Tom Strachan | Wed, Jun 5th 2024, 7:08am EDT

Fantasy Football Mock Draft: How to Approach Pick 1.02 (2024)

The NFL season will be here faster than expected, and before that comes the all-important fantasy football drafting season! What better way to prepare for your fantasy football draft than completing FREE mocks with our fantasy football mock draft simulator?

This series will give you an overview of what you can expect to see no matter which first-round pick you draw. In what feels like a very strong first round in 2024, nailing your picks will be more important than ever.

Let’s dive into our approach for the fantasy football 1.02 pick for upcoming drafts. We look into the players likely to be available, those to target/avoid and a mock draft from the pick to help you prepare for your fantasy football league.

Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Pick 1.02

Players to Consider at 1.02 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

Here are players that are likely to be available when you make your selection:

Players to Target at 1.02 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

Christian McCaffrey, currently the clear consensus 1.01 choice, will likely already be gone. If he slips for any reason, he’s absolutely in play. Otherwise – if available – you should target these fantasy football players at the 1.02 draft pick.

CeeDee Lamb (WR – DAL)

The Cowboys were sluggish and discombobulated to start the 2023 season, but everything changed after their bye in Week 7. Lamb had been the PPR WR24, scoring 14.9 points per game (PPG) during Weeks 1-7, but then dominated across the back half of the season, scoring 28.0 PPG, 6.9 more than the next closest receiver. Lamb was a certified league-winner.

Since then, the Cowboys have done absolutely zero to upgrade their pass-catchers, and the answer at running back got as far as bringing back Ezekiel Elliott, despite him posting career-lows in success rate and long runs in 2023. Lamb could be even better in 2024 if he’s consistently used as he was for the second half of the 2023 season. He can be the closest competitor to McCaffrey’s crown of “Most Valuable Skill Position Player.”

Tyreek Hill (WR – MIA)

It’s fair to question if Tyreek Hill will be as dominant in 2024 as he was in 2023 when part of his success came at the expense of Jaylen Waddle, who struggled through injuries. Still, Hill’s ceiling outcomes are incredibly high, and the further into round one we get, the more he has to be in play. Hill had nine top-five weekly finishes in PPR leagues, and if he hadn’t ended the season with a spell of three games finishing as WR15 or lower, he could have been a league-winner.

If Mike McDaniel can find a way to get season-long consistency out of Tua Tagovailoa, then the Dolphins’ offense might finally be able to ascend to the next level. Another positive for Hill’s fantasy value is that the Dolphins’ defense lost several key pieces in free agency, and cornerback Xavien Howard was a cap-casualty.

Ja’Marr Chase (WR – CIN)

If Tee Higgins gets traded, we could have a very real conversation about Ja’Marr Chase going as the 1.01 in fantasy drafts. Still, this feels unlikely, given that the Bengals are so anemic when it comes to making trades, frequently failing to grasp the concept that you can get better, even if it involves trading a talented player. Higgins instead seems set to follow Jessie Bate’s path of being tagged by the Bengals and then being allowed to walk, particularly now that the Bengals know extending Chase will likely cost them very close to, or if not more than, the $35 million a year Justin Jefferson got.

Per Jacob Gibbs, when Tyler Boyd has been off the field over the past two seasons, Chase’s targets per route run rate rose from 24.1% to 27.6%. Chase also benefits from playing more often in the slot when Boyd isn’t on the field, which players like Jefferson and Lamb have greatly benefited from. This allows them to accumulate easy catches in addition to the high-value ones they already see. The Bengals face one of the easiest strengths of schedules thanks to finishing fourth in the AFC North last year, and if Burrow can stay healthy, Chase can be an elite fantasy option in 2024.

Players to Avoid at 1.02 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

Here are a few potential fantasy football draft landmines that you should avoid:

Justin Jefferson (WR – MIN)

Despite only playing 10 games in 2023, Justin Jefferson managed to put up 1,000 yards. Still, it felt like a disappointing season for the consensus 1.01 from 2023 drafts. With a carousel of quarterbacks filling in for Kirk Cousins, Jefferson continued to do his best to pay off the high draft cost fantasy managers had paid for him.

Still, there is reason to believe Jefferson’s numbers might have been pushed higher than we can expect in 2024. After TJ Hockenson was injured Jefferson saw over a 25% increase in his points per game output, jumping from 19.6 to 24.5. This was at a point in the season where the running game lacked consistency, as the team picked up the fourth-fewest rushing yards in the league. With the Vikings bringing in Aaron Jones, there’s reason to believe that area could improve this year.

It’s also noteworthy that Jefferson will play with a rookie quarterback in J.J. McCarthy, who divides opinions and wasn’t a high-volume passer in college. Jefferson is a fine mid-round one pick this year, but there’s no need to take him over Lamb or McCaffrey.

Bijan Robinson (RB – ATL) & Breece Hall (RB – NYJ)

If McCaffrey is off the board, it could be tempting to consider one of the other elite running backs in round one, either Bijan Robinson or Breece Hall. However, that could be a mistake. Hall and Robinson look to benefit massively from improved quarterback play in 2024, which isn’t saying much. Still, the difference in their production compared to the elite receivers is worth considering.

Robinson averaged 13.8 points per game in 2023 and has Tyler Allgeier hanging around. Meanwhile, Hall averaged 16.3 points, and the Jets just drafted two other running backs. A legendary season could be on the cards for one or even both of these players, but the wide receivers in this range have given us bigger and better samples across their careers and deserve to be taken ahead of them.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft From the 1.02 Pick

We used our FREE fantasy football mock draft simulator to show you an example of a draft from the 1.02 position. You can sync your league for free and mock draft against your fantasy football league settings to prepare more specifically for your draft.

Here’s how our fantasy football mock draft from the 1.02 position turned out:

Full Mock Draft Results

Fitz’s Fantasy Football Draft Primers

Expert Must-Have Draft Picks

Erickson’s Top Fantasy Football Draft Targets (Premium)

Expert Players to Avoid

DBro’s Players to Avoid (Premium)

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