Thursday, August 9, 2018

2018 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: 12 Teams, 6th 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 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.

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Details of today's mock draft:
  • Scoring: Standard scoring (i.e., non-PPR scoring)
  • # of Teams: 12
  • Draft Slot: 6
  • 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:

1.06 - Antonio Brown, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers: As good and consistent as it gets, Brown has finished as a top-three fantasy wide receiver in four consecutive seasons. Over the past five seasons, Brown has 582 receptions for 7,848 yards and 52 touchdowns, leading the league by a wide margin in those categories.

2.07 - 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.

3.06 - Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals: Down to 218 pounds (compared to 238 last rookie minicamp), Mixon is poised for bigger things in his sophomore campaign. The versatile back averaged just 3.5 yards per carry last season behind one of the league's worst offensive lines, but offseason upgrades at left tackle and center should help.

4.07 - Zach Ertz, TE, Philadelphia Eagles: Along with Travis Kelce, Ertz is one of just two tight ends to have a minimum of 70 catches and 800 yards over each of the past three seasons. Only nine tight ends have one 70/800 season over the past three years and only four have multiple.

5.06 - Golden Tate, WR, Detroit Lions: The eight-year veteran has spent half of his career in Detroit and he has 90-plus catches in each of those four seasons. In addition, he has 1,000-plus yards in three of four including back-to-back seasons.

6.07 - Mark Ingram, RB, New Orleans Saints: Even with rookie Alvin Kamara finishing as fantasy's RB4, Ingram set career highs in 2017 with 1,124 rushing yards, 12 touchdowns, 58 receptions and 416 receiving yards. Playing full 16-game seasons in back-to-back years, Ingram has rushed for 1,000-plus yards and scored double-digit touchdowns in consecutive seasons. Although he'll miss the first four games due to a PED suspension, that creates more fantasy appeal (to a certain degree) as there is a discount for his strong production from Weeks 5 to 16.

7.06 - Tevin Coleman, RB, Atlanta Falcons: Even if he's the 2 to Devonta Freeman 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.

8.07 - Isaiah Crowell, RB, New York Jets: Only 25 years old, Crowell signed a three-year deal in free agency with the Jets this offseason. With 850-plus rushing yards in each of the past two seasons, Crowell does not necessarily get an offensive upgrade with his new club, but there is upside here.

9.06 - Kenny Stills, WR, Miami Dolphins: Over the past two seasons, Stills has 100 catches for 1,573 yards and 15 touchdowns and he's finished as a top-30 receiver in standard-scoring formats both seasons.

10.07 - Chris Carson, RB, Seattle Seahawks: A sleeper pick in 2017, Carson was off to a promising start, but he missed the final 12 games. If it weren't for the team drafting Rashaad Penny in the first round this year, many would tout Carson as a breakout candidate in 2018. Even so, the second-year back entered training camp atop the depth chart.

11.06 - Giovani Bernard, RB, Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Mixon missed a couple of December games, but Bernard was highly productive down the stretch. Gio had 507 YFS, averaged 4.75 YPC with 24 receptions and two scores across five December games.

12.07 - Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions: Interestingly enough, Stafford's lone Pro Bowl season (2014) was the last time that he finished outside the top-10 fantasy quarterbacks. Not counting that QB15 finish in 2014, Stafford has finished as a top-12 fantasy quarterback in the other six of the past seven seasons. Part of that consistent production is aided by his durability (no missed games over past seven seasons) and the team's reliance on the passing game, but he actually set a seven-year low in pass attempts (565) in 2017. Even so, Stafford threw for 4,446 yards, a four-year high, and 29 touchdowns, tied for the third-most in his career.

13.06 - LeGarrette Blount, RB, Detroit Lions: Set to play for his third team in as many seasons, Blount is two years removed from leading the NFL in rushing touchdowns (18). Even though the Eagles ranked third in scoring offense last year, Blount had just two rushing touchdowns last season. That said, Blount's 18 touchdowns in 2016 occurred with the Patriots, where new Lions head coach Matt Patricia was defensive coordinator.

14.07 - Denver Broncos D/ST: Since I thought there was a good chance that I'd still get Chris Ivory in the 16th round, I took my DST/K a round earlier than usual.

15.06 - Stephen Gostkowski, K, New England Patriots

16.07 - Chris Ivory, RB, Buffalo Bills: Ivory averaged a career-low 3.4 YPC for Jacksonville last season and the 30-year-old back signed a two-year deal with Buffalo. With LeSean McCoy facing serious allegations, Ivory would be the first option if McCoy were to miss any time.

- View full mock draft results here

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