Fantasy Football 2018: Top-50 Player Rankings and 4-Round 12-Team Mock Draft
July 31, 2018
We're about to head into the month of August, so it's time to start thinking more and more about fantasy football and your draft strategy.
Things change plenty from year to year in terms of who the first-round draft picks will be and their slotting in that round.
Exciting rookie prospects like New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley have entered the league and will impact your fantasy league in a gigantic way.
Here, let's look at some fantasy football rankings as well as a four-round mock draft to give you an idea of what to prepare for when you draft this month and into September.
Top 50 Rankings
1. Todd Gurley
2. Le'Veon Bell
4. David Johnson
5. Ezekiel Elliott
6. Alvin Kamara
7. Saquon Barkley
8. DeAndre Hopkins
9. Julio Jones
10. Odell Beckham Jr.
11. Melvin Gordon
12. Leonard Fournette
13. Kareem Hunt
14. Michael Thomas
15. Keenan Allen
16. Davante Adams
17. A.J. Green
18. Mike Evans
19. Doug Baldwin
20. Dalvin Cook
21. Rob Gronkowski
22. Christian McCaffrey
23. T.Y. Hilton
24. Devonta Freeman
25. Tyreek Hill
26. Travis Kelce
27. Adam Thielen
28. Jerick McKinnon
29. Larry Fitzgerald
30. Aaron Rodgers
31. Zach Ertz
32. Stefon Diggs
33. Jordan Howard
34. Joe Mixon
35. Golden Tate
36. Alex Collins
37. Josh Gordon
38. Allen Robinson
39. Alshon Jeffery
40. Kenyan Drake
41. Tom Brady
42. Demaryius Thomas
43. Russell Wilson
44. Michael Crabtree
45. LeSean McCoy
46. JuJu Smith-Schuster
47. Amari Cooper
48. Jarvis Landry
49. Jay Ajayi
50. Derrius Guice
Round 1
Team 1: Todd Gurley, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Team 2: Le'Veon Bell, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Team 3: Antonio Brown, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers
Team 4: David Johnson, RB, Arizona Cardinals
Team 5: Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Dallas Cowboys
Team 6: Alvin Kamara, RB, New Orleans Saints
Team 7: Saquon Barkley, RB, New York Giants
Team 8: DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Houston Texans
Team 9: Julio Jones, WR, Atlanta Falcons
Team 10: Odell Beckham Jr., WR, New York Giants
Team 11: Melvin Gordon, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
Team 12: Leonard Fournette, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Round 2
Team 1: Kareem Hunt, RB, Kansas City Chiefs
Team 2: Michael Thomas, WR, New Orleans Saints
Team 3: Keenan Allen, WR, Los Angeles Chargers
Team 4: Davante Adams, WR, Green Bay Packers
Team 5: A.J. Green, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
Team 6: Mike Evans, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Team 7: Doug Baldwin, WR, Seattle Seahawks
Team 8: Dalvin Cook, RB, Minnesota Vikings
Team 9: Rob Gronkowski, TE, New England Patriots
Team 11: T.Y. Hilton, WR, Indianapolis Colts
Team 12: Devonta Freeman, RB, Atlanta Falcons
Round 3
Team 1: Tyreek Hill, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
Team 2: Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs
Team 3: Adam Thielen, WR, Minnesota Vikings
Team 4: Jerick McKinnon, RB, San Francisco 49ers
Team 5: Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Arizona Cardinals
Team 6: Zach Ertz, TE, Philadelphia Eagles
Team 7: Stefon Diggs, WR, Minnesota Vikings
Team 8: Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers
Team 9: Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals
Team 11: Jordan Howard, RB, Chicago Bears
Team 12: Alex Collins, RB, Baltimore Ravens
Round 4
Team 1: Josh Gordon, WR, Cleveland Browns
Team 2: Allen Robinson, WR, Chicago Bears
Team 3: Alshon Jeffery, WR, Philadelphia Eagles
Team 4: Kenyan Drake, RB, Miami Dolphins
Team 5: Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots
Team 6: Demaryius Thomas, WR, Denver Broncos
Team 7: Michael Crabtree, WR, Baltimore Ravens
Team 8: Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks
Team 9: JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers
Team 11: Amari Cooper, WR, Oakland Raiders
Team 12: Jay Ajayi, RB, Philadelphia Eagles
Saquon Barkley, RB, New York Giants
It doesn't happen all that often, but when a talent like Barkley comes around, you can't help but pay attention.
Booked as a first-round pick in the above mock, Barkley has all the tools and opportunity to thrive with the Giants. The team hasn't had much in the way of a running game since Ahmad Bradshaw nearly a decade ago, but now it has a phenom on its hands.
In years past, the Giants have also suffered from a horrific offensive line. This offseason, the Giants addressed that by signing left tackle Nate Solder and drafting guard Will Hernandez.
With quarterback Eli Manning getting older, they'll need to rely more on the running game to protect him.
Even with Manning aging, their skill-position players—especially on the receiver depth chart—will not allow for defenses to stack to the box against Barkley.
When you need to defend talents like wide receiver Sterling Shepard and Odell Beckham Jr. and tight end Evan Engram, you can't solely focus on Barkley or you'll get burned one way or the other.
Barkley is on pace for a season similar to that of Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott when he ran for 1,631 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Rob Gronkowski, TE, New England Patriots
Missing two games in 2017, Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski still managed to catch 69 passes for 1,084 yards and eight touchdowns.
That was with a roster that had Brandin Cooks and Danny Amendola at wide receiver.
In 2018, Cooks and Amendola are both gone. Though they are getting fellow wide receiver Julian Edelman back from an ACL tear, he's suspended the first four games of the season.
That leaves a receiving depth chart of Gronk and wide receivers Chris Hogan and Jordan Matthews as the main options, at least for the first four games (Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans.
None of those teams ranked above 20th in defense-adjusted value over average (DVOA) against opposing tight ends in 2017. Their personnel at the positions that defend tight ends is relatively the same.
Don't hesitate to draft Gronk. He will be a fantastic asset to have in 2018.
LeSean McCoy, RB, Buffalo Bills
With how tumultuous his offseason has been with domestic violence allegations, Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy presents some obvious risk.
Since the initial accusation, though, McCoy has reported to training camp and his accuser, his ex-girlfriend Delicia Cordon, has said that she's not certain whether or not he was involved.
According to Bills insider Chris Brown, the Bills are letting the police handle the investigation and McCoy will be at camp in the meantime:
For fantasy purposes, McCoy is in a backfield all by himself with either a rookie quarterback in Josh Allen or an inexperienced one in AJ McCarron. He'll get the majority of the snaps with Chris Ivory behind him on the depth chart.
Touching the ball 346 times in 2017, there's no reason that McCoy wouldn't reach or eclipse that in 2018, especially with the quarterbacks around him.
There's some risk if the NFL does suspend McCoy, so that's why you're seeing him go a bit later in the mock posted up above.
If he's there for 16 games, he's in RB1 range.
Statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference and Football Outsiders.