A Fantasy Football Guide to the Best Draft Strategy From the 8th Pick

Mock draft season is the best season. The Holidays? Nope. The summertime? Nah. Mock draft season. That is what we love; those of us who truly embrace the game of fantasy football. Everyone has a hobby, right? In our hobby, we mock draft for those fantasy owners who draw the 8th overall pick in your standard 12-team league. For the sake of today's case, we will run with the PPR format. Let's dive in.

1.8 — Jonathan Taylor

In PPR scoring, Taylor ranks as our RB6. He is decimals apart from both Chase Brown and De'Von Achane. The Colts supported an RB4 overall season out of Taylor, minus anything meaningful at starting quarterback. He should be able to deliver the same output with Daniel Jones back in his support.

2.5 — Chase Brown

Brown's ADP is lingering around 17th overall. We snag him here at 18th overall. Brown is among my best value picks in 2026 fantasy football, especially for the top rounds in a draft. The Bengals are the 7th-rated offense in the NFL, per the Power Index. Brown is the high-workload option in that offense, which he projects to own over 70% of all team rushing yards.

3.8 — Devonta Smith

Call it a reach, but I believe that if a player is deemed valuable according to the sharpest projections, they are a good pick. Smith is up to WR9 amongst wide receivers in our latest projections update, as of August 12.

Matthew Berry spoke with Adam Levitan on his latest episode of his podcast, "Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry." In that episode, it was explained how the Eagles have wished for a world in which Smith commands a Jaxon Smith-Njigba-esque workload. That definitely catches my eye...

4.5 — Zay Flowers

The Ravens paid the man for a reason. Even the new coaching staff believes in what Flowers can bring to the plate. The offense which will be run by a newly healthy Lamar Jackson shall favor the slot. Declan Doyle will have learned from Ben Johnson's expertise with Amon-Ra St. Brown and Luther Burden III. Look at last year's WR7 to remain in the top 10 at his position.

5.8 — Tucker Kraft

Tucker Kraft: “{The doctor] told me my knee looks spectacular, almost like he had never seen rehabilitation like mine. So the fact that we’re getting those results, the data will speak for itself and my comeback is ever-ascending day by day.” https://t.co/XUYKIOtv2y
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 1, 2026

Kraft may be the most undervalued tight end going. He is being drafted in the 5th or 6th round. Kraft is a player who averaged around 60 yards per game in 2025, pre-injury. He scored 6 touchdowns, which would have put him over 12 in total. Given his health and how fantastic he looks, we have boosted Kraft to TE4.

6.5 — Rome Odunze

The hype surrounding Burden III has lowered the ADP of Odunze, around the Bears' WR1. The Bears aim to be a top-5 NFL offense. I don't see why they can't do that — a versatile run game with a deep air-raid depth chart. Odunze was the WR28 in 2025. He has few reasons to do any worse, especially as DJ Moore has left town.

7.8 — Caleb Williams

You have to love a good QB-WR stack. We will do that with Caleb and Rome. If a gamble is made on any NFL offense outside the obvious, the Bears are best suited. Their head coach has been touted as the league's best offensive mind. He proved it in year No. 1, bringing Williams' career total to 180; he is now rated a top-10 quarterback by many. He was QB7 in 2025 and is expected to roll further forward.

Late-Round Draft Guidance

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