Fantasy Football 2024 Draft Prep: Kicker and DST strategies and tiers to help you win your drafts

If your league uses Ks and DSTs, this will give you a leg-up on the competition

The era of going heavy on wide receivers is in full swing, and the tight end position has become stronger at the top than it has been in a long time. 

Pair that with a running back slate that has added meaningful depth over the past two seasons and you'll have the makings of several pathways you can take to build your rosters this preseason. 

The macro trends in football at this point are well-known, and they fit right in with what's happening in Fantasy Football. Teams are passing at high rates and using as many different people to catch passes as they can, especially when they don't have that Alpha-type receiver. This doesn't mean teams no longer like to run the ball -- they certainly will, especially if defenses continue to play zone coverage to scare offenses from throwing deep. But more teams than ever subscribe to a committee approach because it makes sense financially and structurally. Now when most teams lose a running back for a game, a month, or the season, the contingency plan is strong. 

Implementing these concepts into Fantasy draft plans is pretty easy, but it's better to break it all down by position and lay out what you should do before you draft as well as what you might do once your draft is underway. 

You'll also find my tiers for each position. I have been using them for almost two decades now as a way to sort not just who to take, but when. The tiers also show when there's a reduction in talent from one group of players to another based on expectations for Fantasy points. If you use these tiers as a baseline and then tweak them based on what you believe in and who you want to draft, you should not only be able to make easy decisions with each pick but also know in advance who you'll take with your next pick. 

That makes drafting a lot less stressful and a lot more fun. 

• Dave's Tiers: QB | RB | WR | TE | K/DST

Third-to-last round	Second-to-last round	Last round
Cowboys DST	Jets DST	Texans DST
Browns DST	Ravens DST	Evan McPherson
49ers DST	Jason Myers	Tyler Bass
Justin Tucker	Matt Gay	Harrison Butker
Brandon Aubrey	Dustin Hopkins	Dolphins DST
	Steelers DST	Bears DST
	Chargers DST	Eagles DST
		Cameron Dicker
		Daniel Carlson
		Matt Prater
		Bills DST
		Joshua Karty