This article is about a 9-minute read.
We got together with our Footballguys staff members and asked a simple question: Which player -- generally taken in the first round -- do you most-like having on your team?
Here are their answers.
Chad Parsons
Saquon Barkley and Ezekiel Elliott are my co-favorites in Round 1. For Barkley, he is on a historic track through two seasons and, with his overall profile and career start, is a strong bet to finish as the overall RB1 in the near future. Being the unquestioned centerpiece of his offense and a dynamic home run threat does not hurt either. For Elliott, he is the lynchpin for the Cowboys offense, which is primed to be one of the best in the NFL and added firepower with CeeDee Lamb in this year's draft. Elliott is one of the few backs in the league with the ability to lead in rushing yards, touchdowns, and challenge for 50+ receptions any given year.
Devin Knotts
The answer seems somewhat obvious in that Christian McCaffrey is the top guy this season. McCaffrey has shown so far throughout his career that he is durable and reliable finishing as a top-5 running back in 10 of his games last season while the next closest player only did it 7 times. If you have the chance to draft him, it is an easy decision this year and is the only player that week in and week out you can rely on consistent elite-level production out of at the running back position.
Dan Hindery
If given my choice of draft spots this season, I am taking 1.01 and drafting Christian McCaffrey. His combination of floor and ceiling is unmatched. The receiving production and overall usage rate are both insane.
If I'm not lucky enough to land a top pick, Joe Mixon is the guy I am most excited about drafting in the back half of the first round. There is a narrative, true to some extent, that we are still waiting for Mixon to break out. However, you can make a good argument that Mixon had his break out in the second half of the 2019 season and many just didn't notice. The Bengals running game was a mess early in the season but offensive coordinator Brian Callahan made major changes during the midseason bye week and the Bengals running game took off. As Callahan explained, once the run game started to produce: "To run strictly zone plays all the time is probably not realistic. We’ve definitely put a heavier emphasis on some of the gap schemes and some perimeter game and things like that. It’s helped us. It’s gotten Joe in spots where he’s good and it’s gotten our guys in spots where they’ve been good."
The proof was in the pudding. Mixon was the RB4 over the second half of the 2019 season. If you take Mixon's stats over his final eight games and extrapolate out to a full 16 weeks, he would have produced 1,634 rushing yards, 354 receiving yards, and 10 touchdowns. Those are elite numbers. When you factor in that the Bengals offense should be much improved with the additions of Joe Burrow, A.J. Green, and Jonah Williams, it is easy to be excited about Mixon carrying over his strong finish into a big 2020 season.
Ryan Hester
McCaffrey is the obvious answer as he provides the production of an elite running back and a starting-level wide receiver in one roster spot. While Barkley is similar with his usage, I prefer Ezekiel Elliott to Barkley due to his team's offense. Dallas should be among the highest-scoring teams in the NFL this season, and Elliott will be capping off many successful drives with touchdowns.
Jeff Haseley
Christian McCaffrey is my 1.01, but if we're excluding him because he's everyone's favorite, I want Saquon Barkley, Alvin Kamara, Derrick Henry, Michael Thomas, or Davante Adams. That's my order for round one. I'd prefer to get Adams or perhaps Tyreek Hill at the beginning of round two, but this about the first round. I may be pressured into Travis Kelce at the end of round one, but that may be too rich for my liking. If it's a tight end premium league, I will definitely consider Kelce.
Matt Waldman
Since I love drafting at the turn and I have written about him recently, I will roll with Nick Chubb as my favorite.
Chubb has quickly become teaching tape for the NFL as a runner. One of the plays he runs better than most is outside zone, and it is what Kevin Stefanski is bringing to the Browns from Minnesota.
A great after-contact runner with physical traits close to Saquon Barkley, Chubb is a smarter decision-maker with superior vision. In a Scouting Academy video former NFL scout Dan Hatman and I made on Chubb, we show how Chubb helped his blocks reach assignments—it is rare for a runner to make blockers better the way Chubb does it.
The presence of Kareem Hunt worries most. I have shown that Hunt’s performance impacting Chubb down the stretch is overstated as a reason to be down on Chubb.
Chubb and Hunt can coexist in this scheme and both deliver as fantasy contributors. Chubb still has top-five upside at the position considering that Hunt can assume the 900-1,100 yards from scrimmage that Vikings reserves earned last year despite an RB1 performance from Dalvin Cook.
With a serious upgrade to the tackles along Cleveland’s line and a scheme that should place inflatable bumpers along the gutters of Baker Mayfield’s game so that he’s more efficient, Chubb would be challenging for a 2,000-yard rushing season if not for Hunt. That’s how good he is.
Jeff Pasquino
The clear favorite has to be Christian McCaffrey. Aside from all the good reasons to go with him as the first pick that many of my fellow staff members have already covered, There's a unique draft approach that I highlighted last year that is highly applicable for those who get Mr. McCaffrey in Round 1 this season. Both Carolina and Tampa Bay are the only two teams with very late byes this season (Week 13), and that creates a rather intriguing strategy for someone with the first overall pick this year. It is quite possible for that team to land 4-5 starters from both teams based on ADP, affording a starting lineup of McCaffrey, two of three wide receivers (Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and D.J. Moore) at the 2/3 turn and then strong options from Tampa Bay in both Rounds 6 and 7 (Ronald Jones II, Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and possibly KeShawn Vaughn). Aside from the top talent, having 4-5 players in your lineup every week for the first 12 weeks of the season is not possible in any other way, yet it presents itself very early in drafts as a scenario worth strong consideration. Yes, you would wind up with 4-5 players on the same team, so if Tampa Bay and/or Carolina have unproductive weeks it could be problematic, but that could be said about many teams and players. Taking 1-2 Panthers and 2-3 Buccaneers in the first seven rounds may feel extreme, but it could be a winning combination.
Jason Wood
I've got Christian McCaffrey atop my rankings, too, so it's hard to say I disagree with my colleagues. But I do think he's got more worries than we give him credit for. McCaffrey enters this season with a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator, a new starting quarterback, a reshuffled offensive line, and a terrible defense. None of those factors correlate with the consensus No. 1 fantasy pick, and I fear we're all lulling ourselves into assuming Year N+1 looks just like Year N.
Not only is McCaffrey undergoing coaching changes, but his head coach has never had that role in the NFL, his play-caller has just one season as a college coordinator, and his new quarterback parlayed a three-game stretch in New Orleans into a contract that belies what we saw from him in years worth of less impressive starts.
My choice would be Saquon Barkley. Barkley was a league-winner last year if you managed to stay in contention during his injury earlier in the season. He's proven for two seasons that he's transcendent and can dominate regardless of supporting cast. He reminds me of LaDainian Tomlinson in that way. In leagues where I've gotten to choose my draft spot, I'm opting for 1.03 as my first choice or 1.02 as my second. I'll let someone else grab McCaffrey and I'll take either Barkley or Ezekiel Elliott.
Phil Alexander
Is it cheating if I say my favorite player is a top-four pick, and my least favorite is everyone who isn't a top-four pick? The drop from McCaffrey, Barkley, Elliott, and Kamara to Dalvin Cook at No. 5 is chasmic, given Cook's contract status and injury concerns. Starting with a wide receiver in Round 1 isn't the way to do it this year when you can get a guy like Adam Thielen, who can realistically lead the league in targets in Round 3. And I love Travis Kelce as much as the next Footballguy, but taking a tight end in the mid-first round is a stretch.
The massive advantage you get from drafting at Picks 1-4 notwithstanding, Dan laid out the case for Mixon beautifully. I would take him ahead of any wide receiver, including Michael Thomas.
Andy Hicks
I will just copy Jeff Pasquino’s comments and retire from this discussion.
How could you not pick Christian McCaffrey if you had the choice of any player?
Over 1000 rushing and receiving yards, separately, are more than possible. Add in over 100 receptions and you have a can’t lose proposition. His 2019 season was the ninth highest of all time for a running back and if wasn’t for only 19 touchdowns he would have ranked much higher. The dude is still only 24. The only conceivable issue could be a new coaching group who try and be the smartest minds and don’t use their best asset.
Bob Henry
Skipping the obvious favorite player (McCaffrey) and the next obvious landing spots of being in the top four or five, I love having the 1.12 because at least I can grab two players and play the turns throughout the draft. The end of the third round presents some excellent value opportunities as well, particularly if you go RB-RB, but also if you RB-WR and your league ends up leaving Mahomes/Jackson for you.
Jordan McNamara
It is tough to argue with Christian McCaffrey, the back to back RB1 as the favorite of the first round. There is also a good argument for Saquon Barkley who was the RB2 in 2018 in his rookie season, only 4.7 points behind McCaffrey, before averaging over 18 PPG in 2019 while missing time with an injury.
Andrew Davenport
As for my favorite pick, of course, Christian McCaffrey is the pick, but behind him, it's Ezekiel Elliott. I feel like every time we chat about the top of the draft I can't stop talking about Zeke, but I think that there are very few situations in a football player's career where everything lines up perfectly for that player. Elliott's situation feels like it is lining up for a Michael Jackson-Thriller-type season this year or next where he lays down a career-defining piece of work. He's been in the league now for four years and he's in a sweet spot for running backs. He's accumulated almost 1,400 NFL touches, so at some point we have to worry about that heavy workload, but he's still just 25 years old so that's not a concern quite yet. He's averaged 12 touchdowns per year even though he's missed eight games. He plays on a team with an upper-tier offensive line, explosive playmakers catching the ball, and an above-average quarterback. His floor is as safe as any running back because of his lack of injury concerns and his touchdown numbers, yet his upside is as strong as anyone's because he plays in one of the best offenses in the league. Elliott's only flaw in his outlook is whether he can behave himself off the field during this difficult season coming. That's no given, but on the field, there is nobody I want outside of Christian McCaffrey.
