Fantasy Football Today: Five key takeaways from the full-point PPR FFT magazine league draft

2024 fantasy football the season isn’t in full swing yet, but we’re getting ready and the unofficial “OK, it’s happening” moment for me every off-season is when we have the fantasy football Draft of today’s magazine. For those who don’t know, the magazine’s writing takes place in early June, well before training camp, and we put together a complete PPR team with three receivers and a flex. This draft is analyzed and has the full results published in FFT magazine, which you will find in bookstores and airports this summer.

The fun part is that we also play in this league! The last question allows us to craft a true lineup with enough consideration to what the benches mean for the season and how to construct each lineup.

We’ll save the full results and analysis for the journal, but here are five key takeaways from the draft:

Receivers own the first round

There was a time in Fantasy Football when even in PPR leagues you would see more running backs selected in the first round of drafts than any other position, but that time has long passed. There have been more wide receivers selected in the first round of this draft than any other position. After seeing Travis Kelce come off the board in almost every first round last summer, this draft also featured no tight ends and no quarterbacks selected in the first round. Most of the wide receivers selected were chalky picks, but we saw Garrett Wilson come off the board at 10th overall. Earlier this week, I explained why Wilson is one of my most wanted players in 2024. Naturally, I loved producer Thomas’ choice!

Where the rookies were drafted

Since this draft took place in early June, before training camp, we have not yet experienced the rookie issues due to the training camp buzz, highlights, and coach speak. I expect almost every rookie selected in this draft to come off the board by the start of the August drafts, with the exception of Marvin Harrison Jr. Here’s a look at where all of the top 12 rookies came off the board:

• Marvin Harrison Jr: Round 2, pick #2
• Jonathon Brooks: Round 5, pick #2
• Malik Nabers: Round 5, pick #9
• Xavier Digno: Round 8, pick #2
• Brian Thomas Jr.: Round 5, pick #4
• Ladd McConkey: Round 6, pick #3
• Jayden Daniels: Round 6, pick #11
• Keon Coleman: Round 8, pick #10
• Trey Benson: Round 9, pick #5
• Blake Corum: Round 9, pick #6
• Roma Odunze: Round 9, pick #8
• Caleb Williams: Round 10, pick #12

Zero QB?

It wasn’t until the second pick of Round 4 that we saw a quarterback come off the board and it wasn’t Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes, but rather Lamar Jackson. Jackson will enter his second year in Todd Monken’s offensive system and should take a step forward from a processing standpoint. A breakout sophomore Zay Flowers and a fully healthy Mark Andrews could also help Jackson make the leap and become the overall QB1 in 2024. After Jackson, Mahomes and Allen were selected in the next five picks. This is what we call mini-position racing.

Ideal spot for tight ends?

Rounds 5-6 appear to be the sweet spot for drafting one of the last remaining tight ends with overall TE1 upside. Jamey grabbed Dalton Kincaid late in Round 5 and then I followed up by selecting Kyle Pitts with the last pick in Round 5. Just a few picks later, Brandon Howard grabbed George Kittle to avoid losing the position battle.

And the rice?

Rashee Rice was one of the biggest revelations in Fantasy Football last season and should be primed for an explosive step forward in Year 2 as she improves her relationship with Patrick Mahomes and becomes more comfortable in Andy Reid’s system. The expectation was that Rice would be supported until the Rounds 2-3 range, but an off-field incident this offseason left his prospects murky. Rice is expected to be suspended, but there is no clarity on this yet. We don’t know if he will be suspended permanently and for how many games. Given the uncertainty surrounding Rice, I was curious to see when he would come off the board. Producer Thomas took Rice with the third pick in Round 8. This could be a decisive choice for his roster.