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.

This won’t fit as a normal mock because I’m examining how the ZERO RB strategy plays out. (See also: Mock 1Mock 2Mock 3Mock 4Mock 5Mock 6, Mock 7 and Mock 8.)

I picked from the eighth spot in my last mock draft, and I’ll do so again here.

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: Davante Adams, WR, Green Bay Packers

Round 2, Pick 5: George Kittle, TE, San Francisco 49ers

Round 3, Pick 8: Robert Woods, WR, Los Angeles Rams

Round 4, Pick 5: Tyler Lockett, WR, Seattle Seahawks

Round 5, Pick 8: Terry McLaurin, WR, Washington

Round 6, Pick 5: Devin Singletary, RB, Buffalo Bills

Round 7, Pick 8: Cam Akers, RB, Los Angeles Rams

Round 8, Pick 5: Jordan Howard, RB, Miami Dolphins

Round 9, Pick 8: James White, RB, New England Patriots

Round 10, Pick 5: Darrell Henderson, RB, Los Angeles Rams

Round 11, Pick 8: Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions

Round 12, Pick 5: Baltimore Ravens DST

Round 13, Pick 8: Brandon Aiyuk, WR, San Francisco 49ers

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

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

Round 16, Pick 5: Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals

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.

Well, here’s the dreaded ZERO RB draft. I’ll be honest, I do not subscribe to the ZERO RB strategy world. I do, however, believe in drafting safer players early so I can see the appeal of this strategy although I am not a huge fan.

In Round 1, I had the choice of Joe Mixon, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Julio Jones or Davante Adams. I went with Adams, as his target share seems to be the most guaranteed. Edwards-Helaire scares me as the hype train is now out of control. Mixon was tough to pass on, but he struggled early last year and with wanting to be safer early, Adams won out for me.

George Kittle was a no-brainer for me in Round 2, as his target share and positional advantage as this year’s TE1 or TE2 is clear.

I went all in on the ZERO RB strategy during Rounds 3-5 and selected three receivers. Robert Woods (I am a huge fan this year), Tyler Lockett and Terry McLaurin could/should be the WR1 on their respective teams.

It was finally time for running backs in Rounds 6-8. I was pleasantly surprised to find running backs who could/should be their team’s RB1 in Devin Singletary, Cam Akers and Jordan Howard. Running backs in a ZERO RB strategy will not be perfect, so you look for running backs in good situations. You also have to be deep at running backs, so grabbing James White and handcuffing Akers with Darrell Henderson was important to me.

Waiting on quarterbacks worked again with Matthew Stafford in Round 11 and Joe Burrow in Round 16.

Overall, if two of the six running backs on my roster become solid contributors, this team works well. It will not change how I approach drafting, but I can understand the appeal of the strategy.

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