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. 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.
This is scenario No. 4, in which we move onto the No. 3 pick. (See also: No. 1 pick – 3 RBs, No. 1 pick – 2 RBs/1 WR, No. 2 pick) 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 the latest mock draft of the 2022 season.
Here is my roster:
Round 1, Pick 3: Austin Ekeler, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
Round 2, Pick 10: Leonard Fournette, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Round 3, Pick 3: James Conner, RB, Arizona Cardinals
Round 4, Pick 10: George Kittle, TE, San Francisco 49ers
Round 5, Pick 3: Amari Cooper, WR, Cleveland Browns
Round 6, Pick 10: Michael Thomas, WR, New Orleans Saints
Round 7, Pick 3: Rashod Bateman, WR, Baltimore Ravens
Round 8, Pick 10: Kareem Hunt, RB, Cleveland Browns
Round 9, Pick 3: Russell Wilson, QB, Denver Broncos
Round 10, Pick 10: Nyheim Hines, RB, Indianapolis Colts
Round 11, Pick 3: J.D. McKissic, RB, Washington Commanders
Round 12, Pick 10: Gus Edwards, RB, Baltimore Ravens
Round 13, Pick 3: Tyler Allgeier, RB, Atlanta Falcons
Round 14, Pick 10: Corey Davis, WR, New York Jets
Round 15, Pick 3: San Francisco 49ers DST
Round 16, Pick 10: Matt Prater, K, Arizona Cardinals
Observations:
I went very heavy at running back in this mock, starting with Austin Ekeler with my first pick. After Christian McCaffrey and Jonathan Taylor, you can make a case for Ekeler, Derrick Henry or Dalvin Cook at No. 3. I went with Ekeler because he’s an elite pass-catcher who finished with 20 scores last season. While he’s likely due for some regression in the number of touchdowns, his touches per game (17.2) should remain about the same.
Leonard Fournette has some worried after showing up to training camp at a reported 260 pounds, but he’s got plenty of time to get into shape before the season starts. He showed us last season that he can be used in the passing game, which Tom Brady wants in his running backs. He’s the unquestioned bell-cow with Ronald Jones no longer in Tampa Bay and should get 20-plus touches each week.
Everything I just said about Fournette could also be said for James Conner. The starting job is all his with Chase Edmonds now in Miami. In the games in which Conner handled the feature role for the Cardinals last season, he finished RB1, RB16, RB8, RB11, RB2 and RB3 in half-PPR scoring. With no real competition behind him and Cardinals committing to him financially, Conner has the upside to finish in the top-five.
In my previous mock draft with the No. 2 pick, I decided to do something different and take a quarterback early. This time around, I went tight end early with the selection of George Kittle in the fourth round. When healthy, he’s the best all-around tight end in the game. Trey Lance is expected to take over as the 49ers’ quarterback and will likely target his big tight end over the middle of the field often.
My next three picks were wide receivers who all should finish in the top 20. Amari Cooper figures to be a target monster in a rather lackluster Cleveland receiving corps. Michael Thomas hasn’t seen a lot of action the last two seasons, but it wasn’t long ago that led the NFL in receiving with Drew Brees under center. Jameis Winston will be able to get him the ball downfield, something Brees struggled with at the end of his career. Rashod Bateman is someone I have targeted a lot in the first few mocks. The talent is there, as is the opportunity.
Russell Wilson is one of several quarterbacks in Rounds 9-11 that I’m happy to enter the season with. The Broncos have a ton of offensive talent around him and have said they’ll gameplan around his strengths. It’s time to finally let Russ cook.
As I noted before, the running back depth on this team is absurd, but that’s how I like to approach my drafts. Kareem Hunt has standalone value and becomes a top-10 running back if he must take over full-time duties for Nick Chubb or is traded to another team. Nyheim Hines and J.D. McKissic don’t get a lot of carries, but there is no denying they are two of the top pass-catching backs in football.
Gus Edwards is coming back from a knee injury, but so is fellow Ravens’ running back J.K. Dobbins so it wouldn’t surprise if they split the work evenly. Tyler Allgeier is one of my favorite rookies and if the word out of Atlanta is true that the Falcons want to lighten the load on Cordarrelle Patterson, Allgeier could be a late-round steal.
I rounded out my draft with Corey Davis, a receiver I’m higher on than most in the fantasy community. The 49ers’ defense still has an elite front four that will rack up sacks and force turnovers. When drafting a kicker, you want someone who plays for a good offense. The Cardinals fit that bill.
Going with a tight end early worked out much better than I anticipated. I got my three elite running backs to start the draft and feel good about my three receivers as well. My depth at running back gives me the ammunition to make trades in the event of injuries or the receivers don’t work out. That’s the whole point of these mocks. You want to see all the different roster combinations you can come up with before entering the real thing in late August.
What do you think of this roster? Let’s discuss on Twitter @JoeSerp.
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Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox