High-Stakes Fantasy Football Draft Review: Building Around Jahmyr Gibbs, Nico Collins & More

The 1.01 is crystal clear this season. Some will argue Bijan Robinson is their preferred pick, but I see no reason to galaxy-brain the pick and pass on Gibbs in what should be the most robust role of his career. From Week 11 on last season, Gibbs averaged a 75% snap share, posting a 94 Utilization Score, 22.6 PPR points per game, a 65% route rate and 27% targets per route run. This is on top of 66% of the rushing attempts, yet only 40% of the carries inside the five-yard line. With David Montgomery out of town and Isiah Pacheco banged up, nothing is standing between Gibbs and a truly elite workhorse role in a high-octane offense.

The Round 2/3 turn from the 1.01 is challenging if you want to go RB-heavy, especially with Breece Hall and Jeremiyah Love—two backs often available in this range—dealing with multi-week injuries.

With such a strong anchor at the RB position locked up, double-tapping WR here felt appropriate, and I wanted to get ahead of the expected Chris Olave price surge now that Jordyn Tyson will be sidelined for at least two months. Tyson's presence has suppressed Olave's price a touch this offseason, but he's an elite Round 2 pick with the rookie sidelined, especially after finishing as the WR7 in PPR points per game (16.8) last season. The Saints are also one of the most fantasy-friendly offenses in football given how condensed the target share is and how quickly their offense churns out plays:

• Plays Per Game: 63.2 (8th)
• Plays Per Minute: 2.2 (1st)
• Plays Per Minute Over Expected: -0.19 (4th)

Going Nico Collins at 3.01 was an unsexy selection, but he's a top-five real-life WR talent and gets the job done as the WR2 on this team. He has very little target competition behind him (especially with Jayden Higgins' injury) and finished as a top-15 WR in targets per route run (25%; WR9), target share (25%, WR15), air yard share (36%, WR14) and Utilization Score (73; WR14) last season.

That'll do.

Middle Rounds (4-8)

• 4.12: Travis Etienne (RB, NO)
• 5.01: Mike Evans (WR, SF)
• 6.12: Rhamondre Stevenson (RB, NE)
• 7.01: Lamar Jackson (QB, BAL)
• 8.12: Jayden Reed (WR, GB)

The middle rounds of this draft ended up being my favorite pocket of the draft in terms of how it ended up for this specific team.

Travis Etienne is not a running back I've clicked very often this offseason. That said, RBs get pushed up the board on RTSports, and there's a tier drop-off after you get past the Breece Hall/Jeremiyah Love/Kyren Williams/Etienne tier. With Tyson out and now Alvin Kamara expected to miss at least a month, this pick is aging like fine wine.

Another player I haven't found myself drafting much of is Mike Evans, but as my WR3 on this roster, it was hard to pass up. Obviously entering his age-33 season, the bottom could certainly fall out from under Evans this season, but he still posted a 26% TPRR and 23% target share last season with a 14.1-yard aDOT. Earning targets is still a strength of Evans'.

Drafting Rhamondre Stevenson as my RB3 and Jayden Reed as my WR4—one of which will end up as the second flex in my starting lineup—gives this lineup reliable depth with legitimate upside. Stevenson enters as the 1A in a backfield where TreVeyon Henderson is reportedly still struggling with pass protection, giving Stevenson the inside track to the high-value touches. Reed may still find himself off the field in 2-WR sets, but is in line for the biggest role of his career in a newly concentrated offense with Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks out of the picture.

Lamar Jackson at 7.01 ... now that is a smash pick. He fell significantly past his fantasy football ADP and feels like one of two, maybe three QBs with overall QB1 upside. When you factor in the opportunity cost of drafting Josh Allen in this draft, it makes the pick even juicier. Allen + Kyle Monangai, or Lamar Jackson + Nico Collins? The choice is clear:

Rounding Out The Roster (9-20)

• 9.01: Josh Downs (WR, IND)
• 10.12: Chris Rodriguez (RB, JAX)
• 11.01: Dalton Kincaid (TE, BUF)
• 12.12: Dallas Goedert (TE, PHI)
• 13.01: Tyler Shough (QB, NO)
• 14.12: Tre Harris (WR, LAC)
• 15.01: Justice Hill (RB, BAL)
• 16.12: Kayshon Boutte (WR, NE)
• 17.01: Caleb Douglas (WR, MIA)
• 18.12: Evan McPherson (K, CIN)
• 19.01: Travis Hunter (WR, JAX)
• 20.12: Jets DST

At this point, we're onto the bench pieces of the roster, starting with Josh Downs. Keenan Allen signing with the Colts puts a slight damper on his upside case, but Dwain McFarland didn't move projections to a point where I'm fading Downs, especially as my WR5.

Tight end was the glaring weak spot on the roster as I prioritized an elite QB and solidifying rock-solid depth at WR and RB. While neither Dalton Kincaid nor Dallas Goedert is an inspiring option, they both have top-10 TE upside, and Kincaid, specifically, could crack top-five positional upside if his playing time ticks up.

For the rest of the depth, I landed Tyler Shough at QB2 to correlate nicely with Olave and Etienne, while getting some exposure to the high-powered Jaguars offense with Chris Rodriguez.

As always, I saved Kicker and DST until the final rounds, and snuck in a 19th-round Travis Hunter in between the two. While it'll be hard to know if/when to slot him into a starting lineup, he could be in for a massive upgrade should any of the Jaguars WRs go down with injury.