The NFL season is almost upon us, and that means fantasy football drafts are happening! Having a strategy going into your draft is extremely important as it sets the stage for a championship winning season. Each and every draft is different, and strategies will vary based on the draft slot. I’m here to show some strategies based off the slots you could be drafting from to help win your league!
After taking a look at drafting from the top overall spot, it’s time to move onto the #2 overall pick. The idea of staying flexible will ring true here as it is still very early in the draft. Once again I’ll be using a Sleeper mock draft to show my thoughts and strategies during the draft. 12 team PPR will be the settings.
Pre-draft Strategy
Similar to the 1st pick, I will look to load up early on WR and attempt to build an elite core at that position. That could change should one of the better RB2s fall to my other early picks. WR is the position I will hone in on after my 1st rounder and the strategy I will enter the draft with.
Round 1
Many people see a very clear choice with the #2 pick. It isn’t so clear to me as I have Alvin Kamara ranked equally with Dalvin Cook. To me it is a toss up between these two guys, so I decided to go with Dalvin Cook in this draft as he could give me a small edge in flexibility. He is more of a true runner than Kamara and still gets good work in the passing game. Cook’s injury history does concern me a tiny bit, but not nearly enough for me to pass up on him. Cook gives me a really solid base for my team moving forward.
Rounds 2-5
None of the RB2s worth my 2nd rounder fell here, but Calvin Ridley did. I love Ridley this season and I could see him end up as the WR1 with Atlanta most likely playing from behind a lot this season. He was a super easy and obvious choice with my pick because of this. I somewhat considered Darren Waller or George Kittle, but I thought I’d risk one of them falling a couple picks and Ridley brought more value.
The risk I took payed off as Waller fell to my 3rd round pick. Keenan Allen and Terry McLaurin were tempting, especially with me wanting to build a great WR core. But I think Waller’s value here in the 3rd is higher than either of those two guys. I really like how these first three rounds went with the potential top guy at each of their positions.
Amari Cooper slid down to my pick in the 4th which I was pleasantly surprised by. I think Cooper will end as a top 12 WR by season’s end. Getting him and Ridley on my team gives me one of the best WR cores possible which is exactly what I was looking for. I am really pleased with how this draft has gone for me.
I was looking at securing my WR position completely here with guys like Diontae Johnson or Brandon Aiyuk. But James Robinson was sitting there and an RB2 of his caliber was too much to pass up on. I think I can still get some really good WR with high upside to round out that spot. So I pivoted a little bit and Robinson was my pick here. All five guys I drafted so far give me a really solid base with considerable upside as well.
Rounds 6-9
I was looking for some high upside WR here and Chase Claypool was available. So I drafted Chase…Edmonds! Claypool was incredibly tempting here, but I decided to play the ADP game and wait on him. I also wasn’t sure that Edmonds would get past the next two picks, so I pivoted again. Edmonds shores up my RB position and gives me a great RB3 with some RB2 potential.
I played the game and won as Claypool slid to my pick here in the 7th. He was a really easy selection for me. I gave Robby Anderson some thought, but the floor I have with Cooper and Ridley gives me the option to go with the massive upside Claypool has. Should Claypool truly break out, I got a big steal in the mid rounds.
With my 8th pick I was able to snag Antonio Brown. I have said it before, but I try and target him in nearly every draft I have in this range. He offers such high value from this spot and works as a perfect WR4 for my squad. Getting him and Claypool back to back made me really happy.
I drafted Ryan Tannehill in the 9th round, a QB who I am very high on. Yes he lost his offensive coordinator, but I’m still very confident in his abilities and the talent of the offense overall. He still has elite weapons surrounding him so I expect great production from him. He’ll slot in easy to my QB spot for the season.
Rounds 10-16
Darnell Mooney is a late round high upside WR I love to target. He is a solid bet for a breakout should the Bears’ QBs improve. If he breaks out, his 10th round price makes him a huge steal and could help my WR core a ton.
In the 11th round I drafted Jamaal Williams who finishes my search for running backs. He is a good backup with low end RB2 potential should D’Andre Swift get injured. So I am super comfortable having him as my 4th RB, especially getting him this late in the draft.
I drafted Marvin Jones with my 12th pick in hopes of him being the WR1 in Jacksonville. He seems to have built a solid connection with Trevor Lawrence. He has also been a super underrated producer the past several years. Should he get the majority of the targets from Lawrence, Jones will offer insane value at this spot.
I didn’t see very many players I thought offered good value here in the 13th round. That and the small run on defenses led me to draft the Broncos’ defense. I love their early season schedule as they open up against the Giants, Jaguars, and Jets. That is three offenses expected to be below average. And Denver still has some studs on their team. They could feast on those teams. I felt they gave solid value here even though I usually wait till the very end of the draft to snag a defense.
Terrace Marshall Jr. is another guy I love to target deep into the draft. He should get good red zone work and if any of the other Panthers’ pass catchers go down, his stock will sky rocket. Stashing on my bench could pay dividends by the end of the season.
I took Jalen Reagor here in the 15th round. He should be improved this season as his role will expand. That and some of the insane catches he’s had in training camp make me think a late round flier on him could be worth it. I don’t expect big things, but there are so many unknowns in the Eagles offense, I’ll take the chance on him.
With my last pick I took Daniel Carlson. Solid kicker on a team with an average offense. I expect a lot of their drives to stall which means he could have a lot of field goal opportunities.
Final Results
I absolutely love how this team ended up. I was able to build a solid RB core while sticking to my strategy of targeting WRs. Adding Waller to that equation makes this team great. This was basically a best case scenario draft for me. I stayed flexible but was able to stick to my pre-draft thoughts. Here’s how the final roster panned out:
- QB: Ryan Tannehill
- RB: Dalvin Cook
- RB: James Robinson
- WR: Calvin Ridley
- WR: Amari Cooper
- TE: Darren Waller
- FLEX: Chase Claypool
- D/ST: Denver Broncos
- K: Daniel Carlson
- Bench: Chase Edmonds
- Antonio Brown
- Darnell Mooney
- Jamaal Williams
- Marvin Jones
- Terrace Marshall Jr.
- Jalen Reagor
Below is the entire draft board to see how it all went down.
I hope this was helpful to you all drafting from that #2 spot! Remember to stay flexible in your draft so you can dominate your league! Thanks for reading and happy drafting!
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