Fantasy Football Mock Draft: 12-team standard league

Billy Heyen

Fantasy Football Mock Draft: 12-team standard league image

It’s August, and you all know what that means: It’s time to get drafting in your fantasy football leagues. The prime draft weeks will take place later this month and early in September, but it’s never too early to start putting together your rankings, cheat sheets and sleeper lists. Things can change on all those lists as news breaks throughout the preseason, but they’re a good place to start. Another thing to add to your routine is the mock draft.

By the way: If your time is limited, you can accelerate your mock draft experience by using the FantasyPros Mock Draft Simulator. There, you’ll be able to pull off a full mock draft customized to your league’s rules in just minutes. 

DOMINATE YOUR DRAFT: Ultimate 2019 Fantasy Cheat Sheet

Recently, I participated in a mock draft hosted by Walter Cherepinsky of WalterFootball.com. It was a non-PPR, 12-team league. I took the fourth pick in this mock, as I suspected the best possible 12-team roster might come out of that draft slot.

I went in with the strategy of following our top 200 rankings, making small adjustments throughout the draft for positional needs. I hoped to wait on QB and TE until the latter half of the draft because quarterback is so deep and tight end is so uncertain. Besides a hitch in my WiFi, I was able to do that better than I would’ve expected. I figured that the fourth pick would allow me to grab one of the top four RBs and then get one of our top-tier receivers on the way back. 

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Let’s see how my mock draft turned out.

2019 STANDARD RANKINGS:
Quarterback Running back Wide Receiver Tight End D/ST Kicker | Top 200

Fantasy Football Mock Draft: 12-Team standard league

* This draft was for a non-PPR league that starts 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE, 1 FLEX, 1 D/ST, 1 K, and has 6 bench spots

Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys (Round 1, Pick 4).  'Zeke actually ranks No. 1 in our top 200, so I was thrilled to grab him at the fourth pick. It's pretty likely that he fell out of the first three due to his ongoing holdout. Considering there's a month before the season and Elliott is training right across the border from Cowboys' camp, it seems pretty likely a deal will get done, so this could turn out to be a steal. Drafting fourth this year feels very comfortable to me if you don't have a favorite of Elliott, Saquon Barkley, Alvin Kamara and Christian McCaffrey. You'll get one of them, and then on the way back you have a shot at a top-tier WR.

Antonio Brown, Raiders (2.21)  The reason I feel so good about the fourth pick is because of what it allows on the swing back. We've put the top eight WRs into one first tier and talked at length in our WR preview podcast that we feel every receiver in that group has a case for the No. 1 spot. It was dicey here, as seven of the eight had been selected by pick 20, but Brown was still on the board. Sure, he's getting a slight QB downgrade to Derek Carr, but he's still a proven stud who should catch 100 passes in his sleep. Starting my draft with Elliott and Brown feels like the strongest two-player combo in this mock.

2019 PPR RANKINGS:
Running back Wide receiver Tight end | Top 200

Leonard Fournette, Jaguars (3.28)  In our top 200, Fournette is a top-20 player. Granted, we're higher on him than most, but to see him slide to No. 28 was a pleasant surprise. He's the unquestioned top back in Jacksonville, and Nick Foles comes in with experience of moving an NFL offense up and down the field. Fournette won't catch passes, but this isn't a PPR format so that doesn't really matter. He gives me another workhorse running back to plug into the starting lineup each and every week. Feeling good about WRs much further down the board made this pick feel easy.

Calvin Ridley, Falcons (4.45)  This is the first pick that could be considered a reach. It's not on our board, where we've got Ridley inside the top 30. ADP has him going even a round or two later than this, so I could've taken the chance and waited. But with a tout like Ridley, it would feel way worse to miss on him and be right about his big year than to reach a round too soon and be wrong. He might provide less consistency at WR than Brown, but he'll be a big-play No. 2 with week-winning potential. 

Kenyan Drake, Dolphins (5.52)  The only time the whole draft that my WiFi hitched on me was with 30 seconds on the clock for this pick. By the time I got it back, Drake had been autopicked. This wouldn't be an absurd reach if he was who I wanted (he wasn't), as we have him as a top-60 player. The problem was that Tevin Coleman would've been a much better value here as a top-30 player on our board and an overly qualified FLEX option. If my WiFi hadn't messed up, this pick would've been Coleman.

Tevin Coleman, 49ers (6.69)  In all other scenarios, I wouldn't have drafted a fourth running back in the sixth round. But because Coleman was supposed to be my pick last round and I could get him 17 spots later, I had to just on principle. This is the value pick of the mock so far, based on his 4- spot difference on our top 200 and the spot I picked him. Plus, while I wasn't thinking of it at the time, a fourth RB here provides insurance for the potential of Elliott's holdout lasting into the season. With four backs picked by this point, I'm not even going to consider this position again until much later.

DRAFT STRATEGY AND RANKINGS TIERS: 
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST

Matt Ryan, Falcons (7.76)  This is about the spot it felt necessary to pounce on quarterback with one of the top options falling this far. Ryan is our No. 3 QB, but I was able to nab him as the sixth passer off the board. He also pairs with Ridley as a usual starter for me, which could work out beautifully or terribly, depending on how Ridley turns out. Stacking in season-long leagues isn't my favorite strategy, but if there's some type of reward for weekly high-point scorers, it's definitely a viable upside option.

Corey Davis, Titans (8.93)  This is another huge value based on our rankings. Davis won't even necessarily be a weekly starter on this roster, but I snagged him 29 spots lower than where we rank him. The lack of passing in Tennessee doesn't scare me in Davis's case because as the No. 1 option there, he'll get enough targets to produce. He also provides a counterbalance to the risk of Ridley, so if the Atlanta youngster busts, I can plug in a consistent Davis each week. 

Devin Funchess, Colts (9.100)  Yet again, Funchess goes off the board later than we have him in our top 200. It's hard to know exactly how the targets in Indianapolis will shake out, but Funchess provides Andrew Luck with a big target opposite the smaller T.Y. Hilton. It'll be a high-powered offense and Funchess should be a red-zone threat, if nothing else, so he's a solid play as a WR4. 

D'Onta Foreman, Texans (10.117)  I was all set to take Trey Burton here, as he's one of my favorite undervalued TEs. I sat through the longer wait than usual only to see Burton go the pick before me. So, it seemed an appropriate time to take a fifth RB instead, grabbing Foreman off our running back sleeper list. We like Foreman so much in part because it's hard to believe in Lamar Miller. If Foreman seizes the job, I'll have an abundance of backs to protect against injury or trade away for a potential upgrade at tight end. (Update: The Texans released Foreman after this mock draft took place. Currently a free agent, Foreman shouldn't be drafted until his future takes shape.)

MORE: Dollar values | IDP rankings | Best ball tips | Team names

Delanie Walker, Titans (11.124)  When I wrote our tight end draft strategy piece, Walker stood out as an undervalued, safe pick. Marcus Mariota trusts him and will target him plenty. This was an unintentional overlap with Davis in a slow-moving Titans offense, but if there are two players to trust there, it's those two. Getting him as the 12th TE while we have him 10th at the position is a slight value, too, and fills out the skill-position portion of my starting lineup. 

Tyrell Williams, Raiders (12.141)  This pick didn't have anything to do with my second-round selection of Brown. It has everything to do with the upside Williams provides on a per-play basis. He's one of the best deep-ball wideouts in the league and should see an increase in targets as Oakland's clear No. 2. He's my fifth receiver, so he doesn't have to hit, but he was the best wideout available based on our rankings. If he hits, this team is only that much stronger. 

Derek Carr, Raiders (13.148)  I had hoped to have a chance at Kirk Cousins as my backup QB, but I waited one round too long on him. That actually left a choice between Ben Roethlisberger and Carr, with us having Big Ben a bit higher on our board. It's good to know someone as proven as Roethlisberger could still be available this late to be a backup, but I went all-in on Oakland at this point (if I hadn't drafted the two Raiders' WRs, Roethlisberger would've been the by-the-book pick here). It feels safe with the depth at the QB position that taking a shot on Carr with his new weapons was worth a try. If he doesn't hit, there'll be players available to pick up, and I wouldn't plan on sitting Ryan before his bye, anyway. 

FANTASY SLEEPERS: 
8 QBs | 14 RBs | 11 WRs | 11 TEs | 6 D/STs | One from each team

Patriots D/ST   (14.165)  The Bears defense went off the board in the ninth round. Don't be that guy. Our Nos. 3 and 4 defenses, the Chargers and the Pats, went back-to-back in the 14th. I was set to take the Chargers until they were swiped out from under me, so settling for New Engand was fine by me. The Patriots have the easiest schedule in the NFL this year, so that's never a bad way to bet on a defense.

Ka'imi Fairbairn, Texans (15.172)  Don't you ever dare take a kicker before the last round. Fairbairn is our No. 5 kicker and was the best available when I picked him with the fourth-to-last pick in the mock draft. 

By the end of the draft, this is what my team looked like:

Starters

QB Matt Ryan, Falcons
RB Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys
RB Leonard Fournette, Jaguars
WR Antonio Brown, Raiders
WR Calvin Ridley, Falcons
FLEX Tevin Coleman, 49ers
TE Delanie Walker, Titans
D/ST Patriots
K Ka'imi Fairbairn, Texans

Bench

RB Kenyan Drake, Dolphins
RB D'Onta Foreman, Texans
WR Corey Davis, Titans
WR Devin Funchess, Colts
WR Tyrell Williams, Raiders
QB Derek Carr, Raiders

I feel good about this team. Based on our rankings, I'll have the best RB pairing in the league while not sacrificing at wide receiver. Even in the event of an Elliott holdout, I'm more than covered at the RB position. The weakest spot on the squad is tight end with Walker, but the RB depth could prove worthwhile in trade talks if Walker turns out to not be a worthwhile starter. It's also a spot I could try to plug in Chris Herndon or Benjamin Watson after their four-game suspensions are done, as both went undrafted. 

Drafting Ryan could've allowed me to pass on a backup QB and take another skill-position guy, but Carr made his way onto our sleepers list for a reason. Having a QB breakout would provide another trade chip, too, and I'd rather him break out on my bench than someone else's roster.

To see the full results of the mock draft, including who I passed on, how some other teams were built, and some analysis about the picks, head over to WalterFootball.com!

Billy Heyen