High-Stakes Fantasy Football Mock Draft on RTSports with Dwain McFarland and Ian Hartitz
Fantasy

High-Stakes Fantasy Football Mock Draft on RTSports with Dwain McFarland and Ian Hartitz

Dwain McFarland and Ian Hartitz review their latest high-stakes fantasy football draft on RTSports, highlighting their overall strategy, round-by-round selections, and more.

Ian Hartitz and I have jumped into multiple Fantasy Life Championship drafts over at RealTime Fantasy Sports over the last few weeks. It's a great format with two flex spots, which can lead to some heavy-RB drafts.

  • Platform: RealTime Fantasy Sports
  • ADP Data: RealTime Fantasy Sports
  • Entry: $300
  • Scoring: PPR
  • Starters: 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 2FLX, 1 DST, 1K
  • Teams: 12
  • Draft Position: 4th
  • Rounds: 20
  • Date: 8/15/25
  • Draft stream link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69K1z1KUATs

RTSports Fantasy Football Mock Draft Review

We implemented many of the strategies I outlined in my Fantasy Football Draft Strategy guide. We focused on sweet spots for value and let our draft capital allocation (e.g., if you wait on a position, you take more later and vice versa) guide our plan throughout the draft.

Final roster with (starters in bold)

Strategy & Roster Construction Overview

  • We took two RBs in the first three picks, plus an elite onesie at TE in Round 4.
  • That meant we needed to focus on WRs over the following rounds, which was also a value pocket.
  • We waited on QB, so we drafted multiple.
  • We didn't draft a kicker or a defense because you don't have to in these leagues, so we opted to throw darts at players who could see an increased role via training camp news or a teammate injury with the last two picks. We will grab a kicker and a defense off the wire before Week 1.
  • Notes: When we drafted this team, a) the news on Quinshon Judkins (charges dropped) had not dropped yet, and b) Daniel Jones had not been named the starter.
     

If you like the analysis in this article and want access to the tools we use to research and prep, consider a Tier 2 FantasyLife+ subscription. Code: Dwain = 20% off.

Rounds 1 to 4

Dwain: We have learned that the running backs often go early in the Fantasy Life Championship, which pushes WR values down the board. Based on that, we wanted two RBs by Round 3 unless a massive value fell to us in Round 3. You can see how quickly things escalate:

Of course, understanding your draft environment is one thing, but also targeting players in the tier you really like is big. We don't want to force players like Hubbard in this range. Barkley is Barkley, and Henderson's ceiling projection is almost 21 PPG in our ceiling-floor model, assuming a split role as the baseline.

London fell a little past his ADP (18) to give us an anchor WR1, and we left ourselves open for value in Round 4. Our targets were Walker, Harvey, Hall, Kittle, and elite dual-threat QBs. We opted for Kittle on this one, but going with Hurts or Daniels was definitely an option.

Ian: Love getting Saquon in Round 1 because now I can show off this meme.

After that:

  • Drake London is fun and should be projected for 200 targets, but Dwain and Matthew Freedman won't give me the password to update Fantasy Life projections (ugh).
  • TreVeyon Henderson allows me to root for the Buckeyes on Sundays (and Dwain might have unfriended me in real life if I didn’t agree to draft him.
  • George Kittle is my fifth-most-drafted TE of the offseason, which is hard to do considering how early he goes. I continuously ask myself the same question: How high would we be on Kittle at any point in the last five years if both Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk were sidelined? Well, that’s looking like the active case RIGHT NOW for at least the first month-plus of the 2025 season. Wheels up.

Rounds 5 to 8

Dwain: Four factors played into these picks:

  1. We only had one WR on our team, so draft capital allocation said to pound WR.
  2. The values at WR were strong, and we know not all of these will hit, so we needed swings.
  3. We weren't crazy about the backs going in this range outside of Conner. Those are rich prices for many backs with significant question marks versus starting WRs.
  4. We start two flex spots, and these four WRs will battle for three starting spots behind London.
     

We can poke holes in all of the WRs we targeted, but they are all young players who have something in their profiles that points to potential for a significant leap in 2025.

Ian: Jameson Williams? DOG.

Xavier Worthy? DOG.

Emeka Egbuka? Buckeye … AND A DOG.

Rome Odunze? Wasn’t a dog last year, but you know who is a dog? BEN JOHNSON BABY. AMERICA LOVES A COMEBACK AND ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY ANYWAY!

Rounds 9 to 12

Dwain: Jayden Reed is dealing with an injury, but his Year 3 breakout potential is similar to Jaxon Smith-Njigba at a significant discount, and there was a tier drop for us after him.

When we snagged Sampson, the Judkins news hadn't broken yet (the next day). While he goes later now, it isn't a complete loss, given Judkins still isn't signed and is battling for the RB1 role in Week 1. If he balls out, Judkins could have a hard time taking the job away as he acclimates to the team.

Spears is dealing with a high-ankle sprain, and I hope the team just rests him for the first few games. But he is an explosive playmaker who can operate across all three downs. You can see the RBs that went in this range; it gets tough pretty quickly. Jacory Croskey-Merritt was the better option in hindsight, but the B-Rob trade hadn't occurred.

At quarterback, we played a game of chicken, passing several players we liked in Round 11 because we had a large tier, and all eight of the nine teams between our next pick already had a QB.

It ended up being a close call with FOUR teams doubling up before it got back to us, but it worked. In mine and Ian's consensus rankings, we have Purdy ahead of Jared Goff, Justin Herbert, and Drake Maye. He also stacks with Kittle. Bonus!!!

(Columns: Bye, Dwain, Ian, Consensus of Me + Ian)

Ian: Jayden Reed's foot hurts, but you know, so does mine half the time ever since I entered my early 30s. It's also August. I'll take this sort of discount for a DUDE who profiles as this generation’s Deebo Samuel when healthy.

Dylan Sampson is the Browns starting RB at the moment. Maybe that changes if/when Quinshon Judkins returns, but did you know Judkins isn't on an NFL team at the moment? That seems important. The whole potential suspension thing is also kinda wild. So yeah: Dylan Sampson, absolute can't miss, slam dunk pick. Or at least these are the things I tell myself when taking a day three rookie RB in Round 10.

Honestly, I kinda hate the Tyjae Spears pick, but Dwain was convincing, and at this point draft, I was cracking up my third Kona Big Wave, so who was I to disagree?

Brock Purdy is arguably THE late-round QB worth targeting this year, considering he's ... first EVER in career yards per attempt in passer rating. That seems good, and he proved capable of still supplying top-10 fantasy numbers last year even with most of his key teammates dealing with all kinds of injuries. Purdy continues to be one of the best examples I have for folks when discussing the advantages of waiting at the position after the big-four dual-threat aliens are off the board.

Rounds 13 to 16

Dwain: We both loved Luther Burden at this spot based on the talent profile alone. He won't hit our starting lineup early, but could be valuable down the stretch. Still, knowing what we know now about the Sampson pick, we could have considered Will Shipley—one of the most underrated high-upside handcuffs on the board.

Okonkwo wasn't a necessity, but his playing time late last year and with the starters this preseason has been encouraging. Gunnar Helm is challenging for some work, but Okonkwo could be the No. 2 target in Tennessee this year. He could fill in for Kittle if he misses time.

We considered Bryce Young as our QB2 thanks to his late-season rushing surge last year, but ultimately landed on Penix as a stack piece with London.

Blake Corum has handled the RB2 role this preseason and rested in the final preseason game. That doesn't guarantee he is an RB1 if Williams misses time, but he appears ahead of Jarquez Hunter to start the season.

Ian: You know, we’re in Rounds 13-16 at this point. I can defend all these picks with provocative fantasy descriptors like “upside” and “value at cost” or even “sleeper material,” and I DARE you to disagree. See? You can’t. You don’t have a damn thing to say about these picks. Strike three, you’re f*cking out. You’ve always been out. Never had a chance in hell. Moving on.  

Rounds 17 to 20

Dwain: Richardson was a pure upside bet on a team where we waited at quarterback. He could still end up paying fantasy dividends, but he is a cut candidate on this team for a kicker or defense.

Like Burden, you can argue we should have grabbed another RB with that pick, but we had debated Williams for three rounds, and he was still on the board. We like the talent in a passing game where the rookie could quickly ascend into a top role. Ollie Gordon would have been pretty dope in hindsight.

Pierce has taken first-team reps with Nick Chubb with Joe Mixon sidelined. He could surprise and have a larger role than many think in Week 1. If he doesn't? Off with his head!

Trevor Etienne: dart throw at a position of need.

Ian: Anthony Richardson will be cut when we need a DST or kicker, Kyle Williams looks like a good football player, which is more than you can say about most in Round 18, Dameon Pierce might be the Texans starting RB for whatever that’s worth, and Trevor Etienne’s brother is Travis. All in all, some quality late-round picks if you ask for my biased opinion.

If y'all like this sort of thing, we have multiple draft streams up on the Fantasy Life YouTube channel:

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Trevor Etienne
    TrevorEtienne
    RBCARCAR
    PPG
    -0.06
  2. Jayden Reed
    JaydenReed
    WRGBGB
    PPG
    6.47
  3. Brock Purdy
    BrockPurdy
    QBSFSF
    PPG
    14.64
  4. Anthony Richardson
    AnthonyRichardsonIR
    QBINDIND
    PPG
    -0.10