2012 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: What to Expect in First Round of PPR Leagues

Fantasy football draft strategy involves a lot of preparation. Identifying which players you want to get is a long and arduous process and could easily go haywire at any moment based on the whims of the other people in your league.

This is why you need to compile plenty of information and learn to expect the unexpected, while also having a number of options in each round that you want to target.

One of the best ways to figure out where players are landing is to do mock drafts, which will help you to understand where certain guys are falling.

Let’s take a look at a 12-team, standard PPR format league and how the first round might shake out, and who you should be looking for in the second.

2012 Mock PPR Draft

No.1 – Arian Foster, RB, HOU

No. 2 – Ray Rice, RB, BAL

No. 3 – LeSean McCoy, RB, PHI

No. 4 – Tom Brady, QB, NE

No. 5 – Calvin Johnson, WR, DET

No. 6 – Aaron Rodgers, QB, GB

No. 7 – Drew Brees, QB, NO

No. 8 – Chris Johnson, RB, TEN

No. 9 – Darren McFadden, RB, OAK

No. 10 – Larry Fitzgerald, WR, ARI

No. 11 – DeMarco Murray, RB, DAL

No. 12 – Rob Gronkowski, TE, NE

Second-Round Targets

Cam Newton, QB, CAR

The Carolina Panthers QB should be the next off the board if Brady, Rodgers and Brees go in the first. He’s got tremendous upside and had one of the best statistical seasons of any signal-caller in the league last year, which is even more impressive considering he was a rookie.

If your league counts throwing TDs as four points and rushing as six, Newton assumes even more value, as he’s proven able to punch a ton of scores in on the ground.

Andre Johnson, WR, HOU

Johnson was injured for much of last year and didn’t have a top QB throwing at him when he was healthy late in the season, which is why you should take him as an undervalued player in the second round of a PPR league.

He’s been one of the most consistent WRs over the past decade and should continue to put up solid numbers in 2012, especially now that Matt Schaub is back under center.  

Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, JAX

MJD’s holdout is hurting his stock in fantasy tremendously. If he ends up signing a contract, which could happen any day now, he’s still one of the premier rushers in the league.

While Rashad Jennings will likely start Week 1, MoJo’s value will be far higher than his draft position if you get him in the mid-to-late second.