🤩 The PERFECT draft strategy for 2023

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It's The Touchdown Press Newsletter. Your #1 source for all things fantasy football, DFS, and sports betting, along with 10,000+ fellow degenerates.

For anyone Monday Morning Quarterbacking your weekend fantasy draft.

Today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn:

• What to do in each round of your draft 🤷‍♂️

• How to build a winning roster 📈 

• Specific names to target in all phases ✍️

• Fantasy-relevant NFL player news 🏈

Round 1: Draft a high-value WR

Receivers have leapfrogged running backs as the most important and productive fantasy football players.

This is due to a combination of the popularity of PPR leagues and the increase of NFL teams leaning on committees and duos rather than single bell cow backs.

There’s even a few holdouts muddling the outlooks.

So, WR is the pick here. If you have the first or second pick, you can’t go wrong with Justin Jefferson or Ja’Marr Chase. Here are my other favorite WRs in the first round:

• Cooper Kupp

• Stefon Diggs

• Tyreek Hill

• A.J. Brown

The caveat here is that if you have a chance to grab Christian McCaffrey or Austin Ekeler, you can pivot and do that instead. I’m giving you permission to do it.

Most people should walk away with a high value WR.

Round 2: Draft a top WR or RB

They say the first two rounds are the most important indicator of how your season will go. If you miss the top talents while your league mates hit, your degree of difficulty goes up, even with a strong remainder of your draft.

To that end, round 2 is about drafting guys with the most possible production. If you got Ekeler, CMC, or Bijan Robinson in round 1, you’ll want to focus on WR.

Here are some of my favorite round 2 targets:

• Amon-Ra St. Brown

• Garrett Wilson

• Nick Chubb

• Jaylen Waddle

• Jonathan Taylor

At this point you should feel ok if you’ve got 2 WRs or a solid WR-RB combination.

Round 3: Draft guys with top-5 upside

Again, I like to stick to WRs and RBs that have the potential to finish higher than this draft position suggests.

Yes, you’ll start to miss out on some of the top QBs here. That’s ok, unless you’re playing superflex. I think you can start to look for big-time QB value starting in round 5 or so.

Chances are you didn’t draft Travis Kelce either. Hang on just a little bit longer for your chance at a solid TE candidate. It’s a fickle position.

Here are some of my round 3 targets:

• Rhamondre Stevenson

• Breece Hall

• Calvin Ridley

• Amari Cooper

• Keenan Allen

Speaking of Amari Cooper, he’s only had one season in the last 4 when he didn’t reach 1,000 yards.

That’s why I am betting the OVER on his PrizePicks futures prop of 975.5 yards.

Round 4: Repeat round 3’s approach

I prefer to walk away from my first 4 rounds with some combination of WRs and RBs. Yes, if someone like Patrick Mahomes is still here, I’m starting to feel more comfortable about it, but I’m still holding off on the position in general.

There are guys here who can still pop off and return excellent value for your team:

• Jahmyr Gibbs

• Jerry Jeudy

• Christian Watson

• Travis Etienne

• Joe Mixon

Rounds 5 and 6: Play the value game

At this point, you want to look at who’s on your team and who’s available for you next. I’m alright with starting to look at QB if a guy like Joe Burrow falls this far, or even if you like Justin Herbert, but there are other values I like more:

• Brandon Aiyuk

• Aaron Jones

• Diontae Johnson

• J.K. Dobbins

• Cam Akers

• Tyler Lockett

• Kadarius Toney

Any of these guys should be able to return some excellent worth for this point in the draft, still allowing you to grab a QB or TE later on.

Rds 7 and 8: TE time OR stay the course

At this point you’re getting into the territory where I feel comfortable drafting a TE with massive upside:

• Darren Waller

• Dallas Goedert

• Kyle Pitts

• Evan Engram

All of them are in situations where they could believably challenge for top-5, while others have already drafted George Kittle and Mark Andrews, who I view as riskier.

If you don’t land in a spot for these guys, there are still some excellent targets at the other positions left on the board:

• James Conner

• Jahan Dotson

• Treylon Burks

• James Cook

Rounds 9 and 10: Find a high-floor QB

So you followed my advice and missed the top QBs? Don’t sweat it. Your roster is stronger at the other spots than your buddies, and you can find some excellent options this late.

Just keep in mind that since you waited, you might want to turn around and draft a backup QB in the next couple of rounds to maximize the odds of hitting on a good one.

These are my favorite late QB targets who I think can rise well into the top 10:

• Tua Tagovailoa

• Daniel Jones

• Kirk Cousins

• Russell Wilson

Tua was shaping up to be an elite passer before his concussion issues, Jones has incredible rushing upside and is getting better with his arm, Cousins always throws near 30 TDs, and Wilson is in line for a career revival after a dud of a season in ‘22.

Rounds 11+: Fill out your roster values, breakouts, and handcuffs

Here’s where you take a look at your roster’s depth and find the values associated with those positions.

Some guys I like after pick 120 or so:

• Jakobi Meyers

• Rondale Moore

• Greg Dulcich

• Dalton Schultz

• D’Onta Foreman

• Marvin Mims

• Donovan Peoples-Jones

• Jayden Reed

Ultimately, you don’t want to waste any picks, but keep in mind guys who are being drafted low who have good situations around them, and a possibility of contributing.

Last Rounds: Grab your Defense and Kicker

These two positions get a bad rap.

It makes sense, since there’s more variable here than with the standard offensive guys.

Still, I feel it’s worth it to know which teams are stronger on defense. It’s convenient to set it and forget it each week.

My top 5 D targets:

• New England

• San Francisco

• Dallas

• Buffalo

• Philadelphia

Some people will advise you to forgo a kicker completely, as it becomes a streaming position for many of us.

I’m of the philosophy that you should draft a guy from a strong offense who will get more chances to produce points:

• Harrison Butker

• Tyler Bass

• Evan McPherson

• Justin Tucker

• Jason Sanders

And that’s all she wrote!

Taking this strategy into 2023 has already helped me build some strong-looking teams, and I hope it does for you too.

🔔 For Whom Does Bell Toll? Lions Waive RB

⭐️ Browns WR's Promise: “Won’t Be Limited”

🤦‍♂️ Lions' WR Drama Unfolds as Jones Lands on NFI

🚦 Garoppolo Gets Green Light

😕 Chiefs DT MIA in Camp Amid Contract Holdup

🩼 Age vs. Experience: Brown on PUP for Jets

✍️ Browns Add USFL WR to Roster

😊 Baker Reports to Camp; Contract Talks in Limbo

🧪 Bartch Facing Preseason Test on PUP List

🦁 Sam LaPorta: Lions' Rookie TE Set to Make Big Impact

Enjoy that workweek, fantasy fans!

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