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 fourth 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: Jefferson or Ekeler
Jefferson is a fine pick here as he has a great chance to repeat as the top receiver in fantasy. However, no player has scored more TDs than Ekeler in the last two seasons. He caught over 100 balls last year and is the main RB who sees the goal line work on a dynamic offense. I will happily take Ekeler here as he enters a contract year.
Pick: Austin Ekeler
Round 2: The WR 1 with an Elite QB
We want to take the guy who is on a good offense with an even better QB. He should see plenty of work and have minimal to no injury concerns. Rodgers loves him already, expect his youth and athleticism to beat out the misfit toys from the tundra.
Pick: Garrett Wilson
Round 3: Double up on pass catching RBs
Ekeler is a pass catching monster, so let’s pair him with another pass catching RB to make an RB room with a frightening ceiling. While he will catch passes, I want a guy who is going to pound the rock too.
Pick: Aaron Jones
Round 4: Top Tier TE & Avoid Dead Zone WRs
All the WRs here should be big name guys with even bigger question marks. WR is so deep I would avoid these guys and instead take a top tier TE.
Picks: T.J. Hockenson
Round 5: Steal an Offense
I would continue to avoid the WR dead zone and instead pull off a heist of stealing an entire offense! Ekeler is the main RB on a high scoring offense and I’m going to parlay that with the man who will be responsible for every passing TD.
Pick: Justin Herbert
Round 6: WR Target Magnet
Here is where I’m ready to start grabbing some WRs who will see plenty of work. They might not have the best QB or offense, but they will see work regardless.
Pick: Mike Evans
Round 7: Starting Flex RB
RBs should be pretty picked over but there is normally a few lower end starters you can grab to give you a solid flex player.
Pick: Brian Robinson Jr.
Round 8-9: Lemme geta WR Combo
High upside wide receivers that should have a fairly decent floor. These are the risky guys who you saw some training camp footage of on Twitter that made you stop scrolling.
Pick: Gabe Davis & JuJu Smith Schuster
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?
Picks: D’Onta Foreman, Adam Thielen, Romeo Doubs, Michael Gallup
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!
1:04 Austin Ekeler
2:09 Garrett Wilson
3:04 Aaron Jones
4:09 T.J. Hockenson
5:04 Justin Herbert
6:09 Mike Evans
7:04 Brian Robinson Jr.
8:09 Gabe Davis
9:04 JuJu Smith Schuster
10:09 D'Onta Foreman
11:04 Adam Thielen
12:09 Romeo Doubs
13:04 Michael Gallup
14:09 Greg Zuerlein
15:04 Washington Commanders
Want personalized fantasy advice?
Make sure to subscribe and tune into
our lives every Monday at 6/5c.
Comments