2023 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Updated 4-Round Selections and Strategy
The 2023 NFL season is nearly here. The preseason wrapped over the weekend, and final roster cuts must be made by 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Week 1 will officially kick off next Thursday when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Detroit Lions.
Fantasy football is right around the corner too, which means managers who haven't crammed for their selections yet had better get a move on.
We're here to help craft that perfect draft strategy by diving into a few tips and tricks for the 2023 season and running through a four-round points-per-reception (PPR) mock draft.
4-Round, 12-Team PPR Mock
1 of 4
Round 1
1. Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota Vikings
2. Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco 49ers
3. Ja'Marr Chase, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
4. Cooper Kupp, WR, Los Angeles Rams
5. Tyreek Hill, WR, Miami Dolphins
6. Austin Ekeler, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
7. Saquon Barkley, RB, New York Giants
8. Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs
9. Stefon Diggs, WR, Buffalo Bills
10. CeeDee Lamb, WR, Dallas Cowboys
11. Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons
12. Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, Detroit Lions
Round 2
1. Nick Chubb, RB, Cleveland Browns
2. Davante Adams, WR, Las Vegas Raiders
3. Derrick Henry, RB, Tennessee Titans
4. A.J. Brown, WR, Philadelphia Eagles
5. Garrett Wilson, WR, New York Jets
6. Jaylen Waddle, WR, Miami Dolphins
7. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts
8. Tony Pollard, RB, Dallas Cowboys
9. Tee Higgins, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
10. Josh Jacobs, RB, Las Vegas Raiders
11. Chris Olave, WR, New Orleans Saints
12. Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs
Round 3
1. DeVonta Smith, WR, Philadelphia Eagles
2. Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills
3. Jalen Hurts, QB, Philadelphia Eagles
4. Keenan Allen, WR, Los Angeles Chargers
5. Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, New England Patriots
6. Mark Andrews, TE, Baltimore Ravens
7. Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Detroit Lions
8. Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals
9. DK Metcalf, WR, Philadelphia Eagles
10. Amari Cooper, WR, Cleveland Browns
11. Najee Harris, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers
12. Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens
Round 4
1. Breece Hall, RB, New York Jets
2. Aaron Jones, RB, Green Bay Packers
3. Deebo Samuel, WR, San Francisco 49ers
4. Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals
5. Calvin Ridley, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
6. Tyler Lockett, WR, Seattle Seahawks
7. Travis Etienne Jr., RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
8. Kenneth Walker III, RB, Seattle Seahawks
9. T.J. Hockenson, TE, Minnesota Vikings
10. D.J. Moore, WR, Chicago Bears
11. Miles Sanders, RB, Carolina Panthers
12. Darren Waller, TE, New York Giants
Know Your Format
2 of 4
This is the single most important piece of any fantasy draft strategy: Know your format.
Knowing how a league's scoring works will help a manager better prepare a personalized draft board. High-volume receivers like Justin Jefferson and Ja'Marr Chase are valuable in any format, but they're going to carry a little more weight in PPR than in a standard-scoring league.
Conversely, high-volume run-heavy backs such as Nick Chubb and Derrick Henry will be a bit more valuable in standard leagues than in PPR. A dual-threat back like Christian McCaffrey is valuable across the board, but his receiving upside gives him an edge over RBs who don't catch a lot of balls weekly in PPR.
Knowing your roster parameters is also extremely valuable. It makes no sense to kick off a draft with three wide receivers if your league only has two WR slots and no flex (WR, RB, TE) position in the starting lineup.
Managers should always look to fill their starting slots before diving heavily into backups, boom-or-bust sleeper candidates and handcuffs.
Mitigate Risks
3 of 4
Early in drafts, managers are going to come across players who have immense upside but an inherent level of risk.
Los Angeles Rams wideout Cooper Kupp, for example, was limited to nine games by a hamstring injury last season. He also tweaked his hamstring early in training camp, though it didn't appear to be serious.
"It's really day-to-day," Rams head coach Sean McVay told reporters on August 5.
Can you trust Kupp to stay healthy? Perhaps not, but that doesn't mean he's not worth the risk. The 30-year-old led the NFL with 1,947 receiving yards in 2021 and racked up 75 catches for 812 yards and six touchdowns in his nine outings last year.
The trick is to value a "safe" insurance policy for any risky player highly. In our mock, for instance, the team that drafted Kupp also took Tee Higgins and Keenan Allen in the first three rounds.
If Kupp misses time, Higgins and Allen can be serviceable WR starters. If he doesn't, one of them could still provide value in the flex.
.jpg?w=256 "Vikings Cowboys Football")
Don't Overvalue Quarterbacks
4 of 4
You're likely to see quarterbacks coming off the board early in your real-world draft, possibly as high as Round 2. We've mirrored that in our mock, and we'll use it to show why taking a signal-caller too early can be a mistake.
The team that drafted Patrick Mahomes at the bottom of Round 2 got its quarterback before coming back for Philadelphia Eagles wideout DeVonta Smith. Jefferson, Mahomes and Smith are a solid foundation for any fantasy squad, but that strategy left the team without a starting-caliber RB.
By passing on Mahomes, that team could have had a starting lineup of Jefferson, Smith and Joe Mixon, and then targeted a quarterback later in the draft.
A signal-caller like Mahomes will make a manager feel secure about the position, but starting-caliber QBs can be found much later. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, for example, has an average draft position of 117, according to FantasyPros.
Mahomes passed for 968 yards and 11 touchdowns more than Smith in 2022. Under a scoring format that awards one point for 25 yards and four points per touchdown pass, that's 83 points on the season, or 4.8 points per game—in most cases, not enough to justify passing on a top-tier skill player for a QB.
.jpg?w=480 "Vikings Cowboys Football")
.jpg?w=480 "Texans Chargers Football")
.jpg?w=480 "NFL Draft Football")
