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It’s important to get some mock drafts under your belt before you do your leagues draft. It gives you an idea of the players current ADP (Average Draft Position), which is important as you dont want to be reaching for a player too early. You can also see the type of players that fall to you at the turn of each round. It gives you a chance to sort out which type of strategy you want to employ. For example, in standard leagues I like to go RB heavy in the first few rounds. But in PPR leagues I think it's much more important to get one of the top 12 WRs, due to the volume of catches that these players make.
Running Backs values also change as soon as you start doing PPR leagues. The top 4 RBs, Bell, Gurley, Zeke and DJ can all catch passes out of the backfield, and they tend to stay on the field for all 3 downs. Their value rises even more than in standard leagues. RBs like Christian McCaffrey and Jerick McKinnon will be much more valuable and sought after than in standard leagues. They will be in for running plays as well as most of the third downs. This is why you may see them drafted higher than some stronger runners.
Some players ADP will rise and fall throughout the preseason due to a number of reasons. Such as their form in pre-season games, where they fall on the depth chart, the influence of new rookies, as well as suspensions and injuries in the team. I will be doing more drafts as the season draws near, where I'll be drafting into the deeper rounds to see which players are still available.
Take a look and see which trio you would prefer to start your draft with.
As you can see, the first round is dominated by Running Backs, with only Antonio Brown, DeAndre Hopkins and OBJ as the only WRs picked. I see Gurley and Bell as the top tier RBs. Both of them have the credentials to go as the first pick. I then have Zeke and DJ just behind. Antonio Brown is the first WR off the board and is likely to be in most drafts.
In the second round, 5 WRs and 5 RBs came off of the board. Team 10 chose to go RB RB by taking Fournette and Hunt, whilst passing on elite WRs like Julio Jones. Christian McCaffrey was the last pick of the second round. His receiving ability has him drafted above other runners such as Devonta Freeman and Jordan Howard. This is mainly because those two face competition for the 3rd down work with Tevin Coleman and Tarik Cohen on their respective teams.
Round 3 sees the first Tight Ends drafted. Gronk tends to go early in the 3rd round as he’s Brady’s favorite weapon on a pass-heavy offense. Travis Kelce was taken with the 30th overall pick. This might be too high for some, but I can see him being even more valuable with Pat Mahomes taking over under center. It will be interesting to see who the 10th team will pick in the next round as they have no WRs on the roster yet. There are plenty of high volume options left, with Larry Fitzgerald, Doug Baldwin, TY Hilton and Stefon Diggs being the standout names.
Team 7 chose to take the first QB, Aaron Rodgers, with the 27th pick. Rodgers is a fantastic player and is usually good for at least 20 fantasy points per game. However, I’m not a fan of taking a QB this early in the draft as you pass on very good players at the WR or RB position. I would have chosen McKinnon or Thielen over him and then taken a QB in a later round.
Check back soon to see the continuation of this draft. Rounds 4-7 coming up next.
