1.08 Draft Strategy for 2025 Fantasy Football: Choose Between Malik Nabers, Nico Collins, and Amon-Ra St. Brown
I love to cook, but I need variety in my meals.
Unfortunately, with my kids’ schedules, work, and writing, there are a lot of one-pot recipes going on in the Allen household. And a lot of leftovers. It’s why I cherish the weekends. I’ll have a bit more time to marinate some chicken or throw something on the smoker. But during the week, the routine rules my world.
The 1.08 has a pre-programmed vibe to it, too. Not that it’s just the same players. But the same type of guys. After you strip away their jerseys, you find comparable warts. However, by adding context to their skillset and trying other paths to build around them, you might see each as a different option worth targeting from the eight-spot.
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The 1.08 Debate In 2025 Fantasy Football Drafts
Honestly, I should’ve added Puka Nacua to this list, but I needed him for something else. Anyway, these receivers keep popping up in the queue if I’m sitting at the 1.08.
- Malik Nabers, Giants
- Nico Collins, Texans
- Amon-Ra St. Brown, Lions
- Brian Thomas, Jaguars
Now, their proximity to each other in drafts isn’t a coincidence. Well, it isn’t if you’ve been looking at our tiered fantasy football rankings.
The reasoning is simple. Remove the team names and face plates. If you looked at just their opportunity, you might have trouble picking them out of a random lineup.
- WR A: 27.1% (Target Share), 36.3% (Air Yard Share), 27.8% (TPRR)
- WR B: 27.0%, 31.2%, 25.7%
- WR C: 34.9%, 46.6%, 30.9%
- WR D: 25.5%, 34.6%, 25.5%
OK, Nabers’s ridiculous 34.9% target share is hard to hide. But when you factor in the quality of his targets (75.0% catchable target rate; 28th amongst all WRs – min. 400 routes), he falls in line with his peers. In other words, there’s no clear choice. Unless you have an allegiance to a team or an archetype, the choice feels like a dart throw. But then again, there’s context that might push you in a certain direction.
- St. Brown: sixth-highest slot rate of any WR (min. 100 targets)
- Thomas: third-most deep targets
- Nabers: fourth-highest air-yard share
- Collins: third-highest explosive play rate
In essence, we’re not ranking receivers. We’re prioritizing stats. You have to decide what’s more important to you. The security of high-percentage sounds great. St. Brown only had two games with fewer than five targets. However, an explosive completion or two would make watching the Jaguars all the more exciting.
So, maybe they’re not all the same. There might be enough differences to change how we build around them. Let’s try it out.
- Multiverse 1: Malik Nabers, Zero RB
- Multiverse 2: Nico Collins, Balanced
- Multiverse 3: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Robust RB
Take Team 3, for example. St. Brown as your WR1 may seem fine. But, after taking two RBs, a WR duo of St. Brown and Courtland Sutton doesn’t rank as high. Subjectively, it feels like you’re behind at receiver. However, let’s dig into how we can mitigate some of these distinctions.
The Rest of the Early Rounds From 1.08
Let’s say you disagree with my whole premise. There’s no variability between each of the WRs other than the color of their helmets. But what you do with these three guys available says more than you think.
Taking Brock Bowers means you’re bypassing a WR. In other words, you’re confident in the one you already have. Because, as we saw last year (which aligns with the historical trend), WR production declines as we get deeper into the draft.
So, a season of Russell Wilson (or Jaxson Dart?) matters. Houston’s poor offensive line has an impact. Jared Goff losing his play-caller should be on our minds. Just as much as their gaudy volume stats. Accordingly, the receivers around our first-round selection should reflect our evaluation of their outlook for 2025.
I knew Team 3 was going to be tricky. I outlined a similar scenario earlier. By trying to adhere to my usual early-round objectives, forcing a Robust RB approach netted me the following receiver corps.
Let’s assume McLaurin gets his deal and is ready to go in Week 1. How he produces relative to the receivers drafted before him makes him a tougher sell. Jaxon Smith-Njigba will see an expanded role on the interior as Seattle’s WR1. We’re expecting the same for Marvin Harrison. The Bucs deploy Mike Evans in the same manner, but Baker Mayfield averaged more dropbacks per game than Jayden Daniels. Again, it’s not that we can’t use each WR’s base stats to rank them. But their contextualized usage should determine how we integrate them into our rosters.
Mid-Round Strategy From The 1.08 Draft Position
Let’s focus on Team 2 for a bit. I just criticized Team 3 (i.e., myself) for having a weak trio of WRs. The grouping of Nico Collins, Xavier Worthy, and Tetairoa McMillan isn’t much better. Consequently, my list of priorities for the middle rounds was extensive.
- QB1
- WR3 or FLEX
- RB2/3
However, if minute variations in first-round receivers are a factor, the impact is even greater for WRs with cheaper ADPs. Their roles carry more uncertainty. For rookies, draft capital carries the strongest signal. But there’s an important on-field trait to consider that we sometimes dismiss.
By ‘on-field trait’, I literally meant being on the field. Well, on the field and getting a cardio workout. Running routes appear routine. But each play has a specific design and purpose. An OC doesn’t want just anybody out there drawing attention. And the more routes, the likelier a pass-catcher will get the QB to throw their way. So, I took some swings at WR to give my pass-catching group some upside.
For Hunter, his only concern is how often he’ll play defense. However, Egbuka’s situation is different. Chris Godwin doesn’t have a timetable for return and used three-receiver sets on early downs at the eighth-highest rate in ’24. The former Buckeye has Mike Evans, Bucky Irving, and Jalen McMillan to contend with for looks, but he should at least be on the field. And his collegiate production indicates he’ll catch Mayfield’s eye sooner rather than later, making him a suitable pick to round out my WRs.
Honestly, my only disappointment is not grabbing a TE earlier for Team 3. Hunter Henry is fine, but I was looking to grab Kyle Pitts or Dallas Goedert a round or two before. However, that’s why we have the Draft Champion tool. We can test out how each roster looks both subjectively and through an analytical lens. While player names might cause all the excitement during the draft, understanding how they score can put us on the path to building a championship roster.
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