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Stress. Who needs it?
Fantasy football draft day is a fun time, one of the highlight days of the entire season. And yet, year after year, so many fantasy managers sweat the small stuff, specifically which draft slot they’ll draw.
Whether that results from a desire to draft a very specific first-round target, demanding you draw a draft slot early enough in the order — on an aside, that concern is why we advise also playing in leagues with a salary cap draft — or avoidance of the embarrassment that comes with making the wrong first-round pick, we get how you feel.
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That’s where this column comes in. Each season, I walk you through the twists and turns of the first two rounds of your fantasy football draft, helping ease your stress and alleviate the worry of making mistakes. Here, I’ll identify ideal picks from each slot in your draft order, the ramifications of positional combinations to begin your draft and potential consequences in future rounds (where applicable).
Remember, while you can’t win your league in the opening rounds, you can certainly lose it. Let’s try to make sure that doesn’t happen.
This edition covers 10-team ESPN leagues with PPR scoring. You can find the 12-team version here.
Under each draft slot, you’ll find “Optimal picks,” which are my recommendation for the best selections to make from each position, and “Unlocked” players, which represents the earliest slot from which you should consider the player, even if you’re bullish on his 2026 prospects. The latter serves to prevent draft reaches.
Quick links to each draft slot: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
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Optimal picks:
Round 1: Bijan Robinson
Round 2: A.J. Brown
Unlocked:
Round 1: Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Ja’Marr Chase
Round 2: Breece Hall, Josh Jacobs
It’s a two-player debate atop draft boards between a pair of 2023 first-rounders who last season became only the 13th and 14th running backs ever to amass at least 1,200 rushing yards, 75 receptions and 10 touchdowns. Gibbs is ranked and selected on average before Robinson most everywhere, but I’m an against-the-grain Robinson fan. Why? Robinson has been a little more consistent and a little more the centerpiece of his offense. You can disagree and I’d hardly quibble, but this and the next pick are Robinson and Gibbs or Gibbs and Robinson.
As for Round 2 (and 3, since they’re bookend picks), one of the top tight ends makes sense, and the team drafting first has perhaps the best opportunity for roster diversity, with a potential running back, wide receiver (Brown? George Pickens?) and tight end (Trey McBride? Brock Bowers?) to start the draft.
Optimal picks:
Round 1: Jahmyr Gibbs
Round 2: Jeremiyah Love
Unlocked:
Round 1: Puka Nacua
Round 2: Garrett Wilson, Tetairoa McMillan, Chris Olave
Bijan Robinson and Gibbs or Gibbs and Robinson. The one remaining is the one you take. Make the Ja’Marr Chase case if you wish, but he’s not even a top-three wide receiver in terms of consistency the past three seasons, largely because his quarterback, Joe Burrow, missed 31% of the Bengals’ games in that time.
Love has been going sooner than this in most of ESPN Fantasy’s mock drafts, where running backs go fast and furious across the first 15 overall picks. In most drafts, especially those offsite where the rookie’s rankings are softer, he’s likely to still be there at the 19th overall pick and often beyond. If not, Kenneth Walker III is no reach, while a wide receiver like A.J. Brown or George Pickens or even the top tight end, Trey McBride, would be an acceptable pick.
Optimal picks:
Round 1: Ja’Marr Chase
Round 2: Nico Collins
Unlocked:
Round 1: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Christian McCaffrey
Round 2: None
Editor’s Picks
The dream is for Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs to make it to this pick, but in all likelihood Team 3 is breaking the seal on the four-man wide receiver Tier 1. Chase stands out here as the wide receiver with the most fantasy points (979.32) and top-five weekly positional finishes (15) over the past three seasons. But it’s close enough between him, Puka Nacua and Smith-Njigba that personal preference can drive. Additionally, if you’re among those who believe 2026 will be a “good” McCaffrey year, he enters the conversation once Robinson and Gibbs are gone.
Moving into Round 2, what makes life tough for the team picking from the 3-slot in 2026 is that it has a slim chance at getting one of the top two running backs in Round 1, and it has low odds of getting any of the Tier 3 running backs (De’Von Achane, Omarion Hampton, Saquon Barkley, Chase Brown, Ashton Jeanty, Jeremiyah Love, Kenneth Walker III) on the backswing. Worse yet, while the top two tight ends, Trey McBride and Brock Bowers, are legitimate considerations, I still regard it as too early to plunge in 10-team leagues — and there’s a risk neither lasts to Round 3. Don’t fear a “best value” strategy, which could mean lucking into someone who slides, or at worst, still nets you a Tier 2 wide receiver in Collins.
Optimal picks:
Round 1: Puka Nacua
Round 2: Ashton Jeanty
Unlocked:
Round 1: None
Round 2: Malik Nabers
If not for the threat of suspension, Nacua would be the consensus No. 1 wide receiver and No. 3 overall pick in leagues with PPR scoring. With it, he’s part of the four-player wide receiver Tier 1, subject to your comfort level with prospective missed time. I regard this a Nacua vs. Jaxon Smith-Njigba debate, where Nacua has a higher ceiling and better quarterback, but Smith-Njigba’s role breeds more weekly consistency.
Looking at Round 2, though top tight end Trey McBride is “unlocked” three slots down from here at Pick 14, this (in Round 2, 17th overall) is the earliest point at which I’d give serious consideration to drafting him. McBride’s VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) projects to be more than 100 fantasy points, which would be a top-15 number, but he’s also an effective TE1/TE1A with Brock Bowers. It’s wiser to take a running back, like Jeanty, and roll the dice that either tight end will make it back in Round 3.
Smith-Njigba put up a career year in 2025, his first season with Sam Darnold at quarterback. Steph Chambers/Getty ImagesOptimal picks:
Round 1: Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Round 2: Chase BrownUnlocked:
Round 1: Jonathan Taylor
Round 2: George Pickens, Rashee Rice
Smith-Njigba scored 13 or more fantasy points on 16 occasions last season, matching Cooper Kupp (2021) for the most such games in NFL history. That’s difficult to match, even for a player like Amon-Ra St. Brown, the next most logical alternative from this slot and a player who averaged 9.6 targets per game the past three seasons.
In the second round, the nice part about being in this group after getting Round 1 wide receivers is that there’s a rich crop of running backs generally still there come their Round 2 turns, and those selecting from the 5- or 6-slots will often get their pick of the litter. The dream here is that Omarion Hampton slides, but Brown, Barkley or Jeremiyah Love would be perfectly fine otherwise.
Optimal picks:
Round 1: Amon-Ra St. Brown
Round 2: Saquon Barkley
Unlocked:
Round 1: None
Round 2: A.J. Brown
Fantasy managers who see three consecutive wide receivers fly off the board sometimes instinctually “zag” to running back, and going Jonathan Taylor or Christian McCaffrey over St. Brown from this slot is far from outrageous. St. Brown, however, is the only non-quarterback to score 300-plus fantasy points in each of the past three seasons. Bear in mind that if you take him, there’s still a good chance that a quality running back like Omarion Hampton, Barkley, Chase Brown or Jeremiyah Love will still be there come the 15th pick on the backswing.
Optimal picks:
Round 1: Jonathan Taylor
Round 2: Omarion Hampton
Unlocked:
Round 1: James Cook III
Round 2: Trey McBride, Brock Bowers
One of the few running backs with legitimate chances at 300 rushing attempts and 15 touchdowns — his averages of 19.4 carries and 0.88 rushing touchdowns the past three seasons paced the position — Taylor is worth the plunge, despite what had been a checkered injury history from 2022-24. He’s a prime-age 27 and faces minimal competition for carries in the Colts’ backfield.
In Round 2 at this point, should Drake London make it back this far, he’d provide excellent positional diversification. Hampton is a fine choice if you’d rather build a base of two potentially elite running backs. One pitfall that’s worth avoiding here, especially in light of Ashton Jeanty’s recent ankle injury, is that a Taylor-Jeanty start to the draft would put this team at a high risk level, especially as both have the same bye (Week 13).
McCaffrey, now 30, set a career high with 413 touches last season. Matthew Huang/Icon SportswireOptimal picks:
Round 1: Christian McCaffrey
Round 2: Drake LondonUnlocked:
Round 1: CeeDee Lamb, Justin Jefferson, De’Von Achane
Round 2: Kenneth Walker III, Derrick Henry
I’m no McCaffrey believer, regardless of this pick and what my rankings say. He’s 30 years old and has the 20th-most touches of any running back at that career point, and he has missed 37% of his team’s games over the past six seasons. The last two times he paced his position in fantasy points (2019, ’23), he totaled seven games and 138.2 points in the follow-up. And yet, McCaffrey belongs here, because letting a player of his caliber, who just scored the 12th-most points by anyone in history, slide beyond this point represents potentially gift wrapping a title to your competition. I’m not saying it’ll feel good. I’m saying it’s a necessary plunge.
In Round 2, it’s an effective London-Omarion Hampton coin flip. To guide that decision, among Round 3 wide receiver targets from this slot, the “dream” is Garrett Wilson, the “expected” is Chris Olave and the “if I must” is Tee Higgins. Among Round 3 running back targets, the dream is Breece Hall, the “expected” is Kyren Williams and the “if I must” is Cam Skattebo. Let your comfort level with those drive your decision.
Optimal picks:
Round 1: CeeDee Lamb
Round 2: De’Von Achane
Unlocked:
Round 1: None
Round 2: Nico Collins
Once Christian McCaffrey and the wide receiver Tier 1 are off the board, anything goes. This is a draft slot from which any of the next five optimal picks would be considered legitimate, and for me, it’s a coin flip between Lamb and James Cook III. In fact, Justin Jefferson also makes a compelling case.
Lamb gets my nod for strategic reasons: He guarantees rostering a nearly Tier 1 wide receiver, while granting a good chance at a Tier 3 running back (Achane, Omarion Hampton or Saquon Barkley, among seven in my rankings) on the backswing, for those insistent on diversifying positions. The pitfall with Cook is that the 10-slot team could go wide receiver-wide receiver (Lamb and Jefferson), which effectively locks the 9-slot team into running back-running back.
Optimal picks:
Round 1: James Cook III
Round 2: Justin Jefferson
Unlocked (either pick): Drake London, Omarion Hampton, Saquon Barkley, Chase Brown, Ashton Jeanty, Jeremiyah Love
The first clear talent drop-off happens after Pick 11, when the first two of the Tier 2 wide receivers (CeeDee Lamb and Jefferson) go. It’s not a cavernous drop, but here’s the first place where I’m drawing a line to insist that the top 11 players projected as optimal picks need to all go no later than this slot. Yes, that means this is the absolute just in point you should let Christian McCaffrey slide.
It also means that, in the event that the 9-slot team takes Cook, a wide receiver-wide receiver start (Lamb-Jefferson) is the way to go. To ease any worry about the swift drying up of the running back pool, bear in mind that those most commonly available at the Round 3/4 turn include Javonte Williams, Kyren Williams and Travis Etienne Jr.
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