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Fantasy Football Mock Draft (12-Team PPR Late Pick)

Fantasy Football Mock Draft (12-Team PPR Late Pick)

This is the third and final installment in what I have deemed my trilogy of PPR mock drafts. In the opening salvo, I conducted a mock from an early position. In the middle act, I performed the mock from a middle position. This finale is from a late position.

This draft will be performed from the No. 11 spot using the FantasyPros Mock Draft Simulator. I will be writing the explanations for each pick as I make them in order to truly capture my thought process in the moment.

As always, this draft will be conducted assuming a standard-sized roster of QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, Flex, TE, DEF, and K.

View real time recommendations for each pick with our Draft Assistant partner-arrow

1.11 Kareem Hunt (RB – KC) ECR #13, ADP #10
Picking at the back end this year strikes me as a distinct disadvantage. It is not that I don’t think there are talented players, but rather that the caliber of player you can take around the turn isn’t much better than the caliber of players at the Round 2-3 turn. For that reason, I am always taking at least one running back, potentially two.

Hunt is not the top-ranked RB remaining on my board. That title goes to Leonard Fournette. However, based on ADP and consensus rankings, I am more confident that I can get Fournette in the second round than Hunt. For that reason, I went with the second-ranked RB on my board, Hunt, in the first round. All of the RBs on the board come with some questions. We’ve seen Hunt perform at elite RB1 levels. We’ve also seen him be unstartable. He has some risk. But in his second year, I expect more consistency, particularly in his passing game usage. Spencer Ware’s healthy return could give me pause, but for now, Hunt is a trustworthy RB1.

2.02 Davante Adams (WR – GB) ECR #16, ADP #18
It turns out, I made an error in passing on Fournette. It’s not a significant error, as Hunt and Fournette are extremely close, but I did prefer Fournette. Unfortunately, that puts me in the difficult position that is going to befall anyone who drafts at the turn. The best players on my board are all WRs. The problem is that there five that I like and obviously I would much rather have selected someone higher in the first round to pair with my WR. Essentially, whoever picked before me, if they want, will have the same caliber WR as me with a better first round pick. That is frustrating.

I have no choice but to select Adams, the highest WR on my board. Out of the remaining WRs, I’ll take the guy getting passes thrown to him by Aaron Rodgers. Adams has an extremely high ceiling coupled with a very high floor as well. He is going to be Rodgers’ go-to guy and is a strong bet for double-digit touchdowns.

3.11 Allen Robinson (WR – CHI) ECR #40, ADP #42
Did I mention how much I dislike picking towards the back? My primary third round targets this season are Tyreek Hill, Adam Thielen, Joe Mixon, T.Y. Hilton, and Larry Fitzgerald. They are all gone. I want to say I wish I had gone Fournette round one, but I don’t think it it would’ve mattered. Whether I had taken Hunt or Fournette, the other was never getting back to me round two. This situation was always going to arise. I am now stuck taking a player I believe is a clear step below what other teams have been able to acquire.

I am very high on Robinson. We’ve seen him be a WR1 and a WR3. I am inclined to believe that the WR1 version is the real A-Rob. There’s still the possibility I am wrong. Robinson does have some risk and the other four WRs I was targeting in round three are all safer. Robinson is the highest ranked WR on my board, though, and I do not like any of the remaining RBs. The fourth round is going to be very interesting.

4.02 Evan Engram (TE – NYG) ECR #68, ADP #58
This is not the ideal pick in this scenario, but it’s an excellent learning mechanism for more novice fantasy drafters. I do not prefer taking a TE this high, but I went with Engram here because of what my RB and WR boards looked like at the time. The top RB on my board, Tarik Cohen, is way down on the rankings list; I don’t have to worry about him going and it would be illogical for me to select a player I have ranked lower above Cohen. The top WR on my board, Brandin Cooks, will almost certainly not make it back to me, but I’m okay with that because my next two highest ranked WRs are Randall Cobb and Marquise Goodwin, both of whom I can surely select afterward. As a result, it makes the most sense to take my third-ranked TE here as doing so maximizes my perceived positional advantages.

5.11 Lamar Miller (RB – HOU) ECR #58, ADP #62
I know I just said Cohen is my highest ranked RB, but Miller isn’t far behind and I need an RB2. I can still take Cohen later, but I am not willing to risk the possibility that I wait for Cohen, don’t get him, and then literally don’t have an RB2.

I’ve always been a proponent of the Single RB strategy, which is basically Zero RB, except with one RB. You take a stud RB and then load up on WRs (and possibly a TE). That’s sort of what I did here, except not to the extreme where I’m taking bench players before starters.

I do not like Miller. He is not a good football player. He’s replacement level and was a lock to lose his job to D’Onta Foreman last season had Foreman not torn his Achilles. Unfortunately, that did happen and now Foreman is questionable to be healthy enough to avoid the PUP list to start the season. That puts Miller in a situation where he can volume his way to RB2 numbers.

6.02 Robert Woods (WR – LAR) ECR #72, ADP #77
I am definitely risking missing out on Randall Cobb here, but that’s acceptable to me because I know I still have Goodwin in my back pocket. My plan is to take Woods now as he is the third-highest WR on my board to complete my starting lineup sans QB and then hopefully snag Cohen with my next pick. I am a fan of Woods as the arrival of Brandin Cooks has depressed Woods’ value a bit. Woods will remain a high floor, low ceiling underneath guy for Jared Goff and is a very safe player to have as a flex. He is also not so good that if one of my later picks hits that I would be afraid to bench him.

7.11 Alex Collins (RB – BAL) ECR #47, ADP #46
It was really painful to watch Goodwin and Cobb go back to back in the two picks right before me. The ole double snipe. Ouch. Nevertheless, the goal was to take Cohen and that is absolutely what I did not do. There was just too much value in Collins.

I am not a Collins fan. I acknowledge the elite efficiency metrics he posted in 2017, but ultimately he is a sub athlete with no draft pedigree that can easily be usurped by a more talented player. Collins has weak job security and I do not believe in the talent. He’s the starter in Baltimore behind a good offensive line. At the bare minimum, I could probably move him for plus value if necessary as he has simply fallen way too far.

8.02 Tarik Cohen (RB – CHI) ECR #86, ADP #74
Now I can take Cohen. I have waited long enough and am no longer confident I can wait anymore. Cohen is going to be used all over the field in an Alvin Kamara-lite type role on an offense trending more towards pass heavy. Cohen has a legitimate shot to see 100 targets this season and is also a Jordan Howard injury away from potential RB1 numbers.

9.11 Marlon Mack (RB – IND) ECR #87, ADP #85
Once again, I went with the highest RB on my board. Mack is not a mega talent, but he is a solid athlete and a good player capable of producing in the right situation. He’s being undervalued at the moment as he is poised to be the lead back in an Andrew Luck offense. Nyheim Hines‘ presence definitely caps Mack’s PPR upside, but as long as Mack can command a 50% opportunity share, he will be more than worth this selection.

10.02 Cameron Meredith (WR – NO) ECR #130, ADP #138
I keep having my WRs sniped, though. Allen Hurns was my next target and he went right after I took Mack. The two highest WRs on my board are Quincy Enunwa and Taylor Gabriel. I can wait on Enunwa and I don’t want to take Gabriel because I would rather not own three Bears. I could go QB here, but I thought of a much better idea and that is to not draft a QB because the remaining QBs are all the same so I’ll just take whoever is left in two rounds from now. With five RBs on the roster, I am going to draft two more WRs before doubling up on QB and finishing with a defense and a kicker.

Once you get outside the top 40 or so in your rankings, the remaining players are more or less bunched together and you take whichever one you feel like selecting. I decided to take the shot on Meredith emerging as a potential WR2 with Drew Brees in New Orleans. Meredith has elite athleticism and showcased legitimate talent playing with garbage at QB in Chicago. Now, he gets a Hall of Fame QB and can very easily emerge as the third option in that passing game behind Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara. Meredith also has the added upside of WR1 potential should something happen to Thomas.

11.11 Andrew Luck (QB – IND) ECR #101, ADP #98
At this point, I know I can get Enunwa whenever I want so I will just take Andrew Luck. I know I’m taking another QB with my next pick anyway. Let me gamble that Luck’s shoulder is healthy and he returns to pre-injury form where he was a consensus top-five QB.

12.02 Jared Goff (QB – LAR) ECR #113, ADP #108
When you get to the QBs ranked outside the top six or so, it’s really just pick whoever you prefer. I believe Goff has top five upside. We’ve seen the talent. We know he is in a great offense with a top-five, possibly top-three head coach. He has a ton of talent around him. The only thing missing is the volume. In the 12th round as my backup QB, there’s zero risk in finding out.

13.11 Quincy Enunwa (WR – NYJ) ECR #216, ADP #256
Obviously, I don’t really care about the ranking or the ADP. Enunwa is going to be the Jets’ WR1. He was a late single-digit round pick in 2017 drafts before a preseason neck injury derailed his season. He’s back now and he’s healthy, so why are we acting like his career is over? Enunwa is a legitimate weekly WR3 playing for a team that should throw the ball a lot.

14.02 Justin Tucker (K – BAL) ECR #182, ADP #146
I prefer to go kicker before defense because I plan to stream defenses.

15.11 Steelers (DEF) ECR #209, ADP #212
The Steelers are the highest ranked defense on my board and play the Browns Week 1.

Final Roster

Fantasy Football Mock Draft (12-Team PPR Middle Pick)
Fantasy Football Mock Draft (12-Team Standard Middle Pick)
Fantasy Football Mock Draft (12-Team PPR Early Pick)
Fantasy Football Mock Draft (12-Team Standard Early Pick)
Fantasy Football Mock Draft (12-Team Standard)
Fantasy Football Mock Draft (12-Team PPR)


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Jason Katz is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Jason, check out his archive or follow him @jasonkatz13.

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