Before you know it, it will be fantasy football draft time, we hope! During the next month or so, I will be conducting several mock drafts. During the drafts, I will pick in all 12 positions, with all sorts of scenarios.
As a rule, I prefer to draft three starting running backs within the first four rounds. It is a tried-and-true strategy, which has done me well for 20-plus years. The mock drafts I do will all assume 12 teams are in the league (unless otherwise noted) with the following positions: quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, tight end, a flex (running back, wide receiver or tight end), kicker, team defense and six bench spots. Therefore, it is a 16-round snake draft.
Here is scenario No. 6. (See also: Mock 1, Mock 2, Mock 3, Mock 4 and Mock 5.)
I have the sixth overall pick; let’s see how it all works out. In this format, I am playing in a half point-per-reception league (0.5 PPR), which means that every reception is worth a half-point.
You can see the entire draft by clicking here.
Here is my roster:
Round 1, Pick 6: Alvin Kamara, RB, New Orleans Saints
Round 2, Pick 7: Miles Sanders, RB, Philadelphia Eagles
Round 3, Pick 6: Chris Carson, RB, Seattle Seahawks
Round 4, Pick 7: Courtland Sutton, WR, Denver Broncos
Round 5, Pick 6: David Montgomery, RB, Chicago Bears
Round 6, Pick 7: Michael Gallup, WR, Dallas Cowboys
Round 7, Pick 6: Brandin Cooks, WR, Houston Texans
Round 8, Pick 7: Hayden Hurst, TE, Atlanta Falcons
Round 9, Pick 6: Ke’Shawn Vaughn, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Round 10, Pick 7: Anthony Miller, WR, Chicago Bears
Round 11, Pick 6: Rob Gronkowski, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Round 12, Pick 7: Breshad Perriman, WR, New Jersey Jets
Round 13, Pick 6: Chicago Bears DST
Round 14, Pick 7: Justin Tucker, K, Baltimore Ravens
Round 15, Pick 6: Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Round 16, Pick 7: Jared Goff, QB, Los Angeles Rams
Some Observations:
My overall strategy in a half-PPR league is to treat it like a PPR league. You get a slight bonus for players that are double-digit touchdown players, but not enough to overhaul the rankings a bunch. Derrick Henry type players may get an uptick in this format for example.
I will let you in on a secret: I do not like picking in the middle of drafts. With picks 5 through 9, you are always at the tail end of the position runs — unless you start them, which usually means you reached a bit on a player. Round 1 is easy — take the player who falls to you. In this case, it was almost like Christmas in July. My third overall player, Alvin Kamara, fell to me.
Executing my strategy of running backs early and often was truly tested. In Round 2, I took the best running back left on the board in Miles Sanders. That makes for a nice 1-2 punch. I truly considered Travis Kelce, but I just couldn’t make myself do it. Tight end bingo it will be.
I filled out my running backs room with Chris Carson, David Montgomery and Ke’Shawn Vaughn. I don’t know how many passes this group outside of Kamara will catch, but they could all be high-volume backs.
I have a solid group of wide receivers with Courtland Sutton, Michael Gallup and Brandin Cooks leading the way. All have 80-catch ability … but I am thin. Anthony Miller and Breshad Perriman are wild cards this year.
At tight end … I can admit it, I drafted Hayden Hurst a tad early. I should have gone with another receiver or back in Round 8. High-upside, low-floor running back Derrius Guice would have made some sense, as would receiver Diontae Johnson. I made a mistake, but that can happen when the clock is ticking down.
I did take upside with Rob Gronkowski three rounds later, which made me hate the Hurst pick even more.
At quarterback, I punted. I grabbed Ben Roethlisberger and Jared Goff late — super late. I could have gotten them as free agents, but I also feel they can both put up solid fantasy numbers.
What do you think of this team? Let me know at @FansFantasy on Twitter.
Please try a mock yourself as practice makes perfect. You can mock in minutes by clicking here.
Ken Zalis ranked No. 3 in FantasyPros’ 2019 Fantasy Football Draft Accuracy Rankings.