Mock Draft Monday

By: Josh Frey-Sam

Is it too early to mock draft?

Never.

Over the next few months, I’m going to dedicate some Mondays to mock drafting from different positions in different league formats. The hope is this will give you — and me — some good ideas and strategy to apply once your league drafts roll around in August.

Let's begin with something standard. I’m picking No. 3 overall in a 12-team half-PPR with 2RBs, 2WRs and 1 FLEX.

I’ll do a brief breakdown below.

Don’t hate how this turned out. The biggest question mark in my draft was passing on Bucky Irving to select Christian McCaffrey.

Here’s where I stand on CMC this year: I’m not going to be afraid to draft him, but I’d be drafting him while fully prepared to get my heart broken.

At 1.03, I was between Bijan and CeeDee Lamb. I’m more prone to building around RBs, so I went with Bijan.

Perhaps I’ll have to change my strategy this year, because by the time my second pick came around, I can’t say I loved who was on the board. I went with Mike Evans, due to the consistency he provides.

Two picks later, I had a chance to stack Evans with Baker Mayfield, so I did it. I’m high on Baker once again this season, he should continue to rack up points with his arm and his legs.

I followed that up with Joe Mixon and Calvin Ridley to give myself probably the oldest team in the league through six rounds. With little competition, Mixon should have a relatively safe floor again this season. Meanwhile, Ridley is intriguing to me this year. Despite being 30, he’s still the top weapon in the Titans’ offence, clearly has the talent and ability to separate, and now he has someone to get him the ball. I think Ridley could end up being a nice sleeper pick.

Yes, I took TreVeyon Henderson in the 7th round when the computer probably would’ve let me get him in the 8th or 9th. Henderson’s stock is going to rise — significantly. He’s a My Guy this year for me, so I went and got my guy.

Following Jayden Reed, I went with Dalton Kincaid to give myself a tight end. Is this finally the year for Kincaid? I think I just might be ready to f*** around and find out.

In the later rounds, I start to look for high upside picks. I’m no longer worried as much about the floor of players, I’m stepping up to the plate looking for home runs.

This was executed by drafting three straight rookies.

McMillan could very well be WR1 in the Panthers’ offence; Travis Hunter’s ability could make him an immediate impact player in fantasy; and RJ Harvey is another player, like Henderson, whose stock will rise. If you can get Harvey, a starting RB, in round 12, don’t even hesitate to do it.

I usually don’t draft 2 QBs, but with Justin Fields still on the board, I took a swing. He has top 10 fantasy upside due to his running ability, so it doesn’t hurt to see what he’s got.

Hope you enjoyed the first edition of Mock Draft Monday!

Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Josh