PPR - 5th Pick

1 PPR - Thomas
.5 PPR - Cook

Thomas

Middle rounds, like 5-8th maybe, are "the dead zone". 5th is really not that ideal frankly. At that point, you're looking for consistency and minimizing risk.

I'd go Thomas. The others, like Cook, have a lot of potential risk and if you blow your 1st round pick it'd be tough to overcome during the season.

If you went Thomas, you might be able to get a Chubb or Jones depending upon how competitive your league is. You might have to face going with Kelsey or Kittle even, which would give you a leg up at TE as well. You'd start with the #1 WR and TE. In the 3rd, you could possible land Conner, David Johnson, Mostert, Carson. And come back in the 4th with another WR1 like Wood, JuJu possibly. In the 5th you might go for upside like Dobbins, James White maybe. You'll have to reach at 5 because you won't start runs and you'll always be chasing the run. Best to just get the best available and go from there. The chance of injury to an RB is well over 50% during the season anyway, so watch the wire like a hawk.

Good luck and keep us posted.

I've seen this discussion among "fantasy analysts" on YouTube videos or pay sites. Obviously a lot of things go into that kind of statement, but the gist of the arguement is going "RB Heavy" in the early rounds doesn't necessarily equate to fantasy production over the long term vs. getting elite players at other positions like WR who don't tend to get injured as much. This speaks to handcuffing key players in run heavy offenses (like Cook, getting Mattison earlier vs. ADP for example), taking fliers on the "next man up" on "run heavy offenses" later on in drafts. May even give weight to drafting the elite QBs early since they tend to get hurt the least and can put up such huge numbers in any given week. Some like Mahomes are very consistent as well with production.

Here's one article...

LINK


What does the data tell us for 2019?
Looking back at the last four seasons, running backs selected in round one tend to have a pretty high injury risk. Over that four year sample, there was a total of 12 injuries to running backs selected in the first round out of a possible 27 players or a 44% injury rate.

Another interesting article.

I've got 6th pick in 10 team full PPR. I'm leaning toward Thomas but depends. If Kamara drops to me I'm taking him and then maybe kelce.

Your squad sucks. Come week 5 you’ll be in desperate need of rb