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These 3 Methods To Determine Draft Order Will Excite Fantasy Football Leagues

Fantasy football season is just around the corner and managers throughout leagues will look to secure optimal draft positioning. Receiving the top pick could help land one of the NFL's best players, anchoring fantasy lineups at the top end. Other managers prefer to select near the bottom of the first round, looking to double-dip on talented players in snake draft formats. In some cases, leagues will get creative to determine fantasy draft order, while others may stick with simple methods.

Let's look at three exciting methods to determine fantasy draft orders, adding an additional layer of excitement to leagues throughout fantasy football:

Fantasy Football Draft Lottery

Our next method is one of the most popular methods to determine draft order among fantasy sports leagues. The 40-yard dash, invented by legendary Cleveland Browns head coach Paul Brown to determine a prospect's explosiveness and top-end speed in a short distance, determines the top pick among fantasy drafts through the best time of a respective league. Fantasy managers will take turns clocking their 40-yard dash times, with the fastest securing the No. 1 overall pick come draft time.

Passing Yard Measurements

Feb 28, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson (QB16) during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Rounding out our list is a creative method to lock in draft orders for fantasy football. Passing yard measurements are used among teams throughout the NFL to determine a quarterback's throwing power. In the case of fantasy leagues, managers will select a paint color and paint the nose of a football before measuring. Fantasy owners will line up at the same starting point and throw their respective footballs simultaneously. Upon landing, the paint will create a marker to determine the measurement of the longest throw. The manager with the furthest throw secures the No. 1 pick, going down the list based on the distance of paint markings from the ball.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/fantasy as These 3 Methods To Determine Draft Order Will Excite Fantasy Football Leagues.

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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 8:00 AM.

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