Out of tight ends, defenses, and kickers, the most valuable “player” to go after early is the tight end. This is because most defenses change every year and you can find a new good one on the waiver wire that you can easily grab before after the first 2 games of the season occur. So when it comes to drafting a defense, stick to a solid pick that performed on average 8 points or better last season or take one that is facing a weaker team in the league, still in the rebuilding process. Teams such as the Browns or the Jets will do. Kickers, they almost always average the same amount of points so it doesn’t really matter who you take in the draft which is why you can wait and grab one in your last draft pick.
While high scoring, consistent tight ends are hard to come by if you don’t pick one up in an early round (1st-5th). There are only about 5 tight ends (Rob Gronkowski, Travis Kelce, Greg Olsen, Delanie Walker, and Jordan Reed) that average over 8 points a game and these are the guys to target in the first five rounds. If these guys are taken early then you can wait until around the sixth to the eighth round to draft other guys (Tyler Eifert, Zach Ertz, Martellus Bennet, Jared Cook, or rookies lke O.J Howard and Evan Ingram) that could also be good, but may not be as consistent or high scoring. Just make sure you are picking the best player available. When you’re around the sixth – eighth pick this is where you will need to make a decision on whether or not to pick one up early. This is because if you do pick one up early (especially in a 10+ person league) you’ll risk not getting a top 5 quarterback, starting quality running back, or quality receiver. But if you pick a quarterback later you’ll still risk not getting a good tight end. That is why for me, I’d rather wait to get a quarterback than a tight end.
How I would use my picks in each round out of13 rounds:
*Remember that you should be drafting a total of at least 4 running backs and 4 wide receivers with 2 of each going between the 1st four rounds.
Round 1-WR or RB
Round 2-RB or WR
Round 3-WR or RB
Round 4- RB or WR
Round 5- TE or QB
Round 6-QB or TE
Round 7- RB or WR
Round 8-WR or RB
Round 9-RB or WR
Round 10-WR or RB
Round 11-WR or RB
Round 12-K or D/ST
Round 13-D/ST or K
Total (at the least in your roster):
QB-1
RB- 4
WR-4
TE-1
D/ST-1
K-1