Fantasy Football Draft Advice: Expert Picks & Predictions for 2026 NFL Season (Ep. 2160)

August 29, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The FantasyPros crew—Ryan Warmley, Andrew Erickson, and "Debro"—ran a live 16-team fantasy football draft as a real league they will play against listeners throughout the 2026 season. The episode is less a set of abstract draft tips and more a concrete, chaotic demonstration of how three co-managers navigate a draft with a 30-second pick clock, deep league scarcity, and specific scoring quirks. The throughline is the tension between theory and execution: the hosts repeatedly discuss strategic principles (hero RB, late-round quarterback, sacrificing onesie positions) and then immediately test them against the reality of a board that does not cooperate, forcing compromises, vetoes, and live debates.

The 16-Team Landscape: Scarcity and Sacrifice

The core strategic premise of the episode is that a 16-team league forces you to accept weakness somewhere. "Everybody's gonna be hurting somewhere," Warmley notes repeatedly. The hosts agree early that the places to sacrifice are quarterback and tight end—the "onesie" positions where you start only one player. Debro states this plainly: "I feel like in these deeper leagues you have to sacrifice somewhere. I'm sacrificing a quarterback and tight end." The logic is that running back and wide receiver depth evaporates quickly across 16 teams, so you stockpile those positions early and cobble together the thin positions later.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:40) **Draft Kickoff & League Rules** - The hosts introduce a 16-team real fantasy league they will manage together against listeners from their Discord community.
2 (02:57) **Colts WR Injury News** - The hosts react to Alec Pierce being activated off the PUP list and Josh Downs dealing with a calf injury.
3 (09:57) **Pro Bowl Replaced & Draft Begins** - The hosts react to the NFL replacing the Pro Bowl game with flag football, then the live draft starts.
4 (16:00) **Round 2: Pickens & RB Strategy** - With the 2nd pick, the team debates between George Pickens and Breece Hall, settling on Pickens while planning to target running backs.
5 (22:58) **Round 3: Travis Etienne at RB1** - The team selects Travis Etienne as their first running back, then worries about the RB2 position.
6 (28:00) **Round 4: Roman Dunsde & Chris Godwin** - The team pivots to wide receivers, taking Roman Dunsde and Chris Godwin, leaning into a receiver-heavy start.
7 (33:48) **Mid-Draft Strategy: Bonuses & Late-Round QB** - The hosts discuss how scoring bonuses (100-yard receiving, 300-yard passing) affect their approach.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Ryan Warmley Andrew Erickson

Show Notes

Find out if The Pros can get along well enough to share a team that competes against the biggest NFL fans around! Join Ryan Wormeli, Andrew Erickson and Derek Brown for a 2026 fantasy football draft!

How does a 16-team league affect strategy? Can New Orleans Saints RB Travis Etienne Jr. carry a hero-running back build? Plus, why is late-round quarterback the best approach to the position?

The "Tailgate" plugs into the highs and lows coming out of camp!

Timestamps: (May be off due to ads)

Introduction - 0:00:00
Alec Pierce (WR - Off PUP List - 0:02:16
Cedric Tillman (WR - FA) Released - 0:09:25
Braden Smith (OT - HOU) - 0:09;50
Pro Bowl Ending - 0:09:56
Tailgate Fantasy Draft - 0:12:26
Autographed LaDainian Tomlinson San Diego Chargers Jersey Giveaway - 0:12:30
Round 1 - 0:13:00
Round 2 - 0:16:03
Round 3 - 0:20:26
Round 4 - 0:26:08
Round 5 - 0:27:58
Round 6 - 0:31:05
Round 7 - 0:37:17
Round 8 - 0:40:47
Round 9 - 0:45:27
Round 10 - 0:49:07
Round 11 - 0:51:18
Round 12 - 0:55:46
Round 13 - 0:58:24
Round 14 - 0:59:37
Draft Analysis & Recap - 1:05:36
FantasyPros Premium - 1:08:45
Outro - 1:09:10

Helpful Links:

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