Fantasy Football Mock Draft 2023, 12-team PPR: Tyreek Hill or Travis Kelce?
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1970-01-01 08:00
Running through a new Fantasy Football Mock Draft for the 2023 season in a 12-team PPR league, picking at No. 5 in a snake draft.Forget Christmas, what's actually better than fantasy football draft season? You know, that magical time when you aren't staring down the barrel of 24 hours ...

Running through a new Fantasy Football Mock Draft for the 2023 season in a 12-team PPR league, picking at No. 5 in a snake draft.

Forget Christmas, what's actually better than fantasy football draft season? You know, that magical time when you aren't staring down the barrel of 24 hours at a Waffle House or whatever punishment your league doles out. No, the draft is the time when all of your fantasy hopes and dreams are possible.

Of course, for that to happen, you better be prepared. That's why we're here to help with an early-August fantasy football mock draft to give you at least a guide or idea of how your draft could play out.

The fact of the matter is that tough decisions are everywhere in the draft. But as has been famously said, you can't win your fantasy football league in the first round, but you can definitely lose it then. So we're going through this fantasy football mock draft for a 12-team PPR league picking from the No. 5 spot in a snake draft. Do we go with Tyreek Hill or take Travis Kelce to give us the trump card among NFL tight ends?

Decisions, decisions.

Let's see where these decisions can take us, though as we go through the full 15-round fantasy football mock draft before analyzing the roster we end up with to give you an idea of how your team might look if you follow such a strategy.

Note: This mock draft was compiled using FantasyPros Draft Wizard mock draft lobby and was completed with 11 other users and me to best simulate a real-life fantasy football draft.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft 2023, 12-team PPR league: Pick No. 5 snake draft

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 1

For as valuable as Travis Kelce is at the tight end position, the upside of Tyreek Hill was simply too great for me to pass up at this spot.

Despite catching only seven touchdowns last season and playing multiple games with either Teddy Bridgewater or Skylar Thompson at quarterback given the injuries to Tua Tagovailoa, Hill finished as the WR2 in fantasy last season, catching 119 balls for 1,710 yards.

Kelce is far and away the TE1 but the fact of the matter is he's not going to put up the same level of production as Hill if that major role in the Mike McDaniel offense continues and Tua can stay healthy. I'm taking the flashy upside here and not thinking twice about it, especially with some of the value that I believe can still be had at tight end.

As far as the rest of the first round, Austin Ekeler going fourth was a bit of a surprise, but totally understandable given the arrival of Kellen Moore in LA, which could put him in a higher-usage role a la Tony Pollard in Dallas but with more of a usage share.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 2

Back on the clock, my hope was to double-up on wide receiver here but Lamb, Waddle and St. Brown going off before me really threw a wrinkle in that. But that's the art of the fantasy football draft: Pivoting smartly.

The smart pivot from that plan to not reach on DeVonta Smith or Chris Olave was Tony Pollard.

Per Nerdball, Pollard ranked eighth among NFL running backs last season in fantasy points per touch, a higher rate than Christian McCaffrey and essentially every other top running back. That's how the Cowboys back finished as the RB8 in PPR scoring despite getting under 200 carries and less than 40 receptions.

Now with Ezekiel Elliott gone, that usage is going to skyrocket in comparison. If he maintains even 85% of his explosive play rate, he has the upside to be a legitimate RB1.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 3

Once again, the one receiver I was eyeing with the 3.05 pick in this fantasy football mock draft was Tee Higgins, but he went off the board one pick before me. Subsequently, the pivoting happened again and we landed on getting one of the best quarterbacks for fantasy football, Josh Allen.

Allen finished as QB2 last year and my belief for the 2023 fantasy season is that you should either get a Top 3-4 quarterback or wait until later in the draft. Allen was the best value here in my estimation, especially with the Bills adding a pass-catching tight end and having James Cook elevated to a larger role as a pass-catcher out of the backfield.

He's one of the best at the position in the NFL and will be an easy set-it-and-forget-it at QB, even if it requires a pivot to get there.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 4

For a fantasy football mock draft that I'm not actually playing this season with, I was getting unjustifiably angry at getting sniped. Miles Sanders, Deebo Samuel, Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy were all in the queue with hopes that one would fall. They did not and the running backs in this range are not my cup of tea.

That landed us on Christian Watson. Despite a slow start to his rookie season, Watson still ended the year with 41 catches for 611 yards and seven touchdowns on the year.

Now, the big worry is having Jordan Love instead of Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. But all indications from Packers camp are that Watson has undeniably leveled up going into his sophomore NFL campaign and every voice in Green Bay indicates that Love can get it done. More importantly, I trust Matt LaFleur's scheme and the talent of Watson to pay off.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 5

Finally, we got our guy here.

After Kelce at tight end, there are a handful of guys like Mark Andrews, T.J. Hockenson, George Kittle and, to lesser degrees, Darren Waller and George Kittle who all have a case to be TE2. For me, though, it's Hockenson.

In seven games with the Lions last year, Hockenson had just 43 targets. In 10 games with the Vikings, that number ballooned to 86. While the counting stats didn't see the same uptick that you'd want, that type of usage is a big plus going into the 2023 season.

Furthermore, Hockenson could be the second-most targeted pass-catcher in the Vikings offense after 1.01 Justin Jefferson as Jordan Addison aims to come along in his rookie season. In an offense that, no matter what you say about Kirk Cousins, is productive and should pass more with Dalvin Cook gone, Hockenson could be a massive riser in fantasy value and I'm buying now.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 6

People are going to overlook the Houston Texans in fantasy football this year. In the case of Dameon Pierce, you shouldn't be doing that.

Yes, he was only the RB27 last season in PPR formats, but that was also while being limited to 13 games. That bumps up to RB21 if you look at the fantasy points per game played metric. More importantly, we can't underestimate how much more simply competent the Texans could be with a promising young quarterback in C.J. Stroud in addition to a new coaching regime that should be an upgrade.

Pierce has shown he can be an effective RB2 in fantasy that could only be better with the improvements around him to open up more space to work. He's being far too overlooked and could be a sleeper in this range if you have the chance to grab him.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 7

Particularly in this range for a 12-team league, I'm more than willing to bank on some upside projections for players, and George Pickens might be the captain of that team of players.

Even with the preseason hype he had as a rookie, you probably didn't totally realize that Pickens actually ended his first NFL season with 52 catches for 801 yards. Yes, the four touchdowns were disappointing, but he was racking up big plays.

Now coming into year two, the talk is that the Steelers are going to open up the offense more for Kenny Pickett and that plays right into Pickens' skill set as a deep threat and one-on-one matchup nightmare. He should absolutely be able to give us 1.5x production if that transpires as planned, which would give us a 1,200-yard receiver. Not bad for the seventh round.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 8

After what we saw in Foxboro last season, no one will blame you for not wanting to roll the dice on the Patriots offense. That ain't me, though. Me, I'm going in on the potential value of JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Look, the simple truth is that the Patriots now have a legitimate offensive mind in the building with Bill O'Brien, a guy who, for his many shortcomings in his career, knows how to get the ball moving. Then, the team went out and made a big-money free agency play, albeit short-term, to land JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Smith-Schuster isn't a WR1 to be sure, but he could be in this offense, which is enough for me to believe in as we insert him as a depth option for our fantasy football team.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 9

In no way is Jamaal Williams going to replicate the ridiculous performance in scoring touchdowns last season (17) that made him the RB13 last year. That's an outlier season and, even if he'd stayed with the Lions, I wouldn't be buying that.

With that said, he's still a solid runner and he is going to have opportunities when Alvin Kamara is suspended for three games and after. The simple truth with Kamara is that he's not a traditional back. He's never had a 1,000-yard rushing season, he's never been great in short-yardage situations, and now he's missing time to start the year too.

Williams was paid pretty well in the current running back market to come to New Orleans, so banking on him to be a big factor in the rushing offense seems more than reasonable.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 10

Coming into the offseason, the Kadarius Toney hype was unreal as the Chiefs indicated he would be the top wide receiver in the offense. But now that the former first-round pick is already hurt (again), that talk has died down quite a bit. Someone other than Travis Kelce is going to make plays in this passing game, though.

Skyy Moore flashed last season but, ultimately, was buried on the depth chart as a rookie. Now with Toney's health in question and Mecole Hardman in New York, the speedy wideout should have a much more defined role. With his draft pedigree as a playmaker who can be dangerous in space, that could mean some big-time numbers as one of the favorite targets of Patrick Mahomes.

There are worse bets to make than that.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 11

This might be a bit of galaxy brain when it comes to the Falcons offense, but I don't believe Tyler Allgeier's value is limited to being Bijan Robinson's handcuff this year.

When you listen to Arthur Smith and any of the Atlanta brass talk about Robinson being an offensive weapon and not just a running back, while extremely valuable for fantasy football, the reading between the lines on the situation could be that there are still some carries in the traditional run game, which Smith has long used heavily, still available.

Allgeier was RB29 last season splitting time with Cordarrelle Patterson, so with Robinson basically taking a larger version of that role, Allgeier should still be a serviceable fantasy option for depth while also being a handcuff as well.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 12

The injuries for New York Giants pass-catchers last year were simply absurd. But in that, they might've found a diamond in the rough with former Bills practice squad cut Isaiah Hodgins.

Playing in only eight games for the G-Men, Hodgins was actually the third-leading receiver on this team, catching 33-of-42 targets for 351 yards and four touchdowns. When you watch the tape too, you see a player who just gets how to find his way open and catch balls.

Daniel Jones is always going to be a concern for me. Having said that, with another year in Brian Daboll's system, I think the offense will simply be better in the 2022 season. Hodgins could play a bigger part in that than we expect.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 13

Getting Donovan Peoples-Jones in the 13th round feels like stealing, but I'm not going to turn it away.

Amari Cooper should be the top receiver in the Browns, but it seems like people are overreacting to the Elijah Moore trade. Yes, they traded for him and obviously think he can help the offense in Cleveland. But I would be willing to bet that DPJ is still the WR2 in the offense and, with his physical tools combined with the perceived elevation of the offense as Deshaun Watson should be much better, that could be valuable.

It's a dart-throw, to be sure. But Peoples-Jones has already flashed his immense potential and, with Watson taking a step forward, that could make him a bonafide sleeper who could pop off in the 2023 season.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 14

Every year, I'm preaching the same message. Do not take your defense or kicker until the final two rounds of a snake draft. You're leaving too much value on the table if you do anything other than that.

As for why the Steelers, this is a unit that can creat a ton of sacks and, in theory, should have an even better secondary. This could create a lot of splash plays, which is what you want for fantasy football. They should be ranked higher than they are by the consensus right now, but I'm happy to add them to the squad.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 15

My advice for kickers: Take veterans who are going to be complemented by good offenses. At worst, that's going to give you at least a few extra-points per week, but could also net plenty more opportunities for drives that die in field goal range.

I'm high on the Dolphins this year, Saunders has continually been reliable, and this should all work out for him to be a solid kicking option. Of course, this position is so volatile, if that doesn't work out, there's sure to be a fine option available on waivers.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft results: Team roster and breakdown

The one big thing that stands out to me with this roster that we ended up with in this fantasy football mock draft is that I'm not wholly confident in the running back depth. That's 100% a construct of taking Josh Allen in the third round rather than reaching for a running back (we, again, also got sniped a bit).

With that being said, I'm confident in Pollard being a Top 5 player at the position this year in addition to Pierce being a workhorse in Houston that can get the job done and put up points. And let's not forget that Allen is going to add rushing value from the QB spot too.

At the end of the day, though, the pass-catchers are the strength here. Not only do we have Hill, Watson and Pickens and an immense amount of upside as the starters, but the swings for the depth pieces of this roster all have upside. Even if we hit on just 50% of those on the bench, we're winning. Throw in Hockenson and his upside in Minnesota, we're looking at a great PPR lineup.

Tags nfl fantasy football fantasy football mock draft t j hockenson fs com tony pollard christian watson travis kelce tyreek hill josh allen all nfl eppersons epnfl
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