Fantasy Football Mock Draft Review: Heavy RB Early, Then Late-Round QB

Your fantasy football draft is around the corner. This is a big moment. Messing up at work or letting down your entire family is one thing, but making a stupid and laughably ill-advised fantasy pick in front of your friends? People don't forget that.

Accordingly, it's a good idea to shake off some of the rust and get into the mock draft lab, which you can do for free (!) with Fantasy Life's Draft Champion simulator! Pretty, pretty, pretty cool if you ask me.

You can try any mock of any size and type for free with our Mock Draft Simulator in Draft Champion!

12-Team Half-PPR Mock Draft Review

A few ground rules for today:

12-team
Random draft position
Yahoo ADP
Single QB
2 RB, 3 WR, 2 FLEX
0.5 PPR scoring
No touching of the hair or face

AND THAT'S IT.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

Round 1

We're picking out of the 10th spot. I honestly like being at the back-end turn this year because it allows you to get two of the top-15-ish players. Or at least that's what I tell myself when I'm forced to pick after the consensus top-six dudes are already off the board.

Regardless, I'm feeling frisky and want to start off with a stud RB or two. Maybe it's PTS-Zero-RB-D from that draft Dwain and I did last week. Either way: Welcome to the squad, Ashton Jeanty! The stud rookie could push for 400 touches this year and I don't think anyone would blink. It'd be a lot cooler if the scoring upside of the Raiders offense was a bit higher, but hey, I wouldn't count out Geno Smith and Chip Kelly from surprising folks in that department.

Round 1 pick: Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty. Vibes are high.

Round 2

Four dope WRs fly off the board after my pick, leaving me with another tough choice between a legit high-end RB1, or a top-10 WR who has league-breaking upside in their potential range of outcomes.

As badly as I want to click De'Von Achane—he's awesome!—I know that this league requires starting three WRs, and I don't love the potential of one of those guys being fat Deebo (with all due respect to Deebo Samuel. Wait, what's that? Just because I say with all due respect doesn't mean I get to say whatever I want? It sure as hell does!)

Sign me up for Falcons WR1 Drake London, who hilariously had 39 targets in Michael Penix's three starts last season while the next-closest Falcon receiver had … 12.

Round 2 pick: Falcons WR Drake London. I can live with this start!

Round 3

The WRs available are a mix of olds and Buckeye young'uns with questionable QBs throwing them the football. The top-3 TEs and top-4 QBs are off the board so I'll be deploying a Ricky Bobby "First or last" mindset at the onesie spots.

You might be thinking two Ricky Bobby references in the first three rounds is a bit much. And you might be right. The over/under for the article is now at 5.5.

Anyway, I was struggling to decide which WR pick would make me hate myself less, when I saw him. Bells started ringing. The clouds parted. And rising up … WAS MR. RIDE-OR-DIE HIMSELF OMARION HAMPTON, BABY!

Look, Hampton was a quality early-round pick even before his primary competition may or may not have lost both his eyes in a fireworks accident. First-round talent inside a run-first scheme expected to put up plenty of points behind an offensive line potentially ready to take a step from good to great, is that something you might be interested in?

Round 3 pick: Chargers RB Omarion Hampton. I'm taking Draft Champion's "B" grade as a personal insult to Matthew Berry himself.

Round 4

The best player available on my board is Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III. Then again, maybe three RBs in the first four rounds is overkill. It's not THAT hard to talk yourself into upside scenarios around Davante Adams, Mike Evans, and Marvin Harrison Jr. Right? RIGHT?

You know what? As Lee Corso once said, "F*ck it." Give me the workhorse RB inside a Klint Kubiak scheme that had ball knowers going from six to midnight during the first two weeks of last season. Maybe just maybe the injury gods chill the hell out here for once.

Round 4 pick: Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker. Despite chuckling to myself and repeating "I'm in danger" when looking at my WR room, going to war with Jeanty-Hampton-Walker at RB feels GOOD, man.

Round 5

More QBs and TEs flew off the board, setting me up to hopefully get two more quality WRs at the turn that won't make me want to unalive myself when looking at a Week 1 starting lineup.

Enter: Panthers rookie WR Tetairoa McMillan. No, not Tet. Yes, Tetairoa, T-Mac, or Cabella. Whatever you call him, the eighth overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft has sky-high target upside in a passing game that managed to not suck balls during the final two months of last season. Good enough for me!

Round 5 pick: Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan. Be right back, pronouncing Tetairoa (teh-ty-ROH-uh) in front of my mirror for the next 15 minutes.

Round 6

This one is tough, but luckily I feel pretty OK about the WR options available:

DeVonta Smith: Top-20 WR in PPR points per game each of the past three seasons. Awesome real-life player. The floor is high, and the ceiling is the roof if AJB misses any time.
Jaylen Waddle: Yeah, last season's WR51 finish was a little f*cked up, but things were good before that! The man is still just 26, things gotta get better, right? RIGHT?
George Pickens: The Cowboys look a lot like the NFC's version of the Bengals, meaning Pickens and his fantasy-friendly combination of downfield and contested-catch ability could wind up being a discount version of someone like Tee Higgins.
Jameson Williams: Needed only 91 targets to return low-end WR2 value last season. Which is cool because that shows just how damn efficient the man was … but also isn't that cool because how did this demon get only 91 targets last year?!

This feels like the Family Guy mystery box-boat gag with Smith being the obvious sure thing. And yet, here I am sitting on my couch with my lovely two dachshunds (Lilly and Deborah, she goes by Bruh) agonizing over a Round 6 WR pick in a mock draft worth $0. Gotta love fantasy football.

Round 6: Cowboys WR George Pickens. HE COULD BE A BOAT DAMNIT!!!

Round 7

Alright, we've now got three beast RBs and a trio of WRs who should be good enough to carry that position. I'm tempted to fill out QB/TE, but I always kick myself for attacking these positions in the middle rounds after seeing the sort of guys available if I had just been a bit more patient. Being patient isn't exactly my idea of fun, but let's wait until outside the top-100 picks at a minimum before going that route.

Especially because I still really like some of these WRs and RBs available. Brian Robinson is one of my favorite Round 8 picks thanks to his sneaky double-digit TD upside, but I feel like he's more of a zero-RB sort of target—not someone to tack onto a room already equipped with three high-end starters.

Thus, we'll turn our attention to the WR room. There are four remaining options in Tier 5: Jauan Jennings, Jakobi Meyers, Rome Odunze, and Jerry Jeudy. Can you guess which one of these players has ripped off back-to-back WR2 finishes, continues to find himself as his offense's clear-cut No. 1 WR, and benefited from a potentially huge QB upgrade this offseason?

Round 7 pick: Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers. It cracks me up the way people cry about an ADP WR4 with proven WR2 upside going alongside "theoretical" WR1s who will inevitably finish as WR5s.

Round 8

B-Rob went the very next pick, again leaving me with better WRs to choose from than RBs. Sure, Jordan Mason is an S-tier handcuff who might actually carve out standalone value inside a Vikings backfield expected to rotate him and A-aron Jones, but the tier drop is coming at WR, so I'll devote another resource or two there before loading up on handcuffs in a bit.

Enter: Rome Odunze. It's actually very fun to say his last name with an italian accent while making the Tommy DeVito italian hand sign thing. Seriously. Try it. But yeah, the 2024 NFL Draft's ninth overall pick has allegedly had himself one helluva training camp and seemingly has a shot at leading Ben Johnson's new-look Bears offense in targets. I'm cool with that combination as my WR5.

Round 8 pick: Bears WR Rome Odunze. Rome O-dun-ze 🤌🤌🤌.

The roster through eight rounds …

QB: None
RB1: Ashton Jeanty
RB2: Omarion Hampton
WR1: Drake London
WR2: Tetairoa McMillan
WR3: George Pickens
TE: None
FLEX: Kenneth Walker III
FLEX: Jakobi Meyers
Bench: Rome Odunze

I don't like it: I love it. So long as we don't mess up my still barren QB and TE rooms, of course.

Round 9

OK, one more WR and then I'm done for a bit. I'm begging you like an old Chet "The Rocket" Steadman. One more. Give me one more!

Why? Matthew Golden. That's why. We're talking about Jordan Love's potential No. 1 WR and one of the last remaining dudes at the position whom I could feasibly feel OK about FLEX'ing in Week 1. Throw in some quality Family Night usage—it still makes me laugh that this is a thing, but hey, we'll take it—and this profiles as the sort of mid-round dart worth throwing in fantasy drafts of most shapes and sizes.

Round 9 pick: Packers WR Matthew Golden. OK, for real NOW we're done at WR. For now.

Round 10

It's probably about time to get a QB. Right? I mean, I could wait. Guys like Jordan Love and J.J. McCarthy certainly have paths to upside and will probably be available by the time I'm up next.

And yet, I can't help but be ready to get hurt again by a certain dual-threat talent who has flashed tantalizing 20+ point per game upside during his still relatively short career. Sure, last season was a letdown, but that was then, and this is now.

*Best Bruce Buffer impression* It's time.

Round 10 pick: Cardinals QB Kyler Murray. Here's to hoping his 2025 rushing production is more like 2020 and less like 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Round 11

This is about the time in drafts when loading up on handcuff RBs becomes advisable. Many are just one injury away from gracing the cover of waiver wire articles around the industry, while a lot of the WRs available simply don't offer the same sort of best-case scenarios—and it's going to be awfully difficult to figure out when to start them.

That said: Going into any fantasy draft with a predetermined strategy is no bueno. Take a page out of Bruce Lee's book and "be like water," man. Be willing to take that surprisingly solid ADP value staring you in the face in Round 11 of a mock draft. Don't be afraid to take Colston Loveland a few picks after the idiot computer decided to snag Cade Otton.

Round 11 pick: Bears TE Colston Loveland. In a perfect world my TE1 would be a bit more of a sure thing, but I don't have a problem rolling with Loveland the way things fell. Or at least that's what I tell myself. Please don't f*ck around with Cole Kmet too much, Ben Johnson.

Round 12

I thought about scooping up Zach Ertz or Hunter Henry to provide some extra floorboards to my TE room, but then I considered how I would feel to click either old man's name in Round 12 of a mock draft in early August. Probably pretty shitty, and I'm trying to have fun. Fantasy football is supposed to be fun, right?

So yeah: Screw that. Give me an enticing handcuff RB who could be a zero … or could be a league-winner if *one* human being happens to not be available for the right portions of the season. In this case that human being in question is at odds with his organization, so that seems like a good start.

Round 12 pick: Bills RB Ray Davis. We saw the Bills heavily lean on Davis (23 combined carries and targets) over Ty Johnson (4) in their one game without James Cook last season.

Round 13

OK, fine: One more WR. Because it is Rashid Shaheed, and I want to name my team "The Need for Shaheed." And because he's quite good at football. A small-sample size all-star from a season ago, Shaheed checks the talent, volume, and age boxes … just not the QB, but hey that's why he's available so late in the first place.

Ultimately, sometimes you have to ask yourself: "What would cooterdoodle do?"

Round 13 pick: Saints WR Rashid Shaheed. F*ck yeah man.

Round 14
Ugh. The computer sniped me on Dolphins RB Jaylen Wright—AKA my most-drafted RB of the season. If Wright booms this year there's a decent chance I will make some quality dollar bills, y'all, but I will also be riding in my new Lambo wondering what life could have been like if I had only managed to snag the Miami RB2 in Round 14 of that mock draft I did in early August. Sigh.

Anyway, there are still some quality handcuff RBs available like Tyler Allgeier and Trey Benson, but the free falling (shoutout Tom Petty) Caleb Williams has my eye. We also already took Odunze (🤌) and Loveland, so why not go all in on a passing attack that has never had a 4,000-yard single-season passer? What could go wrong?

Round 14 pick: Bears QB Caleb Williams. I don't think it's essential to take two QBs when you start with a consensus top-12 option like Kyler, but this value was too good to pass up, and there wasn't an RB I NEEDED to have thanks to the computer's aforementioned dick move of taking Wright.

Round 15

The thing about confusing backfields is just that: They're confusing, and it's accordingly hard to project their splits with any level of certainty, leading to lower cost in fantasy football land.

Enter: The Cowboys, who are seemingly poised to enter gun fights with a bow-and-arrow backfield consisting of Javonte Williams, Jaydon Blue, and Miles Sanders. I have no idea who will take the first snap of the season, but it sure seems like an open competition, so why not just take the cheapest possible option? The payoff is decent, and the downside is an easy early-season cut.

Round 15 pick: Cowboys RB Miles Sanders. I would have considered Roschon Johnson and MarShawn Lloyd if Sanders were unavailable.

Round 16

This is the point of the draft where most will take a K and DST. Now, sometimes you don't have to do this. And honestly, if you're sick enough to be drafting meaningful teams in early August, I would advise AGAINST taking these positions when there are still quality handcuffs. Guys like Johnson, Lloyd, Colts RB DJ Giddens, the Rams RBs, Texans RB Woody Marks, and Bengals RB Tahj Brooks among others stand to gain a LOT of value between now and Week 1, depending on how the preseason and roster cuts play out.

That said, I'll roll with a DST and K in these final two rounds mostly because I don't want the Draft Champion to give me a shitty grade for ignoring the positions. Note that in this case I have my pick of whoever, so yeah, give me the Broncos' elite unit, but the Patriots and Cardinals stand out as quality final-round DST options—or future waiver wire pickups—thanks to their borderline erotic early-season schedules.

Round 16 pick: Broncos DST. Possibly the best real-life defense starts the year with the Titans and Colts. Hell, yeah.

Round 17

If you want kicker analysis, check out Matthew Freedman's kicker manifesto.

Unfortunately, despite my hatred for these half-breeds who don't deserve to be called real football players, the inner nerd in me did rear its ugly head during the offseason when I figured out that the correlation between high-scoring fantasy kickers and high-scoring real-life offenses is actually slightly negative. Translation: Kickers from middling scoring offenses might actually be better bets than targeting those on elite units. This intuitively makes sense considering the middle-of-the-pack groups probably have to settle for three points more often than the game's best offenses.

All that to say: Please don't play in fantasy leagues with kickers if you don't have to. Unfortunately, I made a mock draft with them. I have lived long enough to become the villain. Ugh.

Round 17 pick: Buccaneers K Chase McLaughlin

The final roster:

QB: Kyler Murray
RB1: Ashton Jeanty
RB2: Omarion Hampton
WR1: Drake London
WR2: Tetairoa McMillan
WR3: George Pickens
TE: Colston Loveland
FLEX: Kenneth Walker III
FLEX: Jakobi Meyers
DST: Broncos
K: Chase McLaughlin
Bench: Rome Odunze
Bench: Matthew Golden
Bench: Ray Davis
Bench: Rashid Shaheed
Bench: Caleb Williams
Bench: Miles Sanders

Grade: A+! You can see the whole draft and analysis right here. I agree because this is beneficial to my ego and fantasy drafting ability. If the grade were bad I would caution that draft grades are meaningless.

Try out Fantasy Life's (free!) Draft Champion Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator for yourself and hit me up on Twitter (@ihartitz) with your squads and I'll let you know what I think! Also feel free to use code IAN for 20% off any Fantasy Life+ premium subscription if you're into that kind of thing.