Favorite Fantasy Football picks in the first 10 rounds

Round 7: Isiah Pacheco, RB, Kansas City Chiefs

Even though he didn’t take over the starting role until the end of October, Pacheco still came within 50 yards of reaching the 1,000 yards from scrimmage mark. This year, he will be the lead back from the get-go.

Behind arguably the best offensive line in the league and with Andy Reid drawing up the plays, Pacheco could be in for a big sophomore campaign. In games that he saw double-digit touches, he rushed for over 50 yards in every one of them. What could really unlock his potential is his involvement in the passing game.

While Jerick McKinnon will be the leader in targets among the running backs in Kansas City, even getting a couple a game would be huge for Pacheco. He saw just 14 targets last season but caught 13 of them and would have had the second-highest yards per reception if he had enough receptions to qualify.

With the new offensive tackles that the Chiefs brought in, they could utilize Pacheco more in the screen game, which would accentuate his “all gas, no brakes” running style. With a full season as a starter and a bit more work in the passing game, Pacheco could have even more of a breakout this year.

Round 8: Jordan Addison, WR, Minnesota Vikings

Addison broke onto the football scene as a sophomore at Pittsburgh, racking up 1,600 yards and 17 touchdowns en route to the Biletnikoff Award (given to the best receiver in college football). Now, he joins a Minnesota team that has produced multiple viable fantasy options for multiple years.

Obviously, Justin Jefferson has been elite, but Adam Thielen has been a solid contributor as well. The second option role, which helped Thielen produce top-30 finishes in each of the past three seasons (including a WR10 finish in 2020), now belongs to Addison. The defense likely won’t be doing the offense any favors, as the unit that finished 28th in points allowed didn’t make any major improvements.

With Dalvin Cook now with the Jets, they could throw the ball even more than they did last season (which was already the third-highest in terms of passing attempts. Addison’s current ADP (WR37) is seven spots lower than where Thielen finished last season. No offense to Thielen, but I would be very surprised if Addison has a year that is more than a few spots lower than Thielen’s 2022.

Round 9: Michael Thomas, WR, New Orleans Saints

Look, I understand if you’re done with Thomas after the past few years. It was frustrating. Since 2020, he has played in just 10 games, including a complete missed season in 2021. However, in the games he has played, he has looked like he still has some juice.

His yards per reception in those 10 games was just a little lower than his career average, while his 60.9 yards per game was more than respectable. If you took his averages from those 10 games and extrapolated it out to 17 games, his stat line would be 95 catches, 1,035 yards, and five touchdowns. That would have made him the WR15 last season.

Obviously, I don’t expect Thomas to put up quite that level of production, but that just shows that he is still an extremely talented player. A couple of other things that make me like Thomas this year are the players around him. Derek Carr will be the best quarterback he has played with since the first couple of years of his career. There are also more weapons to take focus away from Thomas. Chris Olave is coming off of a great rookie season. Alvin Kamara’s suspension is much shorter than expected, with Kendre Miller and Jamaal Williams also joining the backfield. Juwan Johnson is a favorite sleeper tight end among the fantasy community.

All of those guys will take pressure off of Thomas and allow him to see more single coverage. If he does still have some of the old Michael Thomas left in him, that could be a dangerous thing. I’ll gladly take the chance on him as my fourth or fifth wide receiver.

Round 10: Anthony Richardson, QB, Indianapolis Colts

In a one quarterback league, my favorite strategy is to take someone with extreme upside and then adjust accordingly if that person doesn’t work out. There are always startable quarterbacks on waivers that you can easily stream the position if need be.

Last year, those players were Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Fields. If you happened to start with Tua and move to Fields after his injury, you were set at the position virtually all season. This year, my high-upside quarterback target is Anthony Richardson. The Colts’ rookie is a very raw prospect and he could very well struggle through the air throughout the season. What makes everyone in the fantasy world love Richardson is what he can do with his legs. Last season at Florida, he ran for 654 yards and nine touchdowns. He also put together one of the most impressive athletic performances that the NFL Combine has ever seen.

Since PlayerProfiler has started recording data, Richardson’s combine metrics ranked at the very top of the 278 recorded quarterbacks and 102nd out of all 5,678 prospects that they have recorded. He could immediately contend with the best rushing quarterbacks in the league. So while his passing game may be extremely raw in his rookie season, his rushing ability will raise his floor immensely and should allow him to be a safe weekly option for your fantasy team.