Fantasy Football: Drafting from the No. 8 Spot in PPR
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- Christian McCaffrey (RB, SF) was selected at 1.8 and Rashee Rice (WR, KC) at 2.5 as the recommended RB/WR foundation, with Rice averaging more than 18.5 PPR points per game in his last 17 healthy regular season games
- The draft continued with Josh Jacobs at 3.8, Malik Nabers at 4.5, and Lamar Jackson falling to 5.8 — Jackson was labeled the favorite pick after averaging 30 fantasy points per game in 2024 and scoring more than 33 points in four of his first five starts this season
- The author acknowledged the first four picks were "unbelievably risky": McCaffrey (30-year-old RB with injury history), Rice and Nabers (both recovering from knee injuries), and Jacobs (RB facing "serious off-field allegations")
- Malik Nabers was flagged as the player who could "make or break" the team, coming off an ACL and meniscus tear with the Giants projected to be run-heavy — though the article cites a positive track record for elite WRs post-ACL (Jordy Nelson, Keenan Allen, Cooper Kupp)
- The strategy recommends securing two Top 26 WRs by Round 5, warning that dependable options like Davante Adams, DJ Moore, and Mike Evans disappear fast and may force two of the first four picks to be used on receivers
- David Montgomery at 6.5 was the "pick I'm already regretting" — not due to his workload but because tight end Harold Fannin Jr. was available and would have strengthened a position where the author settled for George Kittle in Round 8
Why it matters: The piece is one entry in a CBS Sports series delivering pick-position-specific draft blueprints for the 2026 fantasy season (sibling guides cover the No. 2 and No. 6 slots), giving readers a reproducible template rather than abstract advice. The author's explicit willingness to absorb injury history, ACL recoveries, and off-field risk in the first four rounds demonstrates how thin the margin has become between safe picks and upside plays in 12-team PPR formats.
