Full disclosure up front: I don’t like drafting from pick 10. I was randomly assigned the 10 spot in our Roto Street Journal 2024 fantasy football draft, but if given the option, I would steer far clear of this position.
Most of the “elite” talent is gone by pick 10, so you’re taking a player in the first round with less potential than those drafted earlier. The worst part is that whoever you take in round 2 is also not likely to give you much of an advantage over the guys taken later in the 2nd round, so you’re not making up any deficit from the first round.
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The Roto Street Journal staff league has the following format: Half-PPR scoring (Start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex, 1 K, 1 DEF; 6 Bench Slots; 1 IR slot)
READ MORE: “How to draft” from the… 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 pick
Check out our full 2024 Fantasy Football Draft Breakdown!
2024 RSJ Fantasy Football Draft Results
HOW TO DRAFT FROM PICK 10 IN 2024 FANTASY FOOTBALL
Early Round Draft Strategy for Pick 10
As I was saying earlier, I don’t particularly like the 10 spot. I think it leaves you vulnerable to ending up with a solid team but not an exciting one– like the one I drafted here. I could have taken a few more chances to add some “excitement,” but I prefer building a strong core and being vigilant for opportunities to upgrade my weak spots through trades and waivers throughout the season. Basically, build a strong enough team to make the playoffs through the draft, and then spend the season positioning yourself to win the playoffs from there.
I didn’t necessarily plan to go as heavy at WR as I did early; I just liked the options available at WR more than the RB in the rounds that I took them.
In the first round I basically had the option of one of A.J. Brown, Jonathan Taylor or Jahmyr Gibbs. I didn’t find any other options compelling enough to take at that spot. Ultimately I went with AJ Brown because I think he provided the most stable floor with the ability to perform at the level of some of the WR who went before him in round 1. If anybody prefers the upside of Gibbs, I wouldn’t look down on that option, I just would rather not spend a 1st round pick on a RB unless they are in a full bellcow role.
I followed my Brown start up with Chris Olave and DK Metcalf the following two rounds. Admittedly, this start would be more exciting if this were a full PPR league instead of 0.5 PPR but I still think they were the best available options in rounds 2 and 3. I considered taking Saquon Barkley in round 2 over Olave but decided against it because I already had one Eagle in the first round and prefer to have my top end picks on different teams.
With my WR core set, I felt like I had to address RB in the 4th, so I took Rachaad White, who still gets undervalued despite the fact that he handled 75% of his team’s RB carries last year, and he’s a reception machine. Tampa drafted Bucky Irving, but that speaks more to the fact that they really had nobody else behind White rather than a concern about White’s playing time. This is exactly the kind of full-time RB I want as my anchor, and taking a guy like this after building a WR advantage was huge for me.
Once again, in the 5th round, I came back with a WR. I was originally planning for my second RB or a high-quality TE, but George Kittle was the only TE I still liked, and Tee Higgins is a guy who I think should have been gone in round 4 at the latest, so I decided to just go with the value in Higgins.
Of course, Kittle went a few picks later before I could take him in the 6th. As such, I grabbed David Montgomery there to finish off my RB situation. Again, it’s not necessarily an exciting pick, but as my RB2, he can put up 1,000 yards and double-digit TDs, which I will never scoff at.
Mid-Round Draft Strategy for Pick 10
My main goal in the middle rounds was to fill in the positions that I had neglected to this point (QB and TE) and add some depth, especially at RB as I drafted my starters there later and my WR core looked amazing.
I was on the prowl for a TE in round 7, but similar to earlier, the only TE I liked here was Jake Ferguson. With one of the two drafters behind me already having a TE, I figured I could push it one more round on Ferguson.
Instead, I turned my attention to quarterback, Joe Burrow, who was still calling to me. I got Burrow as the QB8 in this draft, and he’s an easy top-five QB in my rankings, so I had to jump all over that value.
As a side note, I’m not really into the whole stacking strategy for redraft leagues. It’s a DFS move that drafters seem to have latched onto in non-DFS settings, and I don’t think there is any evidence that it is helpful outside of DFS. But, if you’re a stacking believer, Burrow stacks with Tee Higgins, my 5th rounder, quite nicely.
So, in taking Burrow, I F’ed around and found out on Jake Ferguson. Like Kittle before, he was sniped before my next pick. At that point, I figured I would just wait until I was the last guy to take a draft a TE, so I came back with D’Andre Swift, who I feel fine about as my third option at running back. I wouldn’t want to start him every week, but he’s capable of some big games, and I’ll just hope he goes off on weeks when he’s in my lineup.
The next two rounds I finally filled my TE spot and I grabbed one final WR in Courtland Sutton as the No. 1 option in a bit of an unknown Broncos passing game. At this point in the draft, I’m fine with taking Sutton, who should lead his team in targets and touchdowns. Even if they are run-heavy (as I expect they will be), the alpha receiver in Sean Payton’s offenses always produces at a solid level, as Sutton did last year.
I’m not in love with Dallas Goedert as my TE1 but when he’s on the field, he usually puts up top 8-10 TE numbers so I don’t hate it either. Especially because I think I have an advantage at WR, a solid couple of RBs and a QB that I’m super happy with – I can take a little less production at TE and be fine.
To finish out the middle rounds, I took a flier on two upside rookie RBs. Kimani Vidal and Audric Estime. I think both of these guys have the potential to carve out 1B roles on run heavy teams with the possibility for even more if there are injuries or ineffective play above them on the depth chart. Kyren Williams was a league winner last year, and while I’m not saying either of these guys is Kyren, I think either could enter into high-end RB2 territory very quickly if given a starting role. These are also the kind of running backs who I can just move on from in week 3 or 4 if they haven’t done anything yet and there’s a waiver wire player making big noise.
Late-Round Draft Strategy for Pick 10
To end the draft I was looking to just fill in my Kicker and Defense positions and the last few bench spots.
I started with Cole Kmet because I wanted to hedge my bet on Goedert and we don’t know who Caleb Williams will develop a rapport with yet. Conventional wisdom suggests that the trio of WR in Chicago will do the most damage based on their talent, but sometimes rookie QBs rely heavily on their TE. If it looks like Kmet develops great chemistry with Williams early, then I might have gotten a steal; if not, I can move on from him easily enough.
I also drafted another Bear in Roschon Johnson. He was a draft darling last year and I have Swift who is brittle, so just handcuffing to make sure I have a warm body to throw out there on my bye weeks.
There isn’t much to say about the Kicker and Defense. I was the first to take a DST, which I normally wouldn’t do, but the 49ers DST looks super strong, and it was the third to last round, so I didn’t feel like it was a reach. Evan McPherson was my pick at Kicker, as I feel like he should be a top option with a (hopefully) resurgent Cincinnati offense this year.
I will say, as a side note, some people will advocate not taking a kicker or a defense unless you have to. A wasted spot, they’ll say. I get the idea behind the thinking – maximize your roster spots for as long as you can.
However, in practice, I’ve never seen any real value in that. You have to arbitrarily guess the correct person to draft in the last two rounds instead of those mandatory positions and then some major news has to somehow happen in the preseason to change that player’s value. It sounds great in theory, but it rarely actually works out.
I’d much rather get one of the top defenses and/or kickers than play the guessing game with the 12th best option and beyond at those positions the day before the season starts just because I had to hoard some WR6 who I’m dropping anyways. There are cases where I’d do this, and I don’t begrudge anyone else for doing it, just saying don’t be afraid to just take your kicker and your D if you like a guy at those positions.
MY TEAM FROM PICK 10 IN 2024 FANTASY FOOTBALL:
- 1.10: A.J. Brown, WR, PHI
- 2.3: Chris Olave, WR, NO
- 3.10: DK Metcalf, WR, SEA
- 4.3: Rachaad White, RB, TB
- 5.10: Tee Higgins, WR, CIN
- 6.3: David Montgomery, RB, DET
- 7.10: Joe Burrow, QB, CIN
- 8.3: D’Andre Swift, RB, CHI
- 9.10: Courtland Sutton, WR, DEN
- 10.3: Dallas Goedert, TE, PHI
- 11.10: Kimani Vidal, RB, LAC
- 12.3 Audric Estime, RB, DEN
- 13.10: Cole Kmet, TE, CHI
- 14.3: San Francisco 49ers, D, SF
- 15.10: Evan McPherson, K, CIN
- 16.3: Roschon Johnson, RB, CHI
WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY IF GIVEN THE OPTION?
So this was my first redraft league of the season (I’ve been doing a lot of dynasty and rookie drafts). In reflecting on the draft, there were a few times I almost committed on a high end tight end but ultimately decided not to. While that allowed me to build depth elsewhere, I would have liked to come out of this draft with a top 5 TE.
Otherwise, I waited at QB and still got a guy I view as a stud. I also feel like I have one of the strongest WR/Flex situations in the league. I’ll need my top two RBs to produce like they did last year or one of my late round RBs to earn a starting role, but I feel pretty good about the ability of this team to compete even without that elite TE.
