thereof you can find at different position groups. Green represents rarity while red represents abundance. I’ve only included the top 10 tiers in this breakdown. This information will also help you determine which positions to focus on or wait for during the draft.
Quarterback: Tiers 2-3 have a lot of meat on their bones and are a great place to land you QB1. Things dry up in tiers 4-7 and you could expect a QB run to start with these players. Make sure you’re getting and least one of these guys. Tiers 8-9 are a great place to round out your bench in the later rounds of the draft.
Running Back: With how few players there are overall at the top of the tiers, you can expect the tier 1-3 RBs to vanish quickly so you should prioritize getting at least one of these guys. Tier 4 doesn’t have many players in it making it another spot to focus on. Once tier 5 rolls around there’s a large abundance of RBs which will allow you to focus on other positions more.
Wide Receiver: You should be aggressive in landing a tier 1 or 3 WR. Tier 4 is pretty vacant of talent but there’s a nice run of WRs available in tiers 5-6 to focus on. When it comes to rounding out your bench it looks like tiers 8-10 is where you have the most options but you’ll need to shoot for upside and take on more risk with the WRs in these tiers.
Tight End: The TE position is pretty bleak. Tiers 1-7 only have a total of 4 players in them. This makes TE a premium in this format and you’ll probably have to sacrifice other positions to land one of these four TEs. The bulk of TEs in this format are lower than tier 10 which means you’re going to have to take on more risk. If you don’t land one of the top four TEs you’ll need to draft an extra TE due to this higher risk factor.
ADP ANALYSIS
Its extremely important to have an understanding of when players are being taken in drafts. ADP (Average Draft Position) is the tool used to assess this. I’ve pulled the ADP data from the end of June to use for this analysis. I’ve pulled the average ADP for all players within a tier for this review. Since I have players in tiers that are over-valued and under-valued, you will see players drafted earlier and later than these average numbers. The ADP data listed in this article is the average round & draft pick, with 1.01 presenting the first pic of the first round. Green represents the earliest average draft pick for a specific tier, while red represents the latest average draft pick. This ADP is from all FBS drafts which means players will be taken earlier than shown.
Quarterback: The top three tiers of QB will get selected quickly so make sure you’re grabbing one of these guys in the first four rounds. Tiers 4-5 will see a QB run take place. You’ll need to react to someone else starting the run, or if you’re drafting on the corners you might start it yourself when you see the tier 3-4 RBs and WRs getting drafted heavy. After that QB run you can wait until the end of the draft to round out your QB roster.
Running Back: The tier 1-3 RBs will likely be gone in the second round. A RB run will start up once the tier 4-7 players start getting drafted. The tier 3-7 WRs should have a run before this so use that WR run to plan when you jump into the tier 4-7 RB run. The final three tiers could be had late in the draft.
Wide Receiver: Tiers 3-7 will see a lot of action earlier in the draft due to their lack of player depth. This range should be a high focus and you’ll likely be drafting more WRs than RBs in the first half of the draft. When the well runs dry on those guys you can wait for the later rounds to go after the tier 8+ WRs.
Tight End: Tiers 1-2 will likely go very early at the start of the draft. I’m going to lump the tier 5 TE in with the top two tiers since there’s only three of these players. Since the player pool is very bottom heavy I like reaching for one of the top three TEs. If you land one of these three you can wait for the final stages of the draft to get your one bench player.
CONCLUSION
Roster Breakdown: QB-4, RB-7, WR-7, TE-2
Rounds 1-2: 1 RB tier 1-4, 1 WR tier 1-4
Rounds 3-5: 1 QB tier 2+, 1 WR tier 3+, 1 TE tier 1+
Rounds 6-10: 1 QB tier 4+, 2 RB tier 5+, 2 WR tier 5+
Rounds 11-15: 1 QB tier 6+, 3 RB tier 5+, 1 WR tier 5+
Rounds 16-20: 1 QB, 1 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE (best available)