My Favorite Mock Draft (so far)

I am a 365 football fan. To me, the season is never over. Even in the doldrums of May, June and July I'm listening to podcasts and reading whatever articles come my way. And I start mock drafting early. Now, I admit I don't start as early as some with their best ball and dynasty leagues… but by the time August rolls around I usually have a few mock draft rosters saved away somewhere. And this year is no different. In fact, I have even more this year thanks to my personal mock draft tool (found here) that pits me against AI opponents with descriptive names like Tier Reacher, Safe Floor, Market Follower and Value Hawk.

Doing mock drafts gives you a better understanding of what you might be looking for in your team this upcoming season… with obvious caveats. You can't expect every name to fall where you want it to… there will inevitably be surprises. That said, here is my favorite mock-roster so far, in which I picked 9th in a 12 team league:

Let's talk about what I like about it:

RB in the first two rounds

Because I picked 9th here I missed out on the two bellcow RBs as well as some truly elite receivers I wouldn't mind having on my team, but I had the advantage of picking my first and second pick in relatively quick succession (9th and 16th). With my third pick being #33, the RB options there get pretty grim pretty quick. Sure, names like Jeremiah Love, Kyren Williams, Josh Jacobs and Javonte Williams might still be available but they might not be. But at 9 and 13 I have my pick from names like:

Having any two of these guys as your one-two punch in the RB spot seems like a solid plan.

In this draft I chose McCaffrey and Hampton. Again, I'm not going to quibble over any of the names listed above… why I like these two (despite the injury history):

McCaffrey is pretty much the only starting 49er healthy at the moment. And besides, if he remains healthy he's a league winner. Period.

Hampton disappointed in his rookie season what with injury and less than stellar performance when he was healthy. But that whole team was a mess last year, starting with the OL, which was ridiculously decimated by injuries. They should be healthier this year. You want more reasons than that? Here's four words for you: Mike Mc-Fuckin-Daniel. I love this guy, despite always having reservations about his fit at HC. When he was let go from Miami I said to anyone who would listen that he would win coordinator of the year in 2027. Well, that campaign starts here and now. Remember when Mostert led the league in touchdowns under McDaniel? I do.

WR Upside

So the obvious downside of my two RB strategy is I miss out on some elite talent at wide receiver. But I'm okay with that. The wide receivers in the third and fourth rounds are much more appealing than the running backs:

That list consists mostly of #2 receivers on strong offenses or #1 receivers on an offense with some questions. Again, I would be fine with any two of these guys (maybe not Wilson, I just stay away from the Jets as a rule though). Why I picked these two:

DeVonta Smith is good. Really good. And I have no reason to think the Eagles won't be good again this year, so why not grab their top guy? Now, I know there are questions about Jalen Hurts, and they are fair… but I think the OL will be better, which means Saquon will be better and Hurts will have more opportunity to make the kinds of throws he's best at making.

Emeka Egbuka wowed us all as a rookie… but so did Tetairoa McMillan. And full disclosure, I didn't pick McMillan here because he was already taken. That said, while McMillan had 129 targets, 1095 yds and 7 TD last year, Egbuka had 127 targets, 938 yds and 6 TD. So pick your poison. Do you trust the Panthers or the Buccaneers more? But there are others on this list that really stand out to me. Jaylen Waddle could really shine in Denver, and Mike Evans is currently the healthiest receiver in San Francisco. Also, I've said what I think about the Chargers offense this year, so Ladd is pretty tempting too.

Time for a Tight End, I guess

I grabbed Tucker Kraft at pick 57 because he was there and I like to have at least one solid TE on my roster. Honestly, I don't really care about the position too much. Unless I'm getting Bowers or McBride really early, the rest don't differentiate from each other that much. Here are the top 20 TEs by points per game last season:

The number 20 TE had 9.3 ppg, which is not a huge dropoff from most of these guys. But looking at this list does make me happy about getting Kraft. Sure he only played half the season last year, but in that half he was TE3. But again, if he doesn't fall to me here I have no problem waiting on TE. Particularly if my roster has three wide receiver spots, which most do. So then I would probably take another WR.

More Chargers Please

The fantasy outlook of the quarterback position has shifted over the past few years and it currently looks more similar to the tight end outlook than ever:

Like with TE, there are some cream of the crop guys that are worth getting early, like Josh Allen and Drake Maye. And, of course, if this were a superflex league, that's exactly what I would be doing. But it's not, so I was okay waiting for QB in my draft. And frankly, I was thrilled to get Justin Herbert at pick 64.

I should mention that I am not a Chargers fan, even though I've been glazing them this entire post. Spoiler alert, I'm going to keep doing it. Because I am really high on their offense this year. IF (and that's a very big "if") they can stay healthy, I truly think they can be electric… and if (that's a smaller if) I were a betting man, them winning the division and making the playoffs as well as Herbert's MVP odds would all be pretty intriguing to me.

So yeah, I like Herbert as my starting QB, grabbing him in the 6th round. And I like Kyler as my backup, though anyone on this list could be serviceable if not really good this season:

Again, the QB position is deeper than it has been for a long time.

The Rest

To be honest, I don't have strong opinions about my bench here:

I like Rhamondre Stevenson as a valuable RB later in the draft. In fact, I plan on writing something about players with lower ADP than their more popular teammates, and Rhamondre will be featured. Rhamondre actually outscored TreVeyon Henderson in points per game last season. Sure, Henderson scored more total points and is the younger, more exciting prospect, but the fact is, Rhamondre isn't going anywhere no matter how much we project. So getting him nearly three rounds later seems like good value.

I mentioned Kyler Murray as my backup QB. Again, there are a few guys I wouldn't mind grabbing here but few have Murray's upside. I know he didn't impress last year and neither did Kevin O'Connell's offense with J.J. McCarthy leading it… but both have impressed in the past and I think they could again. I like RJ Harvey and think Denver's offense will be even better this year… no need to say anything more about the Chargers… Khalil Shakir has a solid floor, but I never really know what to expect from the Bills offense these days outside of Allen and Cook… then I have two Texans rounding out my bench. If you check out my power rankings, you'll see I'm pretty high on them this year… their defense could still be the best in the league and I still believe in CJ Stroud so… yeah.

As for Defense and Kicker, I don't really give a shit. Especially kicker. I've actually removed the position from the league I run… and defense is hard to predict in fantasy. The best defenses aren't always the highest scoring.

And that's all I got. I plan on doing plenty more mock drafts in the next five weeks, so maybe I'll update this. Thanks for reading!