Before you know it, it will be fantasy football draft time. During the next few weeks, 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 two starting running backs within the first four rounds. It is a tried-and-true strategy, which has done me well for 25-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. So, it is a 16-round snake draft.
Here is scenario No. 7. (See Also: No. 1 pick, No. 2 pick, No. 3 pick, No. 4 pick, No. 5 pick, No. 6 pick)
I have the seventh overall pick; let’s see how it all works out. In this format, we are playing in a half-point-per-reception league (Half-PPR), meaning every reception is worth a half-point.
You can see the entire draft by clicking here.
Here is my roster:
Round 1, Pick 7: Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, Detroit Lions
Round 2, Pick 6: George Pickens, WR, Dallas Cowboys
Round 3, Pick 7: Zay Flowers, WR, Baltimore Ravens
Round 4, Pick 6: Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens
Round 5, Pick 7: Cam Skattebo, RB, New York Giants
Round 6, Pick 6: David Montgomery, RB, Houston Texans
Round 7, Pick 7: Chris Godwin, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Round 8, Pick 6: Blake Corum, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Round 9, Pick 7: Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Round 10, Pick 6: Stefon Diggs, WR, Free Agent
Round 11, Pick 7: Kyle Pitts Sr., TE, Atlanta Falcons
Round 12, Pick 6: Brandon Aubrey, K, Dallas Cowboys
Round 13, Pick 7: Seattle Seahawks Defense
Round 14, Pick 6: Jake Ferguson, TE, Dallas Cowboys
Round 15, Pick 7: George Holani, RB, Seattle Seahawks
Round 16, Pick 6: Rashod Bateman, WR, Baltimore Ravens
Some observations:
If you have followed my drafting series, you know I am a late quarterback drafter. I am also an early running back drafter (typically two in the first four rounds).
We went a different way this time? That’s exactly what I did here. Let’s see how it worked out.
I went with Amon-Ra St. Brown over Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Either choice is fine, I prefer ARSB. Others will say JSN. I will say we are splitting hairs. I passed on Derrick Henry for George Pickens, building a receiver room first. Zay Flowers over DeVonta Smith seemed a tad bit safer to me as a WR3 for this team. Either would have been fine there.
After drafting three receivers to start, I had in my head that I must take a running back but Lamar Jackson was just sitting there after I had just taken Flowers. LET’S GO RAVENS!
Jackson is just too good to pass up on in Round 4, which is about the earliest I would ever take a QB in a 1-QB league. Now I need backs and luckily some workhorses fell to me. Cam Skattebo and David Montgomery were there in Rounds 5 and 6. Both of them are slated to be three-down backs and carry the upside you look for when you wait for backs.
With Mike Evans now in San Francisco, Chris Godwin was too good to pass up on. Then I drafted more backs, as everyone seems to think Blake Corum and Kenneth Gainwell will have big roles this year. (I am not so sure about Corum, but he has as much upside as anyone in the Round 8 range.)
Kyle Pitts in Round 11 is why you do not need to grab a tight end early. I usually do not find a backup tight end in the draft, but I think Jake Ferguson is a top-10 tight end. There wasn’t anyone better on the board in Round 14.
Round 16, why not roll the dice and complete the Ravens stack and grab Rashod Bateman, who knows!
What do you think? Let me know by leaving a comment or contacting me on Twitter @KZfansfantasy.
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