How to Play Classic and Showdown NFL Snake Drafts on DraftKings

What is a “Snake Draft”?

Similar to drafting in season long leagues, a snake draft allows you to draft one player per round in a pre-determined order. In this format, the order of picks reverses after each round. So, if you were lucky enough to draw the first overall pick, you would then have the last pick of the second round and then the first pick in the third round. This format would continue until all rounds have concluded.

How many players do I draft?

For NFL, DraftKings has the lineup requirement to contain the following positions:

QB - 1
RB - 1
WR/TE - 2
FLEX - 2

With these numbers in mind, each team would draft six (6) total players through six rounds. Each team must require players from at least two different NFL teams.

Who can I draft?

The Player Pool will consist of all NFL players expected to be on the active roster for any team scheduled to play in the contest Game Set. Occasionally a player may be missing from the Player Pool due to trades or other unforeseen circumstances.

How does the draft work?

After signing up for a contest, it will begin once the required number of entrants is filled (contest sizes will vary). Once filled, a one minute countdown period will begin, giving players an opportunity to prepare for the draft. Once the countdown ends, the player with the first pick of the draft will be on the lock to make their first pick. After a pick is made, each player will subsequently make their picks until all rounds have concluded.

How much time do I have to pick?

Snake drafts will be on fast draft settings. Each player will have 30 seconds to make a pick. With this timeframe in mind, players will be able to draft their team in minutes.

Can I rank players prior to the draft?

Yes! You are encouraged to create your own personalized snake draft player pool by editing the pre-draft rankings. Your last saved version of the pre-draft rankings will be automatically imported for you as the draft starts. Your rankings can be edited at any time during the draft and helps ensure you are drafting players you want in case you miss a pick. If you do not have any rankings created, DraftKings will draft using their default players rankings should you miss your pick.

Can I Auto-Draft my picks?

If you do not make a pick before your pick clock expires, a player will be drafted by one of the following methods.

-DraftKings will pick the highest player from the queue.
-or-
-DraftKings will pick the highest rated player from your pre-draft rankings.

Should a player fail to make two consecutive manual selections, DraftKings will automatically turn auto-draft on. This can be turned off at anytime in the draft settings. Players who have auto-draft on will not receive any push notifications for that specific contest during the draft.

How are Snake Draft contests scored?

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Contest Cancellations

If for any reason a draft does not finish before the contest goes live, the contest will be cancelled and all users will be refunded.

In order to ensure all drafts finish before the contest goes live, we will cancel and refund all unfilled contests some time before the contest start time.

Suspended, Postponed, and Rescheduled Games

In the event that a game is cancelled or postponed & rescheduled to a time outside of the original Scoring Period, the game will be disabled from the Game Set and players listed to play in that game will not be eligible to accrue points.

If a game is rescheduled for a time OUTSIDE the original Scoring Period and this change is made less than 24 hours before a Game Set’s start, the game will be disabled from the Game Set and players listed to play in that game will NOT be eligible to accrue point. Players who you selected for your roster as of the time of the lock of the disabled game will remain in your roster and will accrue zero points. Players in disabled games will become locked at the originally scheduled start time of their game.

The Scoring Period for NFL is defined as the timeframe between the scheduled start of the first game within the Game Set and 11:59 p.m. ET on the first Wednesday after the last scheduled game within the Game Set. In the event that a game is cancelled or postponed & rescheduled to any time (both outside & within the original Scoring Period) and this change is made MORE than 24 hours before a Game Set’s start, it is at the sole discretion of DraftKings to include or remove the game from that given Game Set.

DraftKings may choose to adjust the Scoring Period for a Game Set at their sole discretion to accommodate schedule changes to any time before 12:00 a.m. ET on the day after the Game Set is scheduled.

If canceled or rescheduled games result in a Game Set including only one active game and this is known before the contest start time then all contests for that Game Set will be canceled and refunded.

If a Game Set includes only one active game but this was not known until after the contest start time then contests for this Game Set will not be canceled.

Games are “known” to be canceled or postponed once the game status is updated as such by DraftKings’ NFL stats-provider, STATS LLC.

Example: If a Game Set includes two games at 8 p.m. ET and 10:30 p.m. ET respectively, and the 10:30 p.m. ET game is officially postponed at 6 p.m. ET then all contests for that Game Set are canceled and refunded. If the 10:30 p.m. ET game was not officially postponed until after 8 p.m. ET then contests for that Game Set are not canceled and are played out using only the one active game.

If canceled or rescheduled games result in a Game Set including zero active games, all contests for that Game Set will be canceled and refunded.

In any case, DraftKings reserves the right to alter, settle, or cancel any contest in DraftKings’ sole discretion in the event the NFL makes any scheduling changes for any reason (including, but not limited to, shortening the season or making scheduling or gameplay changes due to COVID-19 or any other pandemic or event) prior to the completion of the contest.

Suspended or Shortened Games

DraftKings uses official NFL statistics and only includes statistics from games that the NFL deems to be official. If the NFL declares a game “suspended” then the statistics generated before the game is suspended will count in Game Sets containing said game. Any statistics generated on a later date when the game resumes will not be included.

Collusion

DraftKings has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to collusion. If DraftKings suspects there was collusion in a contest, the contest may be cancelled. The users suspected of collusion will not be refunded and may be permanently banned from DraftKings.

Collusion is any action or decision that is made between two or more users in a draft with the intention of gaining an unfair advantage over other users, or otherwise, in DraftKings sole discretion, may compromise the integrity of the contest.

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What is an NFL “Snake Showdown Draft”?

This is very similar to the Snake Draft but this is for one (1) specified game. In this format, the order of picks reverses after each round. So, if you were lucky enough to draw the first overall pick, you would then have the last pick of the second round and then the first pick in the third round. This format would continue until all rounds have concluded.

How does the draft work?

After signing up for a contest, it will begin once the required number of entrants is filled (contest sizes will vary). Once filled, a one minute countdown period will begin, giving players an opportunity to prepare for the draft. Once the countdown ends, the player with the first pick of the draft will be on the lock to make their first pick. After a pick is made, each player will subsequently make their picks until all rounds have concluded.

How many players do I draft?

The Showdown player pool is vastly smaller than other Classic offerings. Thus, the players drafted are much different. In the Showdown format, players will daft three players and much include players from two different teams.

3 - S-Flex (RB, WR, TE, K, D/ST)

With these numbers in mind, each team would draft three (3) total players through three rounds.

Player Pool

The Player Pool for each Showdown Snake Draft will consist of all NFL players that are expected to be on the active roster for each particular Game Set. At times, a player may be missing from the pool due to trades or any other unforeseen circumstances.

How much time do I have to pick?

Snake drafts will be on fast draft settings. Each player will have up to 30 seconds to make a pick. With this timeframe in mind, players will be able to draft their team in minutes.

Can I rank players prior to the draft?

Yes! You are encouraged to create your own personalized snake draft player pool by editing the pre-draft rankings. Your last saved version of the pre-draft rankings will be automatically imported for you as the draft starts. Your rankings can be edited at any time during the draft and helps ensure you are drafting players you want in case you miss a pick. If you do not have any rankings created, DraftKings will draft using their default players rankings should you miss your pick.

Can I Auto-Draft my picks?

If you do not make a pick before your pick clock expires, a player will be drafted by one of the following methods.

-DraftKings will pick the highest player from the queue.
-or-
-DraftKings will pick the highest rated player from your pre-draft rankings.
Should a player fail to make two consecutive manual selections, DraftKings will automatically turn auto-draft on. This can be turned off at anytime in the draft settings. Players who have auto-draft on will not receive any push notifications for that specific contest during the draft.

How are Snake Showdown Draft contests scored?

Contest Cancellations

If for any reason a draft does not finish before the contest goes live, the contest will be cancelled and all users will be refunded.

In order to ensure all drafts finish before the contest goes live, we will cancel and refund all unfilled contests some time before the contest start time.

Cancelled, Postponed, and Rescheduled Games

In the event that a game is cancelled or postponed & rescheduled to a time outside of the original Scoring Period, DraftKings will cancel and refund all contests. If the game is rescheduled within the Scoring Period & this change is made less than 24 hours before the Game Set’s lock, the game will be included in the Game Set and players listed to play in that game will be eligible to accrue points.

The Scoring Period for NFL is defined as the timeframe between the scheduled start of the first game within the Game Set and 11:59 p.m. ET on the first Wednesday after the last scheduled game within the Game Set.

DraftKings may choose to adjust the Scoring Period for a Game Set at their sole discretion to accommodate schedule changes to any time before 12:00 a.m. ET on the day after the Game Set is scheduled.

Suspended or Shortened Games

DraftKings uses official NFL statistics and only includes statistics from games that the NFL deems to be official. If the NFL declares a game “suspended” then the statistics generated before the game is suspended will count in Game Sets containing said game. Any statistics generated on a later date when the game resumes will not be included.

Collusion

DraftKings has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to collusion. If DraftKings suspects there was collusion in a contest, the contest may be cancelled. The users suspected of collusion will not be refunded and may be permanently banned from DraftKings.

Collusion is any action or decision that is made between two or more users in a draft with the intention of gaining an unfair advantage over other users, or otherwise, in DraftKings sole discretion, may compromise the integrity of the contest.