New Fantasy Football 2026 Printable Cheat Sheet and PPR Mock Draft Strategy

With opening kick of the 2026 NFL season just around the corner, your pre-draft toolkit for fantasy football should be fully loaded.

While all of the elements have their place, the most valuable resource in that toolbox is a mock draft.

Nothing gets you better prepared for the real thing. You're feeling the same pressure of drafting against managers (human or simulated) while also keeping an eye out for any notable trends that may well wind up tweaking your actual draft approach.

So, as you finish out the remainder of mock draft season, we're here to discuss a couple of mock strategies to employ after providing cheat sheet-style positional rankings.

The PPR format might point some toward wide receivers and top-shelf tight ends, but the running back position looms largest as a fantasy gold mine.

There's just a different kind of safety with a running back who will handle, say, 20-ish touches per game than there is with a receiver who sees 10 or so targets. Not to mention, the running back ranks thin out a lot sooner than wide receiver does.

So, as long as the draft board allows it, you should plan on hammering the running back spot early and often. If you can snag two with your first three picks, do it. If you can find three or even four intriguing options with your first eight selections, do that, too.

You'll want a difference-maker or two at the top, but you'll also want some reliable depth pieces (ideally capable of filling a flex spot right away) given the inherent injury risks at the position. If your running back room is among the strongest in the league, the chances are the same applies to your roster as a whole.

This strategy has been repeated so often it almost feels cliched to say. But there's a reason behind the repetition: The advice is sound (and advisable!).

As awesome as someone like Josh Allen is, there is a massive opportunity cost that comes with spending the second- or third-round pick so often needed to land him. You'll be hurting at a premium position by doing so, and you might need to strike gold on a couple of lottery-ticket sleepers to compensate.

There just isn't the same give-and-take with waiting on a quarterback. If your league starts one signal-caller (as most do), there are more than enough to go around to give everyone a rock-solid option. You could be one of the last managers in your draft to take a quarterback and still walk away with the likes of Matthew Stafford, Brock Purdy or Jared Goff.

If you waited that long to take a starting running back or receiver, your roster might be toast. At quarterback, though, you can basically wait as long as possible and still snag someone who might throw for 4,000-plus yards and 30-plus touchdowns.

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