You should go into every fantasy draft with a general plan of attack.
Of course, you’ll need to be able to adjust throughout the draft and pounce on value wherever it presents itself. That’s where the brand new Draft War Room with customized, dynamic rankings comes into play.
But building a round-by-round strategy beforehand certainly helps. That’s exactly what we’re doing with the Perfect Draft series — using the Draft War Room and ADP to get an idea of where the value will be in each round.
This is the 10-Team PPR Perfect Draft. Each strategy guide assumes 16-round drafts and starting lineups of 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE, 1 Flex, 1 K and 1 DEF. The Draft War Room will help you adjust your strategy if your league settings are different.
Note: Sept. 2 updates in bold.
Round 1
Christian McCaffrey
If you’ve been reading this article for multiple years, you know we usually address several draft positions at a time. And I’ll get back to that with other positions. But McCaffrey stands so far out on his own in this format, that it’s worth looking solely at what has become the CMC spot.
His DMVP score on the board I’m using for this article is 324.4, which stands 119.4 points ahead of #2 Dalvin Cook.
For comparison’s sake, Cook sits just 14.8 DMVP points ahead of #3 Alvin Kamara.
Rounds 2-3
RB: Joe Mixon, Clyde Edwards-Helaire
WR: Calvin Ridley, Justin Jefferson, A.J. Brown, Keenan Allen
TE: Darren Waller
ADP says Ridley is going to leave the board just before your turn. If he or DeAndre Hopkins makes it to you, then taking a WR at this turn makes plenty of sense. You could also reasonably come away from this turn with Justin Jefferson, A.J. Brown or Keenan Allen -- especially if you need to start 3 wideouts.
Part of the McCaffrey advantage is the flexibility he allows. You can lock in a 2nd starter here and then ignore the position for a while. Or you could pass on RBs at this turn and grab some top-level pass-catchers. Recent ADP trends suggest you’ll have a pretty good chance at seeing solid-to-intriguing RB options at the 4-5 turn.
Practice some varied approaches with our Mock Draft Trainer to see which gives you the most favorable outcome.
If Mixon gets here, I have a hard time not taking him. Waller leads my pick recommendations after that. If Mixon is gone, then Clyde Edwards-Helaire joins Waller among my top recommendations at this turn. I have no problem selecting that pair either.
If it's a 3-WR format, Jefferson and Brown jump ahead of the RBs. Either of those wideouts makes sense, especially with McCaffrey already rostered.