It’s never too early to prepare for your 2022 fantasy football draft. What better way to do so than to mock draft against the top experts in the fantasy football industry! You can use our FREE mock draft simulator to do just that. Let’s take a look at our latest mock draft and player notes.
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Mock Draft Picks: 12-Team, PPR, No. 8 Pick
Round 1, Pick 8: Dalvin Cook (RB – MIN)
Same old song and dance for Dalvin Cook in 2021. The Minnesota Vikings running back was a workhorse when healthy, averaging 22 touches per game (5th) and 15.2 fantasy points per game (RB11). But the market seems to have soured on the consensus No. 2 pick from a season ago because he missed four games and his production didn’t align with his usage.
His ADP has fallen to the back of Round 1, and it’s unwarranted based on the impending touchdown regression Cook will experience in 2022. His 15 goal-line carries ranked fourth in the NFL last season, but he converted just three into scores. Considering Cook averaged 16 TDs from 2019-2020, his meager six TDs from last season look like a blip on the radar.
Round 2, Pick 5: Aaron Jones (RB – GB)
Aaron Jones is an absolute target and receptions monster when Davante Adams has missed time in the past. Without Green Bay’s No. 1 WR, Jones has averaged close to 4.5 catches, six targets, 48.5 receiving yards and 23 PPR points per game. Hard to ignore the Packers RB1 as a dynamite selection in Round 2 with multiple top-five finishes on his resume.
Round 3, Pick 8: Tee Higgins (WR – CIN)
Tee Higgins’ 23% target rate per route run was higher than Ja’Marr Chase’s 21% during the 2021 regular season as was his 25% target share in the games they played together when healthy.
There’s no denying that WR1 overall upside exists with Chase in 2022, but Higgins’ constant command of targets in a loaded Cincinnati offense will make him a screaming value in 2022 fantasy drafts.
Round 4, Pick 5: D.J. Moore (WR – CAR)
There’s no denying D.J. Moore’s talent or elite usage for the Carolina Panthers. He was just one of 11 WRs to run a route on at least 90% of their team’s dropbacks to go along with a top-three air yards share (36%) and seventh-ranked target rate per route run (25%).
Most wideouts that own this usage are no-doubt top-12 fantasy options, but Moore’s abysmal quarterback play continues to hold him back. He only finished as the WR19 last season in half-point scoring, as his QB play was graded out as the stone worst in the NFL, per PFF. The Panthers literally had the worst QB play last year across several metrics including EPA per dropback and success rate.
But with Baker Mayfield in Carolina, it’s an upgrade for all parties involved.
It’s not being discussed enough that before Mayfield separated his shoulder in Week 6, he ranked sixth in yards per attempt (8.5) and seventh in aDOT (9.6).
Mayfield has shown the ability to support multiple fantasy weapons (not named Odell Beckham Jr. when healthy), so Moore should be firmly at the top of the fantasy WR2 conversation during the fantasy football draft season. Jarvis Landry — as the Browns’ No. 1 — finished as WR19 and WR13 in half-point scoring in 2018/2019 with Mayfield at quarterback.
Mayfield also boasts the highest passing TD% of any QB Moore has ever played with, suggesting a career-high in touchdowns is well within reach for 2022.
Round 5, Pick 8: Amari Cooper (WR – CLE)
Amari Cooper finished last season 27th in half-PPR per game (11.2), which was in line with his career average.
There is hope that he can provide a higher floor as the clear No. 1 wide receiver in Cleveland. And that floor will be accompanied by an extremely high ceiling with Deshaun Watson entrenched under center.
The ex-Texans quarterback fueled top fantasy WR finishes for the likes of Brandin Cooks (WR16, 2020) and Will Fuller (WR8/game, 2020) the last time he played. And prior to that, he supplemented DeAndre Hopkins as the fantasy WR4 and WR10 from 2018-2019.
Round 6, Pick 5: Darnell Mooney (WR – CHI)
Darnell Mooney is already a star in the making. The third-year receiver looks primed to cement himself as the Chicago Bears’ true No. 1 wide receiver. He already operated as the team’s No. 1 for most of the 2021 season, ranking as the WR27 in half-point fantasy scoring through 17 weeks. Mooney also finished the last four weeks of the season ninth in target share (27%) and fifth in route participation (95%).
With nobody worth much outside of third-year tight end Cole Kmet as legitimate competition, Mooney should build off his 8th-ranked 24% target share from last season.
Byron Pringle, Equanimeous St. Brown and 25-year-old rookie Velus Jones Jr. should only encourage targeting the 24-year-old Mooney in 2022 drafts.
Round 7, Pick 8: Kyler Murray (QB – ARI)
DeAndre Hopkins is being suspended six games for violating the NFL’s Performance Enhancing Drug policy. This penalty has massive fantasy football repercussions for the Arizona Cardinals offense starting with quarterback Kyler Murray.
Murray’s production dipped last season without Hopkins in the lineup over the final four weeks of the season. He averaged 18.8 fantasy points per game and 6.3 yards per pass attempt.
Murray averaged 24.9 fantasy points per game and 8.7 yards per attempt in the nine games with Hopkins fully healthy. He also posted the No. 1-ranked PFF passing grade (90.5).
Losing Hopkins for six games cannot be ignored, but the addition of Marquise Brown figures to make up for some of the lost production.
Round 8, Pick 5: AJ Dillon (RB – GB)
A.J. Dillon started to emerge from his protege’s shadow with 187 rushing attempts, 803 rushing yards, and an RB29 fantasy points per game finish last year. Dillon isn’t the home run threat that Jones is (43rd in breakaway run rate), but he can still punish an opposing defense. He was 17th in yards created per touch in 14th in yards after contact per attempt (minimum 100 carries, per PFF), immediately behind Jones. Unless Jones succumbs to injury, Dillon is likely stuck in a 1B role with a healthy red-zone role.
Round 9, Pick 8: Tony Pollard (RB – DAL)
Tony Pollard is coming off a career-high in rushing attempts (130) and targets (46). Pollard was one of the most efficient running backs in the NFL. Last season, he was fourth in yards after contact per attempt behind only Rashaad Penny, Nick Chubb, and Jonathan Taylor (minimum 100 carries, per PFF). He was also first in yards per route run at the position. Pollard offers standalone RB3 production, as he was the RB30 in fantasy points per game last season. If anything happens to Ezekiel Elliott, Pollard has league-winning upside.
Round 10, Pick 5: Jarvis Landry (WR – NO)
Jarvis Landry signed with the New Orleans Saints this offseason, providing much-needed depth to the team’s wide receiver room.
The 29-year-old’s best season with the Browns came back in 2019 when he averaged 12.2 fantasy points per game in half-point scoring as the WR13. The former LSU star’s production fell off in the last two seasons amid quarterback Baker Mayfield’s struggles.
However, Landry displayed a higher fantasy ceiling in games that Odell Beckham Jr. missed from 2020-2021 averaging 11.2 points per game in 2020 (nine games) and 9.5 points per game in 2021 (ten games).
So although his WR56 and 8.9 fantasy points per game in 2021 suggest Landry may be on the decline, he was more a victim of bad circumstances. His 25% target rate per route run ranked top 12 last season — tying him with the likes of D.J. Moore, D.K. Metcalf, Brandin Cooks and Stefon Diggs.
He’ll compete for his fair share of targets in an offense alongside what now appears like a sneaky good pass-catching corps between veteran Michael Thomas, first-round rookie Chris Olave and running back Alvin Kamara.
There’s a clear path for steady fantasy WR2 production with Landry if Thomas doesn’t overcome the remaining hurdles stemming from his ankle rehab.
Round 11, Pick 8: Pat Freiermuth (TE – PIT)
No rookie tight end flew up the dynasty rankings more than Pat Freiermuth, who made his case as a fringe fantasy TE1 in Year 1. The Pittsburgh Steelers rookie ramped things up in Week 6 after an injury to Eric Ebron and never looked back.
Baby Gronk was the TE7 from that time forward, averaging 11.3 fantasy points per game seventh). He would go on to finish the year as the TE13 overall despite running a route on just 56% of dropbacks.
When starting and healthy, Freiermuth ran a route on 67% of dropbacks — a rate that would have ranked 15th-highest at the position in 2021. That’s the bare minimum usage fantasy drafters should expect to see from the Penn State product with Ebron gone in free agency.
Round 12, Pick 5: Tim Patrick (WR – DEN)
Pairing Tim Patrick with Russell Wilson is the best way to find fantasy value in the later rounds of drafts. Patrick is seriously underrated despite the fact that he has out-produced Jerry Jeudy in the fantasy points column the last two seasons and has seen a featured role as a red-zone threat.
His production over the last two seasons earned him a three-year, $34.5 million contract extension. Like it or not, Patrick will be on the field as much — if not more — as Jeudy in 2022 as the boundary receiver opposite Courtland Sutton. And their two ADPs couldn’t be more different.
Round 13, Pick 8: Darrel Williams (RB – ARI)
RB Darrel Williams signed with the Cardinals this offseason. Former teammate Patrick Mahomes vouched for Williams, informing Arizona that he was a back he both liked/trusted. Williams posted 1,000 yards from scrimmage, scored eight TDs and had zero fumbles on 191 touches in 2021.
He also proved that he could shoulder the load with Clyde Edwards-Helaire sidelined with injury. In the six games that Williams was the clear-cut starter in the Chiefs backfield, he averaged 19 fantasy points per game (PPR) on 18.3 touches per game. Also averaged nearly 100 yards from scrimmage (96.3).
Williams is the James Conner backup to target across all formats, as he’d likely inherit the RB1 role should the injury-prone starter go down. His body of work as a receiver and goal-line back presents him with immediate fantasy RB1 upside.
The former UDFA led the Chiefs backfield in red-zone touches and averaged 4.5 receptions per game as the starter in 2021. His 47 catches overall ranked ninth.
Round 14, Pick 5: Albert Okwuegbunam (TE – DEN)
Albert Okwuegbunam tied for the third-highest target rate per route run in the NFL last season (23%). Now entrenched as the presumed full-time starter with Noah Fant traded to the Seattle Seahawks this offseason, the uber-athletic tight end can break out in Year 3.
It bodes well in Albert O’s favor that Noah Fant finished last season as the TE12 while the duo played in 14 games together.
Mock Draft Results and Analysis
FantasyPros Staff Consensus 2022 Redraft Fantasy Football Rankings
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