The best month of the year for fantasy football is finally upon us as we head into August, ready for fantasy football drafts, preseason games, training camp hype and so much more! If you’re picking at the 1.03 or perhaps want to do some research into what your opponent might do at that spot, then this is the article for you.
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 1.03 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.
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Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Pick 1.03
Players to Consider at 1.03 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
Here are players that are likely to be available when you make your selection:
Players to Target at 1.03 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
For the most part, the top targets in redraft ADP seem to be the same that we’ve seen in best ball leagues for most of the offseason. Ja’Marr Chase is the consensus 1.01, with a barrage of top talent fighting it out behind him. In most leagues, we can expect Ja’Marr Chase to be off the board by the time we pick at the 1.03, and then it’s most likely one of Bijan Robinson or Saquon Barkley is taken next, but here at the third pick, we’ll still have strong choices to consider.
It’s quite surprising to see Saquon Barkley falling down ADP and consensus rankings coming off a historical year where he rushed for 330 more yards than the next nearest running back. Barkley also notched 15 touchdowns and was a top-five RB in seven weeks. It seems that the worry for Barkley would be whether that efficiency can continue, coming off over 400 combined touches in the playoffs and regular season. The history of running backs seeing that much volume tends not to be kind to them in their next seasons, which is why it’s not as straightforward as some may like but many people are starting their draft prep for 2025 now and are shocked to see Barkley isn’t the consensus 1.01, so don’t be surprised to see him taken this highly in many drafts, even if the rankings are starting to drag him further down for now.
Another year, another QB for Justin Jefferson, but that hasn’t stopped Jefferson from producing, with him averaging 96.5 receiving yards per game over the course of his career with no year below 87.5. For reference, only five players averaged above that mark in 2024, one of whom was Jefferson. Camp reports around J.J. McCarthy have been mixed, but generally the Vikings seem to be confident they’ve made the right move putting their faith in McCarthy as he heads into his second year ready to make his NFL debut. 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. It is a little hard, however, to elevate Jefferson ahead of Chase when Jefferson is already missing time due to a ‘mild’ hamstring strain, and while the use of the word mild is reassuring, soft tissue injuries can linger.
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 RBs with 16 during the fantasy season. Robinson also ranked 1st out of 46 running backs in the lowest proportion of his runs being stuffed at the line of scrimmage and ranked top two in success rate in both man and zone scheme runs per FantasyPoints.com. 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. Reports from around the Falcons training camp expect Tyler Allgeier to continue to spell Robinson at times, but the recurring theme in the reports is that Robinson will get a large volume of touches.
There is a slow and steady drumbeat forming for Jahmyr Gibbs in recent weeks, with established analysts such as Evan Silva and Ben Gretch both elevating Gibbs to their RB1 overall. Reports out of training camp suggest this year Gibbs could take a bigger share of the workload, despite the Lions still being enamored with David Montgomery. We might be hesitant about drafting Gibbs at this spot, due to 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 PPG, third in RB total yardage and sixth in RB targets. He was undeniably excellent and had six games with 20 or more 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.
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
Roster Constructions to Consider at 1.03 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
The 1.03 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 Justin Jefferson, there will still be running backs available when it makes it back to you of a strong caliber and you’ll have access to the top end QBs and TEs with Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Trey McBride in this range. If you go RB to start the draft, the WRs who make it back are a little less appealing with Tyreek Hill and Jaxon Smith-Njigba both bringing question marks to their 2025 seasons. Because of this, my leaning tends to be the WR start with Justin Jefferson, but if he’s not available, the difference between Gibbs and Lamb is much closer and I’d lean Gibbs for the homerun swing.
Fantasy Football Mock Draft From the 1.03 Pick
We used our FREE fantasy football mock draft simulator to show you an example of a draft from the 1.03 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 1.03 position turned out.
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