How to Use the Fantasy Tools

Back to How-To Guides

The Fantasy walkthrough

How to use the Fantasy tools

From first watch to final pick: build your watchlist, switch views, and track every round of your fantasy draft as it happens.

  • Round 1 free, no account needed
  • Works on phone and desktop
  • Updated with every roster drop
The Madden Tools draft board on a phone, listing Round 1 quarterbacks with Draft and Watch buttons on every card

Step 1: build your board

Watch the players you want

Every player card carries the buttons that run your whole draft.

One click to start watching

Press Watch on any player card and it flips to a blue Watching state. Press it again to remove the player. That is the whole workflow: browse the board and tag everyone you might draft.

Joe Burrow player card with the Watch button in its blue Watching state

Favorites: your must-have tier

Tap any card to open the full scouting view, then hit the heart. Favorites get their own list, so the players you refuse to leave without never get lost in a 30-player watchlist.

The expanded Joe Burrow scouting view with the favorite heart active, showing general info, draft picks, and core ratings

Five lists, one switcher

The list button beside search flips the board between All Players, Watched, Favorites, Drafted, and Unavailable. On your phone, the Lists tab is a one-tap shortcut straight to them.

The player list switcher open beside the search bar, listing All Players, Watched, Favorites, Drafted, and Unavailable views

Step 2: work your watchlist

Your shortlist, organized your way

The Watched view

The Watched view keeps your targets in draft order and shows live counts for every list, so you always know how much homework is left.

The Watched view on the Lists tab, with count tabs for Watched, Favorites, Drafted, and Unavailable above the watched players

Flip to a depth chart

Switch the view type from the gear icon and your watchlist regroups by position, exposing the depth-chart holes your list still has.

The watchlist depth chart view grouping watched players by position, with filled QB and WR slots and empty HB and FB slots

Export it, import it, or start over

The same settings panel clears your watch list in one tap, and exports or imports it, so a list you built at your desk follows you to the couch.

Draft Board Settings dialog with the view type toggle and clear, export, and import list actions

Torn between two? Compare

Open a player, tap the compare arrows, and pick their rival: side-by-side vitals and a ratings radar show exactly where each one wins. The Compare tab gets you there any time.

Player comparison of Joe Burrow and Josh Allen with side-by-side vitals and an overlaid ratings radar chart

Step 3: draft day

Track every pick as it happens

Mark your picks

Press Draft when you take a player and the card locks in a green Drafted state. The Drafted view becomes your live roster, which matters because Madden never shows you who you already took.

Joe Burrow player card with the Draft button in its green Drafted state

Taken by a rival? Tap the chevron

The chevron in a card corner marks the player unavailable and collapses them to a one-line stub, so dead options stop eating screen space. They wait in the Unavailable list if you change your mind.

Joe Burrow collapsed to a one-line unavailable stub above a full Josh Allen player card, after tapping the card chevron

Go further

When you want an edge

The rest of the toolkit picks up where the board leaves off.

Draft Genius: your live assistant

Scores every available player for your scheme, pick by pick, as the draft unfolds.

Draft Genius strategy setup alongside live S-Tier recommendations for Round 1, Pick 1

Analytics that reveal value

Position runs, round-by-round distributions, and the biggest movers between roster updates.

Position distribution by round chart from the analytics dashboard

Guides and expert notes

Hand-picked scheme fits and expert player notes, refreshed with every roster update.

Scheme guide card next to expert notes on Joe Burrow

Strategy

Draft-day habits that win leagues

  • Watch 20 to 30 players across every position before the draft starts.
  • Keep 2 or 3 candidates per starting slot so one early run cannot strand you.
  • Draft before a player reaches their earliest pick; between earliest and average is a calculated reach.
  • Mine the analytics pages for big movers and position runs before you commit.
  • Mark every pick as it happens so the Drafted view stays your source of truth.
  • Sweep drafted rivals into Unavailable to keep your watchlist clean.

Put it into practice

Round 1 of the board is free, no account needed. Open it and start tagging.