No month is more synonymous with fantasy football than August. Hopes, dreams, drafts and hype, it has it all. If you’re drafting from the 1.09 pick, this is the article for you. We’ll cover strategy, targets, fades and more before diving into a fantasy football mock draft to get you ready to crush your league in 2026.
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Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Pick 1.09
Players to Consider at 1.09 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
These players will likely be available when you make your selection:
The top of the draft will start with Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs and Ja’Marr Chase likely as the first three picks off the board. After that, Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba usually go next before things open up slightly.
It’s become increasingly clear from our Real-Time ADP tool that your chances of drafting Jonathan Taylor or Christian McCaffrey this late are increasingly slim, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get off to a hot start.
Players to Target at 1.09 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
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.
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.
Saquon Barkley (RB – PHI)
Yes, last season was pretty awful for Saquon Barkley and those who drafted him, but the warning signs were there. Barkley had an absurd number of touches in 2024. Once he and the Eagles were hit with regression, it was no wonder things crashed back to Earth.
Of course, it wasn’t all Barkley’s fault. Jalen Hurts had one of his worst seasons as a professional, and offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo went one-and-done. With a new offensive coordinator and a healthy offensive line, it’s not hard to start seeing positives for Barkley.
Barkley is the undoubted No. 1 RB in an offense that will score points, and without A.J. Brown, the Eagles might not try to force passing situations quite as often as they felt compelled to last season. Of course, there’s some risk with Barkley, but he’s only 29 years old, and it’s been over two years since he last missed a game.
Players to Avoid at 1.09 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.
Omarion Hampton (RB – LAC)
Omarion Hampton and the Chargers are very much the target of offseason hype, and it’s worth remembering there have been plenty of times in the past that the Chargers haven’t paid off that hype. Of course, this is a different year, and these are different players, but there are reasons not to get too carried away with offseason hype.
The Chargers saw Keaton Mitchell as a priority for new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, with him printing off ‘WANTED’ posters and putting them up around the facility. Mitchell has rarely put it all together despite the promise, but he’s a more electric option than Kimani Vidal was, who started last year on the practice squad.
Roster Constructions to Consider at 1.09 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
The back end of the draft board is a good place to double up on running backs, pairing either Jonathan Taylor or James Cook with the likes of Chase Brown, Derrick Henry or Kenneth Walker III in the second round before adding a receiver like Zay Flowers or Ladd McConkey in the third round.
If you choose to side with the wide receivers, loading up with CeeDee Lamb or Justin Jefferson, the above running backs are solid second-round options, with the elite tight ends also available and Trey McBride occasionally falling to the third round.
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 1.09 Pick
We used our FREE fantasy football mock draft simulator to show you an example of a draft from the 1.09 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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