Fantasy Football 2016: Mobile Cheatsheet, Mock-Draft Strategy for Top Positions

The perfect set of fantasy football rankings won't manufacture a championship on its own.

Rankings are nice for those who crave order and reason in a world without either. Yet any analyst who presents his or her ratings as gospel is a liar. Nobody knew Blake Bortles would finish 2015 with more fantasy points than Aaron Rodgers. Even the biggest Devonta Freeman supporter wouldn't have pegged him as the top running back.

Fantasy football is a weekly game of chaos. Take it from someone whose team of Rodgers, Todd Gurley, Lamar Miller, Antonio Brown and Allen Robinson received a first-round playoff boot against Isaiah Crowell and Ryan Fitzpatrick. (Remember the week when the Tennessee Titans forgot to cover Brandon Marshall?)

It takes weeks, maybe months, of preseason preparation to finalize the ideal rankings, but they all fall out the window once Week 1 starts.

Listing the top guys can incorrectly portray an equal separation between each player. For someone waiting on a quarterback, the difference between QBs No. 6 and No. 10 may be inconsequential, but he or she might perceive a steep decline after QB No. 11.

Keep these hindrances in mind before blindly following these positional rankings, assembled for leagues with standard scoring (no points per reception). To provide some context, let's study a mock draft to examine the strategy behind when to target each spot.

Rankings

Rank	QB	RB	WR	TE
1	Aaron Rodgers, GB	Adrian Peterson, MIN	Antonio Brown, PIT	Rob Gronkowski, NE
2	Cam Newton, CAR	Todd Gurley, LA	Julio Jones, ATL	Greg Olsen, CAR
3	Russell Wilson, SEA	David Johnson, ARI	Odell Beckham Jr., NYG	Jordan Reed, WAS
4	Drew Brees, NO	Lamar Miller, HOU	A.J. Green, CIN	Travis Kelce, KC
5	Andrew Luck, IND	Ezekiel Elliott, DAL	DeAndre Hopkins, HOU	Delanie Walker, TEN
6	Carson Palmer, ARI	Jamaal Charles, KC	Dez Bryant, DAL	Coby Fleener, NO
7	Ben Roethlisberger, PIT	Le'Veon Bell, PIT	Allen Robinson, JAC	Tyler Eifert, CIN
8	Tom Brady, NE	Mark Ingram, NO	Jordy Nelson, GB	Gary Barnidge, CLE
9	Eli Manning, NYG	Devonta Freeman, ATL	Alshon Jeffery, CHI	Zach Ertz, PHI
10	Philip Rivers, SD	LeSean McCoy, BUF	Brandon Marshall, NYJ	Ladarius Green, PIT
11	Blake Bortles, JAC	Doug Martin, TB	Brandin Cooks, NO	Antonio Gates, SD
12	Tony Romo, DAL	C.J. Anderson, DEN	Demaryius Thomas, DEN	Julius Thomas, JAC
13	Kirk Cousins, WAS	Eddie Lacy, GB	Keenan Allen, SD	Zach Miller, CHI
14	Matthew Stafford, DET	Matt Forte, NYJ	Mike Evans, TB	Jimmy Graham, SEA
15	Andy Dalton, CIN	Carlos Hyde, SF	Randall Cobb, WR, GB	Dwayne Allen, IND
16	Derek Carr, OAK	Jonathan Stewart, CAR	Sammy Watkins, BUF	Jason Witten, DAL
17	Tyrod Taylor, BUF	Thomas Rawls, SEA	Julian Edelman, NE	Jordan Cameron, MIA
18	Jameis Winston, TB	Jeremy Hill, CIN	Eric Decker, NYJ	Martellus Bennett, NE
19	Matt Ryan, ATL	Dion Lewis, NE	T.Y. Hilton, IND	Austin Seferian-Jenkins, TB
20	Ryan Tannehill, QB, MIA	Latavius Murray, OAK	Kelvin Benjamin, CAR	Charles Clay, BUF

Mock Draft Overview

Position	Player	Round/Pick
QB	Tony Romo, DAL	9/98
RB	Mark Ingram, NO	2/23
RB	DeMarco Murray, TEN	5/50
WR	Julio Jones, ATL	1/2
WR	Brandin Cooks, NO	3/26
TE	Zach Ertz, PHI	10/119
RB/WR	Randall Cobb, GB	4/47
D/ST	New England Patriots	14/167
K	Steven Hauschka, SEA	15/170
Bench
WR	John Brown, ARI	6/71
RB	Frank Gore, IND	7/74
WR	Tyler Lockett, SEA	8/95
RB	Kenneth Dixon, BAL	11/122
QB	Kirk Cousins, WAS	12/143
RB	Tim Hightower, NO	13/146

These are the results from a 12-team mock draft conducted on FantasyPros, a simulation that expedites the process against 11 automated competitors. The computer teams, however, are guided by rankings from multiple experts rather than following one list.

For years, picking at No. 2 meant drafting a running back without hesitation. Not this year, even in a mock without PPR consideration. Once Brown went, there was little time spent considering Gurley or Adrian Peterson. Instead, the choice boiled down to Odell Beckham Jr. or Julio Jones.

Among ESPN.com's 15 top-ranked rushers entering 2015, three (Peterson, Matt Forte and Miller) finished inside the top 10. Jones registered more standard fantasy points than any rusher despite scoring only eight touchdowns.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

Along with leading the league in targets, Jones also averaged the most yards per route run, according to Pro Football Focus. As someone Matt Ryan directed one-third of his passes to, there's no reason the 6'3" Jones can't eclipse double-digit scores in 2016.

Prefer Beckham? Cool. They're both studs in the same tier, so don't lose sleep deciding who merits the higher ranking.

To be clear, this isn't an attack on running backs. Snagging at least one in the next two rounds became a priority. After that, it was a matter of stockpiling talent at the two essential skill positions.

Receiver wasn't a team need when John Brown and Tyler Lockett were picked, but both wield too much breakout upside and value at those discounted slots to pass on for an interchangeable quarterback or tight end.

While there's no room in the Week 1 lineup for Lockett, no fantasy team will escape the injury bug, and the Seattle Seahawks wideout could force his way into the mix after finishing his rookie season strong. Per ESPN.com's Sheil Kapadia, head coach Pete Carroll indicated he has big plans for the elusive 23-year-old:

"

He’s a legit player for us, and he’s right in the middle of all our planning and all of our preparation. You have to deal with him in our offense. He’s going to be moved around to a lot. He'll be in a lot of different spots. He can do everything. We’re really pumped about him coming back. He looks so confident, which he always has. We had to make him prove it a little bit. But once we got a hold of the kind of dynamic player that he is, we used the heck out of him, and he’s going to get a lot of play time, a lot of stuff happening his way.

"

Having collecting 526 receiving yards and six touchdowns over Seattle's last 10 regular-season games, Lockett had no business falling to pick No. 95.

Drawing the No. 2 slot eliminated Rob Gronkowski as a sensible target. With the undisputed top tight end out of the picture, waiting became the smart play. Enter perennial breakout choice Zach Ertz.

This is Ertz's fourth year in the NFL, but it somehow feels like the sixth time he has generated preseason buzz.

After setting career highs in targets (112), catches (75) and receiving yards (853), he needs to improve on 2015's meager two-touchdown tally to cement his spot as a top-10 option.

Michael Perez/Associated Press

In hindsight, taking Tony Romo in the ninth round was unnecessary. Pairing Kirk Cousins with Matthew Stafford or Andy Dalton in Round 13 would have worked just as well. Due to concerns over his health and passing volume, the 36-year-old Cowboys signal-caller has fallen below the likes of Carson Palmer, Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and 12 games of Tom Brady.

The point of mock drafts is to learn. For future reference, either target one of those guys, or wait beyond Round 10 to fill the void.

Also note that every team wisely waited until the final round to take a kicker. That won't happen in an actual draft with fallible humans, some of whom will be silly enough to draft two. Instead of getting Steven Hauschka in the final frame, prepare to settle for someone like Blair Walsh or Cairo Santos.

Note: All fantasy scoring information attains to ESPN.com standard scoring.