Fantasy Football Mock Draft 2016: Round-by-Round Expert Projections

Depending on who you ask, mock drafts are either helpful or useless. I fall somewhere in the middle.If youre looking to try out a strategy, like opening your draft with Rob Gronkowski in the first round, you can run a mock draft to get an idea of what your team might look like. You also might want to try out different draft positions if you have the option to select where youll be slotted in your actual draft.On the other hand, you can mock draft for weeks to prepare for the real thing only to see your plans destroyed by a totally unexpected pick or homer owner who felt the need to take Aaron Rodgers in the first round, setting off a chain-reaction quarterback run way earlier than expected.As I always say, you need to be fluid with your draft plans, so Im using this mock draft as an exercise to show why thats so important. Instead of taking control of one team, I made the selections for every team based on specific strategies, team needs and the flow of the draft.I used a combination of FantasyPros ADP (average draft position) and my rankings to make picks, but also made a point to work in some common situations that happen in drafts, such as runs at certain positions (usually quarterback) and losing out on a pick before your turn comes back around. Thats the true test of a fluid draft strategy.In an effort to bring you the most useful analysis, I decided to forgo drafting a kicker or defense. If your league mandates that those positions must be filled in the draft, just wait until the final two rounds. If you dont have to fill those positions via the draft, then I suggest hitting the waiver wire before the start of the regular season.Because its important to draft to the format, this is a points-per-reception (PPR) league that starts one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight end and two flex spots (RB/WR/TE) in the skill positions for the lineup.Throughout this mock, Ill provide player analysis on each round and periodically check in on teams to explain draft strategy and reasoning behind certain picks.Begin Slideshow
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