Fantasy Football No. 3 Draft Pick Strategy: How to Win From the Third Overall Position

Michael Fabiano | Jul 30, 2025

Vikings WR Justin Jefferson is projected to be a top-five overall selection in most 2025 fantasy football drafts. / Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

Babe Ruth. Ken Griffey Jr. Dwayne Wade. Alex Rodriguez.

All of these great players have something in common … they all, at some point in their pro careers, wore the number 3. (Remember, A-Rod wore the digit in Seattle Seahawks and Texas Rangers before wearing No. 13 for the New York Yankees.)

For this exercise, it will be you who is wearing the No. 3, as in the No. 3 overall selection in your fantasy football draft!

It’s an advantageous spot because, of course, you have your choice of all but two players in the first round. On the flip side, you’ll have an extended time to wait between your first pick and your second pick, your third pick and your fourth pick, and so on and so forth. So, it’s imperative to have a good strategy that will help you build a championship-level roster.

That’s where I come in! 

To help you draft the best possible fantasy football squad from the third overall pick, here’s a look into my fantasy football head space and the decisions I would make in each and every round. Also, I’ll give you some of the actual players I’d most like to target in each round in a best-case scenario based on the average draft position data over at FantasyPros. Here are my latest Top 200 player rankings to also help you make decisions.

Alright, let’s kick things off!

All Picks: No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6 | No. 7 | No. 8 | No. 9 | No. 10 | No. 11 | No. 12

No. 3 Fantasy Football Draft Pick Strategy

Rounds 1-2

Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and Falcons running back Bijan Robinson are the top two picks based on FantasyPros ADP data, and their site has Saquon Barkley coming off the board next. I don’t. I'm fading him this year at this pick. Instead, I would take the next-best wide receiver in Justin Jefferson. You might think it’s CeeDee Lamb, which I wouldn’t argue against, but I’m taking a wideout.

In Round 2 (pick No. 26), I’ll be looking for the best available wide receiver or running back in most cases. In the scenario where Jefferson is my first pick (remember, I only play in PPR leagues), then I’ll be grabbing a player like A.J. Brown, Garrett Wilson or Ladd McConkey at the end of the second round. This would give me two wide receivers with my first two picks.

If you want an elite quarterback, this is probably where you’ll need to take him (you’ll have two close picks), so you can grab a star like Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson. The same goes for the tight end. If you want Brock Bowers or Trey McBride, you’ll have to take them here or you will likely lose them.

However, I typically wait until later in the draft to fill those two positions.

Fabs’ ideal Round 1 pick (No. 3): Jefferson
Fabs’ ideal Round 2 picks (No. 22): Brown/Wilson/McConkey

Rounds 3-4

With two wide receivers on my roster, I’ll very likely be looking at a running back with the No. 27 overall pick. If you’re of the Zero-RB mindset (drafting no running backs in the first five to six rounds) you could go with a third wide receiver in this spot. You could even go with a tight end if Brock Bowers or Trey McBride fell a bit, but I wouldn’t expect that to happen.

Ultimately, I might get two of the players I mentioned as my ideal second-round choices (Wilson, McCaffrey) in Round 3. Since I have such a long wait until my fourth-round pick, however, it might be hard to pass on a running back like Kyren Williams or James Cook.  

After your extended wait, you now have two draft picks in the next six. It’s important to keep tabs on whether or not there’s been a run at a particular position, leaving it a bit thinner in terms of depth and if you want to grab a player at that spot now or punt it down the line instead. In this case, I’m going with the best available player between the running backs and wideouts. Based on ADP data, that could be Kenneth Walker III, Alvin Kamara, DJ Moore, Chuba Hubbard, Joe Mixon or DK Metcalf.

Fabs’ ideal Round 3 picks (No. 27) : Williams/Cook/Wilson/McConkey
Fabs’ ideal Round 4 picks (No. 46): Walker III/Kamara/Moore/Hubbard/Mixon/Metcalf

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Rounds 5-6

The depth of options has dwindled at this point, as you’ve been waiting to make your pick for two nearly full rounds. If you’ve followed my strategy, you have either one running back and three wide receivers or a pair at each position heading into the 51st overall selection.

In the first scenario, I’m grabbing my second running back here (maybe Hubbard or Mixon). If I already have an RB2, I’ll likely go with the best available back or wideout in the fifth round. More than likely, it will be the latter to grab that third receiver. Moore, Metcalf, and Xavier Worthy could be on the board.

It’s at this point that I might look into a tight end based on who is available. My ideal first five rounds includes a pair of runners and three wideouts, and tight ends like Sam LaPorta, T.J. Hockenson or Travis Kelce could still be on the board at the end of Round 6. If LaPorta were gone, however, I'd most likely punt the position down the line and grab another runner or wideout. The best options based on ADP would be guys like Kaleb Johnson, Isiah Pacheco, Jaylen Waddle or Chris Olave.

If you don’t have a quarterback yet, don’t fret … there will be plenty of good options in future rounds.

Fabs’ ideal Round 5 picks (No. 51): Kamara/Hubbard/Mixon/Moore/Metcalf/Worthy
Fabs’ ideal Round 6 picks (No. 70): LaPorta/Johnson/Pacheco/Waddle/Olave

Rounds 7-8

I would continue to focus on the best player available strategy here, picking either a back or a wideout (assuming you took a tight end in Round 6). If you’re still without a tight end, now could be the time to target that position. Hockenson and Kelce could still be options. If they’re gone, I’d likely wait and punt the position down the road a few more rounds.

I’d also be looking at the draft flow and seeing what quarterbacks are on the board. Based on Fantasy Pros ADP, the trio of Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield or Bo Nix could be on the board. I’d still wait, however, looking instead to get a younger running back or wide receiver. The best available players are likely to be on the tier of Kaleb Johnson, Olave or Rome Odunze.

Near the end of the eighth round, it’s either time to fill your quarterback position (depending on the depth that’s left), or continue to bolster your offensive skill spots with potential sleepers. There’s a chance Kyler Murray could have slid to this round in some leagues, otherwise you can look for upside player options like Jaylen Warren, Odunze or Ricky Pearsall.

Fabs’ ideal Round 7 picks (No. 75) : Hockenson/Kelce/Hunter/Henderson/Odunze/Johnson
Fabs’ ideal Round 8 picks (No. 94): Nix/Murray/Warren/ Odunze/Pearsall

Rounds 9-10

With the third pick in the ninth round, you can go in any number of directions. Those of you who waited on quarterback can grab players like Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott or Justin Fields.

This is also a good time to grab sleepers or even a handcuff such as Issac Guerendo or Zach Charbonnet. Other good options who will be available at this point in drafts include Jordan Mason, Jakobi Meyers or Evan Engram … again, this is all based on how your roster is built. But getting depth with upside is important in these mid-to-late rounds.

Looking ahead to the third to last pick of the 10th round (118th overall pick), you could get a second quarterback (unless you took an elite player in the first five rounds, then I would wait a few more rounds). That would be borderline QB1s such as Prescott, Fields or Jared Goff.

You could also continue to bolster your depth at running back or wide receiver, where players such as Travis Etienne Jr., J.K. Dobbins, Jordan Mason or Michael Pittman Jr. will likely still be on the board.

Fabs’ ideal Round 9 picks: Purdy/Prescott/Guerendo/Charbonnet
Fabs’ ideal Round 10 picks: Fields/Goff/Etienne Jr./Dobbins/Mason/Pittman Jr.

Late Rounds (11-plus)

Once you’re in the final rounds, you shouldn’t be just drafting players haphazardly … there is often value to be had. There will still be a lot of good young quarterbacks, such as veterans like Justin Herbert or Jordan Love and sleepers like Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy.

I also like to grab a second tight end (unless I have one of the top five players) as another choice for my starting lineups. I mentioned Warren as an option in the previous round, but he could fall to Round 11 too. Jake Ferguson or Tucker Kraft are other attractive picks.

Deep sleepers should be targeted, too. Think about players like Trey Benson, Jaylen Wright, Marvin Mims Jr., Cedric Tillman or Brenton Strange (to name a few). Throw those darts at players with a path to workload/targets or an injury away from being thrust into a big role.

You’ll also be rounding out your roster in these final stanzas, including drafting a kicker and a defense if they’re required (many leagues have removed both positions). I’d wait to draft those until the last two rounds, unless you want to grab a high-end kicker (Brandon Aubrey or Jake Bates) or defense (Broncos, Eagles, Steelers) in the third-to-last round.