PPR draft slot: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
It's getting to be that time of year.
Turn that frown upside-down -- picking 10th isn't a bad place to be! Not only are you guaranteed a top-10 player, but you'll also get another from the top 15. You can't argue with that, can you?
Alright fine. Yes, you could. You know you're not going to get an elite-tier running back and are a longshot to land a safe, steady top-three receiver.
So instead of drowning in tears, look forward. Plenty of great talent can make it to you in Round 1 -- and Round 2. It's why ranking your top-15 players before you draft is vital. You'll be prepared for whoever is available at both picks and have a good idea of how you'll start your draft.
My plan was to land a running back in Round 1 and a pass-catcher in Round 2. Not only would that have given me some balance to my roster, but I'd be doing so with high-volume point-producers. A perfect start would have been James Conner and Odell Beckham or Tyreek Hill, or if I was really wishing, Travis Kelce.
As it turned out, my best-laid plans went awry pretty quickly and my team was built uniquely. If you hate this team, you'll know not to replicate it in your draft. If you like this team, you can use this as a blueprint. I was happy with the final product.
Here's my team from No. 10 overall:
- 1.10 James Conner, RB, PIT
- 2.3 Joe Mixon, RB, CIN
- 3.10 Josh Jacobs, RB, OAK
- 4.3 Kenny Golladay, WR, DET
- 5.10 Robby Anderson, WR, NYJ
- 6.3 Andrew Luck, QB, IND
- 7.10 Geronimo Allison, WR, GB
- 8.3 Lamar Miller, RB, HOU
- 9.10 Keke Coutee, WR, HOU
- 10.3 DeSean Jackson, WR, PHI
- 11.10 Devin Singletary, RB, BUF
- 12.3 Austin Hooper, TE, ATL
- 13.10 Jaguars DST
- 14.3 Noah Fant, TE, DEN
- 15.10 C.J. Anderson, RB, DET
I was surprised to see Joe Mixon fall to me in early Round 2 -- the drafters at 11th and 12th overall each had two chances to take him and passed. I'm never one to ignore value in Fantasy drafts, so taking Mixon over Keenan Allen, Mike Evans, Le'Veon Bell and a tight end wasn't difficult to do. The guy has 1,500-yard, nine-score potential.
This did mean I would "play from behind" at receiver. No big deal, I planned on finding a stellar receiver in Round 3.
Didn't happen. Instead of having Stefon Diggs or Julian Edelman get cradled into my lap, they were taken right in front of me. The best available receivers were Kenny Golladay, Brandin Cooks and Adam Thielen. After watching the drafters at 11 and 12 splurge on pass-catchers in Rounds 1 and 2, I figured at least one of those receivers would fall back to me in Round 4. Meanwhile, Josh Jacobs sparkled like a 10-carat diamond.
That's right. I took three running backs to start a PPR lineup that starts three receivers and a flex. I know people know me as a running back hoarder, but even I admit this was kind of ridiculous. However, I just cannot pass up good value, and if Jacobs plays to expectations, he'll be better than the receivers on the board in the third round.
Besides, I got Golladay in Round 4. If I forced my hand and took him (or Cooks, or Thielen) in Round 3, I would have not had Jacobs. My receivers will be iffy, but my running backs will be better than anyone else's in the league. That's never a bad thing.
If Robby Anderson didn't make it to me in Round 5, I might have had a heart attack. Literally no one else caught my eye (except for running backs). So I'm thankful he made it. I also gave serious thought to a third receiver in Round 6 (Mike Williams), but I couldn't ignore Andrew Luck. If I'm gonna be weak at receiver, I'll at least be strong at quarterback and running back. Luck is an unreal value in Round 6 and is a byproduct of our analyst drafts. If you can, wait as long as possible to get a top-six quarterback on Draft Day, but don't reach just because the rest of your league reaches.
If you're going to pass on receiver early, making up for it with a bunch of high-upside pass-catchers in the middle-to-late rounds is an easy plan. I love the depth of the position this year and found three really nice options in Geronimo Allison, Keke Coutee and DeSean Jackson. Allison and Coutee stand out as high-volume guys while D-Jax's speed and role in the Eagles offense might make him more valuable than he's been in years. I'll be very happy starting one of these three every week.
As for tight end, I'll start with Austin Hooper and will carry Noah Fant as a blue-chip sleeper. I've given my team two chances to have a decent starter from week to week. Travis Kelce they're not, but they both have appeal and potential, which is about all you can ask for when you're picking tight ends in the double-digit rounds.
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Seriously, I didn't hate taking two running backs to start my draft -- not when they're both expected to get a lot of work on the ground and through the air. Mixon should fit perfectly into Zac Taylor's West Coast offense as a zone-running, do-it-all talent. The Bengals' offensive line stinks and their defense is getting a little old but Mixon is a 20-touch-per-game candidate who should get schemed into the offense better than he's ever been before.
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This isn't about Jacobs turning into a bust as much as it is passing on receivers in Round 3. Cooks has annually been a boom-or-bust receiver with modest consistency. Thielen can't possibly be as good this year as he was last year, especially if Dalvin Cook stays healthy and the Vikings stick to their run-heavy plan. And taking Golladay would have been the wrong move since I got him a round later. Going with the third running back in a row put my receiving corps in a hole I'm going to have a hard time crawling out of unless all three of my backs are great. Which is possible.
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Making Golladay my first receiver comes with some pretty high expectations. Can he get back to over 1,000 yards? Can he score more than five times? I'd like to think the answer to these questions are yes, but with a sub-60 percent catch rate through two seasons and a passing offense expected to throttle down, there's not a lot of hope of him exceeding his 2018 stats. This exercise made me realize Golladay was a low-end No. 2 receiver, not someone who should be shelved into a prominent spot in my lineup.
