- PFF Live Draft Assistant takes control: After Lamar Jackson was selected at No. 1.09, the tool guided nearly every remaining pick in a 22-round superflex startup draft.
- Early rounds delivered proven production: Jonathan Taylor, Trey McBride and Kyren Williams joined Jackson among the first five selections after strong 2025 fantasy seasons.
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It’s fantasy draft season, hip-hip hooray.
I had a startup draft not long ago, and I had an idea just before it started: What if I let the PFF Live Draft Assistant draft every single player outside of my first-rounder?
For readers who are unaware, the PFF Live Draft Assistant syncs with your league and tells you who to draft in real time, using PFF rankings, projections and your league’s ADP to help you stay one step ahead of your leaguemates.
We’ll be doing midseason and end-of-season check-ins to see how it went. The league format is superflex. My first-round pick was Lamar Jackson at 1.09.
We’ll analyze the picks in bunches. Let’s get rolling.
Rounds 1-5: Lamar Jackson (1.09), Jonathan Taylor (2.02), Trey McBride (3.02), DeVonta Smith (4.09), Kyren Williams (5.02)
It was a strong start to go with Jackson, who finished as the QB20, although that was largely due to injury. He started like a house on fire from a fantasy standpoint, finishing as the QB4, QB3 and QB3 over the first three weeks before injuries took hold.
The PFF Live Draft Assistant drafted two of the top backs in the league within the first five rounds. Given how many of the league’s best and most fantasy-relevant backs have succumbed to injury during camp while Taylor and Williams have not, this is welcome.
Taylor finished 2025 as the RB4, while Williams snuck into the top 10 as the RB9. No back had as many weekly RB1 overall finishes as Taylor, with four. However, his production declined after the Colts’ Week 11 bye, and he didn’t register a single weekly top-10 finish after that.
Snagging McBride, who had eight weeks where he finished as either the TE1 or TE2, in the third round as, essentially, my WR1 is also something we’re here for.
Rounds 6-10: Luther Burden III (6.09), Tee Higgins (7.02), Kyler Murray (8.09), D‘Andre Swift (9.02), Michael Wilson (10.09)
Luther Burden III, no matter what.
The Live Draft Assistant actually wanted me to take Javonte Williams here, but it also gave me a 69.0 grade for taking Burden in this spot, the second-highest grade among the options. So, I took that as a green light to draft him.
Burden played 402 offensive snaps in 2025. With DJ Moore departing, there is an opportunity for him to see the field even more. His 7.3 yards after the catch per reception ranked third out of 81 qualifying receivers, and it shows his ability to take short passes and turn them into big gains.
I have mixed feelings about the Murray pick. At the time, Sam Darnold was still on the board, and C.J. Stroud was still on the board, too.
Alas, it was Murray. Of 45 qualifying quarterbacks, Murray ranked 22nd in PFF grade last year — granted, he suited up for only five games. His rushing upside gives him potential, as does having Justin Jefferson as his primary receiver and Kevin O’Connell as his head coach.
Rounds 11-15: Tyler Shough (11.02), Jayden Higgins (12.09), Rico Dowdle (13.02), Blake Corum (14.09) and Denzel Boston (15.02)
Jayden Higgins went down with an ACL injury not long after this draft concluded, which was an irritating blow. Higgins was coming off a solid season in which he earned a 68.4 overall PFF grade. He logged just 525 receiving yards but recorded a respectable six touchdowns and commanded an 18.5% target share.
Dowdle as the RB4 on the squad was great value in Round 13. Although he may split time with Jaylen Warren in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ backfield, Dowdle ranked 14th with 1,076 rushing yards on his way to an RB17 finish, just one spot ahead of his new backfield mate. Dowdle had three weekly RB2 finishes in a five-week span from Weeks 5 through 9, but outside of that, it was a mix of middling RB2 and really low-end RB4 production.
Corum is a nice handcuff to Williams. His 5.1 yards per carry ranked fourth out of 55 qualifying running backs, and he still managed 746 rushing yards, with Williams leading the backfield. Corum has very limited standalone value but could become a week-winner if Williams were to miss time.
Rounds 16-22: Chris Bell (16.09), MarShawn Lloyd (17.02), Geno Smith (18.09), Rachaad White (19.02), Caleb Douglas (20.09), Shedeur Sanders (21.02) and Cyrus Allen (22.09)
I mean, somebody has to catch passes from new Miami Dolphins signal-caller Malik Willis, right? The Live Draft Assistant recognized that as well, drafting Bell and Douglas in the late rounds.
Given Josh Jacobs’ pending legal situation, Lloyd looks like a shrewd pickup in the 17th, while Smith is a savvy veteran and a solid fourth quarterback to grab in the late rounds.
Sanders had a torrid run as the starter last season, ranking 42nd out of 43 qualifying quarterbacks in PFF grade, but he's one or two bad Deshaun Watson games away from retaking his place as the Browns‘ starter.
White is a neat late-round running back grab even with Jacory Croskey-Merritt likely leading the backfield. Croskey-Merritt’s status as a late-round pick by the Washington Commanders last season, combined with White’s pass-catching chops, could allow the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer to eat into his new running mate’s workload.
Croskey-Merritt was impressive last season, scoring eight touchdowns as a rookie, 12th among qualifying running backs, while his 3.5 yards after contact per attempt ranked seventh at the position.
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