Welcome fantasy friends and foes to How to Draft from the 1.06 spot in 2022 Fantasy Football. The lineup for this exercise consists of one QB, two RBs, three WRs, one TE and two FLEXs in a 12-team half-PPR draft.
Check out who I selected and why in the first seven rounds of the mock draft. Then, I provide my analysis and strategy by answering seven questions to guide fantasy managers given the 1.06 in their fantasy football drafts.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of this draft spot?
The significant advantage is that you avoid those frustrating positional runs being in the middle of the action in each round. The issue with this pick is that you miss out on the top options in the first five selections.
Do you have a certain strategy when picking at 1.06 in 2022?
Fantasy managers should target high-volume running backs or wide receivers with their first pick. Running backs such as Christian McCaffrey, Austin Ekeler, Derrick Henry and Alvin Kamara should be at the top of your available running backs to select as the first-round selection. There are only three options regarding wide receiver, with Cooper Kupp, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase leading the charge.
Who are the first-round targets in this spot, and what’s the order of preference?
Either Austin Ekeler or Derrick Henry will hopefully fall to the sixth pick. However, if either of these running backs is unavailable, a high-upside wide receiver should be targeted, with Justin Jefferson, Cooper Kupp or Ja’Marr Chase as the top three choices.
Is there anyone you’re avoiding who might be available to you in the first round?
In the past few seasons, fantasy managers tried to zig while others zagged in the first round. The strategy consisted of selecting a player that would outpace the other players at their position, with the most apparent player being Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Drafting Kelce provided a positional advantage like no other player in fantasy football. Kelce was a guaranteed lock to finish as the TE1 annually, but he did not finish the 2021 season as the top tight-end thanks to the Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews, who finished with 107 receptions on 153 targets for 1,361 yards and nine touchdowns. The Chiefs made plenty of changes to their weapons for Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid to play with. Tyreek Hill is now with the Miami Dolphins, and the Chiefs brought in former Steelers wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster, former Packer Marquez Valdez-Scantling and drafted Skyy Moore in the first round. Mahomes might only have eyes for Kelce, but so will the opposing defense without the big-play threat of Hill.
Of course, Kelce will finish near the top of the rankings, but the gap has narrowed with Andrews exploding last season. Most of that production was done without Lamar Jackson behind center, so his fantasy output could have been more exceptional. In addition, we will see the sophomore efforts of Kyle Pitts, who was the first tight end to reach 1,000 receiving yards since Mike Ditka in 1961. Pitts enters this season with the Falcons on an offense with a new quarterback in Marcus Mariota and devoid of talent. Pitts should see a ton of targets and will improve on scoring only one touchdown last season. Pitts still finished as the TE7, and his upside is trending increasingly upward.
Two tight ends could challenge the top tight end in 2022. Las Vegas Raiders tight end Darren Waller suffered an injury-filled season. He will look to bounce back with a Raiders offense that has dramatically improved with the addition of all-world wide receiver Davante Adams. The San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle has finished as a top-five tight end when healthy, and his potential with new quarterback Trey Lance cannot be ignored. With the amount of top-level tight ends, selecting Kelce as the sixth pick in the first round does not hold the advantage it once did. Instead, choose a top RB or WR in the first round and find the value at the tight end position later.
What is the plan of attack for Rounds 2-3 based on the possible first-round scenarios?
Fantasy should be looking for high-upside, high-volume players regardless of position. Typically, players will fall in the draft, and fantasy managers need to take advantage. Running backs such as D’Andre Swift, Javonte Williams and Saquon Barkley would be ideal choices if they somehow made it back to the 19th overall pick. Starting your draft with an Austin Ekeler and Swift/Williams/Barkley combo places your team in a massive advantage going into the later rounds.
The wide receiver position is more profound, and you should be able to fill your roster with impact wide receivers with your third-round selections and beyond. Drafting a wideout in the first round, such as Justin Jefferson or Cooper Kupp, provides multiple paths to fill the remainder of your roster. If you are lucky to grab one of the RB previously mentioned, you will have a top-five player at the skill positions. However, your favorite RB may not last to your pick, so you must pivot. Grabbing a high-upside wide receiver to pair up with an elite WR is a fantastic path to building a championship roster. Think CeeDee Lamb or Deebo Samuel.
Who are some targets in Rounds 4-7?
Unless you select consecutive running backs, one of these selections should be a high-volume running back that you could pencil in your weekly lineups. A handful of these types of RBs should be set in your queue during your drafts, like Travis Etienne, Breece Hall, Elijah Mitchell and Clyde Edwards-Helaire. These running backs have the potential to produce RB1 numbers, and as your RB2, the draft capital is manageable to absorb.
Ideally, you draft Etienne, who has looked great in camp after suffering a torn Achilles last year. The Jacksonville Jaguars should be much improved from the dumpster fire that was the Urban Meyer-led offense last season. The Jaguars brought veteran head coach Doug Pederson to right the ship and tutor young quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Etienne could be a massive reason this offense finally gets back to respectability.
Another RB to target is the 2022 second-round pick Breece Hall of the New York Jets, who has superstar potential and averaged 5.5 yards per carry across his college career at Iowa State. Hall enters a Jets offense with plenty of firepower, but his ceiling is capped with the presence of sophomore Michael Carter sharing touches in the Jets backfield.
However, if you did select wide receivers with one of your first two picks, it is not a mistake to build up WR and FLEX spots with wide receivers that possess volume and possible upside. Wide receivers such as Michael Pittman, who gets a massive upgrade at QB with Matt Ryan now with the Indianapolis Colts. Brandin Cooks is underrated and a favorite option here in this draft range. Marquise Brown reunites with college teammate Kyle Murray in Arizona and should create big plays with the Cardinals. The Los Angeles Chargers Mike Williams looks ready to take over the WR1 spot away from Keenan Allen and will be part of an explosive Chargers offense with Justin Herbert. That is a recipe for fantasy gold.
The Baltimore Ravens, who traded Brown to the Cardinals, will now have Rashod Bateman take over as the team’s WR1. Bateman should be a target hog and will benefit from the scrambling ability of Lamar Jackson to launch Bateman to be your WR3 with WR2 upside. Allen Robinson is the last wide receiver you should target in these rounds. Robinson will now play with Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams. Stafford will be the best quarterback that Robinson has played with. Kupp will be featured, but Robinson should see plenty of looks and presents enormous value at this point of your draft.
After seven rounds, which positions do you expect to be areas of strength for you, and which positions will you still need to address?
Here is what your roster might look like after seven rounds:
RB – Ekeler, Javonte Williams
WR – Evans, Pittman, Cooks, Mooney, Mike Williams
OR
RB – Mitchell, Etienne
WR – Jefferson, Lamb, Higgins, Pittman, Bateman
Which team do you like better? A heavy emphasis on wide receivers in both scenarios leaves us weak regarding running back depth. The currently available running backs are the Seattle Seahawks rookie Kenneth Walker, Cleveland Browns Kareem Hunt, Dallas Cowboys Tony Pollard and Philadelphia Eagles Miles Sanders. Each RB has an upside, which you want in your RB3 and RB4.
Regarding tight ends, we already punted the position and are headed for a sleeper or streaming options at the position. There are two tight ends that fantasy managers should set their eyes on in this range. One is the Dallas Cowboys Dalton Schultz, who scored eight touchdowns last season and will look to build upon that on an offense that traded wide receiver Amari Cooper and may not have Michael Gallup to start the season. As you get deeper in your draft, the Chicago Bears Cole Kmet should be highly considered. Kmet should see plenty of volume in a Bears offense with Darnell Mooney and not much else as receiving weapons for sophomore quarterback Justin Fields. Kmet did not score a touchdown last season, but positive regression will vault Kmet into a top-12 tight end in 2022.
The remaining position is the quarterback, which you can avoid early in drafts in a one-quarterback league. With seven rounds in the books, the quarterbacks still available to draft are Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford and Tom Brady. Fantasy managers can win with any of these quarterbacks especially considering your roster construction.
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Dennis Sosic is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Dennis, check out his archive and follow him @CALL_ME_SOS.
