Examining Fantasy Football 2025 Expert Mock Drafts After Preseason Week 2

Week 2 of the 2025 NFL preseason slate sounded an alarm across the fantasy football community.

Or it should have, anyway.

Opening kick of the actual campaign is less than two weeks away. If fantasy football preparations aren't finalized yet, managers should at least be putting the final touches on those plans.

To help with process, we're taking a spin through the digital sphere to find and analyze three recent expert mocks.

12-Team PPR Mock

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This recent mock, shared by CBS Sports' Jamey Eisenberg, admittedly alluded to "a shocking first-round pick" in its title, so perhaps its results are best served alongside several grains of salt. That said, since real-life talent grabs are prone to serve up surprises, it's worth seeing what happens when things don't go according to plan.

Things got off to an innocuous start with Ja'Marr Chase, Bijan Robinson, CeeDee Lamb and Jahymr Gibbs comprising the first five picks, but picks started popping out from there. Like De'Von Achane going fifth overall, Josh Jacobs shooting up to the No. 8 pick and Justin Jefferson sliding all the way to 11th.

Those were the biggest head-turners, but one other thing of note with this mock was the stipulation that all touchdowns were worth six points. That can increase the value of quarterbacks, since passing touchdowns are typically only worth four points, but these drafters didn't bother reaching for signal-callers.

Josh Allen (No. 23) was the only quarterback to crack the second round, while Lamar Jackson (No. 28) and Jayden Daniels (No. 30) went near their normal ranges. There was, however, an aggressive selection of Jalen Hurts (No. 32), who went about a half-round higher than he does on average.

12-Team Half-PPR

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This mock came courtesy of Yahoo's Dan Titus, who handled the No. 8 pick in an otherwise simulated draft. The expert also employed a "robust RB" strategy in which four of their first five picks were running backs.

How did that work out? Well, the first three picks all produced potential workhorse running backs with Christian McCaffrey, Josh Jacobs and Omarion Hampton. While this group has its share of risks—McCaffrey has a detailed injury history, Jacobs isn't much of a pass-catcher and Hampton is an unproven rookie—an optimist could see how this might work out in a big way.

But how much did that restrict the rest of the roster? Less than you might think, depending, of course, on your perspective about the players.

Garrett Wilson and Courtland Sutton comprise a fine starting tandem at wide receiver, and they were backed up by intriguing young fliers in Travis Hunter and Rome Odunze. Titus still managed to add Kyler Murray and Tyler Warren in the later rounds to fill out what appears to be a rather well-rounded starting lineup, despite such a heavy cost on running backs at the top.

10-Team PPR

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A recent 10-team PPR expert mock at ESPN highlighted how setting the market is a real thing.

The first two rounds came and went without one quarterback getting taken. But once Josh Allen was made the 21st pick, three of the next five selections were signal-callers: Lamar Jackson (No. 23), Jalen Hurts (No. 25) and Jayden Daniels (No. 26).

While a fourth-round pick of Joe Burrow (No. 32) didn't spark something similar, a late seventh-round selection of Patrick Mahomes (No. 67) arguably did, as two more quarterbacks came off the board over the next six picks: Baker Mayfield (No. 70) and Bo Nix (No. 73).

Nothing else was too notable—Brock Bowers leading off the second round and Puka Nacua reaching the middle of it were both mild surprises—but the market-setting and subsequent responses to it could be revealing. If you're planning on taking one of the top quarterbacks or tight ends, you won't want to wait too long to do it, since positional runs can dramatically change the draft board before things snake back in your direction.