Stuck in a Bad-Draft-Slot Rut? Mix Things Up and Get Your Guys with the All-Reach Team

Blair Andrews
June 13, 2024

On some podcast episodes, Shawn has noted — when lamenting the preponderance of late picks in his Best Ball Mania 5 portfolio — that if you don’t get a top-10 pick, you basically don’t have access to any first-round values. (Of course, that assumes a rational drafter takes Garrett Wilson ahead of ADP, leaving you with A.J. Brown as an ADP — but not rankings — value.) The RotoViz rankings confirm this valuation, with only 10 players landing in Tier 1 in both Shawn’s rankings and mine.

If you’re not able to get a first-round value with your first-round pick, you might as well reach into the second round. But why stop there? Is it possible to build a strong-looking Underdog team by reaching at every single pick? You can be the judge — in this article I build an all-reach team from the 1.11.

If you’re not getting ADP value, you need to prioritize two things: rankings value and correlation. Don’t reach for just anyone. You should only reach far ahead of ADP for your highest conviction plays who fit with the other players drafted on your team. The plays below are some of my highest conviction targets, but this isn’t the only possible way to build an all-reach team from this spot.

My only rule for this exercise is that I can’t take any player at their current ADP or later. I’ll include some notes on other players I would consider in each round, along with the strategic and tactical elements that push me in a particular direction.

Round 1: Drake London

Betting on Atlanta to be much better with Kirk Cousins under center and with a new coaching staff is not a difficult bet to make. It’s impossible to completely rule out the possibility that the Falcons’ struggles were at least partly related to their receiver play. But with multiple top-10 picks among their skill position players, the Falcons could take the biggest leap of any offense in the league.

Chris Olave is the other strong consideration here. If you’re particularly bullish on Marvin Harrison’s chances, he makes sense in this spot. Drafting a running back makes things more difficult later in the build, but Jahmyr Gibbs is arguably a first-round value. Of course this is all assuming you can’t get Garrett Wilson at ADP with the 11th pick.

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Blair Andrews

Managing Editor, Author of The Wrong Read, Occasional Fantasy Football League Winner. All opinions are someone else's.

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