Examining Fantasy Football 2025 Expert Mock Drafts After Preseason Week 1

The wait is over, fellow fantasy footballers.

Opening kick of the 2025 NFL season is merely weeks away, which means we're either entering into or already knee-deep in mock draft season.

Experts might be more like neck-deep at this point, which means they should be at the top of their mock drafting game. The information gleaned from their mocks should be invaluable, then, so let's dissect three recent expert mocks and see what we can take away from each one.

12-Team PPR Mock

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A recent 12-team, PPR mock featuring multiple B/R analysts showed a near even split of wide receivers (13) and running backs (11) taken across the first two rounds. No other positions were touched until the third round, when two tight ends (Brock Bowers at 29 and Trey McBride at 36) and one quarterback (Josh Allen at 36) came off the board.

Beyond the positions, a few selections stood out in the early rounds.

Tyreek Hill was the first pick of the second round, which feels pretty reach-y given his average draft position is 28th overall, per FantasyPros. While his first two years with the Miami Dolphins were fantasy magic, the third go-round was much more pedestrian: 81 receptions for 959 yards and six scores.

Christian McCaffrey was a second-round selection here, which isn't unique to this mock but still feels notable given the gap between his enormous upside and season-sinking downside. Omarion Hampton also cracked the top 20, which might be a touch aggressive, but it makes some sense given the uncertainty around Najee Harris, who was put on the non-football injury/illness list ahead of training camp with an eye injury.

12-Team, Half-PPR Mock

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Some members of Yahoo's fantasy staff joined forces on this recent industry mock. While it opened with three consecutive wide receivers—Ja'Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb and Justin Jefferson, in that order—it saw six running backs taken over the next seven picks.

The fourth back off the board was McCaffrey, who played four forgettable games last season and 16 incredible ones the year prior. In 2023, there may not have been a better player in football, fantasy or real-world. The risks are still very real particularly this early in the draft, but the 2023 payoff was 2,023 scrimmage yards and 21 touchdowns.

Nico Collins and Amon-Ra St. Brown both lasting until the second round was surprising. Collins has had trouble staying on the field, and St. Brown saw a slight decrease in targets last season, but each could be a tremendous value outside of the opening round.

On the quarterback front, three signal-callers went in the third round. Lamar Jackson was the first pick of the round, and Josh Allen went right after. Jayden Daniels was later snatched up 33rd overall. While we'd generally advise to wait until later rounds to address the position, it's at least more manageable if you're grabbing an elite in the third round instead of the second.

12-Team PPR Superflex Mock

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While the superflex format—which adds quarterbacks to the list of eligible positions for the flex spot—isn't the most popular in fantasy, it is being played by many. ESPN's fantasy crew recently held a 12-team mock in this format, so we felt compelled to include it for all of the superflexers in the crowd.

The first round was unique, in ways you'd expect and maybe some you wouldn't. While quarterbacks made up five of the first eight picks, there were just as many running backs taken in the first round (five apiece). For the non-math majors out there, that left just two picks to be spend on receivers: Ja'Marr Chase, who went first overall, and Justin Jefferson, who went fifth.

Four more quarterbacks went in the second round, but the positions were still evenly dispersed. The first 24 picks featured nine quarterbacks, eight running backs and seven receivers. The early quarterbacks were all who you'd expect to see, but in this format, the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Bo Nix, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray all cracked the second round.

Quarterbacks continued being a priority, as multiple signal-callers were selected in each of the first eight rounds. Because that position was hit so hard, it opened up bargain buys elsewhere, like Brian Thomas Jr. (No. 30) and A.J. Brown (No. 35) in the third round, Drake London (No. 37) and Tyreek Hill (No. 45) in the fourth and Kenneth Walker III (No. 54), Breece Hall (No. 55) and George Kittle (No. 60) in the fifth.