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. 11 now as we inch closer to the start of the new campaign. (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, No. 9 pick, No. 10 pick, 16-team league, Superflex). We’ll mix in a 10-team draft at some point as well, in addition to a non-PPR draft.
Let’s get started with the latest mock draft of the 2022 season.
Here is my roster:
Round 1, Pick 11: Alvin Kamara, RB, New Orleans Saints
Round 2, Pick 2: Stefon Diggs, WR, Buffalo Bills
Round 3, Pick 11: Travis Etienne, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Round 4, Pick 2: Kyle Pitts, TE, Atlanta Falcons
Round 5, Pick 11: Jalen Hurts, QB, Philadelphia Eagles
Round 6, Pick 2: Juju Smith-Schuster, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
Round 7, Pick 11: Chase Edmonds, RB, Miami Dolphins
Round 8, Pick 2: Brandon Aiyuk, WR, San Francisco 49ers
Round 9, Pick 11: Darrell Henderson, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Round 10, Pick 2: Alexander Mattison, RB, Minnesota Vikings
Round 11, Pick 11: Tyler Allgeier, RB, Atlanta Falcons
Round 12, Pick 2: Nico Collins, WR, Houston Texans
Round 13, Pick 11: Mark Ingram, RB, New Orleans Saints
Round 14, Pick 2: Gus Edwards, RB, Baltimore Ravens
Round 15, Pick 11: New Orleans Saints DST
Round 16, Pick 2: Daniel Carlson, K, Las Vegas Raiders
Observations:
The beauty of being in the double-digit portion of the order is you will start your draft with two strong players, but as you’ll see in this mock, things get dicey kind of quickly after those first two rounds. I felt I had to reach for players I like to ensure they were on my roster, and it hurt watching some of them go off the board just a few picks ahead.
Alvin Kamara has shot up into the top 10 of my draft board with the news that a suspension for an incident that occurred during the week of the Pro Bowl would not come this season. In a “down” year in comparison to years past, Kamara finished as RB8 in 2021 after a career-high 240 rushing attempts while missing four games due to injury. His numbers dipped in the passing game after posting 80-plus receptions in each of his first four seasons in the league, but as long as he’s flirting with 300 touches, he’s absolutely worth a first-round pick.
Stefon Diggs is No. 12 overall and WR3 on my board so landing him at pick No. 14 is ideal. Diggs eclipsed 100 receiving yards in only two games last year and was still one of only four wide receivers to finish with over 100 receptions (103), 1,000 receiving yards (1,038) and double-digit touchdowns (10). He’s an integral part of a high-octane Bills offense, and while some might say the emergence of Gabriel Davis will take some targets away from Diggs, I’d argue it opens things up for Diggs and the entire offense for Josh Allen.
This is not the first time Travis Etienne has made my roster during mock draft season, but this is the highest I have selected the Jaguars’ first-round pick from a year ago. Etienne is the type of running back you should be targeting in any PPR-style league. He will see a lot of work as a receiver in addition to being the top ball carrier until James Robinson (Achillies) is back to full health. He reminds me of other pass-catching running backs like Kamara, Austin Ekeler and D’Andre Swift, who are being selected in the first round in leagues.
Kyle Pitts is one of the few tight ends I am willing to take in the earlier rounds after being one of just three at the position to go over 1,000 yards in 2021. The other two were Mark Andrews and Travis Kelce, who each finished with nine touchdowns, compared to just one for the Falcons tight end. Pitts will be the focal point of Atlanta’s passing game and find the end zone at least a half0dozen times.
There was an early and surprising run of quarterbacks in this draft, yet somehow Jalen Hurts was not one of the first six quarterbacks selected. Hurts is surrounded by a plethora of weapons and was perfect in limited action this preseason, going 6-for-6 for 80 yards and a touchdown. His dual-threat ability makes him one of the top fantasy quarterbacks even if the real-life performance isn’t always pretty.
Juju Smith-Schuster is someone I’m targeting more often as we get closer to the season with reports out of Kansas City stating he’s been Patrick Mahomes’ top wide receiver. The Chiefs completely overhauled their receiving corps this offseason and Smith-Schuster should see a large share of those vacated targets. He missed most of last season with a shoulder injury, but if he posts numbers similar to his 2020 campaign in which he caught 97 passes for 831 yards and nine touchdowns, he’s a fine WR2 in the sixth round.
Chase Edmonds is another player I’m putting my focus on in drafts, as his skill set is similar to those of Kamara and Etienne. He is coming off a career high in carries (116) and rushing yards (592) in 12 games and has averaged 4.6 yards per carry in his four NFL seasons. Edmonds will not see the same number of carries as my starting running backs, but his receiving usage makes him a solid FLEX play.
I felt compelled to take another receiver here after waiting until the sixth round to get my second. Brandon Aiyuk was a popular breakout target last season but burned fantasy managers in the first eight weeks with just 13 catches, 141 yards, one touchdown and only one week with double-digit fantasy points. He turned his season around from there, averaging 13.5 points per game in half-PPR scoring in the second half. If he can post those types of numbers throughout, he’s a top-20 wide out.
Five of my next six picks were running backs with various degrees of upside. Darrell Henderson was RB14 the first 12 weeks of 2021 before being injured. Alexander Mattison has been the best handcuff in fantasy football the last two seasons when filling in for Dalvin Cook. Tyler Allgeier has been a mainstay in these mock drafts, as he’s one of my top sleepers this year. Mark Ingram will back up Kamara, and when Kamara missed time last year, the former Raven averaged 19 touches per game. Gus Edwards is someone I’m stashing on my IR while on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
Someone in Houston other than Brandin Cooks has to catch passes, and Nico Collins figures to be the one to do so. The Texans will be throwing a lot this season as one of the league’s worst teams and Collins’ size makes him a terrific red-zone target.
When I finished my No. 10 pick mock draft, I said it was a championship-worthy roster. One pick later and I have mixed feelings about this squad. I have some of the best players at their position in fantasy in Kamara, Diggs, Pitts and Hurts. All four could end up being at the top when it’s all said and done. What worries me is I’m not overly excited about my WR2 and FLEX. I like both Smith-Schuster and Edmonds, but ideally, I’d rather both be FLEX options than must-start players in Week 1. This is one of those scenarios where I’d like to package a couple of the guys I took in Rounds 6-10 to upgrade my team.
What do you think of this roster? Let’s discuss on Twitter @JoeSerp.
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Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox