Perfect 2023 fantasy football draft strategy, round by round for 10-team leagues

• Picking a wide receiver in Round 1 is advantageous in 10-team leagues: It’s a lot more likely to end up with two valuable running backs when there are fewer teams drafting, making it easier to wait on one and pivot to wide receiver.

• Draft a quarterback early: Most teams should be happy with their wide receivers and running backs, regardless of whether they're drafted early, but not every manager will be happy with their quarterback. Don’t be the one who misses out.

• Fantasy draft approaching? Use PFF’s AI-powered fantasy mock draft simulator to fine-tune your draft strategy and dominate your 2023 fantasy football league.

Estimated Reading Time: 16 minutes

The perfect draft series combines current average draft positions from expert and casual drafts to see who should be available at each pick, allowing us to evaluate the best picks in each situation.

For help on other pick numbers or league sizes, for rankings or for more details about the players, check out the rest of my summer content below. For rankings with better filtering along with auction values, check out our draft rankings page.

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League Winners: Top-5 | QB | RB | WR | TE
Breakouts: Top-5 | QB | RB | WR | TE
Position Draft Strategy: QB | RB | WR | TE

16-Team Draft Strategy: Overall strategy

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Last updated: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2

Round 1, Picks 1-10: Draft a wide receiver or running back

Pick the best player available. This could mean a wide receiver or running back or Travis Kelce specifically if you have the fifth or sixth pick. Enough players offer value at each of those positions in the next few rounds, and it’s easy enough to pivot the strategy.

Top Target: Justin Jefferson

Jefferson was the clear top wide receiver last season, and he is showing no signs of slowing down.

His 7.5 receptions per game, 106.4 yards per game and 21.7 PPR points per game all ranked first at the position last season.
He has earned a 90.0-plus receiving grade in all three seasons of his NFL career.
He recently turned just 24 years old, so there is still a chance he can improve.
Of all the elite wide receivers available, Jefferson has the best combination of great offense and limited competition from his teammates.

Possible Targets: Christian McCaffrey, Austin Ekeler, Tyreek Hill, Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley

Round 2, Picks 11-20: Draft a wide receiver

This used to be the spot to target a running back, as there used to be a clear top 10 and a gap after that point. But between Joe Mixon‘s relatively stagnant ADP, Rhamondre Stevenson’s drop in ADP and Dameon Pierce’s emergence as a three-down back in Houston, there are now multiple valuable options that can be targeted between Rounds 3 and 5.

This strategy allows you to take one of the best wide receivers in the league here and stock up on running backs later.