SportsEthos 2026 Fantasy Football Draft Guide

Fantasy Football Best Ball Super Flex Draft Review

By Jon Mosales Published August 10, 2026 6 min read

I love doing mock drafts, but they are really only a snapshot of future fantasy leagues because invariably you get someone auto drafting, trolling, picking thier favorite players or also leaving after the 5th rounds.  To be fair, at one point or another I’m guilty of all those behaviors during a mock draft.  I prefer using Best Ball drafts as a template because it feels more modern.  People have to pay money to enter these and they have real stakes and while there is a subtle difference between Best Ball and redraft, it’s not stark enough that there is no value in breaking them down after the fact.  It’s very hard to do a Super Flex mock draft, harder still if you want auction, so while this isn’t the best of both worlds, it’s splitting the baby for sure.  It’s also super early in the summer and ADPs will shift along with preferences, but I thought it would be a good time to get a team on paper and see what fluctuates later in the summer.

Round 1 (Pick 7)  – Joe Burrow – Burrow is kind of the antithesis of modern fantasy, but I LOVE the Bengals this season.  Burrow was the QB3 two seasons ago and there is no reason to assume he can’t stay healthy.  CIN having the third-easiest schedule looms large for me (re Pats last season) and grabbing Burrow with an eye towards stacking him is too appealing.  I’m not sold 100% on going QB every time in SF, but Burrow is due for a revenge season.  He might be the last QB I would take in this spot where you need a sure thing.

Round 2 (Pick 18) – Jaxson Dart – It’s just too easy not to stack two QBs early.  It eliminates the stress of being left out in the cold and you know there is going to be plenty of value at both WR/RB later in the draft.  Now, again I wouldn’t force QB here and we have a choice between St. Brown or Dart and it really depends on my mood.  I’d probably take St. Brown most days because I want as little risk as possible up front.  I can and will chase risk later.  Dart blew me away last season and it’s not impossible that he makes a second=year leap ala Drake Maye.  He’s not half the passer Maye is, but he will probably lead the position in rushing TDs.  That is invaluable.  My brain says take St. Brown, my heart says Dart.

Round 3 (Pick 31) – Omarion Hampton – It’s time to take a RB and while I’m not 100% all-in Hampton, I’m pretty close.  As great as Derrick Henry is, I’d rather bet on the youth than a generational superstar defying Father Time again.  You almost have to throw out his rookie season with how bad his o-line was, but he showed enough dual-threat and big-play ability to keep all eyes on.  The talent is solid, but the supporting parts are elite assuming the o-line can stay healthy.  Mike McDaniel is great at incorporating versatile RBs, so I expect Hampton to eat as a receiver while also being a bell cow on the ground.  I don’t love a rookie RB who gets hurt, but what can you do, if he had played 17 games, he’d be a first round pick.  This is more of a bet on the Chargers offense than Hampton with the fear being that the Chargers and hype is like oil and water.

Round 4 (Pick 42) De’Von Achane – One of my guys.  While everyone is swimming away from him like he has the plague, I’m locking him in everywhere I go.  The upside of going QB early is drafting Achane when the next player drafted is Cam Ward.  The downsides are obvious, he lost McDaniel who is elite at targeting RBs and adds Malik Willis, who hasn’t shown a propensity for hitting his RBs.  I don’t care.  Achane and Willis are the new power-running combo in the AFC.  People always worry about the dual-threat part of the RB and forget the running is the true recipe.  Achane was 5.7 YPC last season and gets the best o-line prospect in the draft, maybe in the last five years.  Volume will go up, efficiency with a running QB will go up, everything is about to go up.

Round 5 (Trey McBride) – There are plenty of reasons to believe McBride peaked last season and he almost certainly did, but that doesn’t mean the downswing is going to be catastrophic.  As much as you should draft best player available, drafting with a plan is almost always better.  I already locked up two QBs and two RBs, so now I get to draft the TE1 instead of chasing a lesser player at position of need.  In 2022 when Travis Kelce was six FPs better than the TE2, he was still the TE1 in FPPG the following season, it’s just the margin shrunk to zero.  I’m not aggressively targeting McBride due to fears about the o-line, coaching, schedule and gameplan, but he’s still an absolute monster that get hyper-targeted by Jacoby Brissett.  every time they are in the red zone.  Brissett had 32 red zone targets last season (23 for Jake Ferguson).  I love going elite TE and it seemed foolish not to lock him up although there are plenty of red flags.

Round 6  (Pick 66) Tee Higgins – Our first WR at pick 66 might seem wild, but it is the way.  Stacking Higgins with Burrow is only natural, but I would almost never draft him without the stack.  Higgins can never stay healthy and has a habit of playing hurt and putting up a goose egg.  I’ve just been burned too many times, but the stack cures all.  There are so many WRs I love past pick 50, the only one I would aggressively target is Emeka Egbuka.  It was between Higgins, Tetaroia McMillan and Zay Flowers and if Burrow wasn’t already on the team, Higgins might be third, but the power of the stack is undeniable.

Round 7 (Pick 79) D’Andre Swift – Getting a third RB before a second WR might seem less than prudent, but Swift has too much going for him to ignore.  He was the RB15 on a run-first offense with a great o-line that scores a ton of points.  Even if Swift wasn’t explosive and he is, he should be going earlier than this.  The Kyle Monangai fears are real, but I want as many parts of the CHI offense as possible.  Getting Swift before Chuba Hubbard and Tony Pollard feels like almost a two-tier break.  It’s rare that a draft works out this nicely in almost every round.  Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good.

Round 8 (Pick 90) –  Carnell Tate – Tate looks like the real deal and high-end WR prospects rarely have a failure to launch, MHJ being the most recent and Travis Hunter if you want pick nits.  Tate looks like the real deal and you’re really drafting him because you believe in Cam Ward.  I don’t fully believe in him this season to be honest, but the upside on Tate is self-evident.  Tetaroia McMillan was the WR16 with Bryce Young and I believe Ward should drastically eclipse Young as a sophomore.

Round 9 (Pick 103) – Makai Lemon –  Rookie WRs are
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