Fantasy Football Strategy Mailbag: Who Are The Most Drafted Players?

It's the second week of June, and plenty of videos are flying all over social media with player highlights and coaches saying nice things that are then being dissected by regular football and fantasy analysts for nuggets on who are the breakouts/busts for the coming season. How much of it will matter come September? Probably not much. Do we love it? Of course! This is the silly part of the offseason, but we're here for it all the same. Kendall Valenzuela took questions from her SXM show in her weekly mailbag.

Fantasy Football Strategy Mailbag: June 10

It's early, but who are your most drafted players in best ball drafts right now?

Jahmyr Gibbs

I mean, do I really need to explain this one? If you're at the 1.01 you have a choice between Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson, and if you're at the 1.02 you have the easiest decision picking whoever is left out of those two. I don't think there's a wrong answer here and while I have Robinson ranked ahead of Gibbs, it's understandable why drafters want the running back on a better overall offense. David Montgomery is now gone and in six games where we've seen Gibbs run alone, he's averaged 19.7 carries, 110.8 rushing yards, 36.5 receiving yards and 24.9 touches. DAMN. The draft really starts after the first two picks.

Antonio Williams

Let's just remember, the Washington Commanders were a team many mock drafters sent Jordyn Tyson to, but Terry McLaurin ran pure this offseason with the team adding Chig Okonkwo and rookie Antonio Williams. I really like Williams' price right now, going in the 14th round (159 ADP) and our fantasy football projections for 63 targets, 40 receptions and 444 receiving yards with 4 touchdowns. Are those the prettiest projections? Not in the slightest. Dyami Brown is still going to be involved, and Okonkwo is going to account for a projected 86 targets. But if anyone on this offense gets hurt? Williams could step up. McLaurin missed seven games last season and while we can all be optimistic that a summer without a contract dispute will keep him healthy, you never know with a soon-to-be 31-year-old receiver. Williams is a borderline WR4 with WR3 upside in fantasy football, and I am absolutely in on his current price.

Kenneth Gainwell

At this point who isn't worried about Bucky Irving? Even if HC Todd Bowles didn't mean to say he could "return in the summer or fall" we still know that when Irving returned last season that he was not the same. He didn't clear 4.2 YPC in any of his 10 games and was just overall inefficient. Kenneth Gainwell has the chance to hold a true role in this backfield alongside Irving and is going in the 9th round of drafts. He took off from Week 8 on last season and was a huge factor in the passing game (85 targets, 73 receptions, 483 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns). With the arrival of Gainwell and Sean Tucker still on the roster, I am drafting much less Irving this season. There's a chance he bounces back, but Gainwell is one of the elite handcuffs to have right now.

Is there a range in drafts that's just pure fantasy gold?

If you're looking for your QB1, you might want to check out the 6th round where you can find Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jalen Hurts going in that order. I love trying to snag Burrow in this range, because even though he can't bring fantasy points on the ground like the other names in that range, he's an elite passer. When he returned from his turf toe injury, he averaged 20.6 points per game (QB8 over the final six games). He's got Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and a bad defense, which equals fantasy goodness.

A great round for receivers is the fifth. I've built a lot of my early best ball teams around anchoring my team to one running back in the first, two receivers and then one elite tight end. After that I'm looking to draft my WR3 in the fifth round, where I can pick from names like Jaylen Waddle, Davante Adams, DJ Moore, Christian Watson, Rome Odunze or Carnell Tate. Hell yeah.

If you're waiting on tight ends, may I turn your attention to the 11th round, perhaps? I love taking Isaiah Likely and Mark Andrews in this range. Likely was signed to a three-year deal worth $40 million, and during the draft, the team added only Malachi Fields in the third round. Of course, Likely will battle Theo Johnson, but it's a far cry from being behind Andrews his whole career.

Andrews is another year older, but I'm betting on more touchdowns for him in 2026. He was fourth among tight ends in end-zone targets last season, and while it's been two down seasons for Andrews, a new coaching staff and Likely leaving is pivotal for his turnaround.

Any quotes that caught your attention in the last week?

It's not training camp hype video SZN just yet, but you know we're still looking for breadcrumbs from players and coaching before we get into training camp.

Recently Dolphins TE Greg Dulcich was asked about the Miami roster, and of course he's going to say only positive things about his squad:

"We got some pieces, man … We got guys that can go. I alluded to it earlier, everyone's hungry and just excited to go out there and fly around and make plays."

I bring up Dulcich because between Jake Trowbridge and Ian Hartitz, I've been considering drafting him a little more at the end of best ball drafts. Thinking about it, if we believe this receiver room could really be this bad, does that mean Dulcich could have a true role? During his rookie season in Denver he notched 411 yards on 55 targets in 10 games, but he hasn't really been heard from since. It's not a risk, he's a last-round pick.

Courtland Sutton was asked how the distribution of targets will look with Jaylen Waddle now on the squad, and let's just say Sutton wasn't too concerned.

"I want to win games … I think having that mentality as an offense and team will ultimately get us where we want to get to. The targets will come. I always say, the ball is going to find you no matter what. You just need to go out there and do your job."

How will the targets play out? Here's our Fantasy Life projections:

Waddle: 115 targets / 77 receptions / 1,035 receiving yards / 221 PPR Fantasy Points
Sutton: 108 targets / 69 receptions / 928 receiving yards / 204 PPR Fantasy Points

Waddle has performed for years with a combination of bad quarterback play and Tyreek Hill on the field. And yet, in those five seasons he still averaged 75 receptions, 1,008 yards and 5.4 touchdowns. Waddle is going in the beginning of the fifth round on Underdog (49.4 ADP) while Sutton is going in the seventh round (80.7 ADP).