Drafting from the sixth overall slot has a few perks that fantasy gamers miss.

Primarily, your first-round pick becomes easier to make. The folks in the fourth and fifth spots take two players off the board. With fewer options, your decision tree becomes a bit smaller. Additionally, building from the middle of the pack gives you some control over positional runs. Most importantly, the 1.06 allows savvy managers a chance to harness ADP to their advantage.

From other slots, we’re waiting longer to draft our next player. As a result, we’re either forced to grab a player ahead of ADP or make bets on whether we can push them to the next round. However, a reach from the six spot typically doesn’t look as aggressive. In any case, let’s build a few teams from the 1.06 to find an optimal approach to building a team from the middle of the draft.

The First Round

*Draft Settings: PPR, Standard Roster (1QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1TE, 1 FLEX)

I prefer WR-heavy builds from an earlier slot. Essentially, I want to make my strength stronger. However, the WRs available here aren’t as strong. You could talk me into an RB start. So, I used our Draft Champion tool to give me some ideas. 

The Draft Assistant’s top pick seems like a no-brainer. Detroit’s Sun God torched opposing defenders with the fourth-most points per game of any WR while setting career highs in every metric, from raw targets to YPRR. But the Lions ranked 25th in PROE and 30th in RZ PROE. Josh Reynolds earned more looks from inside the five-yard line. Consequently, I looked at the other available suggestions.

Surprisingly, Breece Hall (another Tier 1 RB) didn’t make the cut. Regardless, the larger takeaway was an RB start was viable, given who was on the board. Accordingly, I could start a mini-multiverse around the suggestions.

However, our rosters aren’t solely defined by our first pick. Let’s plow through the rest of the early rounds and create a core to build around. 

The (Rest of the) Early Rounds

The second round gives us our first glimpse into the advantages of starting from the 1.06. My AI leaguemates only drafted 5-7 RBs before I was up at the 2.07. Therefore, the list of available RBs wasn’t as bleak as if I had an earlier draft spot.

On the one hand, I prefer a WR-leaning start in leagues requiring three receivers in my weekly starting lineup. I’m less likely to find WRs with similar upside later, so I’ll take my swings early and often. Since 2019, 61 WRs have averaged 10 to 15 PPR PPG (WR2-3 range). Over half (39) came from Rounds 2-6. But positional value has me reconsidering my approach.

The names already give away this concept, but Kyren Williams, Derrick Henry and Travis Etienne are different than most of the rushers you’ll find in the early rounds. There’s no projection required for us to see any of them breaking into the top five. Kyren was the RB2 last year. When healthy, all handled over 60.0% of their team’s carries with over three targets per game. Passing them up for another WR becomes another sliding-door moment by itself. 

Here’s where our tiers become useful. 

Based on the rankings and projections, I can make comparisons across positions to find Williams in Tier 3 with other WR1s like Drake London, Chris Olave and Brandon Aiyuk. Coincidentally, all were considered top picks by the draft assistant, so shifting my focus to RB (despite not being my preference) would still provide a strong start. Regardless, through three rounds, we can see each team start to round into form.

Of course, you’d never get these player combinations in your league. 

I realize this. I’m sorry. 

But remember, the names aren’t as important as their profile, especially if you can project similar workloads and offensive environments to players who will be available slightly later. Now, let’s close out the early rounds.

QBs and TEs start to come off the board in the fourth round. Again, the sixth spot gives me an advantage. In each draft, only one or two at each onesie position (QB or TE) was gone. I could choose to take a detour or focus on the core positions. Either way, I could use the rankings and projections as a guide instead of feeling like I had to force a decision.

I’ll call myself out and admit I’m not thrilled with the D’Andre Swift selection. Anecdotally, a guy on his third team who needed the best offensive line to peak as the RB17 isn’t an ideal target for me. But Swift does project to be the starter on what we expect to be a good offense under Caleb Williams. Plus, the former Lion and Eagle did hover around an 8.0% target share at his previous stops. So, if I #trusttheprocess, I should be open to the idea of Swift matching his ADP value.

Nonetheless, each team has its nucleus. I wouldn’t expect to swap out any of these players outside of bye weeks (except maybe Swift). With that in mind, the middle rounds would be about building depth.

Adding Depth in the Middle Rounds

Before diving into the seventh round and beyond, let’s take a step back and assess each team.

Teams 1 and 3 need a QB. Teams 2 and 3 need a TE. Everyone could use more RBs and WRs. Identifying gaps is a simple exercise to do and track as your draft unfolds. But we can take it a step further. I’ll use Team 2 as an example.

I used a Hero RB approach with Robinson as my anchor. With four cracks at WR afterward, my positional priority would look like this:

  • RB2
  • TE1
  • WR5

The key word is “priority.” While shoring up RB is my goal, I can’t sacrifice opportunity cost to fill a starter spot. As luck would have it, the tool (almost) presented me with another chance to pivot.

Trey McBride sits in Tier 4 after hitting top-three marks in YPRR and TPRR. Unsurprisingly, he was the last skill player in the tier. On the flip side, I could substitute Brian Robinson or Najee Harris for Zamir White in Tier 5. And both fell to the next round. Accordingly, having a similar (ever-changing) priority list allows you to draft without reaching. You’ll see the value in filling in or adding to other positions. And by adjusting my priorities before each round, I filled out each roster through Round 12.

Admittedly, I’m biased as an Ohio native, but I have yet to see Joe Burrow fall to the ninth round in any draft. Kyler Murray was also available, so I could still access another QB with a similar weekly upside. We also have a process for finding mid-round TEs, which would highlight a guy like David Njoku.

Between the archetypes and guardrails, we have to guide ourselves to optimal picks along with rankings and projections, but building a contending roster from the 1.06 isn’t as tough as it may seem.

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