Transcription
I've been drafting all summer long, and I keep getting this video request. Look, this year in drafts, there are some very specific spots that you're going to want to target from the draft board as far as where you're going to draft, and there are some spots where you're definitely going to want to avoid. So, today I'm going to rank every single draft spot based on my experience. Let's jump into tier number one. I'm going to have tiers for the different spots.
In tier number one, we've got two picks. That is the second pick on your board and the first pick in your draft, the 1.02 and the 1.01. Now, there have been three factors that have gone into every single ranking for today's picks, and this is how I've approached it this year.
The first thing is round one access. Basically put, who can you actually draft with your first pick? By far, the biggest determining factor for me as far as where I'm willing to draft because if there's any round I really want to get right, it's obviously round one. There are some spots where you're guaranteed an elite player, other spots where you're kind of left holding a bag because a tier happens.
The second thing we're looking at here is build flexibility. So, how many different ways can you win from this spot? How many builds are achievable? How many strategies? That is really important because it's going to impact you basically every single round.
And the third factor is board control, aka how much damage can your league mates do to you before your next pick. So, shorter waits mean you can see runs, you can react. Longer waits mean you have less control, you're a little bit helpless if tiers are starting to vanish.
Now, a little bit of a disclaimer before we keep diving in, you can win your fantasy league from any spot on the board. So, please do not freak out if you don't have one of my top-ranked options for 2026.
All right, again, the first and second spot we're talking about right now, I have a small preference for the second spot this year. There's a clear top two picks in fantasy football in 2026. It's not close. Jahmyr Gibbs, Bijan Robinson. I would go out in there and bet that pretty much every format, those are going to be the first two picks. In all Real Land community drafts, I host Real leagues for my community members, people who support me with the code land. They have been the only picks that have been made. Both Gibbs and Bijan, it's the only players that have gone off the board in Real drafts for me. Now, that's not at all surprising considering these are elite running back prospects who are entering their prime and have proven that they are legitimate league winning workhorse type of running backs. No age or injury concerns, the creme de la creme. In your PPR, half PPR, non-PPR, these are the two guys that everybody wants to walk away from their draft with.
And one of the main reasons I slightly prefer the second spot, the 1.02, instead of that first spot, the 1.01, is because in round two, you get to pick before the first spot. I don't mind if you want a Bijan or Gibbs. I don't have a strong preference. I like both of those guys equally. I think they're both going to score over 21 points per game this year. And again, round two with the second pick gives you a better shot at landing a player you really want. Or if a player falls in round two, you obviously have a better shot of drafting that faller. Here's an example. I drafted it from the 1.02. And I really wanted to to secure a running back I liked in round two to go double RB. And in this scenario, I drafted Derrick Henry before the running back position started having more question marks. You know, also the wide receivers that you can walk away with in the early third round are just so enticing this year. Another reason I love those first and second pick, you know, names like George Pickens if he were to fall, A.J. Brown at times, Olave, Nico Collins, Rashee Rice, just incredible options in that early third round. If you're going to able to go double RB with a stud like Nico in round three, Rice in round three, it's just an absolute cheat code in my humble opinion.
And you can still draft an incredible team from the 1.01. I just have some small preferences with the 102. Using real land draft ADP, look at some of the possible starts at the 101, right? Uh Bijan or Gibbs, whichever way you're going to go, and then in the second round, is it Nico? Is it Pickens? Is it A.J. Brown? Is it Bowers? Is it McBride? You know, do you go a running back like a Derrick Henry if he falls? Uh Jeremy Love, I'm not that in love with, but you're either way going to start with an anchor superstar stud running back. Here's a real draft I did with my community from the 101. Again, real leagues, I'm hosting them every week on landleagues.com. Uh where I took Bijan in the first, then A.J. Brown fell to me. To be fair, he fell, he doesn't normally fall that far. Then I had George Pickens. I mean, a start of Bijan, A.J., Pickens, some of the possibilities there. Maybe Nico Collins instead. There are some ridiculous possibilities from the 101.
Now, the only downside of both of these two spots, uh it didn't determine my order today, but is board control. Let's be honest, both the one and the two spot, they make you wait 20 plus picks each go around, and sometimes that board flexibility, that board control is a little bit of a downer.
Okay, let's jump into tier number two. My third favorite pick this year is pick number five from your board, the 105. While there is a clear top two, there's also a clear top five in your drafts this year as well. We've got three young target hog elite talents, 20 plus point per game scorers, with little to no injury concerns, and Ja'Marr Chase, Puka Nacua, JSN, the big three, if you will. That's exactly how I also have it ranked in my rankings this year.
Reason one why I have the 105 though specifically ranked higher than like, you know, the three spot or the four spot, is because you're guaranteed to get a tier one pick, okay? We know that with like a JSN, a Puka, Chase, whoever falls, but you also get the more favorable pick in round number two. Here's a great example again from a real draft where one of my community members actually killed it from the 105 spot. He took JSN in the first round. Then in round two, A.J. Brown was right there. That's an awesome start if you're not going to get a running back through two rounds. If he did get a running back, Derrick Henry was right by him as well. Either way he wants to build this team, there's more flexibility in this draft than there is at the 103 to the 104.
Another reason that I prefer is because there's just great board control. You don't have to focus on the player names on your screen here like the ADP that you're being shown. It's just ADP, but what I'm trying to show you is from this spot of the board, you are waiting only 14 picks one way and eight picks the other way to make your next selection. Tiers are easier to spot and to pick from. Positional runs are easier to react to. I like the 105 this year.
Now, the fourth selection for me that I prefer this year is pick number seven, the seven spot, the 107 if you will. Now, this might surprise some people that I have the 107, the seven spot this high, but I do [snorts] strongly believe that the seven spot is better to draft from than the three and the four spots. You might disagree with me. Let me know down below. And by the way, hit the like button. Hi Pierre if you're on mobile. Go ahead and sub if you think I earned your subscriber today. I'm on the road to 100K. You can help me get there.
However, look, if it was a one-round draft, of course, picking at the seven spot makes no sense. However, round two is far more appealing from the seven spot than it is from the three or the four spot. For me, after tier number one, there's a clear tier of two players, Christian McCaffrey and Amon-Ra St. Brown. For CMC, you can make the argument he's worthy of being a tier one player, but with his age, it's hard because some people might have some question marks on him that they don't for the other top five guys. For Amon-Ra St. Brown, he's been the definition of consistency. I project the Lions to throw a lot this year. For the past three seasons, Amon-Ra St. Brown has finished top five on a points per game basis. 20.1 points per game, 18.6, 19.1. He's been incredible, but again, when we go to round two, this is where the spot becomes really advantageous.
I have a player pool this year that starts from the 1.08 as a tier and goes all the way to the 2.06. I And this isn't just me like copping out. No, truly, I think all these guys are going to be valued very similarly this year or they should be in my projections at least. You know, the Jefferson, Achane, Quentin Johnston, Cook, Barkley, Taylor, Brown, Walker, Lamb, A.J. Brown. Dude, if you want to take CeeDee Lamb at the 1.08, be my guest. Like, do your thing. They're in the same tier. I I don't have a problem with that, right? So, think about that for a second. Why Where's the secret sauce with the 1.07? The secret sauce is that it allows you to get, number one, a player in a higher tier than the eight to 12 spot in round one, and number two, a player in a higher tier than the one to five spots in round two.
Let's look at that practically. Again, would you take Christian McCaffrey or Amon-Ra? It's completely up to you, but then in round two, do you pair them with a Devon Achane? Do you go Amon-Ra Achane? Amon-Ra Kenneth Walker? Amon-Ra Chase Brown? Amon-Ra Saquon Hampton? Do you take Christian McCaffrey, hit Drake London on the way back? Does CeeDee Lamb fall? You know, are you a big Nico Collins guy? There's so many possibilities here. You can go double running back if you want. Shoot, you can go double wide receiver. Do you want McCaffrey and Chase Brown falls? Kenneth Walker falls? You want to go double wide receiver like Amon-Ra and Drake London? The ADP says there are so many possibilities. And like the 1.05, you have great board control. You're waiting only 10 picks one way and 12 picks the other way to make your next selection. Tiers are easier to pick from. Positional runs, again, easier to spot. Here's a great example of that flexibility in a real draft from a LAN member that I again I host these drafts. He got CMC at the 107. And round two, he had the flexibility to go wide receiver or running back. Wide receiver was London, that's who he picked, but Chase Brown was right there on the board. Uh Ken Walker was the pick before. You just have a ton of flexibility. I really, really love these spots.
Pro tip, by the way, get into as many mock drafts or real drafts with me as you possibly can. If you want to get into a mock drafts, our community is constantly doing mock drafts. Uh you can use a code land, create a free account on flockfantasy.com/land, and it's that easy. You can jump into mock drafts today.
Okay, let's jump into tier number three. I've got three picks in this tier specifically. We've got the six spot, the four spot, and the three spot, aka the 106, 104, 103. For those of you who aren't familiar with the terminology, right? We are facing a serious dilemma when choosing between these three picks, guys. We really are. Uh they all have pros and cons. They they truly do. I'm going to ask you, the viewer who's watching this video, two simple questions. And depending on how you answer these two questions, that will determine which of these spots are right for you. Okay, so you ready? Question number one. Get your notepad out. All right, question number one. What matters most to you? Drafting the best player in round one or the best pair of players through two rounds, okay? Question number two. Do you need a running back with your first two picks this year? Are you one of those guys like me? I I'm typically that guy, where I'm like, I got to have a running back in the first two rounds. Is Is that you? Okay.
So, if you answered that question, and you said, "You know what? Having the best player matters the most to me in round one, and I do not need to draft a running back with the first two picks. I'm flexible, right?" Well, your best path would be going for the third and the fourth pick in fantasy football drafts this year, the 103 and the 1.04, and here's why. At the three or the four spot, you are guaranteed to get a young, elite wide receiver via ADP across all platforms, ADP meaning average draft position, right? You [snorts] know you're going to land either Ja'Marr Chase, Puka Nacua, JSN. We've talked about these guys. We've talked about how insanely good they are. Absolute money, cash money you can't miss. And that's exactly how I also have it ranked. But in round two, here's the thing, okay? There are very rarely running backs that I feel comfortable drafting from these spots in round number two. And often times you fall outside of an overall tier that I really love in drafts this year, okay? Remember Remember, guys, remember this? Earlier I told you there's this huge tier of players this year that I absolutely love that goes from the eight spot, the 1.08, all the way to the 2.06. It's this huge tier. Well, it's highly unlikely, unless your league mates are completely casuals, right? That you're going to be able to draft one of these guys in round two. It's just unlikely to happen based off of all ADP indicators right now. And the running backs that could be available in round two at the three and four spot, it just it looks really bleak, guys. I So, you're going to start with a wide receiver, like we talked about, but then in round two, based off real draft ADP, like if you're a Jeremiah Love guy, the rookie, then then maybe you're going to be happy. Otherwise, you would have to be reaching big time on a Jacobs, a Breece Hall, a Kyren Williams, a Javonte Williams, a Skyy Moore. Like either way, you're reaching big time. So, you're almost guaranteed to start your draft with two non-running backs unless you reach at the position. So, again, if you're not someone who feels like you need to run one running back through two rounds, then sure, like a Chase, you know, Brock Bowers start is awesome, right? Like a Chase, Nico start, that's that's great. You know, a Puka, Drake London, sure. If that's you, then and you're okay with that, fine. But you need to be prepared to roll out a strategy that likely doesn't get you your first running back until round four. Here's an example from a real draft that I've done with my community. I took Chase at the 1.03, Pickens at the 2.10, right? And all the running backs that I felt comfortable drafting in round two were completely gone, like they typically are at that point. I wasn't able to get my first running back until round four. Like that's that's just the build you have to be okay with with doing at the three and four spot, and I don't typically love those builds.
So, if you answered those two questions earlier, and you said, "Look, what's most important to me is having the best pair of players through two rounds, and more importantly, Zach, I need me a running back through the first two rounds. I need at least one running back." I feel you, that's probably where I am. That's why I have the six spot in the same tier as these spots, but maybe one spot higher than them. And here's why. Here's why if you answered those questions that way, why you should go for the six spot.
Number one, you have, and I mean this, ultimate flexibility to start your draft with wide receiver or running back. You really do. You know, Christian McCaffrey, Amon-Ra St. Brown, does JSN fall in your draft? Then in round two, you are 100% guaranteed to get one of these great players that I love this year. That, you know, the Jeffersons, Achane, Jeudy, Hampton, Cook, Barkley, Taylor, Brown, Walker, Lamb, AJ Brown. You're guaranteed to get one of those guys, and those guys again will not be available at the three or four spot this year. There are literally endless possibilities. Endless possibilities. What strategy do you want to accomplish? From the 1.06, you can do it The world is your oyster. Do you want to go double RB? Great. Start Christian McCaffrey, and then around two, who's available? Chase Brown, Saquon, Hampton, Achane, is Walker there, Henry? You can accomplish double RB. How about a balanced start? You want one wide receiver, one running back? Okay, start Amon-Ra St. Brown and Chase Brown. Start God St. Brown and Ken Walker, Saquon Hampton, start CMC London, CMC AJ Brown. The literally the world is your oyster.
Oh, and remember uh the 1.06 it gives you ultimate board board control, ultimate board control, okay? Again, this is just ADP you're looking at. This isn't a real draft. This is ADP right here. >> [snorts] >> But, you're waiting 12 picks for your next pick every single time. It's a rhythm, right? Tiers are easier to draft within. You're going to see the positional runs. You're going to be able to react really well. Here's an example where uh I drafted from the six spot with my community. I went double RB in this uh strategy. Got Christian McCaffrey, Ken Walker in round number two. If you're not a Walker guy, Henry was there. But, you know, I could have taken potentially a CD Lamb. He almost fell there, maybe a Drake London, maybe an AJ Brown. But, I'm really happy with that, you know, in round two again I went Walker. I could have gone AJ. I just love the way that the board falls at that six spot.
Hey, I've talked a lot about like community drafts, community leagues that I host. If you want to be a part of them, it is one of the many many perks of you becoming a season pass member with the promo code land. You're going to get complete access to landleagues.com. You can enter all the raffles that I do with my community where I draft with them on our live streams. And, of course, I'll fast track you for your first draft. You get the draft guide, the cheat sheet, uh access to the entire flock site, support for the entire fantasy season, okay?
Let's jump into tier number four. Okay, tier number four is the back end of the board gang. And, look, while this looks like I am undervaluing these picks big time, I don't think these are terrible picks, but you have to rank them in a specific order, okay? This is not a death sentence. You just need to know how to approach your draft if you have one of these picks. And yeah, I've ranked the eight to 12 simply as 8 9 10 11 12. And I'll explain. Again, not a death sentence. There'll be plenty of championships from this exact spot, but from the 108 to the 112, you know [clears throat] that you're going to get two players that I have in the same tier that we really like. We've talked about this tier before, right? You know that you're going to get two of those players. Here's visually what you could take home through the first two rounds. These highlighted players, you're probably going to get two of these guys, right? Is it a Jefferson, a Chase Brown, a Jefferson Walker, a Jefferson London, Taylor London.
Now, the reason I prefer the 108, I'm giving it the upper hand in this tier, is because number one, board control, the 108, the board falls a little bit more naturally. You have more reaction time. The further you go down the board and like with these draft slots, for example, the 112, you have to wait 22 picks each time for your turn. So, board flexibility, board control, it's a little bit limited.
Second reason I prefer the 108, and I give it the slight upper hand, it's not a death sentence again, is you get the first choice of the litter, all right? So, are you a big JT guy, Jonathan Taylor? Does McCaffrey fall? If a player falls in those top picks, you're the first person to take advantage of it. Are you a Taylor guy, a Jefferson guy, right? Are you a CD Lamb guy? You get the first choice of the litter.
And number three, the third reason I prefer the 108 slightly is because you get the first choice, you also have more build flexibility, okay? Think about that. There are certain parts of the draft board this year where I feel like I kind of need to go double RB. And I don't mind that. I love double RB starts, but that can limit your flexibility. For example, like the 10, 11, 12 spot, often it feels like the best players are running backs. Like, we're seeing a lot of Ashton Jeanty, Chase Brown starts, Etienne, Saquon, James Cook, Hampton. That's a lot of the starts. And then it makes sense because those are often the best players available. But think about it like at the 108, I would probably take like a Justin Jefferson and then around two, a Chase Brown for example or a Saquon Hampton Cook, Etienne, whoever falls. I like that a lot, whereas at the 112, it's more likely again you're going to go heavy on the running backs.
Guys, this is my opinion. Again, I hope that if you have a draft spot at the back end of the board, you didn't walk away today thinking, "Oh my god, my fantasy season's over and now I have to quit." No, you're going to be just fine. In fact, I would highly encourage you that if you are new to fantasy or even if you're a veteran, you want one of the best tools out there. My cheat sheet is by far, I think, the best tool for drafting in the industry. You can put it up against any other tool. I would vouch for it. You can get the cheat sheet by simply becoming a promo code land season pass member. It's $34 for the entire season. You're going to support the show, keep me going over here. If you enjoyed today's video, hit the like button, subscribe, help me get to 100k, and I'll see you in the next one. Nothing but love.
>> This is Chad.
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