Tom Strachan | Fri, Aug 1st 2025, 7:16am EDT

Fantasy Football Mock Draft: How to Approach Pick 1.12 (2025)

We have reached the most volatile time of the year for player movements, and doesn’t it feel great?! Maybe not for some dynasty teams or your best ball portfolio but in redraft we can live with all these changes as players land on the physically unable to perform list, decide to hold out or maybe take a trip to the Non-Football Injury List. Yes, training camps are getting underway and before long we’ll have real, actual NFL Preseason games. The fantasy football redraft season is truly upon us, and now is a good time to start preparing.

This series will give you an overview of what you can expect to see no matter which first-round pick you draw. In what feels like a very strong first round in 2025, nailing your picks will be more important than ever.

Let’s dive into our approach for the fantasy football 1.12 pick for upcoming drafts, perhaps the most fun pick of them all this year. We look into the players likely to be available, those to target/avoid and a mock draft from the pick to help you prepare for your fantasy football draft.

Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Pick 1.12

Players to Consider at 1.12 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

Here are players that are likely to be available when you make your selection:

Players to Target at 1.12 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

As the Summer goes on, don’t be surprised if ADP pushes running backs higher up draftboards, particularly if Christian McCaffrey stays healthy, but for now both McCaffrey and Ashton Jeanty should be available to consider in this range.

Ashton Jeanty (RB – LV)

Whenever we draft rookie running backs this high, it’s worth remembering that since 1984, the only rookie to finish as the RB1 was Saquon Barkley in 2018, but it’s also worth considering that Ashton Jeanty belongs right in the same tier of prospect as Barkley was when he entered the league. Jeanty possesses rare qualities in his vision and pass-catching abilities and with Geno Smith at quarterback, he’ll play with someone who is comfortable getting the ball to his best players. Jeanty averaged over 6.0 yards per carry in each of his last two seasons and only caught fewer balls in his final season because he was routinely taking the ball to the house on his carries. The Raiders had no problem drafting Jeanty with the sixth overall pick, and it’s hard not to want to do so in fantasy drafts when he could be a lock for 300+ touches in year one.

Nico Collins (WR – HOU)

Since the start of the 2023 season, Nico Collins leads all wide receivers in yards per route run vs man coverage and his journey from zero to hero has been truly impressive, whether Collins can crack the top receivers altogether is a tough question, but he’s an interesting upside swing at this point in the draft. Collins is the clear and obvious alpha in an offense featuring two new rookie receivers, the often-injured Christian Kirk and Tank Dell, who potentially could miss the entire season. According to FantasyPoints.com only one wide receiver has ranked inside of the top-10 by yards per route run vs. Zone and Man overage in back-to-back years, and that’s Collins. Weeks 1-5 last year, Collins was the WR2 overall, averaging 21.6 points per game before missing time with a hamstring injury. The injury history might be enough to put some people off, but one thing we’ve learned in fantasy football is that you’re injury prone until you’re not, and that presents an opportunity.

Brian Thomas Jr. (WR – JAX)

A true league-winner in 2024, available in the mid-rounds and coming up big down the stretch, Brian Thomas Jr. heads into his sophomore season with a new head coach in Liam Coen, who was one of the most desired offensive minds this offseason. If Coen can help elevate Trevor Lawrence to the range people believed he was capable of coming out of college, then we could see an even greater year two from Thomas, which is quite something to say when he finished third in receiving yardage behind only Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase. Thomas was also one of eight receivers to hit double-digit touchdowns. Thomas achieved this despite being held to 76% route participation up until Week 11, that number should be 90+ throughout 2025.

De’Von Achane (RB – MIA)

On the back of the Jonnu Smith trade, don’t be surprised if De’Von Achane’s ADP starts to rise, and it’s fair to consider if we should have been drafting him higher in the first place? After a prolific first season in efficiency metrics but lacking in volume, Achane took it up a step in 2024 despite the Dolphins being a miserable mess. Achane led all running backs with 78 catches, while also leading with 591 receiving yards and tying with Rachaad White in receiving touchdowns (6). Achane had 70% of the Dolphins carries inside the five-yard line, a higher number than Bijan Robinson, his only downside was a lack of touches. Now, though, Jeff Wilson and Raheem Mostert have moved on, and there’s a chance for Achane to break the league.

Players to Avoid at 1.12 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

AJ Brown (WR – PHI)

It was a strange 2024 season for AJ Brown with him having the second-highest target share among wide receivers (31.1%) and the fifth-most receiving yards per game (83.0) and yet it translated to WR16 in total PPR points. Even on a per game basis, this only jumped to WR13. Brown’s 7.5 targets per game ranked 23rd among receivers, which highlights the uphill battle he had to relevancy while Saquon Barkley had a season for the history books. Perhaps if Barkley regresses this year, or if the Eagles trend differently under new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo then Brown can move back into the top tier of receivers, but right now this is too costly for a player with question marks.

Ladd McConkey (WR – LAC)

Let’s be clear, Ladd McConkey had an excellent rookie season, culminating in a dominant performance in the playoffs with 9/197/1 against the Texans. However, there are reasons to be skeptical that he could live up to his current ADP, which is edging towards Round 1. Last year, the Chargers’ run game wasn’t effective, despite JK Dobbins‘ best efforts, and the Chargers elected to clean house and move on from both Dobbins and Gus Edwards, while seemingly sending Sione Vaki to the shadow realm. Najee Harris was signed in free agency and then Omarion Hampton was added in the draft. Both represent significant upgrades and should allow long-time ground-game lover, Greg Roman, to play to his strengths more. If that generates a more efficient offense, then the need for passing could drop slightly and that can always be a concern for receivers, like McConkey, who depend on volume. McConkey is an okay pick in the second round, but drafting him here would be a mistake.

Josh Jacobs (RB – GB)

It could be tempting to start dual-RB out of the 12 spot, but forcing Josh Jacobs into that pick if our other selections are gone would be a bad idea. Let’s not ignore that Jacobs had a great 2024 but the Packers were dead last in situational neutral pass rate and forced the ball to Jacobs with the third-highest run rate as Jordan Love struggled from injuries and performance regression. The Packers were also struggling with a wide receiver room that dropped too many passes and struggled for health and consistency. In 2025 that could be different with the addition of Matthew Golden who continues to earn rave reviews in training camp. Jacobs has also struggled to be consistent year over year in his career, with every year where he’s had over 270 touches followed by one where his yards per game regressed as well as his touchdowns. Obviously it’s easier to pick up more yards and more touchdowns when you get more touches, but deeper into the stats we find Jacobs yards after contact per attempt typically dropped in those years too, pointing to Jacobs generally lacking in the year after heavy workloads. Jacobs is a fine mid to late second round pick, but let’s not pull him too far above ADP for the sake of having a running back.

Roster Construction from 1.12

The 1.12 opens up a lot of roster construction possibilities and might just be the best place to pick on the board, but it will largely come down to how you start your draft for how you want to proceed. The good news is that the back half of drafts this year is so strong, you’re almost guaranteed two really good players. If you take Brian Thomas Jr, then you can still get a running back with immense upside, such as De’Von Achane. It’s possible Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen may be gone before your third and fourth round picks, but Jayden Daniels could potentially be available and there are still later round gems like Justin Fields and Drake Maye who possess dual-threat abilities. Wide receivers in the third and fourth rounds tend to be a little more questionable, though, so securing at least one here feels like the right move. Double-tapping the wide receiver position and then considering a double-tap of running backs in your next selections feels like plenty of fun.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft From the 1.12 Pick

We used our FREE fantasy football mock draft simulator to show you an example of a draft from the 1.12 position. You can sync your league for free and mock draft against your fantasy football league settings to prepare more specifically for your draft. Here’s how our fantasy football mock draft from the 1.12 position turned out.

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