Saturday, July 7, 2018

2018 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: 12 Teams, 9th Pick

2018 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: 12 Teams, 9th Pick As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. While we may not be able to draft a "perfect" fantasy football team, the more we practice, the better our teams will be.

Starting today, we will draft (at least) one fantasy football team per day using the 2018 Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator and we will continue to do so up until the start of the 2018 NFL season.

Each day, we will switch things up -- e.g., PPR vs. standard scoring, league size, draft slot, 2-QB leagues, auction leagues, etc.

In addition, we will centralize links to our daily fantasy football mock drafts for an easy way to keep track of our mock drafts.

Embed from Getty Images


Details of today's mock draft:
  • Scoring: Standard scoring (i.e., non-PPR scoring)
  • # of Teams: 12
  • Draft Slot: 9
  • Starters: QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, Flex (RB/WR/TE), K, DST
  • Bench Size: 6

With that said, here are the results of today's mock draft:

1.09 - DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Houston Texans: Leading the NFL in receiving touchdowns (13) last season, Hopkins now has four seasons with 75-plus catches and three seasons with 1,200-plus yards through his age-25 season. With a league-high 174 targets last season, Hopkins had 35-percent target share in 10 of 15 games and double-digit targets 11 times. As the focal point of Houston's offense, he arguably has the highest floor among all receivers in the league. A model of consistency, Hopkins had 70-plus yards and/or a touchdown (plus) in all 15 games last year.

2.04 - Leonard Fournette, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars: Missing three games as a rookie, Fournette was less than 100 percent for several others but managed to finish as fantasy's RB8 in Jacksonville's run-first scheme. With the league's best defense and a mistake-prone quarterback, the workhorse back has a chance to lead the NFL in carries if he can stay healthy for a full season.

3.09 - Adam Thielen, WR, Minnesota Vikings: Thielen has only 10 touchdowns in his four NFL seasons, but the former UDFA built upon his breakout 2016 season to lead the team in targets (142), receptions (91) and receiving yards (1,276). Only four receivers had more yards than Thielen last season.

4.04 - Kenyan Drake, RB, Miami Dolphins: Over the final five games of the 2017 season, Drake ran for a league-high 444 yards on 91 carries (4.88 YPC) with two touchdowns and added 17 receptions for 150 yards. Adding future HOFer Frank Gore to the running back room with rookie Kalen Ballage likely means that Drake won't see his December workload (21.6 touches per game) carry over into the 2018 season, but he's still likely to be the team's most productive back.

5.09 - Dion Lewis, RB, Tennessee Titans: With Lewis likely to be more involved on passing downs, Derrick Henry and Lewis should form a 1-2 punch for the Titans backfield. Lewis had 212 touches for the Patriots last season and finished as fantasy's RB12, but his week-to-week role should be even more secure in Tennessee.

6.04 - Devin Funchess, WR, Carolina Panthers: In a breakout season, Funchess had 63 catches for 840 yards and eight touchdowns to finish with the 21st-most fantasy points in 2017. Tight end Greg Olsen missed more than half of 2017 and the Panthers used their first-round pick on D.J. Moore, so it's possible that Funchess posts similar (but not much better) numbers in 2018.

7.09 - Tevin Coleman, RB, Atlanta Falcons: Even if he's the 2 in the team's 1-2 rushing attack, Coleman has finished as a top-24 running back and exceeded 900 yards from scrimmage in each of the past two seasons. The contract-year back has scored 19 total touchdowns since 2016.

8.04 - Pierre Garcon, WR, San Francisco 49ers: Garcon (neck) missed half the season and was on pace for an 80/1,000 campaign before the injury. His last full season (2013) playing in Kyle Shanahan's offense, he posted a career-best 113/1,346/5 stat line. Unlikely to repeat those numbers, a 1,000-yard season is certainly within reach, which makes him a decent value as my WR4.

9.09 - Rex Burkhead, RB, New England Patriots: Missing six games in his first season with the Patriots, Burkhead scored eight touchdowns as he rushed for 264 yards and added 30 catches for 254 yards. Even though Lewis is now in Tennessee, the Patriots drafted Georgia's Sony Michel in the first round and there will still be plenty of week-to-week volatility in the production of New England's running backs. That said, I'd expect Burkhead to lead the backfield in touchdowns and we've seen LeGarrette Blount rush for 18 touchdowns only two seasons ago.

10.04 - Jordan Reed, TE, Washington Redskins: If he ever puts together a 16-team season, Reed has the potential to lead all tight ends in fantasy points. Unfortunately, he has missed at least four games in four of his five NFL seasons including 10 missed games last season. In his healthiest season (14 games in 2015), Reed had a monster 87/952/11 line. I considered adding another tight end in the later rounds, but if (or when) Reed misses time, I should be able to find a viable injury replacement on the waiver wire.

11.09 - Philip Rivers, QB, Los Angeles Chargers: Except for 2012 (21st) and 2016 (14th), Rivers has finished as a top-12 fantasy quarterback in eight of his past 10 NFL seasons. In addition, Rivers has thrown for at least 4,286 yards and 28 touchdowns in each of the past five seasons.

12.04 - Kenny Golladay, WR, Detroit Lions: Golladay's best games were his first (4/69/2) and his last (2/80/1). Missing five games, the rookie totalled only 22/328/0 in his nine games from Weeks 2 to 16. As ESPN's Matt Bowen predicts, Golladay is certainly a candidate for a second-year breakout.

13.09 - Giovani Bernard, RB, Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Mixon missed some time, but Bernard was highly productive down the stretch. In five December games, Bernard had 507 YFS, averaged 4.75 YPC with 24 receptions and two scores. Gio offers late-round value as a back that could return flex value.

14.04 - Andrew Luck, QB, Indianapolis Colts: Assuming Luck is under center against the Bengals in Week 1, it will be 616 days in between games. One major positive is that Luck continues to be pain-free in his shoulder after throwing sessions. In his past three full seasons, Luck has finished as fantasy's QB4 (2013), QB2 (2014) and QB4 (2016). If he can stay healthy for the entire season, there is plenty of profit potential here.

15.09 - Denver Broncos DST

16.04 - Matt Bryant, K, Atlanta Falcons

- View full mock draft results here

Complete your own mock drafts for free on our Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator page.

Check out more of our content: