- A wide receiver is the best pick in Round 1: The NFL is stacked with elite young wideouts, and Ja’Marr Chase enters 2025 as the favorite to repeat as fantasy’s WR1.
- Draft a tight end early: While grabbing both a quarterback and tight end is tough to justify this year, locking in one of the elite options at tight end can give your roster a significant edge.
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Estimated Reading Time: 18 minutes
This perfect draft strategy for 12-team, single-quarterback, redraft PPR leagues is built on a consensus of average draft positions (ADPs) from ESPN, Sleeper and Yahoo. It’s your round-by-round blueprint for building a championship roster.
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Last updated: Monday, August 18
Round 1, Picks 1-12: Draft a running back or wide receiver
The objective in Round 1 is to draft the best available running back or wide receiver. Ideally, that’s Ja’Marr Chase, but if he’s already off the board, pivot to an elite running back, like Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs, or the next-best wide receivers. It’s too early to consider a quarterback or tight end at this point. Later rounds offer plenty of flexibility to adjust your approach based on what position you address here.
Top Target: Ja’Marr Chase
Chase led all wide receivers in fantasy points and fantasy points per game last season. He’s consistently graded as a top-10 wide receiver, with his fantasy performance elevated by his environment. The Bengals made no changes to the coaching staff impacting Chase, the quarterback room, the wide receiver room or the tight end room. This puts Chase in one of the most pass-friendly environments in the NFL, catching passes from the best passer. While we should expect regression from anyone who finishes first in fantasy points, the lack of changes in Cincinnati should help minimize the regression.
Possible Targets: Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Puka Nacua, Nico Collins, Brian Thomas Jr.
Round 2, Picks 13-24: Draft a wide receiver, Bucky Irving or Trey McBride
The strategy in Round 2 is similar to Round 1 and depends largely on draft position. For those picking early in the round, the goal will be to pick the best available player who fell out of Round 1. That will often be a wide receiver like Nico Collins or Brian Thomas Jr. For those in the middle parts of the round, wide receiver is typically the best option, including Drake London and A.J. Brown. Bucky Irving is worth considering in the middle parts of the round, notably if you drafted a wide receiver in Round 1. However, you can still work around a wide receiver-wide receiver start.
Trey McBride is the man to target if you’re picking late in the second round. Throughout the offseason, I generally advocated for a quarterback or a tight end early. However, the ADP for the best sleeper options has gotten earlier, while that hasn’t been the case for the best sleeper quarterbacks. It is also easier to predict which week a quarterback might play well based on the opponent compared to a tight end, making it easier to have two quarterbacks compared to tight end. That means tight end is the better option to target earlier. For those picking at the end of the second round, McBride is the best selection in the second or third round, but it’s better to pick in the second so no one snipes your pick.
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