Fantasy football drafts are flying hot and heavy, with training camp news changing draft values daily. Our Real-Time ADP is constantly fluctuating as people adjust it to fix their mindset. Like always, we’re seeing running backs pushed up draft boards the closer we get to the season, and at the 1.08 pick, you’ll have a few solid options to choose from. This is your draft guide to picking from the 1.08 in 2026. Get ready with a fantasy football mock draft.
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Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Pick 1.08
Players to Consider at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
These players will likely be available when you make your selection:
- Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR – DET)
- Jonathan Taylor (RB – IND)
- CeeDee Lamb (WR – DAL)
- James Cook (RB – BUF)
It’s likely at least two of these players will be gone, if not three of the four, but the variance of which player will be left makes it at least worth considering the pros and cons of each.
Ahead of you, Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs and Ja’Marr Chase will all be off the board, and it’s possible both Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba will also be off the board unless something changes substantially between now and the clock starting.
Players to Target at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
Jonathan Taylor (RB – IND)
Jonathan Taylor was absolutely dominant for the first half of last season. Had Daniel Jones not gotten injured, Taylor most likely could have stayed effective throughout the whole season.
According to teams synced with our FantasyPros tools, the Colts back led all players in playoff advance rate at 66.8%. Simply drafting Taylor gave you a two-in-three chance of making the playoffs. Sadly, though, that wasn’t the whole story.
Taylor was the fantasy RB4 in points per game, but from Week 12 onwards, he was the RB21, with an explosive run rate of 0.7% (41st). He ranked 36th in yards after contact and scored only three rushing touchdowns.
Taylor is heading into a contract year, likely his last massive one, after turning 27 this offseason. He’ll be motivated, have his quarterback returning, who might need to lean on the run game more, and once again has virtually no competition for touches. There’s a very real world where Taylor is a top-two back this season.
CeeDee Lamb (WR – DAL)
It was a really disappointing 2025 for CeeDee Lamb, posting the second-lowest numbers of his career in targets (117), receptions (75) and receiving yards (1,077), with only his rookie season in 2020 worse. He also had a career-low three touchdowns.
The newly arrived George Pickens recorded a 22.1% target share in the red zone compared to Lamb’s 18.6%, which was also behind Jake Ferguson, who led the team with 23.1%. Contrast this to 2024, when Lamb had a 27.7% red-zone target share and led the team by 10%. In 2023, it was 28.8% and also led the team by 10%.
If you’re happy to believe 2025 was a blip rather than the new normal, it becomes easier to see Lamb as a value pick in this range. Betting on Lamb’s well-established connection with Dak Prescott and this team as a whole to bounce back isn’t the worst bet in the world.
Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR – DET)
Recently, this humble writer has been deliberating long and hard about drafting Amon-Ra St. Brown ahead of Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and there are reasons to consider it.
It’s more likely that Amon-Ra St. Brown is gone than CeeDee Lamb based on average draft position (ADP), with drafters more scared of Lamb’s competition than St. Brown’s competition.
When you draft St. Brown, you have a pretty solid idea of what you’re getting. He has recorded over 119 targets in every one of the five seasons he’s played in the NFL and scored double-digit touchdowns in each of the last three.
Perhaps the ceiling gets capped slightly if Jameson Williams trends upwards and Sam LaPorta is healthier, but the Lions were bad last season, and the most important thing is that they might have a competent play-caller once again in Drew Petzing.
The team has said they want to lean into what Jared Goff does best by using play-action passes heavily. That would be a bonus for St. Brown, who has consistently led the team in first-read target share on such plays.
St. Brown has been a top-three WR in each of the last seasons in points per game, and has never fallen out of the top five in total points during that period. Some might see him as a high-floor option, but it’s fair to point out that not much more would need to swing his way for a WR1 overall finish.
James Cook (RB – BUF)
In 2024, James Cook dominated, scoring 16 touchdowns and rushing for 1,009 yards. That production seemed unsustainable. In 2025, he recorded 1,621 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns and gave us even more reason to be confident.
With the Bills’ offense under Joe Brady never finding a dominant receiver, Cook has had to stand up and be the top playmaker, and there’s no reason to think that can’t continue this year.
The Bears didn’t seem to be concerned about losing DJ Moore, and the Bills paid a price far higher than most expected for a 29-year-old wide receiver who has never had double-digit touchdowns and who has gone over 1,000 yards once in the last four years.
While the passing offense will be spread out, Cook remains the safest and strongest bet outside of Josh Allen. If Allen ever sees regression on the 41 rushing touchdowns he’s scored in the last three years, Cook is ready and waiting to clean up. If reports from training camp are true and the Bills do use Cook more in the receiving game, a top-two finish is within his range of outcomes.
Players to Avoid at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
Brock Bowers (TE – LV) & Trey McBride (TE – ARI)
Whether you prefer Brock Bowers or Trey McBride doesn’t really matter. Neither should be drafted this high. Last season, McBride averaged 18.6 PPR points per game, and Bowers averaged 15.5 in 2024, the better season of his two years in the NFL.
Five running backs and five wide receivers averaged more than 18.5 points per game in 2024, and 11 managed the same achievement in 2025. It’s incredibly hard for tight ends to score as highly as the top wide receivers and running backs, and both elite tight ends still have issues to face.
McBride caught fire with positive touchdown regression while the Cardinals led the league in passing, and he ran 67 more routes than any tight end in at least 20 years.
Bowers, meanwhile, is onto his third quarterback in three years and will be hoping that Fernando Mendoza adjusts quickly to the NFL. There’s no sense in reaching for one of these players unless your league features a TE-Premium scoring setting. Only then can both be in the argument for first-round picks.
Ashton Jeanty (RB – LV)
The upside is undeniable for Ashton Jeanty, but it’s worth taking a moment to consider the whole picture before drafting him this highly. The Las Vegas Raiders are projected to win somewhere around four games this year, which is far lower total than any other first-round talent we’ve talked about would be facing.
Jonathan Taylor‘s Colts come in next closest, with a respectable 7.5 wins. It’s hard to stress enough that losing environments don’t breed league-winners, more often than not. Jeanty entered the league on a poor team a year ago, and the cards were stacked against him from the jump, starting with the offensive line, which ranked dead last in Pro Football Focus’ (PFF) offensive line rankings.
As PFF pointed out in their end-of-season rankings, no other team gave up more than 35 sacks, but the Raiders managed to allow a whopping 47. This woeful play left Jeanty ranked 48th out of 49 running backs with 100+ attempts in yards before contact per attempt.
Jeanty dealt with that contact fairly well, ranking 17th in yards after contact per attempt, and almost two-thirds of his 975 yards came after contact. Getting close to 1,000 yards in that environment is admirable. With Tyler Linderbaum resetting the center market and left tackle Kolton Miller healthy, the Raiders will have enough pieces on this offensive line to be a marked upgrade.
Jeanty has bags of talent, and he’s a fine pick at the back end of the first round, but taking him over proven assets in better environments would be a mistake.
Roster Constructions to Consider at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
The middle of the draft board always provides the most flexibility for draft strategy, and this year is no different, allowing us to start with either a wide receiver or a running back.
Starting WR/WR could let you lean into Zero RB with an elite tight end such as Brock Bowers or Trey McBride available in the second or third round. You could also draft your first running back between the likes of De’Von Achane, Jeremiyah Love and Breece Hall.
If you tilt towards a running back here, your wide receiver pick will likely come down to Drake London, Nico Collins or A.J. Brown.
Running back tends to dry up quicker than usual this year, but only having one wide receiver through three rounds can leave your wide receiver room struggling to catch up. It’s a good year to consider a more balanced approach.
Fantasy Football Mock Draft From the 1.08 Pick
We used our FREE fantasy football mock draft simulator to show you an example of a draft from the 1.08 position. You can sync your league for free and mock draft against your fantasy football league settings to prepare more specifically for your draft.
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