Before you know it, it will be fantasy football draft time. 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. It is a 16-round snake draft.

Here is a superflex scenario.  (See also: Scenario No. 1Scenario No. 2Scenario 3Scenario 4Scenario 5Scenario 6, Scenario 7 and a 16-team scenario.)

Superflex leagues are becoming more and more popular. It is played exactly the same way as any league scoring-wise, but you can play a second quarterback in your flex spot. I have the fourth 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 4: Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs

Round 2, Pick 9: Antonio Gibson, RB, Washington Football Team

Round 3, Pick 4: Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers

Round 4, Pick 9: David Montgomery, RB, Chicago Bears

Round 5, Pick 4: D’Andre Swift, RB, Detroit Lions

Round 6, Pick 9: Brandon Aiyuk, WR, San Francisco 49ers

Round 7, Pick 4: Mike Davis, RB, Atlanta Falcons

Round 8, Pick 9: DJ Chark Jr., WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Round 9, Pick 4: Jarvis Landry, WR, Cleveland Browns

Round 10, Pick 9: Dallas Goedert, TE, Philadelphia Eagles

Round 11, Pick 4: Justin Fields, QB, Chicago Bears

Round 12, Pick 9: Washington Football Team DST

Round 13, Pick 4: Mecole Hardman, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

Round 14, Pick 9: Harrison Butker, K, Kansas City Chiefs

Round 15, Pick 4: Sterling Shepard, WR, New York Giants

Round 16, Pick 9: Jakobi Meyers, WR, New England Patriots

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 an uptick in this format, for example.

So you MUST go quarterback early in a superflex league. I do not think you necessarily need to take a quarterback in Round 1, but I usually like to have two quarterbacks in my first four picks.

The first quarterback went third overall in this draft and shockingly it was Lamar Jackson, which isn’t right or wrong — just not how we usually see it. So then at fourth overall, Patrick Mahomes is staring me in the face. I could have gone running back here and taken Derrick Henry or Jonathan Taylor, but wanted a top-four quarterback.

I was planning to grab another quarterback in the second round, but I also wanted a top running back and they went fast even in this format, so I grabbed Antonio Gibson and hoped a top-10 quarterback would still be there seven picks later. The gamble paid off. I took a risk and grabbed Aaron Rodgers. If he plays, it’s a huge win for this team. If he doesn’t, well, I better grab a third quarterback a bit later.

I went on a mini-run on running backs and was able to grab David Montgomery and D’Andre Swift in the next two rounds. This is means I must get a ton of depth and upside at wide receiver.

My plan was to grab three receivers with my next three picks and started that run with Brandon Aiyuk. But then Mike Davis, one of my top 20 backs, was still on the board in Round 7. I had to grab him. That gave me four top-20 backs, according to my rankings.

DJ Chark and Jarvis Landry are the type of receivers who have some safety and upside at the same time. At tight end, Dallas Goedert in Round 10 is terrific value. In Round 11, I solved the Aaron Rodgers dilemma by grabbing Justin Fields. Fields is an excellent safety net in this format.

Outside of grabbing a defense and kicker, I finished out this draft with three upside receivers in Mecole Hardman, Jakobi Meyers and Sterling Shepard. Meyers and Shepard both have 80-catch potential. Overall, this is a solid team with a terrific bench.

So what do you think of this team? Let me know at @FansFantasy.

Please try a mock yourself as practice makes perfect. You can mock in minutes by clicking here.

Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox


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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