Round one of your 2026 Fantasy Football drafts is shaping up, so the most difficult decisions and picks are No. 5-7 overall. It's only difficult because the best overall option -- certainly the safest -- is a wide receiver. You can pick your poison from Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Amon-Ra St.
Brown or the sometimes falling Puka Nacua. However, that's not the route I perfect to go from No. 5 overall and there's one key reason why -- it doesn't set you up well for the first of your draft! With both Omarion Hampton and Kenneth Walker pushing up into the early parts of Round 2, by the time you snake back to your second-round pick, your options are typically to either reach for an injured back, Javonte Williams or take the best player overall -- typically wide receivers Nico Collins or Drake London.
So even in a PPR league, I'm using the fifth pick on a pass-catching back -- Christian McCaffrey -- every time. My colleague Jamey Eisenberg often talks about using mocks as a way to explore all strategies so that you are then prepared for whatever comes on draft day. So that's what I did with my first three picks by going RB-RB-RB.
I can't remember the last time I started a draft with three backs, but my third one should push into the top-10 in targets and receptions at the position with the chance to push into the top-three and my No. 1 back is the targets/receptions king. This is a full-point PPR league after all. Because I started my build with three backs, I used the next portion of the draft to load up on wide receivers, including several bench receivers I am hoping can push the starters.
This is how it would look if you build out a roster with a heavy running back approach early on. As is typical for my strategy in leagues that start just one quarterback, I couldn't help but grab what I felt like was a difference-maker in a position of the draft where difference-making running backs and wide receivers were few and far between. However, most would suggest that the player I grabbed is not a difference-maker -- at least not by ADP.
My projection has him finishing in the top half of QB1s with a chance to push for more. That's the beauty (or the fault, depending on how you look at it) of the QB position in leagues that only require you to start one per week. Without further ado, let's dive a little deeper into how I built out a roster I think can compete to win it all from the No. 5 overall draft position.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
