Who To Draft In Fantasy Football? Nick Mariano's Pick-By-Pick Draft Targets for Every Position

We love laying out rankings and making draft plans based on the general average draft position (ADP), but it matters greatly which platform you play on. What do we care about an ADP of 30 if one site requires the 20th pick and another is the 40th? Let's drill down on Yahoo here with my perfect draft blueprints from early, middle, and late picks.

I provide you with the players I am targeting from the 1-4 picks, 5-8 picks, and 9-12 picks. These recommendations are rooted in Yahoo ADP, my ranks, and preferred draft strategies. Each round has my Plan A with most having a respective backup pivot for that pick.

You may not agree with the directions I'm taking but the idea is to run through the process based on what ADP gives us with a half-PPR, 12-team lean. We are looking at the first nine rounds, filling out a starting lineup of one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, a tight end, and two flexes. If you want picks beyond that you can always read about "My Guys," my Late-Round Fliers, my PPR Sleepers, and so on.

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Picks 1-4 - Fantasy Football Draft Guide

The Strategy:

You’re getting CMC as an anchor/hero RB in an ideal world, but Bijan is a fine backup plan for that route. Then the move is following that up with four pass-catchers and I have no problem doubling up on San Francisco. Whether you want four WRs or three and a TE is up to you, but I’d love for a strong TE in the mix.

If I whiffed on Collins in R3 then I’m happily queueing up Dell in R5 and hoping to push TE towards Ferguson later on and then grabbing a later QB in Williams. If you want to shove QB to the final rounds here, then I won’t fight you, but we’re filling out a lineup for this exercise.

You’ll note that the R2 Plan B pulls in Achane with CMC, which would lock us onto WR/TE moving forward. I’d love to follow most of the B/C-side picks there with Collins or Kupp as my WR1.

Nico Collins 2023 ranks:
🔹2nd in YPRR (3.10)
🔹5th in YAC/catch (6.9)
🔹6th in yards after catch above expectation (+2.5)
🔹5th in targets per route run (27%)
🔹7th in 20+ yard receptions (13)
🔹6th in receiving yards off of 20+ yard receptions (466)pic.twitter.com/tB9lLDVsGD

— Ben Cummins (@BenCumminsFF) April 3, 2024

Picks 5-8 - Fantasy Football Draft Guide

The Strategy:

You embrace a low-floor approach with Jefferson being tied to Sam Darnold and Achane being viewed as a league-winner by some and a fragile, overvalued 1B running back by others. This writer is the former, and Jefferson has performed with Nick Mullens so let’s see what Darnold can do with the best skill players and offensive line he’s seen thus far.

You can lean into the risk with an aging Kupp in the third round or Collins in a crowded Houston WR room. Taking Walker provides more bankable RB volume if you’re worried about Achane’s durability and want a reliable man alongside potential waiver/trade churn.

McLaurin sets you up with Daniels on a team that shouldn’t often find itself with large leads where Daniels will simply hand the ball off to ice the clock. Only holding three WRs through seven rounds could present a problem in most years, but 2024 is providing discounts.

DeAndre Hopkins and Courtland Sutton are cheap avenues to starting WR reps on overlooked offenses. Hopkins tumbled a round or two following a preseason knee injury but now he appears fine for Week 1 in an offense built for passing. Sutton could approach a 28% team target share with Jerry Jeudy off and no obvious WR2 or TE in place.

why is Courtland Sutton routinely ignored in drafts?

•21.5% target share across the past 2 years
•Jeudy gone, only Reynolds added
•pass volume likely up with Nix

won’t repeat 10TDs but he saw a 25.8% target share as a sophomore and is in his prime 🤷🏻‍♂️pic.twitter.com/oXrOeuPyTL

— kev mahserejian (@RotoSurgeon) August 15, 2024

Picks 9-12 - Fantasy Football Draft Guide

The Strategy:

Some may opt for Jahmyr Gibbs but consider me blinded by what the first-half Eagles did last season, with Brown standing as the second-best wide receiver by total points and points per game in half- and full-PPR formats. New offensive coordinator Kellen Moore should keep the playcalling from going stale and get AJB and DeVonta Smith moving.

Nacua has slid into the second round on Yahoo next to Arizona’s prominent WR prospect. Either is fine by me, but I’ll lean towards the youngster who already set rookie records versus the guy folks are hoping can do the same.

Then we continue to pound receivers with either Metcalf or Rice, both of which have good standing in prominent passing setups. Rice has the better team environment but potential legal action, while less likely to come now, is still looming. Metcalf gets a pass-happy Ryan Grubb offense while Geno Smith should enjoy some positive regression.

Hurts follows the AJB pick. Naysayers who think Hurts’ fantasy value could erode without Jason Kelce need to accept that the push of the left guard, Landon Dickerson, and tackle, Jordan Mailata, are the crux of the Tush Push. Also, Cam Jurgens at center is still good!

The majority of them are behind Dickerson tbh. They lock shoulders between C-G-T on that side to create a wave that he can ride. They've gone right a couple times against the Rams but in general trust the left side more.

— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) October 23, 2023

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