Who Should I Draft with the 6th Pick in Fantasy Football

To nail your fantasy football draft, you need the right strategy, along with savvy player takes. This article outlines the best player to draft with the sixth overall pick, along with tips for filling out the remainder of your roster based on ADP and specific scoring settings.

Our Perfect Draft series covers multiple draft spots in various scoring formats and league sizes using Draft Hero software. Find your perfect draft today!

Here is a Perfect Draft from the 6th spot in a 12-team half-PPR league.

• Perfect Draft: 6th in a 12-Team Yahoo Half-PPR League

Standard League: WR Ja'Marr Chase, Bengals

Standard scoring looks at two statistics for fantasy points: yards and touchdowns. With Chase, you’re getting one of the NFL’s fastest receivers in a top-scoring offense. The Bengals finished seventh in scoring in 2021 and 2022, before Joe Burrow missed significant time due to injury in 2023. Burrow averaged 284 passing yards per game from 2021-2022. For context, C.J. Stroud led the NFL with 274 passing yards per game last season.

Chase caught 13 touchdowns as a rookie, before falling to nine and seven the next two seasons. However, Chase finished just 35th among wide receivers in red zone targets during that 2021 campaign. The past two seasons, he’s finished third and eighth, hinting at 15-17 touchdown upside if a little luck is on his side – seriously.

Chase has fantasy WR1 overall potential, but standard scoring is more heavily dominated by running backs (twice as many backs reached 200 fantasy points in this format than wide receivers last year). When we start with Chase, it’s important to recognize we should add two or three running backs to our team over the next three to four rounds. While only 12 flex-worthy players reached 200 fantasy points last year, seven quarterbacks hit 300 in this format. So, elite quarterback is an incredibly viable strategy here because overall fantasy scoring is depressed at the flex positions without a reception bonus.

Elite tight end matters less in this format, since the position generally doesn’t record many receiving yards. Unless you’re sure which player will catch double-digit touchdowns, it’s better to wait and grab a tight end on a top-scoring offense in the middle rounds. Assuming you’re only starting two receivers each week, you can wait until Round 6 or 7 to snag your WR2 after Chase. A HeroWR build surrounding Chase is only encouraged in a standard scoring league where we ideally flex a running back each week.

Best Alternative Pick: Saquon Barkley or Jonathan Taylor

For those squeamish about starting their draft with a wide receiver, Barkley and Taylor are two great options here. They have yardage and touchdown upside, along with particularly secure starting roles on their team.

PPR Scoring: WR Ja'Marr Chase, Bengals

The standard scoring section lays out the yardage and touchdown case for Chase, so now it’s time to outline his path to leading the NFL in receptions as we turn to the PPR format.

Last year, Chase was on pace for 130 receptions through the first nine games of the season. Then, Burrow went down with his season-ending injury. CeeDee Lamb ended up leading the NFL with 135 receptions, so Chase was already in the ballpark in 2023. Now, Tyler Boyd is on the Titans and Joe Mixon is on the Texans. These may seem like minor moves, but without strong backfills at these positions, each could indicate a few more targets heading Chase’s way during the season.

Wide receiver rooms are the staple of PPR drafts, so starting with Chase sets us up for increased flexibility in the next few rounds. You can snag a running back in Round 2 or 3 or simply start your fantasy team WR-WR-WR. In Rounds 4-6, you can start looking at a top fantasy quarterback or tight end. Generally, you’ll want to secure your fantasy WR3 before your RB2 in PPR, and HeroRB and ZeroRB strategies are most effective in this format.

Best Alternative Pick: Amon-Ra St. Brown or Justin Jefferson

St. Brown finished second in the NFL in receptions last year and the Lions offense should hum once again in 2024. Jefferson has a quarterback problem with Sam Darnold, but he could be force-fed targets all season. While the Vikings offense lacks touchdown upside, PPR scoring can nullify that issue for Jefferson if he’s catching eight passes a game.

Half-PPR Scoring: WR Ja’Marr Chase, Bengals

Think of half-PPR as the perfect balance between standard and PPR scoring. While running back enthusiasts gravitate toward standard and wide receiver zealots smash their PPR drafts, think of half-PPR as the work-life balance format. You can begin your draft with a running back or receiver and not immediately feel like you need to catch up at the other position regardless of your decision.

Chase finished as the WR5 and WR6 per game in this format in 2021 and 2022, before falling to WR12 last year due to the Burrow injury. Chase can put it all together with the touchdowns from his rookie year, combined with the receptions from his next two seasons.

Tee Higgins is generally thought of around the industry as injury-prone, but he’s still played at least 12 games every season, and he’s always played in the fantasy football semifinals and finals games. Chase’s last game that he suited up for without Tee Higgins – and with Burrow at quarterback – he went for 15 receptions, 192 yards, and three scores. So, with Chase, we have a player capable of single-handedly winning our fantasy week.

Over the next five to six rounds, most draft strategies are viable in half-PPR. HeroRB is the easiest to properly execute, with a lone running back in the next two rounds, along with two more receivers, a quarterback, and tight end. However, exiting Round 4 with two running backs and two receivers is a fine beginning, too.

Best Alternate Pick: Amon-Ra St. Brown

St. Brown is on a high-scoring Lions offense with reception and yardage upside for those wanting a Chase pivot.

Superflex: QB Anthony Richardson, Colts

Richardson played two full games as a rookie, along with parts of two others. He was the weekly fantasy QB2 and QB4 in his full games, and he scored 18 fantasy points in half of another game. Per dropback, Richardson scored nearly 20% more fantasy points than any other quarterback in 2023.

Injuries are the obvious concern here, but Richardson can easily finish as the overall fantasy QB1 if he stays healthy. His rushing volume could lead the entire position, and he’s built like Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts for goal-line scrambles.

Superflex drafts are much harder to pin down than 1-QB, as the draft room varies considerably each time. Quarterback draft runs – sometimes with seven or eight off the board in a row – are unpredictable, and if you’re not careful, you can get locked out of the highest-scoring position in fantasy. After beginning with Richardson, aim for one more quarterback by Round 4 or 5. When examining how to fill out your running back and wide receiver rooms early on, defer to the strategies for standard, PPR, and half-PPR listed above.

Best Alternate Pick: Kyler Murray

Kyler Murray was the QB3 and QB4 in fantasy points per game in 2020 and 2021. The ACL injury affected the 2022 and 2023 seasons, but he was still top-eight in fantasy points per game in both those years, as well. Murray is a more proven commodity for fantasy managers too concerned with Richardson’s volatility.

Top Late-Round Targets

Late-round picks should complement your draft strategy from the early and middle rounds. For example, if your team includes several early receivers, take more shots on running backs late.

These ground rules for your fantasy bench should help you stay on track towards the end of your draft:

• If you took an elite quarterback or tight end, a second one is not needed

• Always keep at least two handcuff running backs on tap in case of injury

  • ​Prioritize your opponents’ backup running backs, as opposed to your own

• Stash at least one rookie or second-year player

• Wide receivers should be under the age of 29

• When deciding between two players, choose the younger option or the one on the better offense

Before outlining a couple of players that fit these bullet points, if your league starts a kicker and defense, wait until the final two rounds to fill these slots.

Xavier Legette: The Panthers traded up for Legette at the end of Round 1 in the recent NFL Draft. Optimistically, he looks like an A.J. Brown clone physically. However, he took five years to break out in college and Bryce Young was underwhelming as a rookie. Legette should start Week 1 in this offense, and he’s a high-variance player with an interesting upside case if Young and this offense take a step forward.

Bucky Irving: Irving is small (192 lbs) and slow (4.55 40-time), which is often a nonstarter for fantasy running backs. However, like Kyren Williams and Devin Singletary, Irving could end up being an exception. The Buccaneers drafted the Oregon product in the fourth round, and he totaled more than 1,000 rushing yards and 53 receptions as a junior in 2023. If Rachaad White goes down, Irving should have a very fantasy-friendly role.

Below, you can see a realistic 16-round draft with the sixth overall pick. The following table provides the round you can expect to draft each player in a typical, 12-team half-PPR fantasy league.