Fantasy football draft season is upon us, and with it comes the quest to assemble a championship-caliber team. With the right draft strategy, you can set yourself up for success from the second overall pick. In this article, we will guide you through the best fantasy football draft strategy for each pick in 15 rounds, ensuring you build a competitive team capable of dominating your league.
Round 1: The Kelce Pick
A lot of the top tier RBs are not happy this year. Don’t let their headache become yours. Jefferson is great, but the gap between him and the WR 2 is nothing like the gap between Kelce and the TE 2.
Pick: Travis Kelce
Round 2: Secure an RB before the Turn
We want to take the guy who is going to be on the field a ton and is the main guy on his team. He may not be the sexiest pick but for your RB 1, you need max opportunities.
Pick: Najee Harris
Round 3: The Stack of Stacks
Usually, you can take a TE or a QB high but not both. This is the exception to the rule. You now have a bell cow back and the Best QB and TE in fantasy football. To make it even better they’re a stack for double touchdowns! Take a deep breath, were dominating and they don’t even know.
Pick: Patrick Mahomes
Round 4: The WR 1 with the Hate
A few guys will still be there because people either a) don’t believe in the QB or b) don’t expect a player’s success to continue. You need a guy who is going to see a high number of targets that he can turn into value more than another guy’s arm talent. QB changes are normally viewed as much bigger deals to the public than they are in reality.
Picks: Christian Watson
Round 5: RB 2 Time
There is always a guy that is going to see crazy usage but is on a bad team and nobody wants him. Throw concern to the side as you have the waiver wire for later in the year. Get the guy who is going to lead his team in touches.
Pick: James Conner
Round 6-7: WRs tied to Good Systems and QBs
Look for guys who have played on the same team for at least a season, who know the system and have good rapport with talented QBs.
Pick: Christian Kirk & Gabe Davis
Round 8: Swing for the Fences RB
The RB options and it’s time to go big for our final RB. I don’t want any guy buried on a depth chart that could climb up to start at the end of the season. It’s too late then. I want a guy who will play early and I think will pop off to be a valuable bye week filler and flex player.
Pick: Khalil Herbert
Round 9: Hedge
We’re going to hedge our bets on our RBs a bit here and take another RB in the ninth.
Pick: Zach Charbonnet
Round 10-14: RB and WR Express
It’s time to start stock piling depth. This area is where you should draft on a players opportunity share. There are a lot of talented guys, but if you don’t get the ball then what’s the point? DO NOT TAKE A SECOND QB. You will never play anyone available at this point over Mahomes. Don’t waste a bench spot.
Picks: Adam Thielen, Michael Gallup, Raheem Mostert, Hunter Renfrow
Round 15: It’s Kicker Time
Even in a perfect world where every team waits until the final two rounds to draft a K and Def, you aren’t getting the best of either. That’s ok. Both of these positions are extremely stream able and should be streamed according to circumstance. I lean taking a K first as weather is the main thing that turns me off from a kicker. A good defense match up could mean more FG opportunities, so it balances out. I don’t care if I have the best defense in fantasy, I’m not playing them against Mahomes or any top tier talented offense. If you stream whichever defense plays Arizona each week this season, I guarantee you will have more points than whatever the top scoring DST team gets. Shoot for Kickers who play in domes. Otherwise, just get the kicker linked to the best offense available.
Pick: Greg Zuerlein
Round 16: Draft your Week 1 DST
You’re going to stream defense all year, and you can because you’ll have time since the rest of your team is solid. Look at the Week 1 schedule and pick which teams are playing offenses that should be bad due to either a rookie QB or lack of play making options. The top options will be gone but you can get a team like the Commanders who have a good defense and are playing the Cardinals offense with their QB coming off a torn ACL and an offense in general disarray.
Pick: Washington Commanders
Congrats, you have a team ready to compete for a championship!
1:03 Travis Kelce
2:10 Najee Harris
3:03 Patrick Mahomes
4:10 Christian Watson
5:03 James Conner
6:10 Christian Kirk
7:03 Gabe Davis
8:10 Khalil Herbert
9:03 Zach Charbonnet
10:10 Adam Thielen
11:03 Michael Gallup
12:10 Raheem Mostert
13:03 Hunter Renfrow
14:10 Greg Zuerlein
15:03 Washington Commanders
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