In this series, we’ll look at a mock draft conducted from each draft slot and break down the best choice and some alternatives at each selection. We’ll look at the individual player selection and how each player fits into the overall roster construction of the team, and then look at what selection Awesemo’s rankings would have made. The mock is for a three-receiver, two-back, half-PPR league. Here we look at winning your fantasy football draft with the eighth overall pick in my latest fantasy football mock draft.
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Fantasy Football Mock Draft from the 12th Overall Pick
Mock Draft 1.12 Selection: Tyreek Hill
Alternative: Miles Sanders
Awesemo has Sanders as the higher-ranked player along with a handful of other running backs. However, Hill is the last player in Awesemo’s top 20 to make it on a roster in this series. He’s ranked No. 15 so this isn’t a wild reach, and it allows for a true zero-running-back approach.
Knowing that Travis Kelce was going to be the next pick, the Chiefs stack has to be top of mind. Gathering all major parts of the Kansas City passing attack ties down this team’s biggest picks to the league’s best offense.
Mock Draft 2.01 Selection: Travis Kelce
Alternative: Miles Sanders
Kelce has been the TE1 in three of the past four years, and Awesemo’s rankings have him hitting that mark again in 2020. This pick also opens up the possibility of a Chiefs super stack if Patrick Mahomes falls to the 3.12 selection.
In this series, we’ve looked at hyper-fragile teams, quarterback-early teams, expensive-tight-end teams and everything in between. The final frontier is a true zero-RB roster. Awesemo’s rankings don’t think this approach is optimal in half PPR, but they are also above consensus on a number of receivers. That makes it doable to get a roster loaded with elite receiving options.
Mock Draft 3.12 Selection: Patrick Mahomes
Alternative: None
If Mahomes goes off for another 40 or more touchdowns this year, the closest comparison in the last five years we’ll have for a successful early-round-quarterback season will be Aaron Rodgers in 2016. He led the league with 40 touchdown passes and added an extra four scores with his legs. Before the season, Rodgers was being drafted as the second quarterback behind a dominant rushing threat (Cam Newton) but still cost a hefty price for a quarterback (53.2 ADP). Sound familiar?
Rodgers’ performance still led him to a top-five win rate at his position in Best Ball leagues (per RotoViz). Mahomes has that type of season firmly within his grasp and stacking him with his top options increases the upside if he does make that type of season happen.
Mock Draft 4.01 Selection: Allen Robinson
Alternative: T.Y. Hilton, Robert Woods
Robinson was a workhorse receiver in 2019. He finished third in targets (154) and sixth in air yards (1,750). Only DeAndre Hopkins and Julio Jones joined him as top 10 in both categories. The Bears lost 122 targets from last year and decided to combat this with Ted Ginn, Jimmy Graham and second-round tight end Cole Kmet. Feel free to pencil Robinson in for another dominant season.
Not every pick has to have a deep, philosophical explanation. Sometimes your opponents just let you take an alpha receiver in the fourth round.
Mock Draft 5.12 Selection: Zach Ertz
Alternative: None
Five tight ends in NFL history have posted five straight seasons of 70 receptions. Two of them are on this roster, and Jason Witten is still available. Still in his prime, Ertz is a weekly difference maker as a tight end or a flex option.
Ertz’s ADP can vary wildly from site to site, but he doesn’t often make it here. Ertz is one of four tight ends Awesemo’s projections have topping 150 points in this format. He ensures that this team doesn’t miss a step on Kelce’s bye week, but he also offers upside as a weekly flex player.
More Fantasy Football Sleepers
Mock Draft 6.01 Selection: Stefon Diggs
Alternative: Julian Edelman
Diggs is one of, if not the, cleanest route-runners in the league. With Adam Thielen hobbled by a hamstring injury, Diggs was tasked with operating as Minnesota’s top receiver. He crushed in that role, posting 1,129 yards at a blistering, 12.1 yards per target pace. Now he’ll take over the same role for the Buffalo Bills with Josh Allen uncorking rockets to him downfield.
With Ertz and Kelce off the board, there will be two teams in this league that can put up a fight at tight end; the rosters with George Kittle and Mark Andrews. The rest will be at a massive disadvantage every week. That gives this team the freedom to hit on one or two more receivers and hammer running back for the rest of the draft.
Mock Draft 7.12 Selection: D’Andre Swift
Alternative: Kareem Hunt
Swift is the latest product from Running Back University, Georgia. Swift led Georgia in rush attempts and yards for the past two seasons. He led the backfield in receiving yards and receptions for all three of his collegiate seasons. At the end of his college career, Swift had carried the ball 440 times and notched 73 catches for a grand total of 3,551 yards.
Zero RB operates under the pretense that elite running back production is easier to find in the later rounds. Swift is one of the reasons that could be true. He has weak competition for touches and a dominant college resume.
Mock Draft 8.01 Selection: Kareem Hunt
Alternative: James White
No team gave their running backs more carries than Minnesota last year (429). Only six teams saw their backs catch more passes than Minnesota did during the 2019 season (98). Kevin Stefanski was the team’s offensive coordinator and earned himself a job as Cleveland’s head coach in 2020. Nick Chubb is the clear lead back for the Browns, but Stefanski’s tendencies suggest Hunt will have a significant role under the new management. Plus, he becomes a top-five back once again if Chubb goes down.
White has a higher floor than Hunt based on his known role. His 72 receptions per 16-game season give him a high weekly projection. However, he has no chance of hitting 200 touches in a season due to his limited rushing role. Hunt gives this team another shot at an RB1 even if he sacrifices some immediate production.
Mock Draft 9.12 Selection: Marlon Mack
Alternative: Tarik Cohen, Ke’Shawn Vaughn
Mack finished 2019 with 17.6 carries per game for 77.9 yards per game. He also scored eight times in 14 outings. All of these marks were top 10 in the NFL. He’s a non-factor as a receiver but a difference maker between the tackles and will have a usable role in Week 1.
Mack won’t hold off Jonathan Taylor for the entire season, but he doesn’t have to at this cost. He should get the majority of the Colts’ carries for upwards of half the season and be a viable starter for a team light on running backs.
Mock Draft 10.01 Selection: Ke’Shawn Vaughn
Alternative: Tarik Cohen
Awesemo’s projections favor Buccaneers rookie Ke’Shawn Vaughn over veteran Ronald Jones. Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians said multiple times during the offseason that the team needed a back who could catch passes. Then the team selects Vaughn with the 12th pick of the third round. Vaughn caught 28 passes and accounted for 10% of Vanderbilt’s targets in his final college season.
All signs point to him taking over in Tampa at some point this season. Whenever that happens, it will give this roster more ammunition at running back.
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