Fantasy Football Pick 12 Strategy: How to Draft From the 12 Spot

Fantasy Football 12th Pick in 12-Team Leagues

When looking at the best and worst draft positions in fantasy football this season, picking near the end of the first round really stands out. Picking right at the turn (No. 12 overall in 12-team leagues) is one of my favorite spots to draft this year, with those back-to-back picks in Round 1 and 2 offering a ton of value.

Fantasy Football Pick 12 Strategy

So how can fantasy football drafters best take advantage of drawing the No. 12 pick in 2022? Here's a guide to the best draft strategy at 12.

Round 1/Round 2

Obviously by picking at No. 12 you'll have the last choice of first-round picks in your draft. This means that even if a premium player falls a bit, they'll probably be off the board before you can snap up a steal.

If someone like Davante Adams, Joe Mixon or Ja'Marr Chase does fall, you'll want to grab them in Round 1. If not, you've probably got your choice of any one of D'Andre Swift, Stefon Diggs and Travis Kelce.

Of course it doesn't really matter who you officially take in Round 1 or Round 2, since you're picking back-to-back, so think of your ideal roster construction strategy here.

If you like the zero-RB approach, starting Kelce-Diggs is about as good as it gets. If you prefer the upside of an elite running back, however, it's hard not to like Swift-Diggs or Swift-Kelce either. All three of these players are pretty much dead even in average draft position (ADP) and in rankings, so it's all about which positions you want to target.

Round 3/Round 4

The draft order tends to get a little more vague into late Round 2 and most of Round 3, so you'll have an improved chance of getting a steal falling to you at this turn. And even if you don't, you'll be in a pretty good spot.

If you're taking the zero-RB approach then your priority should be grabbing someone like Keenan Allen, Kyle Pitts or Tee Higgins if they fall. If they don't, then you'll probably have your choice of either Patrick Mahomes or Justin Herbert at quarterback.

If running backs are on your radar, this turn is a great spot to target them. David Montgomery is probably the lowest-drafted workhorse out there, and his ADP of 35.0 means he could easily be available for you. James Conner and Antonio Gibson have more question marks but should be in for big workloads, and if you're looking for the high-risk, high-reward upside pick then you could look at Breece Hall.

Round 5/Round 6

The Round 5/6 turn is another spot that's great for zero-RB drafters, and part of why I love the strategy when you're picking 12th this year.

The players with an ADP right around 60 (the final pick of Round 5) are Chris Godwin, Kyler Murray, Amari Cooper, Brandin Cooks, Courtland Sutton and Darnell Mooney. If you didn't take Mahomes or Herbert then you can still grab a QB with elite upside while adding another great wideout (especially if you land Cooper or Sutton).

If you do want a running back at this stage, options are kind of limited. You could reach for someone like Damien Harris or maybe Clyde Edwards-Helaire, but unless AJ Dillon, J.K. Dobbins or Elijah Mitchell fall to you, you really won't want to address the position here.

Later Rounds

The later you get in the draft the less you can have planned out in advance, and you need to react to who you've been drafting and how things are playing out, so you'll want to follow a more general fantasy football snake draft strategy at this point.

There are still some things to consider that are unique about picking at the turn, though.

You're going to see huge runs on positions between your picks, but don't let that scare you. It's easy to want to reach on a defense for fear of seeing 10 go off the board before you have a chance. Don't sweat it if that happens, though. You can just stream defenses and scoop up some high-upside sleepers that happened to fall while everyone was scrambling to grab mid-tier defenses that they'll probably end up dropping after a few games anyway.

Note ahead of time if your draft has an odd or even number of rounds. If it's odd, you'll have the final pick of the draft. You should typically be taking a kicker in the last round, but if you're getting the 12th-best kicker anyway then you're probably better off just not drafting one. Grab a running back handcuff to hold through the last couple weeks of training camp/preseason just in case they become valuable. You can always drop them for the best available kicker (who you would've drafted anyway) a few days before the season starts.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.