2018 Fantasy Football Draft Prep: Who should I take at No. 8 overall in non-PPR?
Heath Cummings says you have a chance to land two of the top eight receivers if you have the eighth pick in your draft.
•
3 min read
Need Fantasy Football draft advice? Talk to CBS Sports on your Google Assistant to get insights on the best sleepers and to help decide between players. Just start with, "Hey Google, talk to CBS Sports."
Editor's note: Our latest PPR pick-by-pick series was done in August prior to the third preseason game and is a three-man draft with Heath Cummings, Jamey Eisenberg and Dave Richard, with each one selecting four teams in this 12-team mock. The goal of this series is to show you positions to draft in these spots as much as the players selected, so take that into account when viewing each team.
Building a team from every draft slot in PPR and non-PPR
If you're like me and think the elite receivers are undervalued, then yes, the No. 8 pick is a great place to take advantage of that, even in non-PPR. In this particular draft, I started with three of them, landing DeAndre Hopkins, Michael Thomas and Adam Thielen with my first three picks.
Some of you may have immediate anxiety over the prospect of starting a non-PPR draft with three receivers. Hopefully it will help to know that this trio averaged a combined 33 Fantasy points per game in this format last year. Sure, that's less than a combination of top-10 running backs scored, but at the No. 8 pick you don't the option of drafting even two of the top 10 running backs. Instead, you can pick one and hope you get one more in the top-12. From this draft position I'd rather take the certainty of receivers early and then stockpile running-back upside and floor in the later rounds.
Here's my team from No. 8 overall:
- 1.8 DeAndre Hopkins, WR HOU
- 2.5 Michael Thomas, WR, NO
- 3.8 Adam Thielen, WR, MIN
- 4.5 Royce Freeman, RB, DEN
- 5.8 Jimmy Graham, TE, GB
- 6.5 Isaiah Crowell, RB, NYJ
- 7.8 Chris Carson, RB, SEA
- 8.5 C.J. Anderson, RB, CAR
- 9.8 Giovani Bernard, RB, CIN
- 10.5 Bilal Powell, RB, NYJ
- 11.8 Allen Hurns, WR, DAL
- 12.5 Javorius Allen, RB, BAL
- 13.8 Alex Smith, QB, WAS
- 14.5 Texans DST
The first two running backs I drafted illustrate my strategy when I don't take a running back with my first three picks. Freeman has a ton of upside and Crowell has a very strong floor. While the rest of my backs skew more towards the floor side of that equation I do think we underestimate the upside of Bernard and probably Carson too. Bernard is one injury away from being a top-15 running back and Carson is currently a starting running back inline for the lion's share of the touches in Seattle.
One player who undeniably has upside is my tight end. Graham looks every bit the part of the team's No. 2 target in the red zone, which is enormous in an offense led by Aaron Rodgers. He's the second most likely tight end to score 10 touchdowns and has more value in this format than he does in PPR.
Favorite pick: Michael Thomas
Michael Thomas should be a first-round pick in all formats. And if it wasn't for bad touchdown luck in 2017, he probably would be. As a rookie, he turned 121 targets into 92-1,137-9 and followed that up with an increase in targets, receptions and yards but only scored five touchdowns. Maybe he won't score nine again this year, but I'd bet a good sum he scores more than five and is among the league leaders in targets and receptions. You don't always have to take a receiver in Round 2, but you should if Thomas is available.
Pick I might regret: C.J. Anderson
I'm still not convinced that Christian McCaffrey is going to be a workhorse in Carolina this year, but the Panthers are doing their best to convince us. It just seems odd they would give Jonathan Stewart 198 carries, replace him with a better running back, and then not use that running back. If that's how this plays out, this is a throwaway pick, and the seventh round is way too early for throwaway picks.
Player who could make or break my team: Royce Freeman
I'm not even sure if it's fair to say Freeman could break my team. I'm pretty certain he's good and the situation in Denver is pretty great. But Vance Joseph could absolutely break my team by giving half the touches to Devontae Booker. Booker isn't near as talented as Freeman, but the Broncos continue to talk as if they want him to be involved. If Freeman gets a normal No. 1 running back workload, he has the upside to be a top-12 running back in 2018.
