The Fantasy Footballers: Mock Draft Recap

We are in the thick of draft season now, and the Ballers are back with another mock-a-lock-a-ding-dong to help you prepare for your upcoming draft(s). Andy, Mike, and Jason are all in on the fun today, with Mike picking from the three spot, and Andy and Jason picking back-to-back in the 10 and 11 spots.

Today’s format is 12-team, Half-PPR, 1 QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1FLEX, and 4 Bench.

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Round 1

Mike (1.03) – Ja’Marr Chase (WR, CIN)
Andy (1.10) – Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR, DET)
Jason (1.11) – Kenneth Walker (RB, KC)

Mike takes the layup with Chase at the 1.03. If you are not getting one of the top RBs in Jahmyr Gibbs or Bijan Robinson, how can you go wrong with a player who has finished as WR1 and WR4 the last two seasons?. Chase should be operating as the top target for a fully healthy Joe Burrow, at least to start the season, and that has always been a recipe for success. Mike doesn’t let the knee hyperextension from practice scare him off, and selects Chase with his top pick. 

Andy also goes WR in the first round, getting a great value with St. Brown at the 10 spot. He may not possess the high-end WR1 overall upside you get with Chase, but there is no safer pick at the WR position. The “Sun God” has finished as the WR3 for fantasy three years running, and given the high-octane potential of this Lions’ offense, there is no reason that trend can’t continue.

Jason then follows that up by grabbing Mike’s “My Guy” Kenneth Walker at the 1.11. I believe this is the first time I have seen Walker go in the first round of a draft, but I don’t hate it given the current RB landscape. It feels like if you do not leave the first couple of rounds with at least one stud RB, you are getting left without one this year. Jason locks in his RB1 early with Ken Bone Walker.

 

Round 2

Jason (2.02) – A.J. Brown (WR, NE)
Andy (2.03) – Justin Jefferson (WR, MIN)
Mike (2.10) – Jeremiyah Love (RB, ARI)

After CeeDee Lamb and De’Von Achane get grabbed at the turn, Jason grabs his WR1 in A.J. Brown. AJB has not finished higher than WR10 since 2023 in Philadelphia, but the popular belief is that he will bounce right back with his new QB Drake Maye. Jason certainly hopes so, grabbing him at the top end of the second round with a certain big name still on the board.

Andy follows Jason up by selecting the aforementioned big name. Unlike A.J. Brown, nobody is questioning whether Justin Jefferson still has “it.” Rather, the question marks surrounding Jefferson are all related to a Minnesota Vikings offense that struggled mightily last year with multiple different QBs at the helm. Whether Kyler Murray is the fantasy savior this offense needs remains to be seen. 

Mike follows up his Ja’Marr Chase pick with rookie Jeremiyah Love at 2.10. We are all pretty sure Love has the talent to become a top fantasy option at RB, but his consistency might be limited in Year 1 by a lackluster Arizona offense and some touch competition from veteran Tyler Allgeier. 

Through two rounds, Mike and Jason have each selected an RB and a WR, while Andy has two wideouts.

 

Round 3

Mike (3.03) – Malik Nabers (WR, NYG)
Andy (3.10) – Breece Hall (RB, NYJ)
Jason (3.11) – Josh Jacobs (RB, GB)

Mike comes back with Malik Nabers, and I gotta say, a Chase/Love/Nabers start is about as cool as it gets. This feels like a roster that, if everything hits, is going to be a lot of fun to watch on any given Sunday. If healthy (and he seems to be on track to play a full allotment of snaps in Week 1), Nabers is a walking “thirty-burger”, much like Ja’Marr Chase and potentially Jeremiyah Love. Nice start, Mike. 

Andy finds himself in the conundrum I mentioned above: RB1 scarcity. He chose to wait until Round 3, and now he is left with options like Breece Hall, Josh Jacobs, and Javonte Williams. I would have gone with Jacobs here personally. If he plays, which is a big if at this point, I see Jacobs as a locked-in top-10 option at the position. Hall, on the other hand, could play a full season and finish as a middling RB2 like he has done the past two seasons. 

Jason takes the swing Andy was afraid to take and grabs Jacobs with his next pick, giving him Kenneth Walker, A.J. Brown, and Josh Jacobs through three rounds.

 

Round 4

Jason (4.02) – Tee Higgins (WR, CIN)
Andy (4.03) – Zay Flowers (WR, BAL)
Mike (4.10) – Bhayshul Tuten (RB, JAX)

Jason goes back to WR with his fourth pick, selecting Tee Higgins who, much like George Pickens, is more of a WR1.5 than a WR2. I like the value on Tee this year in what should be an explosive Bengals’ offense. 

Andy then grabs Zay Flowers, who will look mighty fine in his FLEX spot. Flowers signed a big contract with Baltimore this offseason and possesses top-10 upside, as we saw toward the end of last year.

At 4.10, Mike says, “What RB dead zone?” and stakes his claim to his beloved Bhayshul Tuten. I love an RB who runs a 4.32 as much as the next guy, but I have to wonder if this ADP has gotten a little out of hand for what is likely to be a committee in Jacksonville.

Through four rounds, Mike and Jason have stayed balanced with two RBs and two WRs each, while Andy sits with Breece Hall as his lone RB and a murderer’s row of St. Brown, Jefferson, and Flowers at WR.

 

Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

Round 5

Mike (5.03) – Christian Watson (WR, GB)
Andy (5.10) – David Montgomery (RB, HOU)
Jason (5.11) – Davante Adams (WR, LAR)

Mike gets his “My Guy” at 5.03. This man is not scared of a little measly injury risk! As a WR3/FLEX, Watson is worth the risk. If you believe the reports, his leg muscles are more balanced than ever. The WR trio of Chase, Nabers, and Watson feels like it could combine for 100 points some weeks. 

After a run of WRs go off the board, Andy decides to beef up his RB situation and takes David Montgomery – new member of the Houston Texans. Andy is the lowest of the three Ballers on Montgomery, making this pick a little surprising. Maybe he is just trying to mix it up?

Jason grabs Davante Adams with the next pick, deciding to try his luck against Father Time. Adams turns 34 later this year, and while he hasn’t fallen off the cliff yet, he might be doing a Wile E. Coyote and running on air. The only thing holding him up is Matthew Stafford and an electric Rams offense that should score a bunch of TDs once again.

Through five rounds, none of our Ballers have selected a onesie position (QB or TE), all opting to bolster their depth at the RB and WR positions. 

 

Round 6

Jason (6.02) – TreVeyon Henderson (RB, NE)
Andy (6.03) – Rhamondre Stevenson (RB, NE)
Mike (6.10) – Joe Burrow (QB, CIN)

To his delight, Jason gets TreVeyon Henderson to fall to him in the sixth round, making his selection rather easy. He goes for the upside of the highly drafted second-year player who broke out toward the end of last season, posting four finishes inside the Top-10 at the position over his last eight games. 

Hilariously, Andy selects Henderson’s counterpart Rhamondre Stevenson with the very next pick, rounding out what is possibly the highest-floor, lowest-ceiling RB room of all time. Hall, Montgomery and Stevenson might just finish back-to-back-to-back as RB 18, 19 and 20.

Mike finally breaks the seal on the onesie positions and completes his stack with Burrow and Chase, further amplifying his incredibly fun high-variance roster.  

 

Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

Round 7

Mike (7.03) – J.K. Dobbins (RB, DEN)
Andy (7.10) – Caleb Williams (QB, CHI)
Jason (7.11) – Blake Corum (RB, LAR)

Mike goes with Dobbins in the seventh round, chasing the 11.0 ppg he was averaging through 10 weeks last season before going down with a season-ending injury. RJ Harvey showed some flashes over the second half of last year, and Denver added a talented back in Jonah Coleman, but if you believe Dobbins will return to his role as the lead back of Denver’s timeshare, he could be a solid value in the seventh round. 

Andy gets his guy in Caleb Williams at QB in hopes that he can take another step forward going into year three. He jumped from 15 PPG as a rookie to 18.6 last year under Ben Johnson, good enough for a QB7 finish. He goes off the board here as the seventh QB drafted. 

The prototypical “Flex-with-benefits” Jason grabs Blake Corum with the next pick. Having already selected three RBs, Corum fits in perfectly as a guy who will ride Jason’s bench unless an injury or demotion to Kyren Williams gives Corum the opportunity to shine. 

 

Round 8

Jason (8.02) – Dak Prescott (QB, DAL)
Andy (8.03) – KC Concepcion (WR, CLE)
Mike (8.10) – Jordyn Tyson (WR, NO)

Jason then takes his QB in Dak Prescott. My favorite case for drafting Prescott is that he represents Joe Burrow production without the Joe Burrow price tag. Dallas’ offense is built similarly to Cincinnati’s and possesses just as much firepower, making Dak a good value.

Andy takes a big upside swing at KC Concepcion, which he can afford to do having already taken three every-week starters at the WR position. Concepcion has been generating a ton of buzz lately in camp, and Andy gets him here in the eighth round. 

Mike’s eighth-round selection was also generating camp buzz until a hamstring injury derailed his progress. Regardless, the opportunity cost of selecting him this late in drafts is worth the upside he represents. Certainly do not count on anything from him early on, but he could be a weapon down the stretch. 

 

Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Round 9

Mike (9.03) – Quentin Johnston (WR, LAC)
Andy (9.10) – Kyle Pitts (TE, ATL)
Jason (9.11) – Michael Pittman (WR, PIT)

“Quge” goes off the board to Mike in the ninth round, with Mike liking his chances of absorbing some of the vacated Keenan Allen targets. 

Andy then takes his almost-my-guy Kyle Pitts, who somehow managed to finish as the TE2 last year despite being a bad player on a bad offense. He is still bad, and the offense is probably worse, but “Pua” and the Falcons do not have many other options to throw the ball to. He is not a bad pick at this point in drafts.

Jason drafts Michael Pittman in what is sure to be an explosive passing attack in Pittsburgh led by the oldest player in the NFL. Interestingly, he goes just two picks after DK Metcalf. Despite being in the ninth round, there is a chance that neither of these picks was a good value.

 

Round 10

Jason (10.02) – Dalton Kincaid (TE, BUF)
Andy (10.03) – Rome Odunze (WR, CHI)
Mike (10.10) – Tank Bigsby (RB, PHI)

Jason locks in his TE with Dalton Kincaid, who was actually a pretty effective player when he played last year. He did not play all that much, but maybe that had more to do with injury than a lack of talent.

Andy takes a shot on Romeo Doubs here, who has shown flashes of brilliance in Green Bay over the years and now lands in New England where he will be Drake Maye’s WR2.

Mike grabs Tank Bigsby, perhaps betting that the camp injury bug isn’t quite done biting us. He is a pure handcuff to Saquon Barkley and will be the perfect drop candidate after Week 1 in favor of a waiver wire pickup. 

 

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Round 11

Mike (11.03) – Juwan Johnson (TE, NO)
Andy (11.10) – Jonah Coleman (RB, DEN)
Jason (11.11) – Caleb Douglas (WR, MIA)

Mike managed to punt the TE position until the last round, where he grabs Juwan Johnson, solidifying the fact that he will be streaming TEs.

Andy decides he needs one more plodding RB and gets Jonah Coleman with his last pick. Seriously though, Coleman is an injury away from immediate fantasy relevance, and J.K. Dobbins knows a thing or two about injury. 

Finally, Jason takes his shot at the Miami WR room, which is a long shot at best. Regardless, he will need a player to jettison to waivers after a week or two. 

 

Mike’s Team

QB – Joe Burrow
RB – Jeremiyah Love, Bhayshul Tuten, J.K. Dobbins, Tank Bigsby
WR – Ja’Marr Chase, Malik Nabers, Christian Watson, Jordyn Tyson, Quentin Johnston
TE – Juwan Johnson

 

Andy’s Team

QB – Caleb Williams
RB – Breece Hall, David Montgomery, Rhamondre Stevenson, Jonah Coleman
WR – Amon-Ra St. Brown, Justin Jefferson, Zay Flowers, KC Concepcion, Romeo Doubs
TE – Kyle Pitts

 

Jason’s Team

QB – Dak Prescott
RB – Kenneth Walker, Josh Jacobs, TreVeyon Henderson, Blake Corum
WR – A.J. Brown, Tee Higgins, Davante Adams, Michael Pittman, Caleb Douglas
TE – Dalton Kincaid

 

Draft Board

 

 

 

 

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