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 that 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.
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.
This is scenario No. 3, in which we move on to the No. 2 pick. (See also: No. 1 pick – 3 RBs, No. 1 pick – 2 RBs/1 WR), We’ll mix in 10- and 16-team drafts at some point, as well as a Superflex, non-PPR draft and auction.
Let’s get started with our third mock draft of the 2022 season.
Here is my roster:
Round 1, Pick 2: Christian McCaffrey, RB, Carolina Panthers
Round 2, Pick 11: Saquon Barkley, RB, New York Giants
Round 3, Pick 2: Keenan Allen, WR, Los Angeles Chargers
Round 4, Pick 11: Travis Etienne, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Round 5, Pick 2: Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens
Round 6, Pick 11: Rashod Bateman, WR, Baltimore Ravens
Round 7, Pick 2: Devin Singletary, RB, Buffalo Bills
Round 8, Pick 11: Melvin Gordon, RB, Denver Broncos
Round 9, Pick 2: Dallas Goedert, TE, Philadelphia Eagles
Round 10, Pick 11: Jamaal Williams, RB, Detroit Lions
Round 11, Pick 2: Dameon Pierce, RB, Houston Texans
Round 12, Pick 11: Corey Davis, WR, New York Jets
Round 13, Pick 2: Curtis Samuel, WR, Washington Commanders
Round 14, Pick 11: Jamison Crowder, WR, Buffalo Bills
Round 15, Pick 2: New Orleans Saints DST
Round 16, Pick 11: Jason Sanders, K, Miami Dolphins
Observations:
Another mock with Christian McCaffrey as my first pick. He is No. 1 on my draft board, and getting him or Jonathan Taylor at No. 2 is a win. As noted in the previous mocks, McCaffrey finished as RB1, RB3, RB4 and RB3 in the four games he fully participated in last season, and he’s the best pass-catching running back in all of football when healthy.
Saquon Barkley is someone I am targeting a lot in these mocks. I have him as my No. 10 player overall so getting him with the 23rd pick is a steal. I’m a firm believer that another year removed from his ACL injury and a new offensive scheme will get him back to being a top running back.
There are 15 running backs I’m comfortable taking in the first three rounds, but unfortunately for me, they all were taken by my pick in the third round. Rather than reach for David Montgomery or Antonio Gibson, I decided to go with Keenan Allen. Allen has caught 100 or more passes in four of the last five seasons, and there is no reason he shouldn’t do it again with Justin Herbert as the Chargers’ signal caller.
Travis Etienne is another player I’m coveting in fantasy. The Jaguars used a first-round pick on the running back from Clemson, and with James Robinson expected to miss the beginning of the season, Etienne could take over the job and not look back. McCaffrey, Barkley and Etienne will all catch a ton of passes out of the backfield.
I was tempted to take another running back in the fifth round. Breece Hall and J.K. Dobbins were both available, as well as Josh Jacobs and Elijah Mitchell, neither of whom I am high on. However, I decided to do something different in this mock than I normally would and drafted Lamar Jackson. I wrote in my draft guide that I like to wait until the middle rounds to grab a quarterback, but the whole point of these mock drafts is to play out every scenario. Jackson is one of the elite quarterbacks in fantasy football — and the NFL for that matter — in a year where he’s looking for a big pay day.
After drafting Jackson, it only made sense to stack him with Rashod Bateman as my No. 2 receiver. Bateman is another player I think is ranked too low in the consensus rankings. Someone must make up for the loss of Marquise Brown, and I expect Bateman to go well over 1,000 yards receiving and flirt with double-digit touchdowns.
Having only two receivers at this point was not ideal, but I could not pass up on the running backs that were available. Devin Singletary in Round 7 was a huge bargain. He was finally given the lead back role down the stretch in 2021 and delivered. Melvin Gordon will still get his share of touches despite Javonte Williams on the roster. Jamaal Williams is an excellent pass-catcher who will get playing time and becomes a top-20 play if something were to happen to D’Andre Swift. Dameon Pierce was a bit of a reach at this stage, but the competition ahead of him in Houston is slim to none.
I had to draft receivers to close out the draft. Corey Davis is a bit of an afterthought in the fantasy circle, but the Jets did pay him handsomely to be their No. 1 target a year ago. Davis saw a 21 percent target share and no fewer than five targets per game in limited action last season. Curtis Samuel also missed much of the 2021 season, but many seem to forget he posted WR2 numbers the year prior and Carson Wentz is an upgrade at quarterback. Jamison Crowder is another receiver whom I feel is ranked too low as he’ll work the slot in the Bills’ high-octane offense.
This mock draft is a perfect example of why you play out all the scenarios. Do I like having Lamar Jackson on my roster? Absolutely. While I like the running back depth on this roster, wide receiver is a question mark. Going quarterback early instead of taking another stud receiver left me scrambling at the end of the draft to find a third receiver in the event of an injury to Allen or Bateman. In this scenario, you want to look around the league and see if there is a running-back needy team to make a deal with.
What do you think of this roster? Let’s discuss on Twitter @JoeSerp.
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Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox