Perfect Fantasy Draft: 2nd in a 12-Team ESPN PPR League
Picking second in fantasy football is a double-edged sword. The eyes are not on you as keenly as the manager making the first pick, so the pressure is lessened. You also have the entire player pool to select from, with one exception who, let's be honest, you should already be planning around not being able to draft them. You do have a bit of a wait between picks, but then you get two picks fairly close together, allowing you to start runs at various positions if you so wish.
My plan here is to show you how to dominate your draft on ESPN platforms should you find yourself blessed with the second overall pick position in your 12-team leagues. I will walk through my favorite players in each round that should be available to me and discuss my overall draft strategy from this draft spot.
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 2nd
Roster Settings: 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (WR/RB/TE), 1 Kicker, 1 DEF, 7 bench spots
- Rushing matters when it matters - As it's a PPR league, I am going to focus on players who can catch the ball. But when I want to take a rusher, they either have to have this role on their team, OR look like dominating the carries out of their backfield. But if they can offer both, I'll run to the podium and select them.
- First Year Players - There are a host of rookie wide receivers that project as having sizeable roles in their offenses this season. I would like to try and grab at least one, giving my roster a boost towards the back end of the campaign.
- Ignore kickers and DST until the very end of the draft - these are not positions of high priority in fantasy, and a strong case can be made that weekly streaming at these spots is a viable strategy for success. You should ensure that all of your starting spots and at least a few of your backup players are filled before you even contemplate picking a kicker.
Continue reading for a breakdown of my picks through Round 10 and a list of potential late-round targets at each position.
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