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. 8. (See also: Mock 1Mock 2Mock 3Mock 4Mock 5Mock 6 and Mock 7.)

I have the eighth 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 8: Dalvin Cook, RB, Minnesota Vikings

Round 2, Pick 5: Miles Sanders, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

Round 3, Pick 8: Todd Gurley, RB, Atlanta Falcons

Round 4, Pick 5: Robert Woods, WR, Los Angeles Rams

Round 5, Pick 8: DJ Chark, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Round 6, Pick 5: Tyler Boyd, WR, Cincinnati Bengals

Round 7, Pick 8: Brandin Cooks, WR, Houston Texans

Round 8, Pick 5: Ronald Jones II, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Round 9, Pick 8: Hayden Hurst, TE, Atlanta Falcons

Round 10, Pick 5: Alexander Mattison, RB, Minnesota Vikings

Round 11, Pick 8: Carson Wentz, QB, Philadelphia Eagles

Round 12, Pick 5: Tom Brady, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Round 13, Pick 8: Chicago Bears DST

Round 14, Pick 5: Harrison Butker, K, Kansas City Chiefs

Round 15, Pick 8: Darrynton Evans, RB, Tennessee Titans

Round 16, Pick 5: Dallas Goedert, TE, Philadelphia Eagles

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 a boost in this format, for example.

I know, I am boring … but I went running back early again with Dalvin Cook and Miles Sanders, but in the third round, I switched it up and went running back. That was a joke, but I will admit I am not exactly sure what to do with Todd Gurley as an RB3 on my team. I’m willing to take the gamble that he is healthy. Even 75 percent of the real Todd Gurley would be worth it.

Robert Woods, DJ Chark and Tyler Boyd form a nice receiver group in a PPR or half-PPR format; each of them is a candidate for 80-plus catches. Adding Brandin Cooks as WR4 is solid.

In Round 8, I took a risk with running back Ronald Jones II. We’ve all been waiting for Jones to be the back he was projected to be. He has competition in rookie Ke’Shawn Vaughn — and Tampa also recently added LeSean McCoy — but as the RB5 on this fantasy team … hey, why not?

I rounded out this team nicely with Hayden Hurst at tight end and Carson Wentz and Tom Brady at quarterback.

In Round 10, I drafted Alexander Mattison. If you draft Dalvin Cook in Round 1, be prepared to grab Mattison anywhere from the seventh round and on. He is the top running back handcuff in fantasy. Overdraft him if you need to. I was lucky to get him here.

In Round 16, I had to take a second tight end, but not necessarily because I like two tight ends coming out of a draft. Dallas Goedert is a top-12 tight end, in my opinion, and with Zach Ertz having some injury issues the last couple of years, Goedert is a steal this late in a draft.

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.


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Ken Zalis ranked No. 3 in FantasyPros’ 2019 Fantasy Football Draft Accuracy Rankings.

Ken Zalis

See all posts by Ken Zalis. Follow Ken Zalis on Twitter at @fansfantasy