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Everybody has a fantasy football draft plan until the draft actually starts.

Then your guy gets taken one pick before you. A positional run wipes out a tier. Keeper inflation makes normal ADP useless. An auction room loses its mind. And suddenly the draft you prepared for looks nothing like the one happening in front of you.

In Part 3 of Fantasy Football 202, Ian gets into the advanced draft-room concepts that help you adjust when that happens.

This episode covers Value Based Drafting, Jeff Ratcliffe’s Boomerang RB strategy, keeper value and keeper inflation, auction budgets and nomination tactics, Stars-and-Scrubs versus balanced roster construction, stacking and correlated scoring, and how to exploit the tendencies of the people in your actual league.

Because consensus rankings are built for an average draft room.

Your draft room is not average.

The goal isn’t to perfectly predict what happens. It’s to prepare well enough that when the draft gets weird, you can make the next good decision.

Preparation doesn’t give you a script.

Preparation gives you options.

Fantasy Football 2026 Draft Strategy: Keepers, Auction Drafts, Stacking & Value — Episode 82 of Rice on the Radio.

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Fantasy Football 202 continues with my complete 2026 positional tier rankings.

In Episode 81, I break down my RB, WR, QB and TE tiers, where I think the biggest draft drop-offs happen, and how those cliffs should influence the way you build your roster.

We get into:

• Bijan Robinson vs. Jahmyr Gibbs at the top of the RB board
• Christian McCaffrey’s upside vs. workload and injury risk
• Ashton Jeanty, Chase Brown, Breece Hall and the point where I want my RB1
• Ja’Marr Chase, Puka Nacua, JSN, Amon-Ra St. Brown, CeeDee Lamb and Justin Jefferson
• Why DJ Moore moved up my rankings during research
• Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and my aggressive Drake Maye ranking
• Why quarterback depth makes waiting so appealing in 2026
• Brock Bowers vs. Trey McBride
• The next wave of tight ends, including Colston Loveland, Tucker Kraft and Tyler Warren
• Why kicker and defense still matter — without overthinking them

These are my rankings, not gospel.

The goal is to understand where the tiers break, know where you’re comfortable waiting, and recognize when the board is telling you it’s time to act.

Fantasy football is forecasting. You’re going to get some picks wrong.

The goal is to make better bets than the people drafting around you.

Episode 81 — 2026 Fantasy Football Rankings: RB, WR, QB & TE Tiers | Fantasy Football 202

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Fantasy football draft season is here, but this isn’t Fantasy Football 101. You already know how to draft a team. This is Fantasy Football 202 — how to actually think when you’re on the clock.

Ian breaks down his 2026 fantasy football draft philosophy into three parts: do your homework, read the room, and build your team. That means using mock drafts as preparation instead of prediction, treating ADP as a guide rather than a rule, understanding player tiers, reacting to positional runs, reading the rosters around you, and knowing when it’s worth reaching to get your guy.

Plus: keeper-league preparation, using Vegas futures as another data point, balancing early-round stability with late-round upside, roster depth and why almost every “do not draft” player eventually becomes interesting at the right price.

Fantasy football is forecasting. You’re going to get picks wrong. The goal is to do enough homework that when you’re on the clock, you know why you’re making the pick.

Do your homework. Read the room. Build your team. And don’t be afraid to die on your hill with your guys.

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