Tom Strachan | Sun, Aug 25th 2024, 7:23am EDT

Fantasy Football Mock Draft: How to Approach Pick 1.08 (2024)

It is 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 1.08 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 draft.

Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Pick 1.08

Players to Consider at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

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

Players to Target at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

If available, you should target these players at the 1.08 draft pick.

Bijan Robinson (RB – ATL)

No team in the NFL received such a significant offensive upgrade this offseason than the Atlanta Falcons. While the Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix quarterback situation is messy, at best, it ensures the Falcons’ skill position players will have adequate quarterback play this year; something that was impossible to say in the past two seasons under Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder.

Bijan Robinson out-touched Tyler Allgeier 272 to 204 in 2023 and had 78 targets to Allgeier’s 20, but was kept off the field in the red zone with 23 touches to Allgeier’s 36, including only three carries inside the five-yard line versus Allgeier’s six. Everything we’ve heard from the new coaching staff since they took over from the fantasy football demon — Arthur Smith — suggests this will no longer be the case. The coaching staff predominantly comes from the Sean McVay coaching tree, who has a history of preferring to lean on one running back, rather than using a committee (which would be sensible when you have Robinson under contract). Whether it’s Cousins or Penix, either should be an efficient quarterback and keep the team on the field more often. This would be welcome after the Falcons finished eighth-lowest in drive success rate, a statistic that measures how frequently a drive resulted in points for the offense. Robinson was viewed as generational back when he was drafted and it’s not too late for him to show us that was warranted.

Breece Hall (RB – NYJ)

Despite playing with a miserable set of quarterbacks and a horrible offensive line (not to mention coming off an ACL injury), Breece Hall led all running backs last season with 93 targets and was second in receptions with 74. Due to the ineptness of the Jets’ offense, however, Hall finished with only eight touchdowns, tied for 17th-most among the position. Thirty-six other running backs had more attempts inside the red zone than Hall and the Jets ranked fourth-worst in percentage of drives to end in points (26%). Even with an aged Aaron Rodgers, that should be better this year. Hall has overall RB1 potential in his outlook.

Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR – DET)

After the true elite wide receivers are off the board, Amon-Ra St. Brown represents the best of the rest. Over three seasons, St. Brown has 3,588 receiving yards on 429 targets — the sixth-most among wide receivers in that spell, only trailing Davante Adams (524), Tyreek Hill (500), Stefon Diggs (478), CeeDee Lamb (457) and Justin Jefferson (451). In 27 of 52 career games, St. Brown has managed to record either 80+ receiving yards or score a touchdown, giving fantasy managers a fantastic floor and an excellent ceiling with the sixth-most 20+ point PPR games in the last three years. St. Brown feels like less of a safe pick than those who come before him in average draft position (ADP). The Lions ran hot in 2023 and their offense looks well set for the long term. But if Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta make second-year leaps (which is not uncommon) and Jameson Williams finally has a clean offseason, then it could eat into St. Brown’s volume somewhat. Although, if you don’t like the running backs at the 1.08, St. Brown is the clear choice.

Players to Avoid at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

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

Jahmyr Gibbs (RB – DET)

The Lions didn’t receive much praise for the perceived reach of Jahmyr Gibbs in the 2023 NFL Draft, but a little over a year later it’s clear they made a good choice. Unfortunately for Gibbs, David Montgomery is still in Detroit and will be capping Gibbs’ upside for the foreseeable future. The Lions continue to say they plan on running a committee between Montgomery and Gibbs in 2024 and it makes sense given their abilities mesh well. Montgomery led the backfield in touches last year with 17.3 per game to Gibbs’s 15.8 and also led the pair with 4.0 evaded tackles per game compared to Gibbs who had 3.5. Gibbs produced explosive runs with a massive 8.88% big run rate, which dwarfed Montgomery’s 3.83%. Still, the Lions preferred Montgomery at the goal line which kept him very fantasy-relevant. Gibbs deserves to go around the end of the first round, but not this high in drafts.

Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR – ARI)

The Cardinals selected Marvin Harrison Jr. with the fourth overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft as they try their best to surround Kyler Murray with enough talent to help him succeed and return value on his contract. Harrison is currently the WR8 in ADP, which for a rookie is awfully high.

When Justin Jefferson entered the league in 2020, he had 88 receptions for 1,400 yards and finished as the WR11 in PPR formats. Ja’Marr Chase had 81 receptions for 1,455 yards a year later and finished as the WR5. This is the level that Harrison has to ascend to in his rookie season to pay off. Still, the associated cost is much higher than before, with Jefferson available as WR48 in his rookie year and Chase as WR29.

Harrison has upside, but at this cost, there is also a downside with the other wide receivers in this range being easier clicks.

Roster Constructions to Consider at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

When drafting from the 1.08, we are at the back end of a tier of top-end players. While the ones coming afterward are also great players, there are a few questions about their ceiling outcomes. Wide receivers dry up very quickly in this year’s drafts. However, your build in the first two rounds will dictate how you attack the rest of the draft.

If we’re able to select Breece Hall or Bijan Robinson, then it’s best to consider a Hero RB approach and not take a second running back in round two (likely Saquon Barkley or Jonathan Taylor). By round three, the quality of our WR1 will be quite far behind the rest of our league. If you select a WR in the first round, this year’s ADP sets up nicely to wait till round four or later to take your first RB, with Zero RB very much the flavor of 2024.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft From the 1.08 Pick

We used our FREE fantasy football mock draft simulator to show you an example of a draft from the 1.08 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 1.08 position turned out.

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