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Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Pick 1.05
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.
Let’s dive into our approach for the fantasy football 1.05 pick for upcoming drafts. We look into the players likely to be available, those to target/avoid and a mock draft from the pick to help you prepare for your fantasy football draft.
Players to Consider at 1.05 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
Here are players that are likely to be available when you make your selection:
- Justin Jefferson (WR – MIN)
- Jahmyr Gibbs (RB – DET)
- CeeDee Lamb (WR – DAL)
- Christian McCaffrey (RB – SF)
- Ashton Jeanty (RB – LV)
Players to Target at 1.05 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
Once we get past the top four picks, including Ja’Marr Chase, Saquon Barkley and Bijan Robinson, it becomes a slightly more flat tier for several picks.
A few weeks ago, it seemed unlikely Christian McCaffrey would be in this range, but after making it through organized team activities (OTAs) healthy, his rise continues to trend upwards.
Justin Jefferson (WR – MIN)
At 1.05, Justin Jefferson might be a pipe dream, but redraft leagues can get running back-hungry. If he falls this far, he’s a great pick. Jefferson has 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.
It also seems likely that Addison might be suspended for the first few games of the year due to a past DUI arrest, opening up the potential for a really strong start for Jefferson.
Jahmyr Gibbs (RB – DET)
We might be hesitant about drafting Jahmyr Gibbs ahead of this spot, due to David Montgomery‘s looming presence in the backfield. We’re all very familiar with his presence around the goal line in particular. With that said, Gibbs finished as the RB3 in PPR points per game, third in running back total yardage and sixth in running back targets.
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
Gibbs was undeniably excellent and had six games with 20+ PPR points. Four of those games came when Montgomery was healthy and also playing. Gibbs is a ceiling outcome player who might not be as safe as other options, but there’s no denying his upside or how much fun he can be to watch.
CeeDee Lamb (WR – DAL)
It’s hard to elevate CeeDee Lamb ahead of Justin Jefferson since the addition of George Pickens to the Cowboys’ receiver room, but it’s also hard to ding Lamb too much when he’s competed with good receivers before and come out just fine.
Lamb has recorded 150+ targets in each of the last three seasons, and he’s the only receiver to hit that benchmark in each of those seasons. That volume alone makes him a worthwhile pick, and with Pickens an upgrade on Jalen Tolbert, it should help ease away a little attention from Lamb and lift the offense to a more efficient place all around.
Christian McCaffrey (RB – SF)
This comes down to risk tolerance, and for some, spending a first-round pick on a 29-year-old running back who has only played over 11 games once in the last four years might be a stretch too far. When healthy, Christian McCaffrey is as good as anyone in this league and has won people fantasy championships plenty of times over, but the injury record is cause for concern.
According to reports, McCaffrey took part in everything at organized team activities (OTAs), including some drills most veterans sat out, indicating he’s over his Achilles issues he suffered through in 2024. If he is healthy then it’s hard to fade an elite pass-catcher and game breaking talent.
Isaac Guerendo also impressed last year, to the point that the 49ers were willing to trade Jordan Mason to the Vikings. Guerendo averaged 16.3 PPR points in the games where he saw double-digit touches. He could be in for an increased role in 2025. Even if that role eats into McCaffrey’s ceiling, we’re probably still talking about a top-five running back, and we know how hard it is to find them later in drafts.
Players to Avoid at 1.05 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
Ashton Jeanty (RB – LV)
There is a lot to like when it comes to Ashton Jeanty, and this isn’t to downplay his upside as a rookie whatsoever, but since 1984, only once has a rookie running back finished as the RB1 overall — Saquon Barkley in 2018.
If you’re drafting Jeanty at the 1.05, you have to assume he has a path to the RB1 overall finish, and that might be wishcasting slightly. The Raiders have a generational tight end in Brock Bowers, who will command volume, and Jakobi Meyers has always outplayed expectations.
It’s also perhaps noteworthy that the Raiders signed Raheem Mostert, who has been a very good goal-line back over the years. If they use him at all in that area, it could significantly eat into Jeanty’s upside. There’s a time for drafting Jeanty, but it isn’t quite this early.
Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR – DET)
The case for Amon-Ra St. Brown would be that he’s consistently earned targets, with over 140 in each of the last three seasons, as well as seeing his touchdowns increase each year in the league to a career-high 12 in 2024.
The case against St. Brown, however, would be the increasingly strong competition around him. Sam LaPorta was injured to start the 2024 season, and it showed, but he came on during the second half of the season, as did Jameson Williams, who averaged 6.6 targets per game in that spell.
When you’re a possession receiver, like St. Brown, it can be difficult to hit your ceiling if you’re not seeing a huge amount of receptions or scoring touchdowns, and touchdown production can be very hard to predict.
St. Brown belongs in the top 10/top 15, but perhaps not quite this high, unless someone else in the Lions’ offense gets injured.
Roster Constructions to Consider at 1.05 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
The 1.05 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 CeeDee Lamb, there will still be top running backs available when it’s your turn to pick again, like Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs, 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 A.J. Brown and Ladd McConkey both having enough doubts surrounding them to stop them from being first-round talents. Because of this, you might find it easier to go with a Hero RB build with your first running back coming from either the first or second round. If you lean into a Dual RB build, it can become much harder to build a nice wide receiver room.
Fantasy Football Mock Draft From the 1.05 Pick
We used our FREE fantasy football mock draft simulator to show you an example of a draft from the 1.05 position. 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 1.05 position turned out.
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