Draft Strategy Guide¶

Scoring Zone doesn't draft for you — it puts every signal in front of you and grades how well you used them. This guide explains how to read the War Room, what "reach" and "steal" really mean, and how the Draft Score decides whether you drafted well.

The one idea to take away: a great draft is about capturing value, not obeying the #1 recommendation. The tools point you at value; your job is to weigh all of it.

The signals in front of you¶

Every pick, the War Room shows you five things. Good drafters read all of them together instead of reflexively taking the top card.

Signal	What it answers	Where
PigPro score	How good is this player, on the merits?	Recommended list + Player Board
VOR (Value Over Replacement)	How scarce is this player at his position?	Rec card
Tier / cliff	Is there a talent drop-off coming right after him?	Rec card (⚠️ Cliff)
ADP survival	Will he still be here at my next pick?	Rec card ("% likely to last")
Need	Does my roster actually need this position?	Team Needs panel

The recommended list ranks by a blend of all of these (mostly PigPro × need, nudged by scarcity). That blend is a strong default — but it optimizes roster fit, not the market. The edge comes from the moments you override it: taking the cliff-side player a round early, or letting a need wait because a steal fell to you.

Before the draft, map the terrain: Position Trends → Draft Value Map splits this season's board into talent tiers (Elite / Value / Starter / Depth) for your format — set it to 1QB, 2QB, or Superflex and watch the quarterbacks climb. It's the fastest way to see which positions have an early cliff (draft those first) and which run deep (you can wait). The historical scarcity curves right below it are the why behind the tiers.

Reach vs. Steal¶

Every player has an ADP (Average Draft Position) — where the market typically takes him. Compare that to the pick number where you took him:

Steal — you took him later than his ADP. He fell to you; you got a bargain.
Fair — you took him right around his ADP. Competent, market-rate. Nothing wrong with it.
Reach — you took him earlier than his ADP. You paid a premium.

Reaching isn't always wrong — sometimes you reach for a real need before a positional cliff, and that's smart. But a hard reach (taking someone far ahead of the field) is usually leaving value on the table.

The colored badge on each pick (Smash / Value / Fair / Reach) tells you this live, as you draft.

How the Draft Score grades you¶

When your draft finishes — mock or real — you get a Draft Score: a letter grade (A–D) and a one-paragraph recap of your own picks. It's a process grade ("did you draft value well?"), deliberately separate from the season-outcome grade you get later ("did your picks actually score points?").

It grades three things:

Component	Weight	What it rewards
Value vs. ADP	45%	Finding steals; not overpaying
VOR captured	30%	Taking scarce, hard-to-replace players
Needs met	25%	Filling real roster needs, not luxuries

Each pick earns 1–4 points on each axis; your grade is the weighted average, mapped to a letter (A ≥ 3.5, B ≥ 2.5, C ≥ 1.5, else D).

The value bands (why steals matter most)¶

Drafting a player at his market price is competent, so "Fair" anchors at a solid B, not a mediocre C. Steals stack higher, and only a genuine overpay drags you down:

Result	Points
Smash (fell 12+ picks past ADP)	4.0
Value (fell 4+ picks past ADP)	3.5
Fair (drafted at market)	3.0
Soft reach (modest premium — often a smart need pick)	2.0
Hard reach (real overpay)	1.0

So a clean, sensible draft lands a B. To climb to an A, you have to net real value — catch steals as they fall — while still covering scarcity and need.

What the Draft Score does not grade¶

Following the #1 recommendation is not worth points. "You took a top-5 board rec on 100% of picks" appears in your recap as a stat, but it carries zero grade weight. The score rewards the quality of your picks, not obedience to the board. You can click the top card every single time and still land a B — because the top card is often the market-rate pick, and market-rate is a B, not an A.

How to earn an A¶

An A means you weighed all the data, not just the top of the board:

Fill starters at real need early — that's where the Needs points live. Once your starting lineup is set, need naturally fades (bench depth of a filled position scores low, and that's fine).
Hunt steals, don't chase them — when a player the board loves falls well past his ADP, take him even if he's not your top positional need. That's where A-grade value comes from.
Respect the cliffs — a small reach to grab the last player in a tier before a drop-off is often worth it; the VOR and cliff flags are telling you the position is about to get thin.
Avoid hard reaches — if you're taking someone 18+ picks ahead of ADP with no scarcity reason, you're donating value. That's the one thing the grade punishes hard.
Don't over-draft filled positions — a third QB in Round 8 is a luxury that costs you on the Needs axis.

A B is a good, disciplined draft. An A is a disciplined draft that also stole value the board handed you. That's the difference between playing it straight and playing it well.

Practice with mocks¶

Every mock draft is logged and graded exactly like a real one. Run a few from different draft slots, try different strategies (RB-early vs. WR-early, value-hunting vs. need-first), and watch how your Draft Score moves. The fastest way to a real-draft A is a stack of mock B's you learned from.