Perfect Fantasy Football Draft: 3rd in a 10-Team ESPN PPR League

Aug 28, 2023

Perfect Draft: 3rd in a 10-Team ESPN PPR League

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

I love drafting near the top of drafts this year. I want the absolute elite fantasy assets on my team and with a clear seven at the top, when available, I’m trying to draft as near the top of the draft as possible.

With the third pick, you’re almost certainly missing out on the top two receivers, but you are in a position to start an anchor running back strategy and land a few second-tier receivers in the following rounds.

The downside to picking near either end of the draft is a bit negated in a 10-team league as the runs aren’t as long and being on the side with the elite players to start is my preferred option.

In this article, I will walk through my favorite players in each round that should be available to me based on ESPN ADP and discuss my overall draft strategy from this spot.

More Perfect Drafts

ESPN 12-Team PPR: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |12
ESPN 10-Team PPR: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Yahoo 12-Team Half-PPR: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |12
Yahoo 10-Team Half-PPR: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

The 4for4 staff uses the Draft Hero software for all of our leagues. Draft Hero syncs directly to your league and optimizes each pick using projections and value-based rankings from 4for4. Draft Hero lets you customize your draft experience with settings on which rounds you want to draft a position, how many players you want at each position, and players to target or avoid.

For those new to Draft Hero, be sure to explore this walkthrough of the app!

My Plan of Attack When Drafting Sixth

Roster Settings: 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (WR/RB/TE), 1 Kicker, 1 DEF, seven bench spots

You should be flexible in every draft but if things fall according to ESPN ADP, my general plan of attack is to:

Exploit Mispriced WRs: If you’ve been drafting all summer on Underdog, DraftKings, or elsewhere you’ll no doubt notice a few quirks in the ESPN ADP that you can exploit. Loading up on receiver, especially early, can be scary as the elite running backs fly off the board, but we can make up points loading up at receiver.
Kelce or Wait at Tight End: I’m not waiting until my last few picks for tight end, but I’m not going to spend premier capital in the early rounds if I miss out on Travis Kelce.
Finding Running Back Value: I’m not going out of my way to draft a running back in the dead zone, but if certain backs fall to Round 4-8 I’m not going to pass either.
Waiting on Kicker and DST: Under no circumstances am I drafting a kicker or DST before my final two picks.
Top-8 Quarterback: Since I’m not going out of my way to target anyone specific in the top eight, it’s more of a general rule.

Continue reading for a breakdown of my favorite picks through Round 10 and a list of the best late-round targets at each position.