1.06 Draft Strategy: How to Draft from Pick 6 in 2024 Fantasy Football - Roto Street Journal (2024)

If you allowed me to select any position to draft from in 2024 fantasy football, I would choose the 6 spot every time. The flexibility to draft ADP fallers or go and get your guys makes the 6th pick so desirable. The 1st round is a microcosm of this. You can either have an elite receiver fall into your lap, or you can make a high-upside pick at running back

The Roto Street Journal staff league has the following format: Half-PPR scoring (Start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex, 1 K, 1 DEF; 6 Bench Slots; 1 IR slot)

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2024 Fantasy Football Draft Results

HOW TO DRAFT FROM PICK 6 IN 2024 FANTASY FOOTBALL

Early Round Draft Strategy for Pick 6

I thought I was in luck when I saw CeeDee Lamb available at the 5th pick, but unfortunately he did not make his way to me. Christian McCaffrey and the group of 4 Elite Receivers (Tyreek Hill, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb) all went picks 1-5.

I would consider these five to be the “chalk” start, and if you are drafting from the 6 spot, I think the rational choice is between Amon-Ra. St. Brown, Bijan Robinson, and Breece Hall. If any of the chalk five fall to you, they are the obvious choice. Between the Sun God, Bijan, and Breece, I think there is an argument to be made for all three.

For me, I value Elite WRs in Redraft Leagues more than elite RBs, especially when I have to start three receivers. If you are only starting two WRs in your league, there is an argument to be made that the elite RBs are simply better picks. After all, my redraft GOAT seems to think so.

I do think that there are some great late-round opportunities to be had at RB, but I don’t know if I can say the same about WR. That being said, having an elite RB can be a massive difference maker in redraft. I will repeat this ad nauseam throughout this article (and almost every one I write):

In Fantasy Football, Upside Wins Championships. I decided to take a swing for the fences with my second pick and take the explosive De’Von Achane. With this pick, I am betting on an increase in volume for the insanely efficient back in a fire-powered offense.

Getting Deebo Samuel in the 3rd round at pick 30 felt pretty good. He was the WR12 last year despite missing two games and having less than a 35% snap share in two more. But man, Brandon Aiyuk (potentially) being traded makes it feel even better.

As Rich notes, it’s unsustainable, but regardless, he’d be the clear cut No.1 option in the 49ers passing game. That’s a big win in the 3rd round for me.

I like to use my bench to hoard high upside handcuffs, rookies, and injured players that have the potential to reach my starting lineup in a meaningful way when playoffs come. It really helps to have an elite TE in order to maximize the space on my bench for RBs and WRs. That’s part of the reason why I drafted Trey McBride for my fourth pick. In my experience, most teams that take down a championship have an all-star TE. Among all qualifying (min. 100 routes run) TEs, McBride ranked 2nd in Yards Per Route Run only to George Kittle and ranked 1st in Targets Per Route Run. Not to mention, it took until Week 8 of the 2023 season for McBride to see an 80+% snap share and this year he has a fully healthy Kyler Murray.

At pick 54, I was thrilled to see Amari Cooper still on the board. In the five games that Deshaun Watson played >90% of snaps, Amari averaged 96 receiving yards per game and 14.8 Fantasy Points per game in. Keep in mind, these averages exclude a 46 bomb with Joe Flacco in Week 16. For context, Mike Evans was the WR5 last year averaging 14.3 Fantasy Points per game. In these five weeks, Amari ranked top ten (2.96) in yards per route run among all qualifying receivers (min. 75 routes).

In case you have forgotten, Upside Wins Championships! At Pick 67, I don’t think there is a single player available that offers more upside than Rashee Rice. In the case where Rice avoids suspension or faces a minimal suspension, I drafted Patrick Mahomes’ WR1 in the 6th round! With no suspension concerns, I think it’s safe to assume Rice would be taken in the first three rounds of drafts. Take advantage of the unknown and circle Rice as a must-draft on your board. This is very reminiscent of Jonathan Taylor last year, who was drafted around the same spot due to his holdout concerns. What happened? He won people (myself included) championships! If Rashee is off the board, Diontae Jonhson and Chris Godwin are two of my favorite mid-round targets that you can pivot to.

ARSB, Achane, Deebo, McBride, Amari, Rashee is an awesome start to this draft. I attacked receiver due to my concerns of the depth remaining, and I still have the potential to have the RB1 and the TE1. This was shaping up to be a “Hero-RB” team with Achane, which I think is a completely viable strategy in 2024 Fantasy Football drafts.

Mid-Round Draft Strategy for Pick 6

In Round 7, I was prepared to take Jonathan Brooks, one of my guys this year, and someone I want on almost every single one of my redraft teams. However, at pick 7.4, he was sniped from me. I believe he went almost two rounds ahead of his ADP, which I think is completely justified due to his potential upside as a bell cow back in a Dave Canales system.

No worries though, we adapted to the draft room and got a baller in DeAndre Hopkins at pick 7.6. I think Dhop is pretty clearly the WR1 in Tennessee, despite the fact that Calvin Ridley is taken before him in almost every draft. I’m excited to see what Tennessee will do this year, and it seems likely they’ll have an extremely high pass rate with gunslinger Will Levis:

If I was truly worried about the rest of my RB room, I would not have taken Hopkins. However, I think I had the luxury to do so given the availability of talented backs I saw down the draft board.

My next three picks were the ultimate “Hero-RB” guys: Jaylen Warren, Brian Robinson, and Chase Brown. I think each of these backs has the potential to take over as their team’s RB1, but either way they will offer stand-alone value as solid RB2s to Achane. Their standalone value is pretty solid for rounds 8-10, and when you take into account their upside, I think they are great picks.

I would have considered this to be a near-perfect draft if I had been able to get my hands on Jayden Daniels. In round 9, Jayden was sniped from me somewhere between 1-2 rounds before his ADP. I was the second to last team to draft a QB, and I pushed my luck thinking I could grab Jayden in round 9. Another one of my guys, I want Jayden on almost all of my teams:

As I was the last guy in the room to draft a QB, I pushed Brock Purdy to the 11th round. I likely could have pushed him further, but my league mates started taking QB2s, and I could no longer rely on my assumptions of what I believed to be rational drafting from the eleven other people in the room. I decided to secure Purdy as my QB1 with pick 11.6.

This is an important lesson though. You can never assume “rational drafting,” even if you are in a draft room with sharp players as I was. Adjust to the room, but don’t think you can predict which picks everyone will make. The other QB I was targeting in Jared Goff ended up going at 13.11, so I clearly could have waited longer. Either way, as I only spent an 11th round pick on 2023’s QB6, the opportunity cost of not waiting even longer was not significant.

Late-Round Draft Strategy for Pick 6

The only consequence of not trying to push Purdy further in the draft was getting sniped by a single pick on Josh Downs. A Matt Harmon favorite and a clear year 2 breakout candidate on an Anthony Richardson and Shane Steichen offense is incredibly exciting. He is one of my favorite late round targets.

No Josh Downs, no problem. I selected Ja’lynn Polk at pick 12.7. Polk could be the number one option on the Patriots this year. But, the Patriots stink and we have no idea how good Drake Maye is. Does that sound familiar? Sounds exactly like the Texans last year! It may also sound like the Panthers… but let’s ignore that possibility for now. This is an ambiguous situation in an offense that could produce legitimate league winners. Why not take a shot in round 12? After all, what wins championships again?

In rounds 13-16, because I was set on not taking a Kicker or Defense, I was really thinking about whose situations could drastically change in the next month. I am going to have to drop two of these players… unless I draft someone I can place in my IR spot. Welcome to the squad, Keaton Mitchell!

I am going to have to drop one of these players before the season begins, so let’s take some shots on guys we could have a cleaner picture on in about a month.

For whatever reason, it seems like the Bears hate Khalil Herbert; It’s pretty funny because it seemed as though the Lions and Eagles hated D’Andre Swift. Herbert has been a trade candidate all summer (according to fantasy football twitter), so he seemed like the perfect player to stash for the next month, and then potentially drop if it’s clear he’s the RB2 or RB3 in Chicago. This could end up being a league winning 14th round pick, as I think Herbert is actually quite good at football:

J.K. Dobbins has had a very rough career so far. I feel for the guy; he simply has not been able to stay healthy. But man, in the first half of Week 1 last year, he was looking like a total league winner. From his Ohio State days, it has been clear he is very talented, but the ambiguity surrounding his health is at an all time high. Imagine if he is able to take on a workload in a Greg Roman and Justin Herbert led offense? I don’t know how likely this is, but I think the odds will be clearer the closer we get to week 1, so he seemed like another perfect potential cut candidate to draft. If you are in a league with a deep bench, stash Dobbins. If he manages to get to even 90% of who he was pre-injury, he will win leagues down the stretch.

Rashod Bateman, this off-season’s darling , was too intriguing of a pick for me to ignore. He’s the most likely option to be my pre-week 1 cut candidate, but I figured perhaps something in the coming weeks before the season will give us a better idea of his usage and if the hype is real.

If your league does make you draft a defense, I think the Seahawks are a fantastic pick that you can take as potentially the last option. They have a Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan-esque defensive genius in Mike MacDonald as their new head coach, and they open their season against the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots. Can’t imagine they won’t rank top ten in either of these weeks. If you do have to draft a kicker, just take one on what you believe to be a strong offense. Tyler Bass is usually a favorite of mine. Always take a Kicker before you draft a Defense.

MY TEAM FROM PICK 6 IN 2024 FANTASY FOOTBALL:

• 1.6: Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, DET
• 2.7: De’Von Achane, RB, MIA
• 3.6: Deebo Samuel, WR, SF
• 4.7: Trey McBride, TE, ARI
• 5.6: Amari Cooper, WR, CLE
• 6.7: Rashee Rice, WR, KC
• 7.6: Deandre Hopkins, WR, TEN
• 8.7: Jaylen Warren, RB, PIT
• 9.6: Brian Robinson, RB, WAS
• 10.7: Chase Brown, RB, CIN
• 11.6: Brock Purdy, QB, SF
• 12.7 Ja’Lynn Polk, WR, NE
• 13.6: J.K. Dobbins, RB, LAC
• 14.7: Khalil Herbert, RB, CHI
• 15.6: Rashod Bateman, WR, BAL
• 16.7: Keaton Mitchell, RB, BAL

Hey, wait a second. I thought this league had 1 K and 1 DEF? If the league settings enable you to do so (we drafted on Sleeper), then you should not draft a kicker or defense. As this draft occurred over a month before the season begins, I have plenty of time to hold, for example, Khalil Herbert on my bench before I drop him for a Kicker in case any major news comes out regarding his situation.

Plus, we as fantasy football players are not good at identifying the top Defenses before the season, and there are plenty of kickers that go undrafted that will be just as good as the 4th or 5th kicker that is drafted. Why take Justin Tucker at Pick 13.5 when Cameron Dicker, who is available on waivers, averaged only .2 Fantasy Points per game fewer than Tucker? Take advantage of the extra time you have to hold players on your bench while Training Camp and Preseason are ongoing.

FINAL TEAM THOUGHTS

Overall, I feel pretty strong about my squad, but lots of people like their teams in August! Try and remain adaptable in your drafts and don’t shy away from clear values. But more importantly, don’t be afraid to get your guys. And of course, Upside Wins Championships – If you aren’t first in Fantasy Football you may as well be last. Draft for ceiling, not for floor.

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