How to win your fantasy draft with every strategy: Target Bucky Irving and Jayden Daniels

I can get lost in the theory and strategy of fantasy without remembering to exit the lab and actually make some picks. Instead of telling you how to draft, you tell me, and I’ll give my favorite players for assembling that type of team. This is how I’m approaching every draft strategy I can think of this year.

GET YOUR FREE ROTOWORLD FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFT KIT HERE!

Elite Quarterback

Jayden Daniels

Quarterback pricing has changed this year. Daniels goes as the QB5 at pick No. 70 this year. That’s the cheapest the QB5 has gone in the past half-decade. Is Daniels the worst QB5 of the past five years? Anthony Richardson would say otherwise. Daniels averaged 20.9 points per game as a rookie, a mark that would have made him the QB2 last year. He got hurt in 2025 and went down as a bust. Daniels is one of the best ways to approximate Josh Allen production and we get that at a mid-round price.

Late-Round QB

Patrick Mahomes

Mahomes’ two worst seasons came in 2023 and 2024. He averaged 17.5 and 17.7 points per game in those campaigns, both of which would have been good for a QB12 finish last year. He goes as the QB15—just outside the top 100 picks—in Yahoo drafts right now. If Mahomes ties his career-worst numbers, he’s still on track to pay off his current cost. In reality, we shouldn’t care too much about his ability to be a marginal win. In fantasy, we only care about hanging banners. Mahomes can do that too. He averaged over 20 points per game in 2025. Even if the rushing, which made that score possible, goes away, the Chiefs have revamped their offsense in an effort to reignite the passing attack. Matt Nagy is out and Eric Bieniemy has returned. Kenneth Walker gives defenses a ground game worth paying attention to. Even getting healthy seasons from Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice will be a change compared to previous years. This is a bet that is categorically skewed toward the upside.

Kyler Murray

Murray wasn’t awfully productive as a passer last year, but he was far from bad. He ranked 22nd in EPA per play, just behind Justin Herbert and Caleb Williams. He was a middle-of-the-pack quarterback in Arizona and now gets an elite cast of weapons plus Kevin O’Connell calling the plays. Most importantly, Murray still showed off his signature mobility. He averaged 34.6 yards per game on the ground. That was the fourth-best rushing output for a quarterback in 2025. This is another bet where the floor is built in and the ceiling is barely being considered by drafters.

ZeroRB

Malik Mabers

ZeroRB was so effective in its infancy because wide receiver ADPs were far lower than they are today, meaning you could start two elite receivers plus a third in the FLEX and your leaguemates were none the wiser. Receiver ADPs have ballooned in recent seasons, giving us fewer outs to easily winning the FLEX via stud receivers. This season has two options to find top-end receiver production beyond the first two rounds. The first is Nabers. The Big Apple star ranks third in targets per route run and 16th in yards per route run since entering the NFL. He was a WR1 as a rookie and now goes well into the third round because the knee injury that ended his 2025 season. There are still risks with Nabers, but a third-round price tag is too big of a discount for a player who could lead the position in scoring once he’s back at full strength.

Rashee Rice

Rice was the WR5 by points per game last year and the WR2 by PPG in 2024, if you throw out the game he left early without recording a single stat. Rice underwent knee surgery this offseason and went to jail for violating his probation. He also plays a style of football that is almost certainly better for fantasy managers than it is valuable for an NFL team. I do not care. Rice’s PPR scam puts fantasy points on the table in droves and he costs the last pick of the third round to acquire.

Jonathon Brooks

Now what the ZeroRB zealots came for: the running backs. Chuba Hubbard was below a replacement-caliber back last year, ranking 45th in rush yards over expected per attempt and 47th in YAC per carry. Under normal circumstances, Brooks’ lack of an NFL resume after two seasons would be a major red flag. We are not living in normal times. Brooks looked good in camp, the team treated him as the starter during the preseason while Hubbard was banged up, and reporters are viewing him as a potential long-term answer at running back for the team. Brooks could ultimately be the top-tier runner the Panthers intended to draft in the second round. If he is that player, they’ll let him take over the backfield.

Marshawn Lloyd

The other Day Two rookie who has barely played since being drafted in 2024 is also a great ZeroRB click. Who could’ve seen this coming? Lloyd may not have the same talent ceiling as Brooks, but his path to immediate production is even cleaner. Josh Jacobs is on the Commissioner’s Exempt List and could stay on there for much of the season. If he is suspended, the floor is likely six games while eight and even 10 are also on the table. Lloyd’s competition for touches includes special teamer Chris Brooks and Steelers castoff Kaleb Johnson.

Both Brooks and Lloyd have cleared the biggest health-related hurdles, but we’re still getting a discount because they’re believed to be injury-prone. That’s probably slightly correct, but drafters drastically overvalue their ability to predict the next injury, and both of these backs have the talent to blow away their ADPs.

HeroRB

Omarion Hampton

Otherwise known as ZeroRB for the weak-willed, HeroRB is simply drafting one running back in the early rounds. With a HeroRB build, you’re calling your shot that there is a running back in the first two or three rounds who is worth breaking the ZeroRB mantra for. This jibes with historical numbers. Over the past decade, twice as many running backs have hit 350 PPR points in a season as wide receivers. There is usually a running back or two you simply had to have.

Hampton is one of the best second-round bets to be that guy. His lacking fantasy totals as a rookie overshadowed a surprisingly efficient year. He ranked 15th in rush yards over expected per carry and 10th in yards after contact per attempt. The big issue was that he missed time and then the Chargers scaled back his role once healthy. Hampton is not the type of back you draft in the first round just to put in a committee. He cleared an 80 percent backfield dominator in both of his seasons as a starting running back at North Carolina. For reference, Ashton Jeanty peaked at 79 percent and Jeremiyah Love’s best effort was 64 percent. This is the type of player that can flip the fantasy landscape on its head.

Hyper Fragile

Christian McCaffrey

A Hyper Fragile approach to running back is one where you get three running backs early and stop drafting the position entirely. If you spend big at running back and you nail all three picks, why bother sinking more into the position? McCaffrey fits with most early-round running back strategies, but he’s especially useful when you know you will only have two more swings at the position. McCaffrey reached 400 expected (and actual) fantasy points last year. He was just the second back since the turn of the millennium to top 400 expected points. The 2019 version of CMC is the only other back to do so. When you get loaded up with that many opportunities, it’s pretty easy to never post a bad game.

McCaffrey had one bust week last year. One. That’s the floor/ceiling combo you want if you’re only dedicating three or four roster spots to the running back position.

The top players for 2026 at running back, wide receiver, quarterback, and tight end with explanations for every rank.

Robust Running Back

TreVeyon Henderson

Robust Running Back, on the other hand, counters the high bust rates of early backs through brute force. This also affords Robust RB drafters the chance to take some swings on running backs who aren’t on the menu for Hyper Fragile drafters. A slow start from Henderson could be catastrophic if you are relying on him as one of your top three backs. Not so much if he’s one of five runners you take in the single-digit rounds. Henderson averaged 21 points per game in his four starts sans Rhamondre Stevenson. He also had the second-most carries for 40+ yards in the NFL, trailing only Jahmyr Gibbs. Based on all reports from camp, Henderson will likely start slow for fantasy purposes. If you’ve already loaded up on running backs, that’s a fine compromise for his outstanding late-season upside.

Bucky Irving

As a rookie, Irving was sixth in the NFL in rush yards over expected per carry (.88) and first in yards after contact per attempt (4.0). By any nerd metric—and the eye test—he was one of the best running backs in the league. He got injured in 2025, the Bucs fell apart as an offense, and his efficiency numbers cratered. This development quietly masked the fact that Tampa Bay piled opportunities onto his plate. Irving amassed 20 touches per game in his second season. He now has an elite efficiency season and a workhorse usage season on his resume. Either of those could allow him to pay off his ADP this year. If he does both at the same time, Irving will be a league-winner.

Makai Lemon

When Robust RB teams fail, they do so because the high-upside bets at receiver dried up before they stopped drafting running backs. Fantasy managers tend to price up talent at the receiver position, so getting a wideout with the innate tools to be a massive hit beyond the first eight rounds is rare. Lemon is the first of a few exceptions to that rule. Lemon had a dominant production profile at USC, compiling 1,156 yards and 11 scores at over three yards per route run as a true junior. He wins at all levels of the field and went in the first round of the draft. Lemon might take a few weeks to get going after missing much of camp with a hamstring issue, but the talent is there to smash his triple-digit ADP cost.

Jayden Reed

Reed leads the current Packers wideouts and tight ends plus the two they moved on from—Dontayvion Wicks and Romeo Doubs—in career yards per route run (1.98) and targets per route run (21.1 percent). That’s despite an injury-plagued 2025 campaign. Before that, Reed was 37th in career fantasy points through two seasons over the past 25 years. Zay Flowers, Terry McLaurin, and Andre Johnson were just ahead of him on that list. It’s a laughably simple way to look at fantasy production, but players who produce early in their careers tend to be the stars of future seasons. With Josh Jacobs’ status for the entire 2026 season now up in the air, the passing volume in Green Bay could creep up at the perfect time for Reed.

Elite Tight End

Trey McBride

I am a Brock Bowers slappy to my core, but the McBride price is too good to ignore. He just posted the third-best fantasy season for a tight end in NFL history and goes in the third round. Did his quarterback change? No. Did the team add a wide receiver of note to take away targets from him? Nope. Did the play-caller change? Yes, likely for the better.

There are obvious concerns over Jacoby Brissett eventually being benched, the team running more, and one of Marvin Harrison Jr. or Michael Wilson breaking out. But those are reasons to fade first-round pick Trey McBride, not third-round McBride.

Punt TE

Juwan Johnson

With Jordyn Tyson sidelined for potentially multiple months to start the year, Johnson is once again in position to be the Saints’ de facto WR2 to start the year. He finished the 2025 season at 12th in both target share and air yards share among tight ends. Johnson also took a big step for fantasy purposes once Tyler Shough took over.

Johnson might fade in the second half of the year once Tyson is back in the fold, but that’s a problem that can easily be solved via the waiver wire.

Dalton Schultz

It’s not a fun click. Schultz is simply too cheap. He was the TE10 last year despite scoring three touchdowns. Only Trey McBride and Kyle Pitts caught more passes than him. Jayden Higgins had the potential to cut into Schultz’s role this year and will now miss the season with a torn ACL. Kayshon Boutte, his replacement, is purely a deep threat, giving him no overlap with Schultz. A TE21 price tag on Schultz is a massive discount for a player who is set up for another top-12 season.

Charlie Kolar

This is a Best Ball or TE Premium exclusive pick, but one that could pay off in those formats. Kolar was on the field for six of the seven preseason snaps Justin Herbert played. More importantly, he was out there for 3-of-4 passing plays. Kolar is, by all accounts, the starting tight end for a Justin Herbert-led, Mike McDaniel-coordinated offense.