Training camps are opening, and fantasy football news is going to start coming thick and fast in the coming days. This is it. This is what we’ve waited for. In the words of Kevin McCallister, don’t get scared now. And practice with a fantasy football mock draft.
Whether you’ve done hundreds of drafts or ignored everything this offseason — and sometimes it feels like easy arguments can be made for either — now is definitively the time to lock in and get ready for your fantasy drafts. If you’re drafting from the 1.08 pick, this is how things currently stand. Read on to see who you should draft and who you should avoid.
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Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Pick 1.08
Players to Consider at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
These players will likely be available when you make your selection:
- Christian McCaffrey (RB – SF)
- Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR – DET)
- Jonathan Taylor (RB – IND)
- CeeDee Lamb (WR – DAL)
It’s likely that at least two of these players will be gone, if not three of the four, but the uncertainty about which player will be left makes it worth considering the pros and cons of each.
Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Ja’Marr Chase, Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba will all be off the board unless anything changes substantially between now and the clock starting.
Players to Target at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
Christian McCaffrey (RB – SF)
It’s true that Christian McCaffrey is coming off quite a poor year by his standards in the ground game, rushing for 3.9 yards per carry, his lowest mark since 2020 in Carolina. This ranked 48th among running backs with 50+ rush attempts, while also ranking 47th in yards after contact per attempt and 29th in missed tackles forced.
But for fantasy purposes, that simply didn’t matter, as McCaffrey saw 129 targets, more than A.J. Brown, Courtland Sutton, Keenan Allen or Zay Flowers had. McCaffrey was the RB1 in points per game, scoring 2.5 points more than the RB2.
Once again, the 49ers did very little to persuade us that they don’t believe in McCaffrey’s ability to be a workhorse, instead continuing their habit of talking up a later-round dart throw at the position, who’ll likely struggle to see any involvement.
McCaffrey is 30 years old, but like Derrick Henry, he seems as committed as anyone to working hard year-round. If he can PPR scam his way to another dominant receiving role, it’s hard not to argue in his favor if you’re OK with some risk.
It’s possible McCaffrey might be pushed higher in running back-heavy leagues, but if your league is risk-averse and is available here, you should embrace the risk and enjoy the discount.
Jonathan Taylor (RB – IND)
Jonathan Taylor was absolutely dominant for the first half of last season. Had Daniel Jones not gotten injured, Taylor most likely could have stayed effective throughout the whole season.
According to teams synced with our FantasyPros tools, the Colts back led all players in playoff advance rate at 66.8%. Simply drafting Taylor gave you a two-in-three chance of making the playoffs. Sadly, though, that wasn’t the whole story.
Taylor was the fantasy RB4 in points per game, but from Week 12 onwards, he was the RB21, with an explosive run rate of 0.7% (41st). He ranked 36th in yards after contact and scored only three rushing touchdowns.
Taylor is heading into a contract year, likely his last massive one, after turning 27 this offseason. He’ll be motivated, have his quarterback returning, who might need to lean on the run game more, and once again has virtually no competition for touches. There’s a very real world where Taylor is a top-two back this season. He makes too much sense at this point in the first round.
CeeDee Lamb (WR – DAL)
It was a really disappointing 2025 for CeeDee Lamb, posting the second-lowest numbers of his career in targets (117), receptions (75) and receiving yards (1,077), with only his rookie season in 2020 worse. He also had a career-low three touchdowns.
The newly arrived George Pickens recorded a 22.1% target share in the red zone compared to Lamb’s 18.6%, which was also behind Jake Ferguson, who led the team with 23.1%. Contrast this to 2024, when Lamb had a 27.7% red-zone target share and led the team by 10%. In 2023, it was 28.8% and also led the team by 10%.
If you’re happy to believe 2025 was a blip rather than the new normal, it becomes easier to see Lamb as a value pick in this range. Betting on Lamb’s well-established connection with Dak Prescott and this team as a whole to bounce back isn’t the worst bet in the world.
Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR – DET)
It’s more likely that Amon-Ra St. Brown is gone than CeeDee Lamb based on average draft position (ADP), with drafters more scared of Lamb’s competition than St. Brown’s competition.
When you draft St. Brown, you have a pretty solid idea of what you’re getting. He has recorded over 119 targets in every one of the five seasons he’s played in the NFL and scored double-digit touchdowns in each of the last three.
Perhaps the ceiling gets capped slightly if Jameson Williams trends upwards and Sam LaPorta is healthier, but the Lions were bad last season, and the most important thing is that they might have a competent play-caller once again in Drew Petzing.
The team has said they want to lean into what Jared Goff does best by using play-action passes heavily. That would be a bonus for St. Brown, who has consistently led the team in first-read target share on such plays.
Players to Avoid at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
Brock Bowers (TE – LV) & Trey McBride (TE – ARI)
Whether you prefer Brock Bowers or Trey McBride doesn’t really matter. Neither should be drafted this high. Last season, McBride averaged 18.6 PPR points per game, and Bowers averaged 15.5 in 2024, the better season of his two years in the NFL.
Five running backs and five wide receivers averaged more than 18.5 points per game in 2024, and 11 managed the same achievement in 2025. It’s incredibly hard for tight ends to score as highly as the top wide receivers and running backs, and both elite tight ends still have issues to face.
McBride caught fire with positive touchdown regression while the Cardinals led the league in passing, and he ran 67 more routes than any tight end in at least 20 years.
Bowers, meanwhile, is onto his third quarterback in three years and will be hoping that Fernando Mendoza adjusts quickly to the NFL. There’s no sense in reaching for one of these players unless your league features a TE-Premium scoring setting. Only then can both be in the argument for first-round picks.
James Cook (RB – BUF)
In 2024, James Cook dominated, scoring 16 touchdowns and rushing for 1,009 yards. That production seemed unsustainable. In 2025, he recorded 1,621 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns, and gave us even more reason to be confident.
The counter to this would be that Josh Allen is coming off his lowest passing yardage total since 2019 (3,668), and hasn’t thrown for more than 30 touchdowns in the last three seasons. However, the Bills seem positive their offense will take a step forward this year with the addition of DJ Moore under new head coach Joe Brady.
That remains to be seen. If it does happen, and the team scores more passing touchdowns and moves the ball better, could it come at the expense of Cook’s ceiling?
Roster Constructions to Consider at 1.08 Fantasy Football Draft Pick
The middle of the draft board always provides the most flexibility for draft strategy, and this year is no different, allowing us to start with either a wide receiver or a running back.
Starting WR/WR could let you lean into Zero RB with an elite tight end such as Brock Bowers or Trey McBride available in the second or third round. You could also draft your first running back between the likes of De’Von Achane, Jeremiyah Love and Breece Hall.
If you tilt towards a running back here, your wide receiver pick will likely come down to Drake London, Nico Collins or A.J. Brown.
Running back tends to dry up quicker than usual this year, but only having one wide receiver through three rounds can leave your wide receiver room struggling to catch up. It’s a good year to consider a more balanced approach.
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.
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