Practice, of course!
Leading up to the start of the 2019 NFL season, Kevin Hanson will use the 2019 Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator (powered by FantasyPros) to complete fantasy football mock drafts.
- MORE: Check out Kevin Hanson's way-too-early 2020 NFL Mock Draft.
We will use a variety of scoring formats -- PPR, half-PPR, standard scoring and even 2-QB leagues, league sizes and draft slots. The goal is to give you a good representation of the team that you may be able to construct given your league settings and the rationale of why we made the picks we did.
>> Our mocks will be tracked here: Fantasy Football Mock Drafts.
That said, nothing beats practicing yourself so (check out the simulator) and complete a mock in a matter of minutes.
2019 PPR Mock Draft: 12 Teams, 12th Pick
Without further ado, here are the picks of our 12-team 2019 fantasy football mock draft using point-per-reception (PPR) scoring:
1.12 - Le'Veon Bell, RB, New York Jets
Returning to the field after sitting out 2018, Bell trades the high-powered Steelers offense for an improving-but-not-yet-as-potent Jets offense. Bell had a career-high 406 touches, 1,946 scrimmage yards and 11 touchdowns in his most recent season. Duplicating that level of production is unlikely, but I have Bell projected for more than 330 touches, 1,600 yards from scrimmage and 10 total touchdowns.
2.01 - James Conner, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Conner missed three games and was less productive in the second half of the season, but he still finished as PPR's RB6. In his first eight games, Conner rushed for 100-plus yards five times and scored multiple touchdowns in four of those games. Especially if he can stay healthy and be more consistent from start to end, the sky's the limit for the Pittsburgh's workhorse back.
3.12 - Marlon Mack, RB, Indianapolis Colts
Missing four games in 2018, Mack has now missed multiple games in each of his first two seasons. Highly productive when he was on the field, however, the second-year back had at least 119 rushing yards and a touchdown (or more) in five of his final 12 games counting the playoffs. During that 12-game span, Mack scored 11 total touchdowns. Running behind one of the league's best offensive lines, Mack has legitimate top-five upside despite his late-third draft slot.
4.01 - Brandin Cooks, WR, Los Angeles Rams
No longer with Drew Brees (2016) or Tom Brady (2017), Cooks didn't miss a beat in 2018 with Jared Goff as he had 80 catches for a career-high 1,204 yards and five touchdowns in his first season with the Rams.
5.12 - Robby Anderson, WR, New York Jets
Anderson's numbers were down year-over-year, but he finished strong when Sam Darnold returned from a foot injury. Over the final four games of the season, Anderson had 23 catches for 336 yards and three touchdowns. During that span, Anderson was the WR6 in PPR. With improvement and more consistency from Darnold, Anderson has upside even if I'd ideally prefer him to be my WR3.
6.01 - O.J. Howard, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Injury has cut each of his first two seasons short, but Howard has averaged exactly 16.6 yards per reception in both of those seasons. Extrapolating last year's production over 16 games, Howard would have posted a 54/904/8 stat line. Howard is the clear-cut next-best option after the top three in my early 2019 fantasy projections. As Jameis Winston says, the "moon" is the limit for the third-year tight end.
7.12 - Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers
From 2011 (his rookie season) through 2017, Newton had finished as a top-four fantasy quarterback in five of seven seasons. A shoulder injury slowed and eventually sidelined him down the stretch last season, but Newton was third in fantasy points through Week 13. Newton was the ninth QB off the board in this mock and he's currently the QB5 in my rankings.
8.01 - Tarik Cohen, RB, Chicago Bears
More efficient (10.2 Y/R, 4.5 YPC) on his opportunities with eight total touchdowns in 2018, Cohen may see a dip in 2019 workload with the addition of David Montgomery as a more versatile lead back. Cohen was PPR's RB11 last season and is a top-25 PPR option in my current rankings.
9.12 - DaeSean Hamilton, WR, Denver Broncos
Over each of the final four games of last season, Hamilton had at least eight targets, five receptions and 40 yards and was fantasy's WR22 in PPR during that four-game stretch. Of the team's top three receivers, Hamilton has the potential for the biggest year-over-year improvement and it wouldn't be a surprise if he finished as the team's most productive wideout when the season is over.
10.01 - Rashaad Penny, RB, Seattle Seahawks
In better shape than last year, Penny was on the short end of last year's 74-26 split in workload with Chris Carson, but that margin should narrow in 2019. Earlier this year, coach Pete Carroll said of the Carson-Penny duo that "I don't know who's one and who's two, it doesn't matter to me." Given his first-round pedigree, Penny has enormous upside in Seattle's run-first attack even if he enters the season as Carson's backup.
11.12 - Jamison Crowder, WR, New York Jets
Crowder missed a significant portion of last season and his per-game numbers weren't great. Provided he maintains good health and Darnold takes a step forward, he should be able to return to his 2016/17 level of production.
12.01 - Mohamed Sanu, WR, Atlanta Falcons
Sanu set a career high in receiving yards (838) in 2018 and just missed another in receptions (66, career high: 67). Sanu adds some depth as my WR5 and could be productive during the byes.
13.12 - Robert Foster, WR, Buffalo Bills
A big play waiting to happen, Foster had at least 50 receiving yards and/or a touchdown in six of his final seven games last season. In fact, he had three 100-yard games over that stretch and was one of just nine players to do during that span.
14.01 - Jacksonville Jaguars D/ST
15.12 - Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens
Starting just seven (regular-season) games last season, Jackson led the team in rush attempts (147) and was second in rushing yards (695). Even though eked out only one 200-yard passing game (204 in Week 16), Jackson scored the eighth-most fantasy points per contest during his seven-week stretch as starter.
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