Saturday, September 5, 2020

Half-PPR Fantasy Football Mock Draft (2nd Pick)

The best way to become good at something is to practice. So, what should you do if you want to draft a better fantasy football team?

Practice, of course!

Leading up to the start of the 2020 NFL season, we will use the 2020 Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator (powered by FantasyPros) to complete fantasy football mock drafts.

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.

Without further ado, here are the picks of our 12-team 2020 fantasy football mock draft using half-PPR scoring with the 2nd pick:

1.02 - Saquon Barkley, RB, New York Giants

Missing a few games early in the season, Barkley closed a relatively disappointing season with some positive momentum -- 393 rushing yards, 146 receiving yards and five touchdowns in his final three games. Barkley will run behind an improved offensive line in 2020 (although Nate Solder has opted out) and has the skill set to challenge Christian McCaffrey for the top spot in fantasy production.

2.11 - Kenny Golladay, WR, Detroit Lions

Golladay had 65 catches for a career-high 1,190 yards (18.3 Y/R) and a league-leading 11 touchdowns on 116 targets in 2019. Those numbers would have likely been better had Matthew Stafford not missed the second half of the season. Golladay posted a 35/640/7 line and had four of his five 100-yard games through the first eight weeks with Stafford.

3.02 - Chris Carson, RB, Seattle Seahawks

Carson (hip) has declared himself "100% healthy and will be ready to go for Week 1. Playing 15 games last season, Carson handled a career-high 315 touches for 1,496 yards from scrimmage and nine touchdowns.

4.11 - Tyler Lockett, WR, Seattle Seahawks

While the Seahawks rank near the bottom of the league in pass attempts every year, Lockett is one of the most efficient receivers in the NFL and saw a significant uptick in target share (21.3% in 2019 vs. 16.4% in 2018) with the retirement of Doug Baldwin. Despite playing through injury in the middle of the season, Lockett set career highs in targets (110), receptions (82) and yards (1,057) in 2019. The 5'10" receiver led the NFL in red-zone targets (23) in 2019.

5.02 - DeVante Parker, WR, Miami Dolphins

It was the unconvential fifth-year breakout for Parker, who shattered previous career highs with 72 catches on 128 targets for 1,202 yards and nine touchdowns. Over the final eight games with UDFA Preston Williams sidelined, Parker was at his best -- 44/802/5 on 76 targets in eight games without Williams; 28/400/4 on 52 targets with him. Given the opt outs of the 2020 NFL season by Albert Wilson and Allen Hurns, the duo of Parker and Williams may see an even larger target share with Wilson and Hurns sitting 2020 out.

MORE: Fantasy Football 2020: 12 Undervalued Players in Fantasy Drafts

6.11 - Deshaun Watson, QB, Houston Texans

Not only was he dominant in his partial (six starts) rookie season, but Watson finished as a top-four fantasy quarterback in both of his full seasons (2018 and 2019). The loss of DeAndre Hopkins in addition to the durability concerns of Will Fuller IV and Brandin Cooks could threaten his ability to yield another top-four campaign for his fantasy owners in 2020.

7.02 - Kareem Hunt, RB, Cleveland Browns

Returning from suspension for the final eight games, Hunt was heavily involved, especially as a receiver, as he averaged 10 touches (5.4 carries and 4.6 receptions) per game. Hunt (RB19) and Chubb (RB15) weren't all that dissimilar in terms of fantasy production from Weeks 10-17.

8.11 - Phillip Lindsay, RB, Denver Broncos

The former UDFA has begun his career with back-to-back seasons with 1,000 rushing yards and 35 catches. As productive as he has been, he moves down a spot on the depth chart as the team signed Melvin Gordon in free agency.

9.02 - Tarik Cohen, RB, Chicago Bears

The Human Joystick set career lows in efficiency (3.3 YPC and 5.8 Y/R), but he set career highs in both targets (104) and receptions (79). Given his role in the passing game, Cohen is a much better option in (full) PPR formats as he's finished no worse than RB30 in PPR scoring -- 27th in 2019, 11th in 2018 and 30th in 2017 -- over his three NFL seasons.

10.11 - Preston Williams, WR, Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins made a number of roster improvements through free agency and the draft, but there were no significant additions in terms of pass-catchers. In fact, the group is worse off with Wilson and Hurns opting out. More talented (four-star high school recruit) than his UDFA status (due to off-field reasons) would imply, Williams made an immediate impact for the Dolphins with 32/428/3 in eight games before tearing his ACL. After observing training camp practices open to reporters, Adam Beasley from the Miami Herald wrote that Williams may be "potentially better than ever."

MORE: Fantasy Football Sleepers: 10 Late-Round Targets

11.02 - Hayden Hurst, TE, Atlanta Falcons

Hurst doubled his production in 2019 to 30/349/2, but that paled in comparison to (now former) teammate Mark Andrews. Hurst's trade to Atlanta does wonders for his fantasy outlook as Austin Hooper signed a free-agent deal with Cleveland. Before Hooper's mid-season injury, he was fantasy's top-scoring tight end and finished second behind Julio Jones in team targets.

12.11 - Boston Scott, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

Effective down the stretch, Scott racked up 350 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns and hauled in 23-of-25 targets over the final four games of the season. While Miles Sanders is "the guy," Scott should get 8-10 touches per week with many of those touches being high-value receptions.

13.02 - Robby Anderson, WR, Carolina Panthers

Anderson leaves New Jersey for Carolina, but the landing spot isn't ideal in terms of his fantasy outlook. The 27-year-old receiver has at least 50/750/5 in each of his past three seasons, but it's unlikely that he finishes with much more than that as he's no higher than third on the pecking order for targets behind D.J. Moore and Christian McCaffrey.

14.11 - Michael Pittman Jr., WR, Indianapolis Colts

The Colts used the 34th-overall pick on Pittman, who has great size (6'4", 223 pounds) to win in contested-catch and red-zone situations and is an underrated athlete (4.52 forty). While the passing offense goes through Hilton, when healthy, it wouldn't be a surprise if Pittman led the team in receiving touchdowns as a rookie.

15.02 - Chiefs, DST, Kansas City Chiefs

16.11 - Younghoe Koo, K, Atlanta Falcons

- View Full Mock Draft Results

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