Starting on July 7th, we began drafting (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.
Details of today's mock draft:
- Scoring: 2-QB, Point-per-reception (PPR) scoring
- # of Teams: 10
- Draft Slot: 4
- Starters: 2 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:
1.04 - Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Dallas Cowboys: The rushing champion as a rookie, Elliott served a six-game suspension in 2017 but led the league in rushing yards per game (98.3) with a larger workload (24.2 carries per game) in his sophomore campaign. With limited weapons in the passing game, Elliott and the Cowboys will face many eight-men fronts, but the former Buckeye should get north of 300 carries with a chance for another rushing title.
2.07 - Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers: The QB6 in this mock and the QB5 in my rankings, Newton has finished as a top-four fantasy quarterback in all but two seasons (2014 and 2016). Averaging 7.7 rushing scores per season, Newton has 100-plus rush attempts and 500-plus rushing yards every year except for 2016.
- MORE: Carolina Panthers 2018 Fantasy Football Projections
3.04 - A.J. Green, WR, Cincinnati Bengals: After missing three-plus games in two of the previous three seasons, Green played a full 16-game slate and posted a 75/1,078/8 stat line in 2017. Aside from 2016 (career-high 96.4 YPG but six missed games), Green has exceeded the 1,000-yard mark in his other six NFL seasons.
4.07 - Doug Baldwin, WR, Seattle Seahawks: Falling just shy of the 1,000-yard mark last season, Baldwin has 247/3,188/29 over the past three seasons.
5.04 - T.Y. Hilton, WR, Indianapolis Colts: The new offense and return of Andrew Luck bodes well for Hilton, who led the NFL with 1,448 receiving yards in 2016.
6.07 - JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers: Exceeding expectations in his rookie season, Smith-Schuster had 41 catches for 686 yards and four touchdowns over his final seven regular-season games including three 100-yard games during that span. Even as the offense's third option behind Brown and Le'Veon Bell, Smith-Schuster is poised for a bigger and better second season and is a high-upside WR4/flex for this team.
7.04 - 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. Perhaps his December workload (21.6 touches per game) won't carry over into 2018, but he's a nice value in Round 7.
8.07 - Philip Rivers, QB, Los Angeles Chargers: Except for 2012 (21st) and 2016 (14th), Rivers has finished as a top-12 fantasy quarterback in the eight of his past 10 NFL seasons.
- MORE: 12 Undervalued Players in Fantasy Football
9.04 - Alex Collins, RB, Baltimore Ravens: Collins had double-digit carries in the final 12 games of the season and the second-year back had the eighth-most fantasy points among running backs from Weeks 8 to 17.
10.07 - Lamar Miller, RB, Houston Texans: Miller was less efficient in 2017 (career-low 3.7 YPC) than he was in 2016 (4.0) and the Texans have one of the league's worst offensive lines (actually the worst if you go by PFF rankings). With the possibility of D'Onta Foreman beginning the season on PUP, however, Miller is a nice value in Round 10.
11.04 - Kyle Rudolph, TE, Minnesota Vikings: Rudolph's targets dropped year over year (132 to 81), but he still finished as PPR's TE8 in 2017. He posted a 57/532/8 stat line last season and those numbers may be a reasonable floor for the veteran tight end.
12.07 - Kenny Stills, WR, Miami Dolphins: Over the past two seasons, Stills has 100 catches for 1,573 yards and 15 touchdowns. Helping matters, Jarvis Landry, last year's receptions leader, is now in Cleveland.
13.04 - Jamaal Williams, RB, Green Bay Packers: With both Ty Montgomery and Aaron Jones missing time, only three running backs had more carries than Williams (122) from Week 10 on -- Melvin Gordon (137), Frank Gore (134) and LeSean McCoy (130). That said, Williams averaged only 3.6 yards per carry as a rookie and the workload allocation for the team's top-three backs could be fluid throughout the season. But a two-game suspension of Aaron Jones gives Williams a head start to take control of the job.
- MORE: Green Bay Packers 2018 Fantasy Football Projections
14.07 - 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.
15.04 - Eli Manning, QB, New York Giants: Given the lack of waiver-wire options at quarterback in 2-QB leagues, I (almost) always try to roster three quarterbacks in 2-QB formats. With healthy receivers, a stud rookie running back and an improved offensive line, Manning will have a chance to bounce back in 2018 after finishing outside the top-20 fantasy quarterbacks in back-to-back seasons.
16.07 - Denver Broncos D/ST
17.04 - Matt Bryant, K, Atlanta Falcons
- View full mock draft results here
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