Fantasy Football Draft Strategy Mailbag: Stacking Justin Herbert With Omarion Hampton?
Kendall Valenzuela drops into the advice chair to answer SiriusXM questions focused on fantasy football draft strategy.
It's fantasy football draft szn, and we're back on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio full time and ready to answer and and all strategy questions. Catch the show Monday-Friday on channel 87 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET, and if you have the time give us a call at 888-963-2682 and we can try to answer your questions LIVE on the air! Don't have time? We totally get it … and have you covered! Now there is a new way to interact with the show called The Wire. Anyone can go to SiriusXM.com/thewire where you can send us a text, a voice memo or a video message at any time! Now let's get into this week's big questions …
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Weekly Mailbag for Fantasy Football Draft Strategy
Bryan - PA - Do you have any other players you have a hard time ranking like when you were talking about Zay Flowers?
Jaylen Waddle has been all over the board for me—he's started as high as WR23 and been as low as WR17 for me so far this offseason, and right now he's directly in the middle. I feel like drafters are very split on what Waddle can bring to fantasy this season, but I am very much of the mindset that he will be the WR1 in this offense. So what could people be worried about? Courtland Sutton's presence could be one thing. Our fantasy football projections have Waddle leading the team with 122 targets, but Sutton is right behind him with a projected 108 targets. Waddle has put up good fantasy numbers despite being in Miami for his first five seasons, and now in Denver this looks to be an upgrade on every level. This Broncos offense offers a significant quarterback upgrade going from Tua Tagovailoa to Bo Nix, and has a top-6 projected dropback rate (61.8%).
Waddle now profiles as a true alpha WR in a pass-friendly offense and we've seen his efficiency remain steady every single season (he was at 9.1 yards per target in 2025 and 9.0 in 2024). Sean Payton has hated our fantasy teams before, but I can't imagine him wasting this significant investment in Waddle. Takeaway: I will be moving Waddle up the ranks.
Cookie Monstas - NC - I have the 10th pick in a 10-team PPR league and have been loving Omarion Hampton paired with Justin Herbert. Is it a bad strategy to stack in redraft and if so why?
It's not bad at all to pair your quarterback with their team's tight end, wide receiver or running back! I will say, unlike best ball formats, it's not absolutely necessary. I would err on the side of caution when trying to stack 3+ players from the same team, especially if you only draft in one or two fantasy leagues a season, but a two-player stack is not frowned upon!
My other best piece of advice is to not seek this out, though. I see some drafters make the mistake of not letting the board fall to them and trying to force stacks which means they could be passing up on value somewhere else. Let's take your example of getting Omarion Hampton with the 10th overall pick but using Yahoo ADP—if you want Justin Herbert then he routinely goes off the board at pick 67.7—a sixth-round price tag! This is a really expensive spot to draft a quarterback, especially if you're still looking for your RB2 or need more depth at the wide receiver position. Don't go out of your way to stack if it means you're putting your roster in jeopardy of losing a solid receiver or running back. There are so many great late-round quarterbacks that can help your team so you don't need to reach.
Scott - OH - Helping my girlfriend prepare for her draft, and she loves her divas. 2nd overall pick, 10-team PPR league on ESPN, looks like we can probably land A.J. Brown and George Pickens on the 2-3 turn on after Bijan. Thoughts on that start?
This is legitimately so funny and I love the start here if we are going for divas. Seriously I know we have Hard Knocks and other Netflix specials, but have we ever considered giving some of these players their own dramas like Real Housewives or something? I would be sat every single drop!
If we're talking divas though, I feel like Stefon Diggs has to be on this list, too? But even if he doesn't count in your mind it gives me an excuse to talk about his move to the Commanders! When you look back at his stats from last season with the Patriots you'll have to remember he didn't have a full-time role and he was limited to a 73% route participation rate. Now he goes over to a new team that really had no true second target earner behind Terry McLaurin.
Dwain McFarland currently has Diggs projected for an 83% route participation rate and 22% TPRR, which puts him as a mid-range WR4. I would really keep Diggs on your radar though because if McLaurin were to go down with any injury then Diggs would step up into that bigger role.
Chris - NH - Thoughts on rolling the dice on Malik Nabers? I’m always cautious with players coming off of injury
If you would have asked me this question just a few weeks ago, I would say I am not drafting Malik Nabers at his current price because of the risk that comes with his return from injury. BUT, now we've seen him out at training camp and it looks like he is on track for Week 1.
I did move Nabers up in my fantasy football rankings just like all the other rankers at Fantasy Life, and while I don't take him every time I'm on the clock, I don't want to miss out on getting him in the second and sometimes third rounds. If he weren't injured we would have been drafting him closer to the first round. Is there risk? Absolutely, but he is someone that I'm willing to bet on.
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