Perfect Draft: 2nd in a 12-Team ESPN PPR League

Jul 29, 2021

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The second spot in fantasy football drafts is one of the most versatile places to pick in drafts this year. After likely taking Dalvin Cook in the first round, there is a large number of ways you could go about your draft. Some options include grabbing a tight end early or loading up on running backs. One very obvious advantage of picking at two is securing an elite running back, which is absolutely crucial in fantasy football. As is typical with the higher draft spots, the main disadvantage with the number two pick is the long turnaround in between selections. The 21-pick gap in between rounds could become frustrating, as many of your targets could fly off the board as you wait for your next selection.

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

More Perfect Drafts: 10th in a 12-Team Yahoo!

Draft Hero Settings

Roster Settings: 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (WR/RB/TE), 1 Kicker, 1 DEF, seven bench spots
No restrictions on when to draft players: Even though it’s often recommended to wait on drafting some positions, I’ll remove restrictions in case any values present themselves. I’ll almost definitely only take my defense and kicker in the last few rounds.
Limit 1 TE, K, DEF: Limiting these less important positions to just one makes the draft a lot more realistic and challenging.
Targets: Darren Waller and Damien Harris. I’ll explain why I like these specific targets in their respective draft rounds, assuming I am able to land them.

Jump to Pick: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Draft Recap

Round 1, Pick 2 (2) - RB Dalvin Cook, Vikings

I think that Cook is a pretty obvious selection at pick two. Along with Christian McCaffrey (who should go first overall in most drafts), Cook is in the most elite tier of running backs who have essentially no question marks surrounding their situation. If he stays healthy, he is guaranteed to see a large number of touches, and as this is a PPR format, Cook also offers a very high pass-catching floor.

Draft Hero also suggested running backs Alvin Kamara and Derrick Henry at this point. However, both of them have question marks that make them less of a sure shot than Cook–Kamara’s quarterback situation is uncertain, and Henry offers limited pass-catching ability. While Draft Hero also mentioned receivers like Davante Adams or Tyreek Hil, I definitely would be taking a running back here.

Each round, Draft Hero also offers 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 that I actually selected.

Suggested alternatives: Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill, Alvin Kamara, Derrick Henry

My Top alternative: Alvin Kamara