The early summer weeks are a relatively quiet time in NFL circles. It’s the time of year when players, coaches and executives enjoy some downtime before a grueling season.
That’s not the case for fantasy football managers. This is when you start prepping for your fantasy drafts.
Whether you’re in a 10-team standard league, a 12-team PPR or a 16-team Superflex format, having a leg up on your competition is crucial. The important thing to note before entering any draft is the rules to the particular league. If your league does keepers, know how it works. Some leagues have wacky bonuses for big plays. It will pay dividends throughout the course of the season to know the rules before you draft.
The key to any fantasy draft is building depth. If you’re in a standard league, you want to target players who get a lot of work near the end zone. If it’s PPR or half-PPR, load up on high volume, pass-catching backs, wide receivers and tight ends. A Superflex league puts a bigger emphasis on quarterbacks.
This exercise is a round-by-round model of how you should approach your draft regardless of the type of league you’re in. I’ll go over as many different strategies as possible with reasons for my decision-making.
For this exercise, we are following traditional league settings of a starting quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, a tight end, one FLEX, a defense, kicker and six bench slots in a PPR format.
Now, let’s start building your championship-caliber fantasy team.
Round 1: Best player available. It comes down to whether you’re in the top or bottom half of the first round. There are five running backs I’m comfortable taking in the first round: Christian McCaffrey, Austin Ekeler, Jonathan Taylor, Saquon Barkley and Bijan Robinson. If you’re in the top five picks, you want to select one of these backs. Justin Jefferson is another top-notch first-round pick. The same goes for Ja’Marr Chase and Tyreek Hill. The player I want to focus on is Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. He is such an outlier at the position that he is worthy of a first-round selection. If you’re drafting in picks 8-12, don’t be afraid to take Kansas City’s future Hall of Famer.
Round 2: Take a running back. If you didn’t take a back in the first round, it’s imperative to get one in Round 2 because the well goes dry quickly. If you did get one of the top guys, having a dynamic duo at running back gives you a leg up on the competition. If you were in the back half of the first round and took Jefferson, Chase or Kelce, then Derrick Henry or Rhamondre Stevenson should be on your radar. Once the second round passes, there are a lot of question marks because of running back committees and backs who have let us down in recent memory.
Round 3: Back to best player available. Don’t be afraid to triple down on running back if the board falls that way. If Najee Harris, Aaron Jones or J.K. Dobbins is high on your list, make them your RB2 or FLEX. If you’re satisfied with your running back group, take the best pass-catcher — emphasis on pass-catcher. Amon-Ra St. Brown, Chris Olave and Tee Higgins are all strong options. Don’t forget about the tight ends, however. If you want one of the top guys, Mark Andrews and T.J. Hockenson are options in this range. The tight end position falls off a cliff rather quickly so you’re going to have to pay a premium to get one.
Round 4: Take your pick at wide receiver. The receiver position is so deep that you can afford to get three backs (or two backs and a tight end) and still land a quality receiver to build around. Some names that will likely still be available are Terry McLaurin, Keenan Allen and Amari Cooper, all of whom should lead their team in receiving this season.
Rounds 5-6: Round out your starting skill position players. At this point in the draft, you should have two backs and either two receivers or a receiver-tight end combo. Top-flight quarterbacks such as Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson will start coming off the draft board here, if not earlier. Don’t fall into that trap. The objective here is to fill your FLEX with the best players available. In the NFL, you build around your quarterback. As you’ll see below, that’s not the case in fantasy. The goal here is to have your top six players be the foundation of your team and build depth in the event that a player in your top four picks does not pan out as expected, perhaps due to injury.
Rounds 7-8: Target high-upside players. I mentioned running back by committee earlier. They aren’t ideal in the early rounds because of the uncertainty. But at this point in the draft, don’t shy away from them. Antonio Gibson and Damien Harris are instant starters if Brian Robinson or James Cook go down due to injury.
There are several intriguing wide receivers to consider in this portion of the draft. I personally like to target second- and third-year receivers who are on the rise. Drake London was the top receiver selected in last year’s draft and was phenomenal down the stretch. George Pickens was impressive enough for the Steelers to trade Chase Claypool midseason. Treylon Burks is the top wideout on a team with few receiving options.
You can make a case for all three to finish as top-25 wideouts at a bargain, and this is just a short list of players who can outperform their preseason rankings. If one of your top six fails to live up to the hype, you still have two more players to fill the void.
Rounds 9-10: Grab your quarterback and tight end. Again, keep tabs on how the rest of league is shaping up. If a leaguemate drafted Patrick Mahomes or Jalen Hurts early, for example, he or she is unlikely to take another quarterback. The same goes for those who took one of the top tight ends. Last season, the difference in QB5 (Geno Smith) and QB11 (Justin Herbert) was just 25 points, according to FantasyPros. The same can nearly be said at tight end, where TE6 (Taysom Hill) and TE15 (Gerald Everett) were separated by roughly 15 points in half-PPR scoring. Use this to your advantage.
Rounds 11-14: Stockpile backup running backs. I’m a firm believer that there is no such thing as too many running backs in fantasy. Backup running backs are one injury away from being relevant. Almost every year there is a preseason backup who ends up being a diamond in the rough and cracks the top 10.
Pay attention to rookie backs garnering a lot of attention during the preseason and stash them for later in the year. We saw Dameon Pierce and Tyler Allgeier became fantasy relevant as the campaign progressed. Bijan Robinson is going in the first-round, but some other rookies to keep an eye on come draft day are Devon Achane, Kendre Miller and Roschon Johnson.
If there is a late-round quarterback you want to take a flier on, this is the time to do so. Anthony Richardson is likely available in this range and should post solid fantasy numbers because of his rushing prowess.
Rounds 15-16: If you must draft a defense and kicker to close out your draft, do so with the final two picks. Never, ever draft them any earlier. There’s always the one person who breaks this rule for the top kicker or defense. That means more skill players will fall to you in these late rounds. Worst-case scenario, you drop them before Week 1 to pick up your kicker and defense.
There are millions of scenarios that are possible come draft day. Make sure to have a backup plan to your backup plan. If you know ahead of time where you’re slotted in the draft order, prepare every possible outcome. Don’t assume your favorite player is going to fall to you in any round. The best way to brace for the unknown is by doing as many mock drafts as possible. Good luck this season!
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox
Originally published June 15, 2023