Fantasy Football draft prep 2021: Drafting my best team from No. 2 overall in a PPR league (2024)

When you've got the No. 2 pick in a Fantasy Football draft this year, you've also got the first decision to make. Christian McCaffrey is going to go No. 1 and it should require exactly zero seconds of consideration to come to that conclusion. But the No. 2 pick will require at least a little bit of deliberation, even if most drafters will ultimately settle on Dalvin Cook there.

But not me. At least, not in a full-PPR league. For me, the choice is Alvin Kamara. It's not an obvious choice, but Kamara's playmaking in the passing game is the differentiator for me. No matter what choice you make, you know you're going to have an elite RB from one of the first three picks, so when it comes to building your team, the real decisions come later. With the No. 2 pick in our latest pick-by-pick series, I decided to go with a balance build from this spot, with two running backs, two wide receivers, and a tight end in my first five picks.

How did it turn out? See for yourself:

• 1.2: Alvin Kamara
• 2.11: Allen Robinson
• 3.2: George Kittle
• 4.11: Miles Sanders
• 5.2: Tee Higgins
• 6.11: Javonte Williams
• 7.2: Deebo Samuel
• 8.11: D.J. Chark
• 9.2: Will Fuller
• 10.11: Emmanuel Sanders
• 11.2: Leonard Fournette
• 12.11: Bryan Edwards
• 13.2: Justin Fields
• 14.11: Tua Tagovailoa
• 15.2: Rashaad Penny

I'm generally not the kind of player who is going to double up on RB from this spot, but I would have been happy to if David Montgomery fell to me. When he didn't, I decided to go with Allen Robinson, betting that Jamey Eisenberg wouldn't take George Kittle with either of his two picks at the turn. I bet right, and ended up with my No. 2 running back, my No. 6 wide receiver, and my No. 2 tight end to start the draft. So far, so good.

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Round 4 is where things start to get complicated, and I'm still not sure if Miles Sanders was the right choice there. Myles Gaskin and Mike Davis went off the board right before that pick and Gus Edwards went right after, and while I do have Sanders ranked ahead of them, I have no real faith in that order. I like Sanders as a talent, but if he can't figure out his issues with drops, is he just an early downs back? And if that's the case, is he really better than Edwards?

This is where chasing positions might have let me down. If I wasn't thrilled about the remaining running back options, shouldn't I have just gone with two wide receivers at the four-five turn? I could have ended up with Tee Higgins and Jerry Jeudy there and probably felt a lot better about my situation. I always say, putting a priority on filling out your starting lineup instead of just taking the players you like best can steer you astray, and I worry that may be what happened here.

PPR series drafting:1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |8 |9 |10 |11 |12

I still ended up with pretty good wide receiver options, though your mileage may vary depending on how much you like Deebo Samuel, D.J. Chark, and Will Fuller as your WR3. I'm pretty confident one of them will emerge as a must-start player -- Fuller is my pick -- but if something happens to Robinson or Higgins, it starts to get dicey. Especially because I took Javonte Williams in the sixth round as a contingency plan in light of my concerns about Sanders. A butterfly flaps its wings, I draft Miles Sanders, and look at the consequences.

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Still, this is definitely a high-upside team build, with breakout candidates like Higgins, Williams, Samuel, Fuller, Edwards -- plus my quarterbacks. I took Justin Fields in the 13th, and he remains one of my favorite picks in all drafts because of his considerable upside. I followed that up with Tua Tagovailoa, my favorite breakout QB, to start while Fields waits for the Bears to do the right thing and hand him the starting job. If you don't love Tagovailoa's Week 1 matchup against the Patriots, you can consider Baker Mayfield against the Chiefs, Matt Ryan against the Eagles at home, Kirk Cousins against the Bengals, Trevor Lawrence against the Jaguars, or even Tyrod Taylor against the Jaguars. Among that group, only Lawrence was picked in this one.

The nice thing about picking this early is, even if you don't love some of your picks, that elite RB anchoring your team will always give you a chance.

Favorite Pick

Projections powered by Sportsline

Will Fuller WR

MIA Miami • #3
Age: 30 • Experience: 7 yrs.

Fantasy Breakdown (PPR)
OVERALL RNK 107th	WR RNK 49th	PROJ PTS 214.6	SOS 23	ADP 108

2020 Stats
REC 53	TAR 75	REYDS 879	TD 8	FPTS/G 17.2

ADP might say this is a bit of a reach, but when you're picking at the end of a round, you can't worry about trivial things like ADP. If you want someone and it's about the point in the draft where you think they should get drafted, pull the trigger, because it's a long time until you're picking again. And I really like Fuller, who was comparable to A.J. Brown on a per-game basis last season. Obviously, this is a different situation, plus I'll be without him in Week 1 as he finishes serving his suspension from last season, but I'm confident in Tagovailoa taking that step forward, and Fuller is going to be a big part of that as his No. 1 WR.

Pick I Might Regret

Projections powered by Sportsline

Miles Sanders RB

CAR Carolina • #6
Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs.

Fantasy Breakdown (PPR)
OVERALL RNK 54th	RB RNK 24th	PROJ PTS 206.7	SOS 17	ADP 49

2020 Stats
RUYDS 867	REC 28	REYDS 197	TD 6	FPTS/G 14.2

I pretty much covered this one, but I will say, missing out on Kenneth Gainwell later in the draft only compounds my frustration. Sanders may get a chance to prove he can still be the playmaker he was in the passing game as a rookie, and if he takes advantage, this pick will put me at a huge advantage. If he doesn't, he's an early-down runner whose QB will likely be a factor in the red zone, making him a pretty boring Fantasy option.

Make or Break Pick

Projections powered by Sportsline

George Kittle TE

SF San Francisco • #85
Age: 30 • Experience: 8 yrs.

Fantasy Breakdown (PPR)
OVERALL RNK 28th	TE RNK 3rd	PROJ PTS 287	SOS 4	ADP 23

2020 Stats
REC 48	TAR 63	REYDS 634	TD 2	FPTS/G 15.6

Kittle is kind of the pivot point for any team he gets drafted on. Taking him at 26th overall is a value in my eyes, but it also necessarily means you passed on either a high-end RB or an elite WR to get him. If he puts up 1,200 yards, you won't mind. However, Kittle has more target competition than ever, a potentially awkward QB handoff coming at some point, and his history of injuries over the past few seasons. He's the make-or-break player on every roster he's on.

So which sleepers, breakouts and busts should you target and fade? And which QB shocks the NFL with a top-five performance? Visit SportsLine now to get Fantasy cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called Josh Allen's huge season, and find out.