No. 3 is a great slot to pick from in PPR and half-PPR formats, especially if you're like me and don't want to roster Christian McCaffrey coming off his huge workload from 2023. Knowing that McCaffrey is going to go No. 1 in all formats, sitting at No. 3 gives me one of two receivers I think are a slight step ahead of the rest of Tier 1 at the position.
And I may have gotten the better of the two by landing Tyreek Hill.
While I have CeeDee Lamb ranked higher, I think there's a bit more ceiling for Hill while playing in Mike McDaniel's offense. He totaled 1,799 receiving yards last year, and that's with playing 16 games. One more massive performance, or another very strong performance plus one other big reception any other week, could've made Hill the first receiver in history to record 2,000 receiving yards in a season. The fact that he's even more productive than the years playing with Patrick Mahomes is not something I think many people expected.
Of course, that was just my first selection in the pick-by-pick mock draft the CBS Fantasy football team held this week. My hope was to get James Cook on the comeback in Round 2, but Heath Cummings is just as high on him as I am so I had to settle for adding a second receiver. I made that pick Brandon Aiyuk -- full disclosure, this was before reports of potential trades coming together emerged -- figuring I'd have a better chance at Michael Pittman sliding to me in Round 3, but again Heath made me pay at his other slot. The biggest lesson I'm learning is the best strategy for building a winning team is don't draft with Heath.
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I decided to bypass Jaylen Waddle in Round 3 and went instead with Josh Jacobs simply due to us drafting in a half-PPR format. I wasn't as comfortable waiting until Round 4 to get my RB1 in this format, and in fact a lot of the well dried up in the interim -- my best-case scenario was to get Kenneth Walker III but he went to Dave in the eighth slot. With the RB well drying up, I went ahead and scooped up Zamir White as my RB2, though my initial expectation was to take one of the top-four quarterbacks there. I adjusted my plan (remember, be flexible in your strategy as your draft moves along) because surprisingly none were off the board yet, so I knew I'd get one in Round 5.
As a reference point, all touchdowns in this league are worth six points, and we award one point for every 10 yards rushing and receiving and one point for every 25 yards passing. We also award 0.5 points for every reception. We feature a starting lineup of QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, and FLEX (RB/WR/TE).
Here's my team from No. 3 overall:
1.03 Tyreek Hill, WR, Dolphins
2.10 Brandon Aiyuk, WR, 49ers
3.03 Josh Jacobs, RB, Packers
4.10 Zamir White, RB, Raiders
5.03 Josh Allen, QB, Bills
6.10 Diontae Johnson, WR, Panthers
7.03 George Kittle, TE, 49ers
8.10 Raheem Mostert, RB, Dolphins
9.03 Xavier Worthy, WR, Chiefs
10.10 Jaleel McLaughlin, RB, Broncos
11.03 Ty Chandler, RB, Vikings
12.10 Jaylen Wright, RB, Dolphins
13.03 Xavier Legette, WR, Panthers
14.10 Adam Thielen, WR, Panthers
I waited longer than is comfortable to draft a third receiver but I was happy to get Diontae Johnson, who represents the end of a tier for me. Any lower and I'd be having bigger concerns about the position. George Kittle seemed like a great value where I had him, but I almost never take a quarterback and tight end in the top half of a draft so I knew my depth at running back and receiver was not going to be to my liking.
That being said, I think Raheem Mostert as a RB3 is acceptable and I'm actually pretty excited about the upside of Xavier Worthy as my WR4. I could see him quickly landing the WR3 spot in my lineup while Johnson and Mostert battle it out for flex. I strengthened the Mostert pick by landing Jaylen Wright late, as it's unlikely De'Von Achane will be trusted with a bell-cow role in the Miami offense. If Mostert starts playing to his age or gets injured, Wright should immediately slide into a Fantasy RB3 role.
For my last receiver spot, I decided to also back up my Johnson pick by taking the next two Panthers receivers for next to nothing. I figure one will emerge as Fantasy relevant along with Johnson, and the other can be chucked to the waiver wire.
All in all, this is about as well as a team that takes a QB and TE early could've hoped to turn out. I'll need to be on the hunt for usable talent on the waiver wire as I imagine I'll need to replace a few of my running backs and wide receivers pretty early in the season when their upside doesn't manifest, but that's OK.
I don't imagine our staff mock drafts are going to look exactly like what most people are used to, at least when it comes to the quarterback position. Even for us, no quarterbacks being selected in the first four rounds is pretty nuts. That turned my expectation of getting Lamar Jackson in Round 4 to landing my No. 1 quarterback in Round 5, so I'm thrilled with how it turned out. Allen has to deal with a changing supporting cast, but I believe he still offers the blend of passing and rushing production to be Fantasy's top quarterback this season, with a floor that will still land him in Tier 1 even if he's not the best. Last year, you'd expect to take him at the Round 2/3 turn, and I don't believe Buffalo's offseason changes should be enough to push him down two full rounds.
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If I'm going to land a tight end from this tier, it's typically going to be Evan Engram. So why did I pull the trigger on Kittle with Engram still on the board? I don't know, but if Brandon Aiyuk does in fact get moved, maybe an increase in projected targets will actually make the pick pay off in a big way. However, the main reason I may regret it is that taking Allen in Round 5 means I really put pressure on my depth at RB and WR by going with a tight end two rounds later. While I like my WR3 and WR4, I'd feel better if I had one of them as my WR4 and a better WR3. And my RB depth is virtually non-existent, so I can't afford for Josh Jacobs or Zamir White to be a bust.
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We touched on this above, but White simply has to be a top-20 running back for this team to succeed with Raheem Mostert as my RB3 and a lot of question marks below him on my depth chart. I do believe White has the ability in him, as he showed at the end of last season when he rushed for nearly 100 yards per game during the final four outings. But he also did next to nothing prior to that point, so I'm banking a lot on a measly four-game sample. The reason I'm buying is that he plays on a Raiders team that wants to return to an identity of pounding the ball and playing defense, and I'm sure coach Antonio Pierce will be happy to lean on the up-and-coming star with next-to-no tread on his tires at the professional level after what he saw at the end of last year.
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