Tick…tock…tick…tock…tick…tock.

Just that typed-out clock sound makes even the calmest person start to panic in the middle of a fantasy football draft. Panic is what we want to avoid so as to also avoid making a pick we regret because we didn’t see a guy really wanted that goes a pick or two later. The problem with simply saying “oh I have all these stats I’ll be fine” is that this can lead to paralysis by analysis which leads to panic as the clock ticks away on your pick. So how do we avoid that panic feeling as you watch the guys you targeted slip off the draft boards? Drafting by tiers is the answer you’re looking for.

Every year every draft guide, or magazine, or website produces at set of rankings of the top 100-300 players which most players think are helpful for their research but they are really more of a way to push you into drafting a guy you may not want to at a point you don’t want to simply because of the fear of not getting a guy at a position at a certain point and then missing out on the next several players at that position too. If you look at some rankings (without tiers) you will see that Jordan Howard is ranked 31st overall and RB16 but Kenyan Drake is RB17 at 43rd in PPR rankings and in standard rankings LeSean McCoy sits at 23rd as RB13 and Jordan Howard drops a bit to 36th as RB14. Those gaps are nearly an entire round depending the size of your league and come at a premium position. If you get down to that spot of running back left on the board you may reach a bit more for one of those guys than you want to, or need to. But it’s not just running back. Golden Tate sits at 42 (WR23) and the next one is Jarvis Landry at 51 (WR24) in standard leagues and about the same gap exists in PPR rankings with Brandin Cooks being WR24 at 45 and JuJu Smith-Schuster is next at 53 (WR25) overall. So again, nine players should be taken between the two if you just go straight off rankings you might be in a jam when it comes to your pick and believe that you are taking players too early just to get them on your roster.

Tiers will help avoid these issues of having to reach so often and that’s why the Fantasy Alarm “rankings” are really designed to be viewed by position, where there are color-coded tiers that group the players of similar output together. Let’s take a look at the same guys mentioned above and see how tiers work to help you out. In the case of the running backs in a PPR scenario, Kenyan Drake , Jordan Howard , and LeSean McCoy are all in the same tier as are guys like Alex Collins , Lamar Miller , and Jay Ajayi . So if you’re looking for a second or third running back on your next pick there are six comparable guys to look at it and if you get any one of them you can expect similar stats (900+ yards and 5-7 scores) and there isn’t that drastic of a difference in spot as you see in the ranking only system. In a standard league format Howard is a bit higher than the other five, but the others are all in the same tier, and Howard is just barely in the higher one. So once again there are six solid options around the same spot in the draft.

Wide receivers work the same way with Golden Tate , Stefon Diggs , and Jarvis Landry all in the same tier and JuJu Smith-Schuster pretty close to the top of the next tier down, meaning there isn’t that big of a gap between all of them, certainly not the way a ranking-only system would indicate. In standard formats there is a bit more separation but guys like Golden Tate and Jarvis Landry are also close to Robert Woods , Pierre Garcon , Michael Crabtree , and Emmanuel Sanders , who all should rack up between 850-1,000 yards and 5-6 scores. So again, if you’re looking for a second or third wideout with the next pick or in the 5-7th rounds there are several options near each other that you can be satisfied with even if there’s a small run on the position before your pick gets on the clock.

Tiering works for any position you want to use it for including defense and kicker, though usually those positions have a random scoring potential each week depending on game flow and opponent. It can be helpful for QBs as well as you can see that guys like Cam Newton , Carson Wentz , Kirk Cousins , Drew Brees , Philip Rivers , and Jared Goff are all in the same tier so if QBs go sooner than you expect, you know you can still be patient and get a guy equal to whoever may have gone in the first, second, or third rounds that were likely an overreach.

The other advantage to tiering is that you can really get depth at positions by countering any runs you see since you know that there will still be guys you like at a slightly lower tier. For example, let’s say the rest of the league goes on a wide receiver run but you know that there are still several good running backs left. Go with the running backs and fill-in at wide receiver a bit later where there is still value – and who knows, you could become everyone’s favorite trading partner when their backs drop like flies throughout the season. Tiers allow you to create the run and not just follow it like a lemming. The more wide-open your options are at any particular pick, the calmer and more decisive you can be with that pick.

To be clear, do not just reach for the highest overall ranked player every time because it’s a surefire way to end up disappointed in your draft. Instead, the best way to give yourself more options and less panic when the clock is ticking, is to create tiers within your draft board.