Every option, every draft plan, every strategy you can think of is available when you're picking from ninth overall. But you should let your first two picks dictate exactly which option, plan and strategy you'll go with. That's why it's of the utmost importance to go into your draft with a rank list of your top 20 players, knowing that you're guaranteed to get two of them with your first two picks.
And it's especially important to have those top nine players settled before you hit the draft since that's where your first pick will come from. 1. Olave Pretty standard, really. You can see I was prepared to take five running backs and four wide receivers with my first pick.
Not having to make a tough decision on Christian McCaffrey was a relief, but the true joy was taking my No. 7 player and No. 9 overall. That felt like a small win and set me on a course to not have to reach for a running back in Round 2 if I didn't have to. The alternative would have meant taking CeeDee Lamb, which I would have only done if there were at least five running backs I would have settled for in Round 2.
That's simply an issue of supply and demand: If only one or two top-tier wide receivers are available, and a full tier of near-elite running backs are on the board, then the receiver is the easy pick first with a running back on the way back. You just can't love one running back over the rest if you do that -- any preference toward one or two RBs should force you to draft the RB in Round 1. Anyway, in Round 2 the best player left was Justin Jefferson, giving me a top-five running back and top-six receiver to begin my team.
I'll always advocate for one RB and one WR with your first two picks because it takes pressure off of filling either of those positions in Rounds 3 through 5. However, you should be able to look at my rankings above and deduce that had one of Chase Brown, De'Von Achane, CeeDee Lamb, Omarion Hampton or Kenneth Walker III made it back to me at 2.04, I would have taken them over Jefferson. That may have meant taking two running backs early -- and I'd have been okay with that, even if it meant having to focus on receivers with most of my next several picks.
I suppose that means I ultimately took the "best player available" according to my rankings. Definitely nothing wrong with that approach, so long as you know how to move forward in Round 3 and beyond. Just know that picking late in the odd rounds will mean some less-than-ideal starters at running back in Round 5 and receiver in Round 7.
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