2017 Fantasy Football Draft Prep: Picking at No. 10 overall in PPR leagues

It's never a bad idea to load up at receiver, tight end and quarterback in a PPR league, which is what Jamey Eisenberg did here at No. 10 overall. If his running backs deliver, this team should be in great shape.

Drafting from: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

In a PPR league, it's never a bad idea to load up on the best receivers and tight end you can find and let everything else fall into place. That's what happened here at No. 10 overall.

This is our three-man pick-by-pick series with myself, Dave Richard and Heath Cummings, and I picked at No. 10. My expectation was one and possibly two receivers to start my team, and that happened with Jordy Nelson and Michael Thomas, which is great.

Then, in Round 3, I didn't reach for a running back like Christian McCaffrey or Isaiah Crowell, and I passed on other receivers like Michael Crabtree, Golden Tate or Julian Edelman. I wanted the best-player available, which happened to be the No. 1 tight end from last year, Travis Kelce.

When Tate fell in my lap in Round 4, this team was off to an amazing start. Just going by last year's stats, I now had four players who finished in the top 30 in PPR -- and all four can do it again this year.

I wasn't going to reach for a running back at all in this league, but I liked the value of Paul Perkins in Round 5. While he's a questionable No. 1 option for a Fantasy team -- and possibly the Giants -- he does fit well with my team. That is, he's a potential breakout candidate to complement the strength of my team, which is at receiver (Nelson and Thomas), flex (Tate) and tight end (Kelce).

Getting Andrew Luck in Round 6 kept with the theme of this draft, and that's another elite player in my starting lineup. It wasn't exactly a Zero-RB approach, but it's not far off since I only have Perkins at running back through Round 6.  

Here is my team at No. overall:

• 1.10 Jordy Nelson, WR, GB 
• 2.15 Michael Thomas, WR, NO 
• 3.34 Travis Kelce, TE, KC 
• 4.39 Golden Tate, WR, DET
• 5.58 Paul Perkins, RB, NYG 
• 6.63 Andrew Luck, QB, IND 
• 7.82 Theo Riddick, RB, DET 
• 8.87 Samaje Perine, RB, WAS 
• 9.106 Corey Coleman, WR, CLE 
• 10.111 C.J. Prosise, RB, SEA
• 11.130 Thomas Rawls, RB, SEA
• 12.135 Josh Doctson, WR, WAS 
• 13.154 Giants DST
• 14.159 Stephen Gostkowski, K, NE

With the core of my team now in place, it was time to focus on running back in Round 7, and it worked out OK with Riddick and Perine to go with Perkins. This isn't an ideal trio of running backs in any format, but you want upside when you have standout players at other positions.

And Riddick has the potential to be a stud in PPR, especially since he has 133 catches in his past 26 games and plays behind an injury-prone starter in Ameer Abdullah. Perine also could be the starter in Washington if he beats out Rob Kelley, which is a strong possibility.

I backed up those guys with the backups in Seattle with C.J. Prosise and Thomas Rawls, so I'd be in great shape if Eddie Lacy struggles or gets hurt. And Prosise could still play a prominent role in tandem with Lacy, especially on passing downs.

While I added to my receiving corps with good depth in Corey Coleman and Josh Doctson, who are both sleepers this year, the key to this team will be two running backs out of Perkins, Riddick and Perine playing at a high level to give me consistent starters each week. If that happens then this team should be awesome. 

Favorite pick: Golden Tate

Tate is an absolute steal in Round 4 in PPR. He has three years in a row of at least 90 catches, 800 yards and four touchdowns, but in two of those seasons he had at least 1,000 yards.

From Week 6 on last year, Tate had seven games with double digits in targets, nine games with at least six catches and seven games with at least 77 receiving yards, as well as all four of his touchdowns. He should easily be a top-20 Fantasy receiver in PPR, and he was the No. 22 receiver off the board in this draft. I get to use him as a flex on this team with Nelson and Thomas, which is fantastic.

Pick I might regret: Andrew Luck

I wouldn't be surprised if Luck is the No. 1 Fantasy quarterback this year. He should be fine following offseason shoulder surgery, and his weapons are great with T.Y. Hilton, Donte Moncrief, Kamar Aiken and Jack Doyle.

Luck should be a lock for 4,200 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, 255 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns if he's healthy. But the reason he's listed here is I drafted Luck ahead of a running back like Danny Woodhead or Bilal Powell, which could be a mistake given the way I built my team.

If he plays as expected, Luck is well worth this pick, but I also need my running backs to deliver to make it worth it.

Player who could make or break my team: Paul Perkins

When you wait on running backs as I did here, you better hope the guys you draft deliver in a big way. And Perkins is my No. 1 option.

I'm confident in him having a breakout season as the new starter for the Giants. He should get the majority of touches ahead of guys like Shane Vereen, Wayne Gallman and Orleans Darkwa. But Perkins is unproven and didn't show a lot as a rookie last year, although he did play better when he was finally given a chance toward the end of the season.

If Perkins plays well, this team should be great, and I hope he's a weekly starter in my lineup all season.