As the 2025 National Football League season is just around the corner, many football fans worldwide are signing up and competing in NFL fantasy football leagues. People play with their friends or random people across the country to draft the best NFL players for their team and win a championship against their opponents.

Fantasy Football leagues have a group of 10 or more people that enter a draft to pick their players for the season. Each week, players play a head-to-head match–up against an opponent. I enjoy playing and going toe-to-toe with other teams because while you watch NFL games, you watch your players earn points for your fantasy team. You can win or lose by as little as three points in your matchups, making games very competitive. In the past, when I played, I beat a team by only 0.4 points! That’s what makes fantasy football so fun, and that’s why many people enjoy it.

Starting Your Fantasy Team

The first – and most important – step in Fantasy Football is the draft. Pick the players who are going to get you the most points. Some people think drafting a quarterback in the first round will be best because they get the most points, but that’s wrong. Don’t worry about getting a quarterback until the fifth or sixth round of the draft. Draft wide receivers and running backs first because they earn the most fantasy points. The top three wide receivers are Ceedee Lamb, Tyreek Hill and Amon-Ra St. Brown, who had incredible seasons last year, each earning over 330 total fantasy points.

Next, draft running backs. Some of the best options are Rachaad White, David Montgomery, Kenneth Walker and Alvin Kamara. While these three are not the league’s top three running backs, they are great picks because they do consistently well in their games.

Drafting the Best Players

Select the best players by looking at their projected points this season. If you don’t do this before drafting your players, your team will most likely perform poorly. A good fantasy team means you should draft players who have projected at least 200 points this season. Looking at last year’s stats can also determine good players to draft. If they consistently racked up points in their games last season, draft them to your team.

For example, if I want a running back and I see that this player always had more than 9 points a game last season, it would be wise to draft him. That player will get you many fantasy points and help your team win games. You also want to draft a defense and a kicker, but you should be reassured about that until the late rounds because they don’t get as many points as other players on your team.

Making the Best Roster

After you’ve drafted, you will have around 15 players on your roster. Each week, you will start the players who are projected to have the most points that week. If you follow my advice, you may win many games and have the best team in your league. You will play 14 games, one game each week.

If you start losing games and your players are not getting many points, it’s okay. You can trade your players with other teams. You can also get players that weren’t drafted and add them to your team, but make those changes by Week 15. That’s when the playoffs start, and you can no longer get players for your team. Playoffs consist of the highest scoring players in the league face each other. The winners of these matches will play each other until there are only two players left. They will play against each other in the finals. Whoever wins this match will be the winner of the entire league.

These tips for drafting players and choosing which ones to start should help you start and maintain a good fantasy football team. With this, you should know how to win games and a championship in your fantasy football league. 

This article was updated for clarity on Sept. 6.