If you want to be a better golfer, you head to the driving range.
If you want to be a better fantasy football manager, you head to the mock draft lounge.
That’s what 10 Yahooligans did three days ago, selecting 150 players in a 15-round draft. The managers drafted with these specs in mind: four-point passing touchdowns, half-point PPR scoring, with nine starters each week (1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex, 1 PK, 1 DEF) and six players in reserve. The timer was set at a breezy 30 seconds, to simulate the pressure of a real draft. Get in those reps, gamers.
We won’t be playing this league out, but it didn’t keep us from razzing each other constantly and drafting competitively. We always want to beat the snot out of each other, even when it doesn’t count.
First, let’s meet the mockers, and then I’ll guide you through some takeaways.
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Team 1: John Galinsky, Yahoo audience engagement team
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Team 2: Andy Behrens, Yahoo fantasy analyst
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Team 3: Dalton Del Don, Yahoo fantasy analyst
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Team 4: Collin Brennan, Yahoo podcast producer
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Team 5: Scott Pianowski, Yahoo fantasy analyst
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Team 6: Trevor Brigham, Yahoo customer care
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Team 7: Kate Magdziuk, Yahoo fantasy editor/analyst
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Team 8: Matt Harmon, Yahoo fantasy analyst
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Team 9: Aaron Tan, Yahoo social media editor
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Team 10: Jason Klabacha, Yahoo fantasy editor
Before we get into the takeaways, here is a round-by-round table you can click through to see the complete draft.
Running backs and wide receivers dominated the early rounds
Every player in the first two rounds was a running back or receiver; wide receivers covered 60% of the first round and that ratio flipped to the running backs in Round 2. Tight end stars Sam LaPorta (Pick 3.02) and Travis Kelce (Pick 4.01) spent some time in the green room, waiting it out.
2023 – 2024 season
Three different positional shapes covered our early roster construction; three managers started with two wideouts, three managers started with two running backs while the final four went with an even 1-1 split. I was one of the RB-RB teams, a strategy I rarely use in formats where three wideouts are required. But this theoretical league only asked for two starting wideouts, and heck, mock drafts are about experimentation anyway. So I drafted away from my preferred roster build, at least this once.
Wide receivers did get the last laugh, as 57 wideouts were selected against 47 running backs. That was a little surprising to me; I would have guessed that ratio would slightly favor the running backs, as late-round backfield picks are usually just one teammate injury away from a spike in value.
Garrett Wilson holds Ohio State WR bragging rights
The Buckeyes have been a receiver factory in recent years, and you’ll get many different opinions as to which pass-catcher is the best. Chris Olave has his fans, for sure, and rookie hotshot Marvin Harrison Jr. is a buzzy prospect — both of them went in the second round.
But the first OSU receiver off the board was Wilson (Pick 2.03), who’s been very good-not-great through two years, held back by poor quarterback play. Returning QB Aaron Rodgers has often been a kingmaker for his receivers, of course, and it’s likely Wilson’s touchdown total will spike in his third season. I didn’t land Wilson, but I would have taken him had he fallen to my mid-round pick.
2023 – 2024 season
As for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, last year’s shiny OSU rookie, he lasted until the 11th round.
Rookies aren’t hot commodities yet for redraft leagues
Harrison’s second-round selection was to be expected, in line with early Yahoo ADP, but otherwise, the room was cool to the incoming talent class. A modest 13 rookies were drafted, and nine of them went in Round 9 or later. After Harrison, the next freshmen selected were Malik Nabers (Round 6), Jonathon Brooks (Round 7) and Keon Coleman (Round 7).
Rome Odunze fell to Round 11 — a modest surprise. Jayden Daniels was chosen in Round 10, but the other rookie quarterbacks were ignored, Caleb Williams included. Of course, there’s a reasonable explanation for that . . .
More Fantasy Football analysis
From the experts at Yahoo Sports
There’s nothing stressful about drafting QBs this year
This observation goes for standard start-one quarterback formats with a reasonable count of managers; obviously, if your league requires multiple players at the position, or if you’re playing in a jumbo-sized manager league, the strategy changes significantly. But the position has lovely depth throughout the league right now, a mix of passers and combo threats, a blend of experience and youth, and it takes the anxiety out of the quarterback hunt. No matter when you decide to jump into the fantasy quarterback fray, you’ll probably be content at minimum, overjoyed at maximum.
Real-life teams are always stressing the quarterback. Fantasy managers don’t have to.
The average draft round for everyone’s first quarterback (some drafted two) hashes out to a reasonable 7.2. The room ignored the position until Josh Allen was tabbed in Round 4. A couple of guys with multiple MVPs (Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson) lasted until Round 6. I waited the longest to take a quarterback and still landed Joe Burrow in Round 11. Dak Prescott was taken in Round 10, and he’s not even the presumed starter for that fantasy manager.
And there’s an interesting reason why Prescott is a clipboard carrier in this mock draft . . .
Anthony Richardson is one of the it-guys this summer
Podcast producer extraordinaire Collin Brennan selected Richardson in the fourth round as the QB2 off the board. You can understand the excitement; Richardson is a dual-threat player, and Shane Steichen is a play-calling wizard. Maybe a healthy Richardson can crash into the first tier at the position.
Still, the ticket was pricy. The Richardson choice was a mere two picks after Allen, a round ahead of Jalen Hurts, two rounds before Mahomes and Jackson. Given the modest percentage of player penetration in this league and the depth of QB around the league, I’d posit that targeting Richardson this early solves a problem that doesn’t exist. Brennan could easily wind up starting Prescott over Richardson more often than not, in theory, and in leagues of 12 managers or fewer (and remember, this exercise drafted at 10), it’s usually very difficult to find a trading partner if you’re overloaded at quarterback.
I love upside players like everyone else. But a speculative breakout quarterback in Round 4 is not my jam, the opportunity cost is too great. Collin was the last team to start building a running back room. Of course, any draft strategy can work if you pick the right players.
We drafted kickers and defenses, but you might not want to (if your league drafts early)
The editors asked everyone to draft a complete starting lineup, so that’s why you’ll see 10 kickers and 10 defenses on the board. Peruse and examine as you like. But many shrewd fantasy managers opt to eschew the lesser positions in early-summer drafts, instead filling their bench with a couple of speculative plays that could come into significant value by September if things break right. The waiver wire in almost every league has very high replacement value for kickers and defenses — especially in a pool that’s a modest 10 managers — so filling those spots needn’t be a priority.
My D/ST pick was the Bengals, and that’s tied to one simple thing: they’re the biggest Week 1 favorite (spotting 9.5 points against New England) and D/ST production is correlated with favored teams. If we were playing this league out, I would surely stream the D/ST position, adding and dropping a new defense regularly.
Team-by-team results
If you’re interested in seeing the complete team builds, you can flip through this table to see each of the 10 rosters.
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