It is June. NFL teams are practicing, albeit lightly, but things are quickly moving towards the summer, which means it’s time to start seriously thinking about your drafts. What better way to prepare for your fantasy football draft than by completing FREE mocks with our fantasy football mock draft simulator?
This series will give you an overview of what you can expect to see no matter which first-round pick you draw. In what feels like a very strong first round in 2025, nailing your picks will be more important than ever.
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Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Pick 1.02
Let’s dive into our approach for the fantasy football 1.02 pick for upcoming drafts. We look into the players likely to be available, highlight players to target/avoid and share a mock draft from the 1.02 draft slot to help you prepare for your fantasy football draft.
Players to Consider at 1.02 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
Here are players that are likely to be available when you make your selection:
- Ja’Marr Chase (WR – CIN)
- Saquon Barkley (RB – PHI)
- Justin Jefferson (WR – MIN)
- Bijan Robinson (RB – ATL)
Players to Target at 1.02 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
Making the wrong pick at the 1.02 can destroy your fantasy football season before it even gets started. Just ask those who drafted Christian McCaffrey in 2024. Below, we’ll make the case for and against each player you should consider at the top of your drafts.
For some, this will be as simple as they prefer to draft a running back at the top of the draft, and that thought process is understandable, but Ja’Marr Chase does warrant your attention. If he isn’t taken with the 1.01 pick, there’s a strong case to be had for drafting him at the 1.02 pick.
In 2024, Chase led all wide receivers in receptions (117), receiving yards (1,612) and touchdowns (16), along with scoring two more full PPR points per game than the next nearest contender, Justin Jefferson. There used to be a thought process that Chase only blew up when Tee Higgins was injured, but last year, Chase scored more points when Higgins was healthy at a rate of 24.68 versus 21.36 points per game.
The Bengals’ porous defense caused them to rely heavily on the passing game, and with very little added to solve that this offseason, it’s fair to expect more of the same in 2025. Chase has had over 100 receptions in back-to-back years and has gone over 1,200 receiving yards in three of his four seasons. He’s as reliable as they come.
Coming off an unbelievable season, Saquon Barkley might very well be the easiest click for many heading into 2025. Barkley overcame having a lack of goal-line touches because of the Eagles’ tush push by simply rushing for 330 more yards than the next nearest running back. Barkley also notched 15 touchdowns and was a top-five running back in seven weeks.
The doubts about Barkley’s role in the receiving game turned out to be fair, with him recording a career-low 33 receptions, but it simply didn’t matter because of Barkley’s efficiency in this excellent Eagles offense. The negatives for Barkley would be whether that efficiency can continue, along with him having over 400 combined touches in the playoffs and regular season.
The history of running backs seeing that much volume tends not to be kind in their next season, which is why it’s not as straightforward as some may like. The last time a running back repeated as the fantasy RB1 in back-to-back years was Priest Holmes in 2003. History is very much against Barkley’s odds here, but if Chase has already been taken, it might be hard to argue against Barkley being the best pick here.
Unlike Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson has had to deal with a healthy or perhaps unhealthy amount of quarterback turnover in his time with the Minnesota Vikings. That hasn’t stopped Jefferson from producing, though, with him averaging 96.5 receiving yards per game throughout his career with no year below 87.5. For reference, only five players averaged above that mark in 2024, one of whom was Jefferson.
The last time that Jefferson was the WR1 was 2022, and he’s been a mainstay in the top five receivers in PPR points per game since 2021. That kind of consistency can be worth paying up for. The case against Jefferson would be that he’s playing with an inexperienced quarterback in J.J. McCarthy, who missed his entire rookie season with a knee injury. If both Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson are also on the field, there are a lot of mouths to be fed.
Sometimes, rather than going off who finished highest last year, it can pay to take a more forward-thinking approach. Bijan Robinson ranked third among running backs in rushing yards (1,456) and scored only two fewer touchdowns than James Cook and Derrick Henry, who led all backs with 16 scores during the fantasy season.
Robinson also ranked first out of 46 running backs in the lowest proportion of his runs being stuffed at the line of scrimmage and he ranked in the top two in success rate in both man and zone scheme runs, per Fantasy Points. In the receiving game, Robinson trailed only Jahmyr Gibbs with 58 receptions. He scores touchdowns, accumulates a lot of yards and earns targets — it’s the recipe we want to look for in a potential RB1 overall. If Barkley goes at the 1.01 pick, and you’re set on a running back for your first pick, Robinson is far from a bad pick.
Players to Avoid at 1.02 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
This isn’t to downplay any of Jahmyr Gibbs’ achievements to date, but it’s hard not to factor in David Montgomery‘s presence. Gibbs finished 2024 as the RB3 in PPR points per game, third in running back total yardage and sixth in running back targets. He was undeniably excellent and had six games with 20+ PPR points, but it’s also fair to point out that two of those came in games without David Montgomery.
Throughout the last two seasons, Gibbs averages 11 PPR points more when Montgomery isn’t available. It’s incredibly hard to be the RB1 overall if you have another running back taking some of the goal-line work and mixing in on high-value situations. Gibbs is a great first-round pick, but not quite worth the 1.02 pick.
Not to downplay David Montgomery, but man… imagine Gibbs full-time with no competition. pic.twitter.com/GWwuhGb1gg
— Tom Strachan (@NFL_TStrack) June 3, 2025
Perhaps if George Pickens hadn’t found his way to Dallas we could have had a very real conversation about CeeDee Lamb as the overall WR1 once again, but that competition on an offense we can have some reservations about does make it tricky.
The Cowboys’ passing offense ranked 26th in pass offense DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) last year, and that wasn’t completely because Dak Prescott missed half the season. When healthy during Weeks 1-9, Prescott ranked 21st in completion percentage, 22nd in yards per attempt and he was on pace for his most interceptions in a season. Perhaps Prescott and the Cowboys can take a step forward, but it’s hard to make a solid argument for Lamb after he only had three top-12 weekly finishes in 2025.
Roster Constructions to Consider at 1.02 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
The 1.02 opens up many roster construction possibilities, but it will largely come down to how you start your draft for how you want to proceed. If you take Ja’Marr Chase, there will still be high-quality running backs available when the draft board makes it back to you, and you’ll have access to the top-end quarterbacks and tight ends.
If you go running back to start the draft, the receivers who make it back are a little less appealing, with Tyreek Hill and Garrett Wilson both bringing question marks to their 2025 seasons. Because of this, my lean is towards wide receiver and taking Ja’Marr Chase second overall.
Fantasy Football Mock Draft From the 1.02 Pick
We used our FREE fantasy football mock draft simulator to show you an example of a draft from the 1.02 pick. You can sync your league for free and mock draft against your fantasy football league settings to prepare more specifically for your draft. Here’s how our fantasy football mock draft from the 1.02 position turned out.
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