The draft. This is where your season starts. Before the clock starts ticking, you need to prepare. Most people prepare by doing mock drafts, studying average draft positions, and figuring out how they want build their roster. But what do you do when the guy before you takes who you wanted, or your next pick is the first pick after a tier drop. Are you prepared to succeed when things don’t fall your way? Let’s figure out how you should construct your team.
Picks 1.01-1.02
• This season the first two picks of your draft are almost locked in before the draft begins. If it’s not Bijan Robinson, it’s Jahmyr Gibbs. If you have pick 1.01 or 1.02, you need to be taking one of these guys.
• The second and third rounds will usually drop a couple of wide receiver options in your lap. Guys like Nico Collins, A.J. Brown, and George Pickens will usually be available at this point. If Drake London is falling, take him. Your running back room is covered, so your goal on the 2/3 turn is to build your wide receiver room. If you want Josh Allen, this is your chance.
• Rounds four and five are a little more up in the air. Average ADP at this point says Drake Maye or Joe Burrow, Jaylen Waddle, and a flurry of running backs should be available. Unless someone is falling like, Garrett Wilson or Colston Loveland, I would use your round four pick on QB. Drake Maye and Joe Burrow are great QB options, likely to finish top 5 at the position. Your round 5 pick can be used to shore up your running back room, or you can fill out you tight end spot. Unless Colston Loveland fell, Tyler Warren is your best bet at this point for tight end. If you are nervous about later round running backs not being enough, Quinshon Judkins is a good option at this point.
• Going into rounds six and seven you should have your QB, both running backs, and your wide receiver room is looking stacked. Now you should be looking to fill your flex position and running back with guys like Chubba Hubbard, or Jaylen Warren. Taking a wide receiver with upside is a great option here also, guys like Marvin Harrison Jr., and Brian Thomas will help fill out your roster will players who have high upside.
Your roster thus far should look something like this;
QB: Drake Maye
RB: Jahmyr Gibbs, Chubba Hubbard
WR: Nico Collins, A.J. Brown
TE: Tyler Warren
Flex: Brian Thomas
Going into round eight, you’ve got all of your bases covered. You’ve got a top 5 QB, one of the best running backs in the league, two top 12 wide receivers and a young tight end with huge upside. Now you can fill out the rest of your roster by taking dependable players with solid floors, or high upsides. Your season has just begun and you’re in the driver seat.
Picks 1.03-1.05
With the third through fifth picks in the draft you’re most likely going to want to start with a wide receiver like Ja’Marr Chase, Puka Nacua, or Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Most seasons these receivers would be in the same tier as Bijan and Gibbs, but with the incredible upside of those two backs, you’re likely looking at a different start. If one of those two backs fall into your lap in this position, you shouldn’t have to think about it. Take him, and follow the steps outlined above.
In the next round, you’re going to want to start taking running backs. Derrick Henry, Jeremiyah Love, and maybe Kenneth Walker III or Chase Brown have fallen. These are solid running back options you can start to build your team with.
Round three you’ll be looking to fill out wide receiver or running back. I lean running back with these spots, you’ve got confidence in your wide receiver room at this point with JSN or Ja’Marr, so why not give yourself some insurance at running back. Breece Hall, Javonte Williams, and Josh Jacobs are probably on the board, take your pick.
With your running backs solidified, you can return to receiver in round four. Emeka Egbuka, Jaylen Waddle, and Davante Adams should be available. With Ja’Marr or JSN, you’ve got high upside, and a solid floor, at a position that can be unstable later in the draft. So if you’re looking for higher upside, you should feel free to do that in this position. Jaylen Waddle would be a great pick here.
Your team at this point looks great, two running backs and two receivers. Now it’s time to fill in the onesies, QB and TE. Round five you should see Joe Burrow or Jayden Daniels. I would recommend taking one of those now. For round six, Tucker Kraft, Harold Fannin or Kyle Pitts will likely be available at TE. These guys are all in a similar tier, take whichever you like best.
At this point it’s just your flex and depth you’re looking to fill in starting in round seven. Alec Pierce, DK Metcalf, and Chris Godwin are value picks here. Your running back options might start to fall off a bit in the coming rounds so take one in round 8 or 9 depending on what other depth pieces are available.
Finishing up round seven your team should look like;
QB: Joe Burrow
RB: Derrick Henry, Jeremiyah Love
WR: Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle
TE: Kyle Pitts
Flex: Chris Godwin
With the high upside start we expect to see from older players like Henry, and the second half production boost we usually see from younger players your team looks great with the Bengals QB/WR stack of Burrow and Chase.
Pick 1.06-1.10
Your options in the six through ten spot of the draft are a little less stable. I’m out on Christian McCaffrey this season, but if he stays healthy, you could argue he should be going higher than this. CMC, Jonathan Taylor, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Justin Jefferson, and CeeDee Lamb are your best options here. I lean toward receiver here with Amon-Ra or Jefferson.
In round two you should be looking to fill whatever you didn’t take in round one. Setting the foundation for your team with ARSB or Jefferson and Omarion Hampton or Chase Brown gives you a couple of dependable players at RB and WR. Going forward you should be able draft these positions in a way that gives you high upside, even if that means taking a guy with a lower floor.
For round three your best option is probably going to be running back. Kyren Williams is a great option, so are guys like Breece Hall and Javonte Williams. Taking one of these guys gives you steady production with potential for big games. If Chris Olave, Rashee Rice or even Malik Nabers fall to you in the middle of the third, you can take one of those guys and punt your second RB down the road a bit.
Round 4 looks like a great time to fill in your QB or TE. Lamar Jackson and Colston Loveland are great options. Receivers like Zay Flowers and Ladd McConkey might be available as well. These guys are all solid options, but if you took receiver in round three, you shouldn’t be looking to fill your flex at this point. Your choices at running backs are probably at the end of a tier, so if you’re looking to fill your RB and WR positions before your onesies, Cam Skattebo or Travis Etienne Jr. might be available.
The fifth round will bring you options like Jayden Daniels, Jameson Williams, Mike Evans, Christian Watson, and rookie Carnell Tate. I think this is a great time to fill in your QB spot with Jayden Daniels. If you’re out on Daniels after the injury, fill in your other wide receiver spot. I would not recommend Jameson Williams with this pick if you already have ARSB. Drafting two players on the same team at the same position is generally bad fantasy advice because your guys are competing with each other for the same fantasy points.
Round six, either you’re filling in your QB or your flex. Flex options are pretty deep at this point in the draft with young guys like rookies Jadarian Price and Carnell Tate, or Marvin Harrison Jr. If Christian Watson or Bhayshul Tuten have fallen into your lap at this spot, go ahead and take them now, your options at QB don’t look too dissimilar in the next round.
With your seventh pick, Jaxson Dart, Dak Prescott, and Trevor Lawrence are solid options for quarterback. Go ahead take your QB at this point if you haven’t already, if not, Courtland Sutton and Tony Pollard are great options here.
Let’s see what our team looks like drafting in those middle spots.
QB: Trevor Lawrence
RB: Chase Brown, Javonte Williams
WR: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Mike Evans
TE: Colston Loveland
Flex: Carnell Tate
This roster has high ceilings and solid floors throughout. Amon-Ra has finished as the WR3 in each of the last three seasons. With dependable running backs in Brown and Williams and young pass catchers in Tate and Loveland, your team is built to compete all season long.
Picks 1.11-1.12
The Turn. You get two guys who might be top 12 in ADP. Most of your options here are running backs. James Cook, Ashton Jeanty, DeVon Achane, and Saquon Barkley are what you’ll likely be looking at going into the turn. Any two of these guys are a great pair to start building your squad.
By the time you get to the turn in rounds three and four your WR options are going to start looking thin. Zay Flowers, Tetairoa McMillan, and Tee Higgins are the end of the second, maybe the start of the third tier of WR’s. Take a couple of these guys. If your draft gets weird and Trey McBride or Brock Bowers falls to you at this turn, or a receiver like Rashee Rice or Malik Nabers, take that guy.
The five-six turn looks like a good time to draft a QB with high upside. Jayden Daniels fits the bill for this build with a rookie year finish of QB5. Your options after securing your QB are flex and TE. Either way, I think I’m going with a Packer in this situation. Either I’m reaching for Tucker Kraft at TE who’s currently going in the middle of the 6th, or I’m taking Christian Watson and hoping for a later round TE any maybe streaming this position. I’m going to lean into the upside of Watson here and punt my tight end.
Rounds seven an eight give you a chance to grab that tight end, and Sam LaPorta is a good option, and he’s usually going to be available to you here in the seventh round. After a down year last season due to injury, he should be able to bounce back. He hasn’t averaged below 10 points per game in his three seasons.
With the 11th or 12th spot in your draft order you’re looking at a roster that looks something like this;
QB: Jayden Daniels
RB: James Cook, Saquon Barkley
WR: Zay Flowers, Tetairoa McMillan
TE: Sam LaPorta
Flex: Christian Watson
The last pick in the draft leaves you in a spot where you might be reaching for guys in the next tier down, or picking up the scraps of the tier being picked a few spots ahead. But with two great running backs and two receivers who had over 1,000 receiving yards last season and a guy who I think is the deepest sleeper in this year’s draft, Christian Watson, your squad will be competing in meaningful matchups in weeks 15, 16 and 17.
You’ve Only Just Begun
No matter what draft position you get, you’re not losing your league on draft day. The draft is the cornerstone of your season, and if you’re not prepared to set your team in stone, you’ll be building your house on sinking sands. Prepare for your season, but remember, we do this for fun and the love of the game. Enjoy your season. Good luck.
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