There are a multitude of ways to go about drafting your fantasy football team. But, for this particular piece, we will be locked in on the best approach for each of the first 3 picks. It’s never too early to begin practicing.

We are pairing picks 1 and 2 together since draft boards agree on who fills them: in the vast majority of fantasy football drafts, the first two picks should be Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs.

With the first pick, I would take Robinson. He has carried a higher workload for most of the past two seasons and has been fairly durable. We project him to have a slightly higher rush share than Gibbs and was more efficient with his targets last season.

I believe in Gibbs wholeheartedly and consider him an S-tier pick. In a few games without David Montgomery in 2024, Gibbs averaged 25.9 PPR points per game with a 63.2% rush share, so I wouldn’t blame anyone for taking him first overall either.

Lots of RBs will be selected between pick 3 and your next pick, making the Hero RB Strategy enticing if you have one of the first two picks. What is the Hero RB Strategy? Lean about it HERE.

In most cases, WRs such as A.J. Brown, Rashee Rice, George Pickens, and Nico Collins will be available in Round 2. There is also a chance Brock Bowers or Trey McBride is on the board. If you are implementing Hero RB, two of these players will be your second and third picks.

Sidenote: these players will vary based on league size. Mock drafting with your settings is incredibly important for this reason…and that’s why we’ve built a tool for it. Mock draft HERE.

If Omarion Hampton and Chase Brown are available, as they were in the mock I did for this article, taking one of them with your second pick makes just as much sense. We have them each ranked inside the top-12, and selecting either would lock you in to one of the best RB duos in your league immediately.

If you take one of them, you need to take a WR with your next pick. The locked-in, elite options will be gone by the time your following pick comes around.

Rounds 4 and 5 will be largely impacted by the picks you made in Rounds 2 and 3. If you only have one WR after the first three rounds, taking at least one more with your next two picks is critical. If you are practicing Hero RB, taking two more non-RBs is the way to go until your following picks.

This is what my team looked like in this mock from the 2nd pick. If you start your draft with something reminiscent to this, you should be feeling great. At this point you’ll likely be faced needed to target a non-elite QB. These players are all fantastic options:

Now, onto what to do with the 3rd pick…

The 3rd pick gives you a lot of viable paths. There’s a strong argument to take any of Puka Nacua, Ja’Marr Chase, Christian McCaffrey, or Jaxson Smith-Njigba in this spot. I listed them in the order that WalterPicks has them ranked at the moment.

If you go with one of the WRs, targeting a running back with one of your next two picks will be crucial. The workhorse RBs disappear after the first four rounds in 10-team leagues. Going with two non-RBs with your next two picks will give you the best WR room in your league, but you will be at a serious disadvantage at RB. Having Ja'Marr Chase, George Pickens, and Nico Collins sounds cool until your RB1 is the risky break out candidate, like Bhayshul Tuten.

If you select CMC first, I would recommend following the same draft path I laid out for picks 1 and 2.

The third pick is one where the best "strategy" may be to select the best player available in each round. That is what I did in this mock, and the team feels well-balanced and strong. We typically would not suggest taking two high picks from the same team, but the Bengals offense should be potent enough for both Chase Brown and Ja'Marr Chase to thrive without hindering the other's performance. If Omarion Hampton were still on the board, we would have taken him over Brown.

Mixing in cost-efficient stacks is another excellent method from the third pick. For example, if you take Puka Nacua instead of Ja'Marr Chase. You could then wait on QB until the last few rounds and select Matthew Stafford (currently going as the QB14).

Stay tuned for how to draft from all the other positions!