Fantasy football guides
Written by the Parlae desk on the same board the tools run on. Free, no account, no paywall.
Thursday night lineup locks: handling TNF players and early locks in Week 2
Detroit at Buffalo locks Thursday at 8:15 PM ET with the highest total on the Week 2 slate. Where to slot those players, when their news lands, and the close call rule.
· 5 min read
FAAB after Week 1: sizing waiver bids from real add rates
Sleeper's add counts tell you how crowded a claim is, not what the player is worth. How to read speed, drops and work together, with Tuesday's numbers.
· 6 min read
Defense versus position after one week: why the early tables mislead
Carolina gave up 52.8 PPR points to running backs and Pittsburgh held receivers to 9.9. What those Week 1 numbers really measured, and how to use matchups before the sample grows.
· 6 min read
Reading Week 1 without overreacting: snaps, targets and air yards before points
One game is one game. The usage numbers that carry into Week 2 better than the box score, read through real Week 1 lines from Jalen Coker to Ja'Marr Chase.
· 6 min read
Week 2 waiver wire: sorting the most added players into roles and one week spikes
Sleeper's most added players after Week 1, sorted by usage instead of points, with a FAAB price for each. Devaughn Vele led the list; the best role on it was added a tenth as often.
· 6 min read
When your quarterback gets hurt: backups, streaming and what happens to his receivers
Three teams lost or were missing their starting quarterback in Week 1. What their backups scored, what happened to the receivers, and a plan for your own roster.
· 6 min read
A FAAB budget for the whole season: a spend plan by week
A reserve curve for a $100 FAAB budget, week by week, so the money is there in October and not gone on a September guess.
· 6 min read
Bye weeks in the draft: when they matter and when to ignore them
Six teams sit out Week 11 and none sit out Week 12. When a shared bye should change a pick on today's board, and when it should not.
· 6 min read
Common draft mistakes the market data exposes
Seven draft mistakes you can see in the ADP data itself: the format column, the tier gap, the stale price, the thin sample, and the bye cluster.
· 6 min read
Draft day checklist: twelve things to do before your first pick
Twelve checks for the hour before a draft, each with the number on the board that makes it worth doing.
· 5 min read
Drafting from the turn: a board based plan for picks 1 and 12
Twenty two picks pass between your turns at slots 1 and 12. Which tier is waiting at each of your turns on today's board, and what to take in pairs.
· 6 min read
Dynasty versus redraft ADP: the players whose price changes most between formats
The board carries 7,848 redraft drafts and 109 dynasty drafts. Which players move most between the two prices, and how much of it to trust.
· 5 min read
Fantasy scoring formats explained: PPR, half PPR, standard, superflex, TE premium
What each scoring format changes, with the ADP for the same players across formats so you can see how much a reception is worth.
· 5 min read
Half PPR versus full PPR versus standard: which players change tiers
Three scoring formats, three separate draft samples. The players whose price moves a round or more between them, with this week's board numbers.
· 5 min read
Handcuffs and insurance: pricing backup running backs with ADP
The backup to a second round running back costs a 13th round pick. How to price the insurance, and when a handcuff is really a committee.
· 5 min read
How consensus ADP is built and why 8,007 drafts beat one expert
Where the pick numbers on a fantasy board come from, what the sample looks like today, and why a crowd's price is a better draft guide than one list.
· 6 min read
How to read a start or sit call that carries a number
What the score, the basis label and the gap on a Parlae start or sit call mean, and when a call is close enough to ignore.
· 5 min read
Judging a fantasy trade with ADP: a method that takes five minutes
Convert every player in a trade to his draft price, compare the best player on each side first, then check tiers, format and byes.
· 6 min read
Late round quarterbacks: what the ADP gap from QB1 to QB12 tells you
Josh Allen goes at 33.5. The twelfth quarterback goes at 102.4. What 69 picks of gap means for when to take your starter in a one quarterback league.
· 5 min read
Middle round wide receivers: where the board prices depth cheapest
Round eight has seven starting calibre receivers inside ten picks and round seven has two running backs. Where receiver depth costs least.
· 5 min read
Reading a draft board like the betting market does: the tier gaps that matter
A draft board is a price list. How to read the gaps, the spread and the volume the way a bettor reads a line, with the shelves on today's board.
· 6 min read
Reading ADP movement: what a 20 pick drop in a week actually means
Josh Jacobs fell 23.8 picks in a day. How a rolling ADP window turns news into a lagging average, and how to tell a real move from a twitch.
· 6 min read
Start or sit without vibes: the four numbers we check every Thursday
The four inputs behind every Parlae start or sit call: the market projection, how complete it is, the ADP percentile, and the availability gate.
· 6 min read
Superflex and 2QB drafting: why quarterbacks move 40 picks
In a superflex room the quarterback price rewrites the first three rounds. The exact moves from this week's board, and how to plan a draft around them
· 5 min read
Syncing a Sleeper league with Parlae: what it reads and what it never touches
A Sleeper sync needs a username, no password. Here is every endpoint Parlae reads, where it keeps the result, and the writes it never makes.
· 5 min read
The draft grader explained: what a grade means and what it cannot see
The exact arithmetic behind a Parlae draft grade, the published letter scale, a worked example, and the list of things a grade does not know.
· 6 min read
The first three rounds: how tier gaps decide your draft
The first 36 picks fall into four groups split by three gaps. Which group your slot lands in, and why round three is where the room stops agreeing.
· 5 min read
The hour before kickoff: injury news, inactives, and what to change
Inactives land 90 minutes before kickoff. Here is the order to check them in Week 1, including the Wednesday and Thursday early locks.
· 5 min read
The Parlae board versus expert consensus rankings: where they differ and why
The board is a price from 7,848 drafts; ECR is an average of 115 experts. Here are the players they disagree on and what the gap means.
· 6 min read
Tight end scarcity: how far the board drops after the top tier
Two tight ends go before pick 35. The third goes at 55. What the gaps from TE1 to TE12 say about when to pay for the position and when to wait.
· 5 min read
Value versus need in a live draft: when to take the best player and when to fill the hole
Value and need are not rivals. How the live draft assistant weighs them, the exact multipliers it uses, and the shelf rule that settles a coin flip.
· 6 min read
Waiver bids: how to price a FAAB bid from ADP movement and snap counts
A FAAB bid is a price. Here is the ladder we bid from, the two signals that set the rung, and a live example from this week's board.
· 6 min read
Waiver wire before Week 1: how to rank claims before anyone has played
No snaps yet, so rank preseason waiver claims by openings, price moves and add spikes, in that order, and keep every bid small.
· 6 min read
What "graded in public" means: how we score every call and publish the misses
The rules a Parlae call is graded under, where the fantasy record stands before Week 1, and what the betting ledger that preceded it looks like.
· 5 min read
Why Sleeper's own rankings are not enough: what a second, market-priced board adds
Sleeper runs the draft. It should not be the only board in the room. What its list and ADP can and cannot tell you, and what a second board adds.
· 5 min read
Zero RB, Hero RB, robust RB: how each plan looks on a market priced board
Round seven has two running backs on the board and round nine has one. What that does to each running back plan, with the picks each one buys.
· 6 min read
By the Parlae deskGuides updated Sep 17, 2026 at 8:00 AM ETHow this is builtReport a wrong number