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. 10. (See also: Mock 1, Mock 2, Mock 3, Mock 4, Mock 5, Mock 6, Mock 7, Mock 8 and Mock 9.)
I have the 10th 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 10: Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals
Round 2, Pick 3: Nick Chubb, RB, Cleveland Browns
Round 3, Pick 10: Leonard Fournette, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Round 4, Pick 3: A.J. Brown, WR, Tennessee Titans
Round 5, Pick 10: Michael Gallup, WR, Dallas Cowboys
Round 6, Pick 3: Tyler Boyd, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
Round 7, Pick 10: Kareem Hunt, RB, Cleveland Browns
Round 8, Pick 3: J.K. Dobbins, RB, Baltimore Ravens
Round 9, Pick 10: Mike Williams, WR, Los Angeles Chargers
Round 10, Pick 3: Anthony Miller, WR, Chicago Bears
Round 11, Pick 10: Allen Lazard, WR, Green Bay Packers
Round 12, Pick 3: Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions
Round 13, Pick 10: Daniel Jones, QB, New York Giants
Round 14, Pick 3: Buffalo Bills DST
Round 15, Pick 10: Justin Tucker, K, Baltimore Ravens
Round 16, Pick 3: 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 who 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 either want the first pick in my fantasy drafts or to have one of the last three picks (10, 11 or 12). I just find it more comfortable. With the 10th pick, I had my choice of running backs: Joe Mixon, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Nick Chubb or Kenyan Drake. My hope was to get two of those five, which was pretty likely.
I wound up with Mixon and Chubb and was even able to grab Kareem Hunt in the seventh round to address that running back concern. Drafting Leonard Fournette (who is being overlooked) in the third gave me that RB-RB-RB start I always crave. I love grabbing J.K. Dobbins in the eighth round. I think Dobbins could get as many touches this year as Edwards-Helaire, Jonathan Taylor or Cam Akers — three rookie backs being drafted ahead of him.
At wide receiver, I did well waiting until the fourth round by grabbing A.J. Brown, Michael Gallup and Tyler Boyd. That is a solid core. Mike Williams is another player who is being drafted too late.
At quarterback … well, wait, then wait some more, and then when you finally think you should draft one … wait another round. Drafting Matthew Stafford and Daniel Jones in Rounds 12 and 13, respectively, is like stealing.
I punted at tight end. You can’t get everything you want in the top half of the draft, so eventually you decide, as I did, to go late on a position. For me that was tight end, and grabbing Goedert in the 16th round is just fine. I will play the streaming game if I need to.
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.