- Bucky Irving could be a top-five running back: Irving ended last season as the feature back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and should start this season in a similar role.
- Garrett Wilson might lead the league in targets: Wilson is the clear top receiving option for the New York Jets and is reuniting with one of his college quarterbacks, which could be the recipe for a big season.
- Subscribe to PFF+: Get access to player grades, PFF Premium Stats, fantasy football rankings, all of the PFF fantasy draft research tools and more!
Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
This perfect draft strategy for 12-team, single quarterback, redraft, PPR fantasy football leagues uses a consensus of current average draft positions (ADPs) from ESPN, Sleeper and Yahoo! to deliver a round-by-round guide for managers picking eighth overall. To find more information about any player mentioned in this article, click on the player's name to find their fantasy football player profile.
Last updated: Wednesday, July 9
Round 1, Pick 8: Draft a wide receiver
Anyone picking from the middle of the first round to the end is either picking their top available wide receiver or a running back like Ashton Jeanty or Derrick Henry. There are six wide receivers ranked third to eighth, and seemingly no two analysts have the receivers in the same order. All of them could end up as the top overall wide receiver if everything goes well, but all of them are going through some changes with some combination of new play-callers, new quarterbacks and new competition for targets. In Brian Thomas Jr.’s player profile, I detail why I believe he is the best option of the group, but there are legitimate reasons to pick a different receiver. Based on ADP, Thomas typically falls to the start of the second round. This means it’s possible to select someone else with a higher ADP here and hope Thomas falls to this team in the second round.
© 2026 PFF - all rights reserved.