As our beloved fantasy football draft season inches closer with each scorching summer day, mock draft season is like the cool little brother the group doesn’t mind tagging along. With mock drafts in abundance this time of year, we put a bit of a twist on ours. The brainchild of Brandon Funston, six members of The Athletic’s fantasy football staff — Funston, Gary Davenport, Jake Ciely, Michael Waterloo, Michael Salfino and Jay Felicio (that’s me) — were tasked with drafting two teams each. One would be drafted “of our own free will.” The other? Each was assigned a specific draft strategy to follow to the best of their ability.
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The strategy missions (and assigned drafter)
LateQB-TE (Davenport) — Eschew the QB and TE positions through at least the first eight rounds
Balance approach (Ciely) — Must draft each starting position (Flex included) before making any bench selections
Best available (Funston) — Must draft off NFFC ADP list (10 days previous to the start date of the mock, July 8), with late-game veering allowed for positional needs
ZeroRB (Felicio) — No running backs for the first six rounds
HeroRB (Waterloo) — One RB in the first two rounds, then no more until after Round 6
GoodQB (Michael Salfino) — Only draft players from teams with an established quality QB, especially from top offenses
To ensure an adequate amount of quarterbacks and tight ends were drafted, each team was required to draft two quarterbacks for one of the teams and two tight ends for the other. Each mock drafter could decide which team they would apply each mandate to during the draft.
Draft Settings were as follows:
- 12 Teams drafting 12 rounds
- Rosters: QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, FLX, 4 Bench
- Half-PPR scoring
The Results
- Click here for a larger view of the draft board
Each participant was asked a series of questions post-draft:
Q. Which of the teams you drafted do you like better, the open one or the one that forced you into a strategy? Why?
“The open one. Fantasy managers will almost always draft better teams if they don’t rigidly adhere to a set strategy. Flexibility during drafts is critical.” — Davenport
“Open — but not by much. I like the values of Anthony Richardson and T.J. Hockenson, but the worry of filling out starters first had me take Tyjae Spears as my Flex and Hockenson over taking ChristianWatson or Jaxon Smith-Njigba.” — Ciely
“Honestly, I prefer my “best available – ADP” roster over my open roster. My open roster ended up being pretty thin at WR. There’s better balance with the strategy team, and I kind of like that Patrick Mahomes, Hollywood Brown, Rashee Rice stack that came at a pretty cheap price.” — Funston
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“Being forced to draft using one of my least favorite strategies (zeroRB), it’s not surprising I prefer my open team. There is so much wide receiver value to be had in the middle rounds that there’s no need to completely ignore running backs early. I’d argue my open team’s WR corps has the potential to be just as good, if not better, than my zeroRB team. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.” — Felicio
“The open one. I think there’s a lot more balance there. If this was a SuperFlex league, I’d prefer the team with C.J. Stroud and Travis Kelce, but I like my RBs and WRs more for the open one.” — Waterloo
“The strategy team turned out to be the multi-tight end team and I love drafting multiple TEs who I think will equal top 20 or 30 WRs. My open team, by our rules, had to be a two-QB team. So I like the strategy team better.” — Salfino
Q. Which of the six strategy teams did you like the most?
“Not sure what this says about me, but probably Funston’s ADP team. The starting lineup for that team is pretty loaded, and with a few more rounds to fill out the roster, that could be a dangerous squad. Let’s hear it for groupthink.” — Davenport
“My Balance approach — not that I hate the others, just all five other strategies involved a few mid-round picks that didn’t leave a great roster structure, in my opinion.” — Ciely
“I like the “best available – ADP” I drafted the most. I think Gary’s “LateQBTE” could have been my favorite, but he had some early picks that I probably would have done differently, most notably James Cook as RB10 — he’s my RB18. That’s just a matter of opinion, though, and I like his overall “LateQBTE” team a lot.” — Funston
“It was close for me between Gary’s Late QB/TE team and Brandon’s ADP-based team, but I’ll give the nod to the ADP team. An RB corps composed of Bijan Robinson and De’Von Achane has potential to double-handedly, single-handedly carry his team to a championship.” — Felicio
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“The late QB/TE, easily. We had to draft two of each for this draft, but we only have to start one at each position. Given the format, Gary’s specific team drafting a late TE/QB is my favorite. He was able to load up at the skill positions.” — Waterloo
“I’ll exclude my own because in a draft we should all like our teams.” — Salfino
Q. Which of the six strategy teams did you like the least?
“The zeroRB team, but that has a lot less to do with the players drafted than my own predilections. We have seen that it can be an effective strategy — as can every one employed in this exercise. But this guy is just too old-school to wait until Round 8 to draft a running back. That said, Gus Edwards is a dream target if you’re a brave enough soul to wait that long. Well played.” — Davenport
“ZeroRB — and not because I generally dislike the strategy, it’s that I would have leaned in even heavier, skipping Joe Burrow for another WR and/or adding another WR late too.” — Ciely
“I’d have to say Salfino’s “Good QBs only” squad. He basically added zeroRB to the strategy, with D’Andre Swift in Round 6 leading his backfield. I would have liked Salfino’s team a lot better if, instead of taking George Kittle in Round 5 (as his second TE), he’d have used that pick on a RB — Ken Walker? Raheem Mostert? — or even another WR.” — Funston
“The roster construction of Salfino’s “Good QB only” team is questionable. I wouldn’t spend two of my first three picks on pass catchers from the same team when I can choose a viable option from a different team who’s in the same tier. Then add another Lions player to the starting lineup with David Montgomery as his RB2 in Round 9? Taking two tight ends in the first five rounds, drafting Sam LaPorta at his ceiling, the suspect running backs… I love the wide receivers, but that’s it.” — Felicio
“Probably Jay’s zeroRB. He took RBs with five of his final six picks, which is the exercise but, man, there’s just a ton of risk with the guys he grabbed. He’s forcing himself to already commit his FAB to the waiver wire early on to address his RB situation.” — Waterloo
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“It’s between the ADP and zeroRB team for me, but I’ll go ADP.” — Salfino
Q. Any lessons learned from this exercise that you’ll apply in future drafts?
“The strategic constraints placed on this exercise created a different draft with this group than I think we’d see with the proverbial gloves off. But all fantasy football drafts are different. Like snowflakes, but with beer — Beerflakes! And it’s always equal parts interesting and informative to see how smarter people than me are valuing players.” — Davenport
“The same as what we knew going in — never go in with a preset strategy that you refuse to deviate from, as the draft dictates your roster construction and value. You have to adapt! Always and forever.” — Ciely
“I think this draft just hammered home my feeling that we’re seeing a burgeoning middle class in fantasy football. I don’t see a truly standout team here, and I think that has to do with the fact that there are fewer league-winning upside players, and the middle class, it can be argued, starts as early as the mid-to-late second round.” — Funston
“There’s a gold mine of wide receiver value in the middle rounds I’ll be targeting this draft season. DeVonta Smith and Terry McLaurin in the fifth, Zay Flowers and Chris Godwin in the sixth, and Christian Watson and Brian Thomas Jr in the eighth. I’ll take those guys at that cost in a heartbeat.” — Felicio
“Don’t go into a draft with a set strategy. Have an idea, of course, but pivot when you need to so you aren’t backed into a corner.” — Waterloo
“Similar to most drafts, the uncertainty at RB and the desire for people to load up on WRs makes the sixth-through-eighth rounds the sweet spot for drafting RBs. This has to be your pre-draft plan.” — Salfino
(Top photo of Patrick Mahomes: Candice Ward/Getty Images)
