Fantasy Football: How to Draft From the 5th Spot

It's that time of year again. Your fantasy football league is gearing up for its annual draft, and you find yourself drafting from the fifth overall spot in the draft. Now what?

If you know where you're drafting ahead of time, you can absolutely plot out your course of action for draft day. Folks have been drafting teams all summer and a consensus has already begun to form for the average draft position (ADP) of each fantasy-viable player.

Savvy fantasy managers like yourself are more than capable of harnessing that information to leverage against their leaguemates -- especially with a little help from the FanDuel Research team.

Here are some tips for approaching your draft when you have the fifth overall pick.

Fantasy Football 5th Pick Strategy

Rounds 1 and 2

At this point, we're already starting to see a big 3 at the top of drafts consisting of Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, and Christian McCaffrey. If any of those players fall to you at the fifth pick don't hesitate to scoop them up in a hurry. If you aren't so lucky, you can usually expect to see a combination of Austin Ekeler, Cooper Kupp, Travis Kelce, and Tyreek Hill at your fingertips.

Each of those players has more than earned their high consensus ADPs and has a strong chance of finishing the year as the top fantasy players at their respective positions.

In the eyes of this analyst, Tyreek Hill is the best pick of the bunch at this point. Before quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's injuries derailed the Miami Dolphins' season, Hill was on pace to rival Calvin Johnson's receiving yard record. Age and injuries are less of a concern for Hill than for some of the other names at the top of the draft, and you'll want to lock in a true WR1 in any format that awards points for receptions.

The reasons for locking in an elite WR1 with your first pick become clearer once we move on to the second round. In a standard 12-team draft, having the fifth overall pick means you'll be drafting from the eighth spot in the second round (or the 20th pick overall). The wide receivers available in that area of the draft are no slouches on their own, but can't rival the projectable workloads of players like Hill and Kupp.

With a locked-in WR1 on your squad already, you can use your second round pick to sign an elite running back to your roster. Derrick Henry (ADP 21) and Josh Jacobs (ADP 22) are often available in this area of the draft and offer top-notch upside outside of the first round.

Rounds 3 and 4

A balanced start of WR/RB can work in any league setting, and keeps you flexible through the middle rounds drafts. You become less susceptible to runs at positions and can more comfortably spend up at positions like QB and TE that usually require only one starter each week.

With that in mind, the ideal circumstance here would be to snatch up an elite quarterback. Every league values those "onesie" positions differently, and if one of Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, or Jalen Hurts is still available in the third round, they should absolutely be at the top of your draft board. You can usually find mid-level fantasy quarterback play in the later rounds, but there's just no replacing the kind of high-end production those players put up week in and week out.

If those quarterbacks are already off the board, you should instead use your third- and fourth-round to lock in projectable workloads at the wide receiver position. There are only so many receivers in the league you can count on for weekly production, so making sure your roster has enough of them to start each week is of critical importance.

Names to monitor in these rounds include Chris Olave or Tee Higgins in the third and Deebo Samuel or Calvin Ridley in the fourth. Each of those players carries weekly top-12 upside at the position with the potential for big plays and touchdowns.

Rounds 5 and 6

If you've been following along to this point, your squad is probably already rocking two or three top WRs, a stud RB, and/or maybe one of the elite quarterbacks. Drafts start to get less predictable around this area, so it's a good time to start thinking about your draft in reverse order.

What does that mean?

Once you have your top starters locked into place, you can begin thinking about your draft from a bottom-up perspective. If you have some late-round sleepers in mind, start penciling them into the back end of your rosters: how does your roster look now?

If you find yourself liking a lot of wide receivers available in the later rounds, try taking running backs or a tight end in the fifth and sixth rounds. If your late-round targets include tight ends or quarterbacks, focus on bolstering your depth at running back and receiver in the meantime.

The worst-case scenario at this point is having to pass up your favorite late-round sleeper because your team is already fully stocked at that player's position. Have some faith in your predictions for late-round players and plan ahead with your mid-round picks.

If you do like some late-round receivers, try to lock in some guaranteed running back production in rounds 5 and 6. Backs like James Conner and Alexander Mattison don't have much competition for touches in their own backfields and could bring up to 20 touches a week to your fantasy squads at a discount. If there are some running back handcuffs you like later on this year, use these picks to bolster your receiver room. Players like Jerry Jeudy and Drake London should have solid weekly workloads and could blossom into weekly WR1s if things break in their favor.

Takeaways

Picking in the middle of the draft allows you to stay light on your feet on draft day. If a stud player falls past their average ADP and into your lap, you can feel comfortable taking them even if you already have a few other starters at the position. It insulates you from the potential of a "run" at a position, where several managers in a row focus on one position and cut you out of the fun.

Following the ideas outlined in this article should give your team a strong backbone on draft day, while also allowing you to capitalize on players that slide past their ADPs.

The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.