At the top of the draft, you take the superstars. At the end of the draft, you take your sleepers. In the middle of the draft, you win your league.
The space between Rounds 6 and 10 is when you pick the reliable starters that you can rely on week-in and week-out. You want to pick players with top-10 potential, without the top-10 price tag.
When you look at the historical ADP data at Fantasy Football Calculator, you’ll see that you could have drafted Travis Kelce (sixth round) or Jay Ajayi (ninth) in the middle rounds a year ago, two players who undoubtedly would have buoyed your success.
Finding value in the middle rounds is all about mining the data that implies future success and assessing the player’s likely chance at opportunities. The following players are primed to help you win the middle of your draft, and then your championship.
Quarterbacks
Kirk Cousins, Washington Redskins (Overall ADP: 89, 10th QB)
A lot of media attention focused on Cousins’ pending contract negations over the offseason. The raging debate of whether he’s a franchise quarterback continues, but there are certain numbers that fantasy players should note. For three years, this fourth-round draft pick worked his way up and ultimately unseated Robert Griffin III as the signal-caller. Now with two full seasons as the starting quarterback under his belt, Cousins boasts a cumulative 77.3 accuracy rate, which is tied with Matt Ryan for the fifth-highest accuracy percentage over the last two years, only behind Sam Bradford (79.5), Drew Brees (78.6), Tom Brady (78.4), and Russell Wilson (77.8). Last season, Washington only ran the ball on 38.44 percent of their offensive snaps, the seventh-lowest percentage in the league. If the team continues to focus on the passing game, and if Cousins can keep up his accuracy, he could be a top-five fantasy quarterback for a second year in a row.