Fantasy Football 2016: 5-Round Standard League Mock Draft, Potential Team Names

With less than one week before the 2016 NFL season begins, now is the perfect time to conduct a fantasy draft and avoid a potential roster disaster.

The preseason is over, which means the injury chances are significantly diminished barring a catastrophe occurring in practice. All of the players who will be taken, especially atop the draft, have largely been known for months and will not surprise anyone.

Filling out a mock fantasy draft can be arduous because all of us, like NFL teams during the actual draft, have different thoughts and opinions about how to build a roster.

This five-round mock does reflect my own personal tastes based on how I would rank each player. Since it is a condensed draft, it doesn't factor in all of the positions. Think of this as the best 50 players available and the order they should be selected.

Mock Draft

Round 1	Player Selection	Position
Round 2	Player Selection	Position
Round 3	Player Selection	Position
Round 4	Player Selection	Position
Round 5	Player Selection	Position
Team 1	Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings	RB
Team 2	Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh Steelers	WR
Team 3	Todd Gurley, Los Angeles Rams	RB
Team 4	Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys	RB
Team 5	David Johnson, Arizona Cardinals	RB
Team 6	Odell Beckham Jr., New York Giants	WR
Team 7	Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots	TE
Team 8	Lamar Miller, Houston Texans	RB
Team 9	Julio Jones, Atlanta Falcons	WR
Team 10	Devonta Freeman, Atlanta Falcons	RB
Team 10	Doug Martin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers	RB
Team 9	DeAndre Hopkins, Houston Texans	WR
Team 8	Mark Ingram, New Orleans Saints	RB
Team 7	Eddie Lacy, Green Bay Packers	RB
Team 6	LeSean McCoy, Buffalo Bills	RB
Team 5	Dez Bryant, Dallas Cowboys	WR
Team 4	A.J. Green, Cincinnati Bengals	WR
Team 3	Jonathan Stewart, Carolina Panthers	RB
Team 2	Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers	QB
Team 1	Allen Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars	WR
Team 1	Carlos Hyde, San Francisco 49ers	RB
Team 2	C.J. Anderson, Denver Broncos	RB
Team 3	Le'Veon Bell, Pittsburgh Steelers	RB
Team 4	Brandon Marshall, New York Jets	WR
Team 5	Jamaal Charles, Kansas City Chiefs	RB
Team 6	Alshon Jeffery, Chicago Bears	WR
Team 7	Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers	QB
Team 8	Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers	WR
Team 9	Thomas Rawls, Seattle Seahawks	RB
Team 10	Sammy Watkins, Buffalo Bills	WR
Team 10	Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers	QB
Team 9	Matt Forte, New York Jets	RB
Team 8	Brandin Cooks, New Orleans Saints	WR
Team 7	Amari Cooper, Oakland Raiders	WR
Team 6	Latavius Murray, Oakland Raiders	RB
Team 5	Demaryius Thomas, Denver Broncos	WR
Team 4	Jordan Reed, Washington	TE
Team 3	Keenan Allen, San Diego Chargers	WR
Team 2	Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks	WR
Team 1	Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks	QB
Team 1	Michael Floyd, Arizona Cardinals	WR
Team 2	Jordy Nelson, Green Bay Packers	WR
Team 3	Jarvis Landry, Miami Dolphins	WR
Team 4	Randall Cobb, Green Bay Packers	WR
Team 5	DeMarco Murray, Tennessee Titans	RB
Team 6	Jeremy Maclin, Kansas City Chiefs	WR
Team 7	T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts	WR
Team 8	Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts	QB
Team 9	Julian Edelman, New England Patriots	WR
Team 10	Matt Jones, Washington	RB

Top Team Names

Topic	Team Name
Best Gene Wilder Tribute	Springtime for Cutler
Best Name Thought in a Dorm at 2 a.m.	Excuse Me, Eiferted
Best "Game of Thrones" Reference	The Valyrian Steelers
Best "Big Lebowski" Spinoff	The Little Gronkowski Urban Achievers

More team names can be found at Reddit.com (warning: possible NFSW language and content).

Marquee-Player Conundrum

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

The two players hardest to place in this year's fantasy draft are Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

Bell and Brady will start the season suspended. Bell will miss the first three games, while Brady is down for four.

In a full 16-game season, Bell is probably the No. 1 overall pick. He was terrific in just six games last year with 556 rushing yards, 136 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

ESPN.com's Matthew Berry wrote in July after the NFL announced Bell's initial suspension that his stock shouldn't drop that much:

"

We project Bell to score 188 fantasy points in ESPN standard scoring this season in 12 games played, which works out to 15.7 points a game. Last season, those 188 points would have made him the third-best running back in fantasy. Bingo bango, let's slot him in at No. 3, right?

Of course, there are some off-field concerns, and he's been seriously injured the past two years, so we can drop him a little more and call it a day, right? He's great when healthy, but there's a definite risk there. Maybe he even misses another game for some reason ... OK, let's drop him into the 9-12 range and we're done here, yes?

"

It sounds good in theory, but asking fantasy players to invest a top-10 selection on a star who won't be back for three weeks is a significant risk given the depth at running back and value of other positions.

Would you rather have Bell for 13 games or Rob Gronkowski plus LeSean McCoy for all 16 games? I still have Bell as the No. 23 overall player in this draft despite his suspension and recent injury history, although a lot of analysts probably have him much higher.

Brady didn't even make it into the top 50 picks because missing a quarter of the season diminishes his value at a position where the top tier boasts tremendous depth. Ben Roethlisberger can have an off year and still end up with 4,500 yards and 30-plus touchdowns.

Drew Brees (37), who also didn't make the top 50, is going to throw the ball 600 times for 4,800 yards and 30 touchdowns. He avoided making a lot of mistakes last season—his 11 interceptions were his fewest since 2009—so even though age isn't on his side, the New Orleans Saints star has at least one more big year ahead of him.

Hayden Bird of Boston.com did a breakdown from three big fantasy sports sites (NFL.com, ESPN and Yahoo), with Brady's average draft position ranging from No. 51 to No. 75 overall.

Bob Leverone/Associated Press

Brady's upside is tremendous, with NFL.com scoring having the Patriots star trailing only Cam Newton in points among quarterbacks last season.

If your style of play is to carry only one quarterback, or if your roster is limited to just one, then Brady should not be on your radar.

Keeping Brady off your list is probably in your best interest anyway because elite quarterbacks can be found in Rounds 3 through 5; you won't have to worry about adding another one early because New England's signal-caller won't be around for the first month.

If you do have an opportunity to get Brady, the earliest to consider him is Round 6, as you can get by with a solid second-tier quarterback later in the draft since he'll only have to shoulder the burden for a few weeks until Brady returns.

The rest of the top 50 is self-explanatory and doesn't require deep analysis. Bell and Brady are the two question marks heading into the season. Both players will be fine when they debut, but their absence to start the year diminishes their impact for your fantasy team in 2016.