The NFL preseason is underway, and just like the players on the field, the key to any successful season is preparation.
The same can be said for fantasy football. Whether you have the first overall pick or the last of the first round, having a sense of who will be available in each round is key.
I’ll be doing mock drafts throughout the summer, offering scenarios and feedback for each position, starting with the No. 1 pick. The point of these mocks is to prepare for the unexpected.
The mock drafts will assume that 12 teams are in the league with the following roster construction: quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, tight end, a flex (running back, wide receiver or tight end), defense, kicker and seven bench spots. It is a 16-round snake draft in a half-point-per-reception (half-PPR) league. We will mix in 10- and 16-team drafts at some point as well as Superflex and non-PPR (standard) drafts.
If you read my draft guide, you know I’m not a fan of drafting kickers and defense if it’s not necessary. I’d rather add a few running backs who could end up starters in the event of an injury. However, for the sake of this exercise, I’ll round out each draft by doing so. Remember, do not draft either before your final two picks!
Most important of all, be creative with your mock drafts. Do not take the same players in every mock. Your favorite sleeper is probably someone else’s too.
The draft is just the start of the season. If you are drafting early, work the waiver wire to your advantage if any major injuries arise. If you’re a fantasy nerd like me, turn on notifications from your favorite NFL insider for breaking news around the league. But the draft is where you build the foundation of your roster, and the goal is to have as deep a roster as possible.
We have reached the middle of the first round with the eighth pick with a lot more fantasy analysis upcoming.
(See also:No. 1 pick,No. 2 pick,No. 3 pick,No. 4 pick,No. 5 pick,No. 6 pick,Superflex, No. 7 pick)
Here is my roster:
Round 1, Pick 8: Breece Hall, RB, New York Jets
Round 2, Pick 5: Davante Adams, WR, Las Vegas Raiders
Round 3, Pick 8: Deebo Samuel, WR, San Francisco 49ers
Round 4, Pick 5: James Cook, RB, Buffalo Bills
Round 5, Pick 8: Tee Higgins, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
Round 6, Pick 5: Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals
Round 7, Pick 8: Jayden Reed, WR, Green Bay Packers
Round 8, Pick 5: Javonte Williams, RB, Denver Broncos
Round 9, Pick 8: Chase Brown, RB, Cincinnati Bengals
Round 10, Pick 5: Brock Bowers, TE, Las Vegas Raiders
Round 11, Pick 8: Chuba Hubbard, RB, Carolina Panthers
Round 12, Pick 5: MarShawn Lloyd, RB, Green Bay Packers
Round 13, Pick 8: Bucky Irving, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Round 14, Pick 5: Michael Wilson, WR, Arizona Cardinals
Round 15, Pick 8: Cleveland Browns D/ST
Round 16, Pick 5: Ka’imi Fairbairn, K, Houston Texans
Observations:
Breece Hall is a carryover from my previous mock since landing a first-round running back is my strategy in the back half of the draft order. I like the assurance of landing one of the top five running backs and a top-10 receiver with my first two picks. Hall is the every-down back for an offense that should be much improved. He might not get such a large number of checkdowns with Aaron Rodgers under center, but should see more red-zone opportunities.
Davante Adams and Deebo Samuel are two of the safest bets in fantasy. Adams is perennially in the top 10 in targets regardless of who is his quarterback. I am more interested in drafting Samuel with the news of a potential Brandon Aiyuk trade. Samuel’s carries in the run game have diminished the last few seasons, but that’s always an added threat. Their involvement in their respective offenses makes them easy choices in the second and third rounds.
I’m targeting James Cook often as my second running back. He is an ideal pass-catching back who should garner most of the touches in the Bills’ high-octane offense. This situation reminds me a lot of Rachaad White from a year ago. White finished as RB7 in half-PPR scoring.
Stacking is not something you plan ahead for, but Tee Higgins is being undervalued in fantasy because of his contract status and Joe Burrow fell a round lower than I expected. Higgins battled a hamstring injury in the second half of last season, while Burrow’s wrist injury hurt the offense as a whole. Getting both at this stage of the draft are high-value picks.
The rest of the draft is a mix of players with safe floors and high upside. Javonte Williams is a year removed from his knee injury. Chase Brown is rising up draft boards with the news that he’s the potential lead back for the Bengals. MarShawn Lloyd and Bucky Irving are two rookies who are an injury away from being starters. Chuba Hubbard is on the other end of that spectrum, a veteran back who will be fending off a rookie as the season progresses.
The instant impact Sam LaPorta and Dalton Kincaid made as rookies has me believing that Brock Bowers can do the same. Adams will lead the Raiders in targets, but they did not spend a high draft pick on a playmaking tight end to not target him often. Tight end and quarterbacks are so deep this year that we can afford to take a flier like this.
This has become my ideal build in most fantasy drafts. Exiting a draft with one of the elite running backs and then taking receivers with my next two choices gives the roster a solid foundation on which to build. I am willing to wait on tight end, while I try to get one of the mid-tier quarterbacks going in Rounds 5-6. I won’t call this a Robust RB strategy because of the Cook selection in the fourth round, but I like to fill out my roster by targeting running backs in the later rounds.
What do you think of this roster? Let’s discuss on Twitter@JoeSerp.
You can do your own mock draft in seconds byclicking here.
