What to do in your draft with pick 5,6 or 7?
If you land in the middle of your draft order in the 1st round you are going to be picking form the likes of Ja’Marr Chase, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Bijan Robinson, Breece Hall, or Justin Jefferson. Take the best player that fits your scoring system. If in a PPR or Half PPR then a player who gets receptions is going to be more valuable to take here and see what comes back to you in the 2nd round. In the middle picks of each round I try to not reach for a player that may or may not come back to me. If you take a higher ranked guy and wait then most times the player you would’ve taken falls back to you anyway.
In the second round I’m taking the best player on the board regardless of postion. Even if it puts with with a WR/WR or RB/RB stack. There are so many late players at each of those positions that you can round out your roster with in later rounds.
In the 3rd and 4th round I’m looking to grab two skill players at either WR or RB that balances out my roster. I’m still playing the waiting game on TE and QB and avoiding thinking about drafting those 2 positions until the 5th or 6th round unless QB’s start to go early and a Top 3 QB comes to me in 4th round, I would consider it. The reason on being balanced with preferably my first 4 picks being the combo of 2 WR’s and 2 RB’s I can now just let guys fall in my lap the rest of the draft. I don’t have a need for any postion that puts me in a spot where I have to pass up on a guy because I need to draft a certain position.
In the 5th, 6th and 7th round I am looking to at least get either a QB or a TE or both when one falls to me in these 3 rounds. Reason why I start looking at these positions as a priority in these rounds is being in the middle of a draft board a guys can draft more randomly but play close attention to their positions of need. If I’m in the middle of the 6th round and 4 of the 6 teams picking after me and before me on the turn all have drafted a QB then I’m confident in waiting on QB and taking a skill player that almost surely will be gone by time I pick next, especially if I like any of the next 3 QB’s on my list.
Rounds 8 through 12 is all about opportunity picks! By time round 8 comes you should have your whole starting roster minus a kicker, so it’s time to load up on players who present the most opportunity. Opportunity players are guys that are in a great situation and on offenses that put up consistently on offense, or players that are only behind an injury riddled or disgruntled player and the team used some capital to get the player for their future.
In the 12th, 13th and 14th round I’m swinging for the fences and handcuffing one of my first picks if applicable. Last year Puka Nacua was drafted here if at all in drafts, Devon Achane, Brock Purdy, Nico Collins and Kyren Williams are also other examples last year of late round picks that ended up being great picks. As for handcuffing I don’t believe it’s at all necessary, but if I drafted a RB like Breece Hall or Bijan Robinson in the 1st round, and their definitive handcuff is available I will take that pick for insurance, especially if it’s a top tier offense.
The last 2 rounds I have finally come to spot where I have to take my Defense and Kicker. My kicker is always my last pick regardless. I’ve taken a defense in 13th or 14th round before and if so can take another swing for fence pick here to pair with my kicker.
All in all there isn’t a flawless system for drafting, there are so many variables to consider, check out another article of the 10 Draft Commandments for even more help in your draft strategy.
