Perfect Draft: 4th in a 12-Team Yahoo! Half-PPR League

Aug 02, 2021

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Drafting from the fourth spot in 2021 will most likely have me taking an elite running back unless it’s a league with TE-Premium scoring, which this one is not. When situated close to the turn of drafts, game theory can come into play, where managers can take a look at nearby teams’ rosters and foreshadow what positional direction they’re likely to go.

More Perfect Drafts: 2nd in a 12-Team ESPN | 10th in a 12-Team Yahoo! | 12th in a 12-Team ESPN

In this article, I will walk through a perfect draft with the fourth pick in a 12-team Yahoo! half-PPR league. Each pick was optimized using projections and value-based rankings from the 4for4 Draft Hero tool.

Draft Hero Settings

Roster Settings: 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (RB/WR/TE) 1 Kicker, 1 Defense, 5 bench spots
No restrictions on when to draft QB: I’m usually one to wait until at least the seventh round for my quarterback because I’ll miss out on potential points from position players that are difficult to make up if they are skipped in those beginning rounds. However, it is beneficial to know if one of the top guys is falling, as my strategy is always fluid.
No TEs between rounds five and nine: I may use an early pick on one of the elite tight ends such asTravis Kelce, Darren Waller, George Kittle, Mark Andrews, or maybe even T.J. Hockenson, so I want to keep them open for recommendations. However, I’ll pass on that next tier and wait until at least the 10th round to consider drafting one.
No Kickers or Defenses until the last two rounds: I prefer to stream both positions and would rather draft depth for my bench than select either a kicker or team defense before the last two rounds.

For a comprehensive tutorial on setting up Draft Hero for your league, read our Draft Hero Walkthrough.

Jump to Pick: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Round 1, Pick 4 (4) - RB Alvin Kamara, Saints

My plan was to take either Alvin Kamara or Derrick Henry, so no surprises here. Kamara was already an elite running back and gets a boost with Michael Thomas set to miss time. In the eight games without Thomas over the last two seasons, Kamara averaged 20.5 touches per game, which translated to 27.3 half-PPR points, enough for overall RB1 numbers.

With a Top-4 RB on my roster, I’ll most likely focus on wide receiver and tight end (if one of the elite falls) for the next few rounds, and grab an RB2 a little later in the draft.

Draft Hero also mixed in a few other positional suggestions in their top five, so there are multiple options if you have a different preference in roster construction.

Every round, Draft Hero recommends the top available suggestion along with four alternatives, as shown at the top of this section. Throughout the rest of the article, I will note those suggestions as well as my top alternative to the player I actually selected.

My Top Alternative: Davante Adams