Fantasy Football 2015: Preseason Mock Draft Strategy, Rankings and Analysis

This is the time of year when you overanalyze fifth-round running backs who are overachieving in their first training camp. When one injury can completely derail everything. When people legitimately question whether Brian Hoyer might possibly have fantasy value or not (Spoiler Alert: He doesn't).

It's fantasy draft season, folks, meaning every little thing matters. So below, I'll take you through my 10-round mock draft and rankings, breaking down my strategy for one specific draft slot.

Pick	Position	Player	Team
1	RB	Marshawn Lynch	Seattle Seahawks
2	RB	Adrian Peterson	Minnesota Vikings
3	RB	Eddie Lacy	Green Bay Packers
4	RB	Jamaal Charles	Kansas City Chiefs
5	RB	DeMarco Murray	Philadelphia Eagles
6	RB	Le'Veon Bell	Pittsburgh Steelers
7	RB	Matt Forte	Chicago Bears
8	RB	LeSean McCoy	Buffalo Bills
9	WR	Antonio Brown	Pittsburgh Steelers
10	WR	Demaryius Thomas	Denver Broncos
Round 2
11	TE	Rob Gronkowski	New England Patriots
12	QB	Andrew Luck	Indianapolis Colts
13	QB	Aaron Rodgers	Green Bay Packers
14	WR	Dez Bryant	Dallas Cowboys
15	RB	C.J. Anderson	Denver Broncos
16	WR	Odell Beckham Jr.	New York Giants
17	WR	Julio Jones	Atlanta Falcons
18	WR	A.J. Green	Cincinnati Bengals
19	WR	Calvin Johnson	Detroit Lions
20	RB	Jeremy Hill	Cincinnati Bengals
Round 3
21	RB	Alfred Morris	Washington
22	RB	Carlos Hyde	San Francisco 49ers
23	RB	Lamar Miller	Miami Dolphins
24	WR	Randall Cobb	Green Bay Packers
25	WR	Alshon Jeffery	Chicago Bears
26	WR	Mike Evans	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
27	WR	T.Y. Hilton	Indianapolis Colts
28	QB	Russell Wilson	Seattle Seahawks
29	RB	Mark Ingram	New Orleans Saints
30	RB	Melvin Gordon	San Diego Chargers
Round 4
31	RB	Joique Bell	Detroit Lions
32	TE	Jimmy Graham	Seattle Seahawks
33	QB	Peyton Manning	Denver Broncos
34	WR	Emmanuel Sanders	Denver Broncos
35	WR	DeAndre Hopkins	Houston Texans
36	RB	Frank Gore	Indianapolis Colts
37	RB	Andre Ellington	Arizona Cardinals
38	QB	Ben Roethlisberger	Pittsburgh Steelers
39	TE	Greg Olsen	Carolina Panthers
40	WR	Jeremy Maclin	Kansas City Chiefs
Round 5
41	WR	DeSean Jackson	Washington
42	QB	Cam Newton	Carolina Panthers
43	RB	Justin Forsett	Baltimore Ravens
44	RB	Jonathan Stewart	Carolina Panthers
45	RB	Giovani Bernard	Cincinnati Bengals
46	WR	Golden Tate	Detroit Lions
47	QB	Matt Ryan	Atlanta Falcons
48	WR	Brandin Cooks	New Orleans Saints
49	WR	Jordan Matthews	Philadelphia Eagles
50	WR	Sammy Watkins	Buffalo Bills
Round 6
51	WR	Brandon Marshall	New York Jets
52	WR	Mike Wallace	Minnesota Vikings
53	WR	Keenan Allen	San Diego Chargers
54	TE	Martellus Bennett	Chicago Bears
55	TE	Travis Kelce	Kansas City Chiefs
56	TE	Julius Thomas	Jacksonville Jaguars
57	QB	Drew Brees	New Orleans Saints
58	RB	Todd Gurley	St. Louis Rams
59	RB	T.J. Yeldon	Jacksonville Jaguars
60	WR	Jarvis Landry	Miami Dolphins
Round 7
61	WR	Vincent Jackson	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
62	WR	Brandon LaFell	New England Patriots
63	WR	Julian Edelman	New England Patriots
64	WR	Amari Cooper	Oakland Raiders
65	TE	Zach Ertz	Philadelphia Eagles
66	RB	Joseph Randle	Dallas Cowboys
67	WR	Victor Cruz	New York Giants
68	WR	Steve Smith	Baltimore Ravens
69	WR	Torrey Smith	San Francisco 49ers
70	WR	Andre Johnson	Indianapolis Colts
Round 8
71	WR	Martavis Bryant	Pittsburgh Steelers
72	TE	Jason Witten	Dallas Cowboys
73	RB	Latavius Murray	Oakland Raiders
74	RB	C.J. Spiller	New Orleans Saints
75	QB	Matt Stafford	Detroit Lions
76	TE	Dwayne Allen	Indianapolis Colts
77	WR	Nelson Agholor	Philadelphia Eagles
78	RB	Tevin Coleman	Atlanta Falcons
79	RB	Rashad Jennings	New York Giants
80	TE	Jordan Cameron	Miami Dolphins
Round 9
81	TE	Delanie Walker	Tennessee Titans
82	RB	Chris Ivory	New York Jets
83	QB	Tony Romo	Dallas Cowboys
84	WR	Michael Floyd	Arizona Cardinals
85	WR	Roddy White	Atlanta Falcons
86	WR	Anquan Boldin	San Francisco 49ers
87	TE	Owen Daniels	Denver Broncos
88	TE	Coby Fleener	Indianapolis Colts
89	QB	Ryan Tannehill	Miami Dolphins
90	WR	Eric Decker	New York Jets
Round 10
91	WR	Reggie Wayne	New England Patriots
92	WR	Allen Robinson	Jacksonville Jaguards
93	RB	LeGarrette Blount	New England Patriots
94	RB	Alfred Blue	Houston Texans
95	RB	Ryan Mathews	Philadelphia Eagles
96	RB	Isaiah Crowell	Cleveland Browns
97	QB	Eli Manning	New York Giants
98	RB	Ameer Abdullah	Detroit Lions
99	WR	Breshad Perriman	Baltimore Ravens
100	D/ST	N/A	Seattle Seahawks

In this walkthrough, I want to show you how I would approach a draft in a 10-man league if I had the top overall pick. That means I'll be making the first, 20th, 21st, 40th, 41st, 60th, 61st, 80th, 81st and 100th picks. 

You could make lengthy arguments for several players with the top overall pick, but in my opinion, you should be choosing between four players: Marshawn Lynch, Adrian Peterson, Eddie Lacy and Jamaal Charles (I think DeMarco Murray will lose enough carries this year to drop him out of this conversation, while I'm not drafting a player like Le'Veon Bell—who is missing two games—with the top overall pick). 

This pick comes down to preference. Peterson and Charles are probably the higher upside picks, while Lynch and Lacy are probably a bit safer. Lynch remains Seattle's focus, though his years of wear and tear give him at least some risk. Lacy will probably be an even bigger part of Green Bay's offense following Jordy Nelson's injury, but Aaron Rodgers and the passing game will still be the team's calling card.

Peterson didn't play football at all last year, so that's always a risk, while the Chiefs actually have some decent offensive weapons this year and may not need to completely rely on Charles to move the ball, which could curb his production somewhat.

Ultimately, though, with the top overall pick, I don't think you can really go wrong with any of these players. I simply love how reliably awesome Lynch has been for the past several years, so he would be my pick.

The next two picks, if you have the top overall selection, will make or break your draft. Anytime you are at the beginning or end of the round in a snake draft, you have to very carefully calculate if quality players at key positions will drop to you the next time you pick or if you have to nab them a bit earlier than you might want. Picking first or last in a draft means you may have to pick a player a round earlier than you'd prefer.

At 20 and 21, I've missed out on the elite options at quarterback and wide receiver, while Rob Gronkowski is also off the board, so I'm not even considering tight end here. Without question, then, I'm going to draft another running back here. The fact that Jeremy Hill is sitting on the board and can basically help me address running back with two potential top-10 players at a very unpredictable position is a no-brainer in my opinion. 

The thing that good, consistent running backs do for your team is ensure you have a steady stream of points coming in each week. That means that most weeks you'll at least be in the running for a win and will probably beat the team with a lot of high-risk, high-reward players if that team is having a down week. So having the option of pairing Lynch with Jeremy Hill is a no-brainer.

After that, I'm going to take a wideout here, knowing I can wait on quarterback and still get a reliable option. I don't think you can go wrong with Randall Cobb, Alshon Jeffery or Mike Evans here, though I'll take the player that is going to be Rodgers' No. 1 target this season.

Picks No. 40 and 41 get interesting. If Greg Olsen dropped one more pick I'd probably take him, but that's not the case here, so I won't stray too far from my board, taking Jeremy Maclin as a nice No. 2 option at wideout. From there, Cam Newton is a very tempting selection, since I don't want to take a tight end just yet given the players available and I'd basically be choosing between Newton and a flex possibility. 

I could see a quarterback run happening before I pick again, so I'm taking Newton here. 

At picks No. 60 and 61, I might be lamenting my choice to wait on tight ends a little bit, as a few players I would have wanted went off the board. But I like Zach Ertz's upside, so I'll be just fine. With my second pick, I'm just going to follow my board, so Jarvis Landry is the selection and a solid flex option.

At picks No. 80 and 81, I might be tempted to double dip on tight end with Jordan Cameron available, but I'll restrain myself, knowing depth at running back, wide receiver and quarterback is more important. Chris Ivory gives me a solid if totally unspectacular RB3 option, while I like the potential upside Michael Floyd provides me as a WR4 and potential flex option, so I'm nabbing him here.

Finally, pick No. 100. On my board, the value pick is the Seattle defense, because I think that's where you can start valuing the top-end, reliable defenses. But here's the thing—in my personal drafting philosophy, I don't draft defenses this high. For players who value defense highly, this is where you take the Seahawks. 

I'm not that guy, so with my last pick I'd be targeting either a backup quarterback or an RB4. I'd likely take Terrance West here, with an eye on Sam Bradford after that, who I think could be a sneaky top-10 quarterback this season if he stays healthy.