How to draft Patrick Mahomes for your Fantasy team

It's late August and that means two things, football season is just around the corner, and you have one, possibly four, fantasy football drafts to prepare for. I'm sure your draft outfits are picked out and the drink & food menu was created right after July fourth, so now you must strategize the actual selection of players.

Strategy is key to fantasy drafting. You need to know who you're targeting in the first few rounds, what positions to target, you must make sure half of your first seven picks don't have the same bye week and when to take the first kicker off the board. Hint: it's not before the tenth round. For some of us, there's also a particular player we target. I used to always want to draft Tom Brady, my friend Jon used to always want Jimmy Smith and for some reason there was a season my buddy Jay just had to have Warrick Dunn. That one didn't work out so well. Dunn was a nice player but not worthy of a second-round pick. Here in 2023, although not as the first pick, I'm sure a lot of fantasy owners out there would love to have Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes on their roster. The reigning NFL MVP is poised to have another fantastic season so let's look at how to get him on your roster.

Mahomes is great, exciting and the NFL torchbearer at the quarterback position ever since Tom Brady retired. The Kansas City QB threw for a career-high and league-leading 5,250 yards and 41 touchdowns, he also rushed for 358 yards and four TDs last season. What makes Mahomes additionally intriguing is that he led the league in passing yards per game (308.8), finished third in completions (435) to only Brady (490) & Herbert (477) and was sacked far less (26) than other top producing QBs like Kirk Cousins (46), Burrow (41), Herbert (38), Hurts (38) and Allen (33). One more key number why you would want Mahomes on your fantasy roster...he rarely misses a game. He played in all 17 regular season games the past two seasons. The numbers aren't too shabby, but do these numbers warrant a first-round pick or even the number one pick in your entire draft?

The answer is "No". Mahomes is great and will most likely be in the MVP mix again come December, but please for the love of your fantasy team do not take him in the first round of your draft. That's not how fantasy drafts work. Let the hardcore Chiefs fan in your draft make the too-early-for-Mahomes mistake. Whether you're in a PPR or standard league Mahomes doesn't have first-round value. Players who are going to catch balls and score touchdowns are the ones you need to target early in the draft, not the MVP candidate under center.

You are most likely in a 10-team league. Some of you may have eight or 12 teams in your league. Anything more than 12 teams can make the pickins' in rounds 12-17 super slim. Think Christian Bale in "The Machinist" slim. Your draft will be going one of two ways: it will snake back and forth or draft every round in the same order (BORING!). Either way, the strategy to get Mahomes will only slightly differ.

Regardless of where you draft in the first round, you're not going to touch Mahomes. The first round is to get the top producers not under center. The big guns like Christian McCaffery, Justin Jefferson or Ja'Marr Chase. If you're in the number six or seven spot you may want to grab Mahomes' favorite target, Travis Kelce. We all know Kelce is the best tight end since Rob Gronkowski and because of Mahomes has a higher fantasy value than George Kittle who many would have as the second-best tight end in the league. Kelce was amongst the elite wide receivers in many statistical numbers last season. The colorful offensive workhorse finished 8th in receiving yards (1,338), 2nd in receiving TDs (12), 3rd in YAC, 3rd in receptions (110), tied for 8th in receiving yards per game (78.7) and most importantly played in all 17 regular season games. In short, Kelce is the lone Chiefs player you want to grab in the first round.

OK, so the first-round ends and everyone has a stud offensive player. Maybe the new guy in your league went nuts and took Tony Pollard or DeVonta Smith with the seventh pick. Anything is possible, it's a fantasy draft. Now it's round two, here we go. "Now can I draft Mahomes?", slow your roll Len Dawson. The strategy here is the same as the first round, you're still looking for studs, PPR points machines. Depending on where you draft in this round maybe a DaVonta Smith is available at pick 15 or 16, maybe Stefon Diggs slides to pick 13, or maybe someone started the party a little too early and totally forgot to draft Saquon Barkley and you grab him at pick 12. Regardless of what happens, we are still not ready to draft Mahomes yet.

A big part of why guys like Mahomes, Jalen Hurts or Joe Burrow being able to put up so many numbers on the stat sheet is the high amount of productive offensive weapons they have. It's these weapons that you have to load up on the first few rounds. Rounds one and two are for top-producing running backs and wide receivers or wild, alcohol-induced reaches. Don't do the latter, let someone else be "that guy".

Now it's round three. What's a fantasy football owner to do? If you're happy with your first two picks and you're up early in round three, then you may want to keep stock-piling PPR points here. If you don't have a running back yet grab one in this round. QBs like Mahomes, Hurts and Allen may well be gone by the time your pick when round four comes along but there are still plenty of QBs Like Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence or even Kirk Cousins to grab that will fill the role just fine. Available third-round running backs should be the likes of Nick Chubb or Derrick Henry. If a lot of running backs went in the first two rounds, then you may be looking at a Jonathan Taylor or Rhamondre Stevenson if your pick is later in the round. Assuming you’re happy with your first two picks and you're picking late in the third round then this is where you can go grab Patrick Mahomes.

I'm seeing Mahomes going in the mid-third round in most mock drafts and rankings. I've seen him as high as the first pick in the third round and as late as the end of the third round. A number of mocks and rankings have either Jalen Hurts or Josh Allen picked ahead of Mahomes, I've seen some where both QBs go ahead of the reigning NFL MVP, the point being is that QBs are going to start coming off the board in the third round so be ready to pounce if Mahomes is the QB you want. If he's available when it's your turn in round three you must grab him there.

Really you can't go wrong whether the QB you grab in round three is Mahomes or Hurts or Allen or even guys like Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow. A nice little bonus for the fantasy football postseason is that barring insane collapses during the season, teams like the Bengals, Bills, Chiefs, Eagles and Ravens all have potential must-win games over the last few weeks of the season. Some may be fighting for home field, others for seeding, or possibly just for a playoff berth. Either way, it’s great to have a number one QB like Mahomes still fully invested and playing come weeks 16, 17 and 18.

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Best of luck in your drafts, remember to be patient with the QB position and feel free to let the hardcore Chiefs fan in your league draft Mahomes in the first round.