The key to any fantasy football season is preparation. Whether you have the first overall pick or the last of the first round, having a sense of who will be available in each round is key.
I’ll be doing mock drafts throughout the summer while offering scenarios and feedback for each position. The point of these mocks is to prepare for the unexpected.
The mock drafts will assume that 12 teams are in the league with the following roster construction: quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, tight end, a flex (running back, wide receiver or tight end) defense, kicker and seven bench spots. It is a 16-round snake draft in a half-point-per-reception (half-PPR) league.
If you read my draft guide, you know I’m not a fan of drafting kickers and defense if it’s not necessary. I’d rather add a few running backs who could end up being a starter in the event of an injury. However, for the sake of this exercise, I’ll round out each draft by doing so. Remember, do not draft either before your final two picks!
Most important of all, be creative with your mock drafts. Don’t take the same players in every mock. Your favorite sleeper is probably someone else’s too. I’m guilty of this myself — see Rashod Bateman — but I will try to go with different approaches in many of these mock drafts.
The draft is just the start of the season. If you are drafting early, work the waiver wire to your advantage if any major injuries arise. If you’re a fantasy nerd like me, turn on notifications from your favorite NFL insider for breaking news around the league. But the draft is where you build the foundation of your roster, and the goal is to have as deep a roster as possible.
We are on pick No. 9. (See also: No. 1 pick – 3 RBs, No. 1 pick – 2 RBs/1 WR, No. 2 pick, No. 3 pick, No. 4 pick, No. 5 pick, No. 6 pick, No. 7 pick, No. 8 pick, 16-team league). We’ll mix in a 10-team draft at some point as well as a Superflex, non-PPR draft and auction.
Let’s get started with the latest mock draft of the 2022 season.
Here is my roster:
Round 1, Pick 9: Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals
Round 2, Pick 4: D’Andre Swift, RB, Detroit Lions
Round 3, Pick 9: Breece Hall, RB, New York Jets
Round 4, Pick 4: Kyle Pitts, TE, Atlanta Falcons
Round 5, Pick 9: Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens
Round 6, Pick 4: Darnell Mooney, WR, Chicago Bears
Round 7, Pick 9: Brandon Aiyuk, WR, San Francisco 49ers
Round 8, Pick 4: DeVonta Smith, WR, Philadelphia Eagles
Round 9, Pick 9: Darrell Henderson, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Round 10, Pick 4: Alexander Mattison, RB, Minnesota Vikings
Round 11, Pick 9: Tyler Allgeier, RB, Atlanta Falcons
Round 12, Pick 4: Jamaal Williams, RB, Detroit Lions
Round 13, Pick 9: Jahan Dotson, WR, Washington Commanders
Round 14, Pick 4: Jalen Tolbert, WR, Dallas Cowboys
Round 15, Pick 9: New Orleans Saints DST
Round 16, Pick 4: Ryan Succop, K, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Observations:
I have stressed throughout these mock drafts to change up your approach each time because you never know how the live draft is going to play out and you want to be prepared. In this draft, I picked my running backs, quarterback and tight end before selecting any wide receiver. I am admittedly not as thrilled about my receiver unit as compared to the others.
Landing Joe Mixon with the No. 9 pick is my ideal play with that pick in the draft. He is eighth on my draft board, just ahead of Cooper Kupp, who was selected a pick prior. He was third in total touches, goal-line carries and red-zone touchdowns despite running behind a relatively weak offensive line. The Bengals made a concerned effort to revamp in the trenches, and Mixon was featured more as a pass-catcher in the second half of the season and playoffs. He’s a perfect fit at the back end of the first round.
D’Andre Swift has made the roster on a couple of these mock drafts as someone I’m coveting often in the second round. He was averaging 19 touches per game in the first 11 weeks of the 2021 season before suffering an injury. Jared Goff clearly looks for him when things break down. Swift was second among running backs in target share a year ago.
Breece Hall is moving up everyone’s draft boards as of late. He was a bell cow at Iowa State and figures to take on the bulk of the Jets’ touches at running back. Michael Carter is still on the roster, but he’s more of a change-of-pace player than a three-down back. We will look back a year from now wondering why he was ranked so low in the preseason when he posts numbers similar to Javonte Williams last year.
Here is when I decided to switch things up and go tight end and quarterback with my next two picks just to see how things would play out. Kyle Pitts is one of five tight ends with whom I am willing to make an early pick. The same goes for Lamar Jackson at quarterback. Pitts is my third-ranked tight end and Jackson is fourth on my list of quarterbacks.
My receiver situation gets a little murky as a result of waiting six rounds to grab one. I went with Darnell Mooney, Brandon Aiyuk and DeVonta Smith with consecutive picks, and while all have upside, two of them are No. 2 receivers on their own teams. Someone in Chicago has to catch passes and that looks to be Mooney, but Aiyuk and Smith have Deebo Samuel and A.J. Brown ahead of them in the pecking order, respectively.
My next four picks, all running backs, have been regulars in these mock drafts. Darrell Henderson and Alexander Mattison have stepped up big when their number has been called. Tyler Allgeier is my favorite sleeper this year. Jamaal Williams is Swift’s handcuff and gets a solid share of work as well.
I rounded out my draft with two rookie receivers with massive upside. Jahan Dotson has reportedly been phenomenal in camp and has a starting role in Washington. Jalen Tolbert is someone I mentioned in my sleepers-and-busts article as a player to target with one of your last few picks. Both should see a healthy number of targets, and worst-case scenario, you drop them if the results aren’t there in the first couple of weeks.
This might be my least favorite mock draft thus far. I do like the luxury of having an elite tight end and quarterback, in addition to the three running backs I took high, but the receiving group is suspect. I like the trio I selected, but I’d much rather have them as second and third options as opposed to one of them being my top option. This mock let me know is that a receiver must be taken before the sixth round and to stick with my plan to get a quarterback and/or tight end in the middle rounds.
What do you think of this roster? Let’s discuss on Twitter @JoeSerp.
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Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox