Fantasy Football Picks 2018: 2-Round Mock Draft, Top Keeper Rankings and Advice

Strap in, fantasy footballers—this is when your draft preparation process shifts into overdrive.

With August inching toward its close, this is peak mock-drafting season. Inexact science though it may be, faux drafts are still helpful evaluation tools in that they mimic the unpredictability of what happens when people get put on the clock and often have roughly a minute to make their move.

Hopefully, you've done some homework ahead of time, but that only goes so far. There isn't a rankings sheet that can account for an unexpected early run on quarterbacks or those random defense/special teams or kicker picks that an owner makes several rounds too soon.

Still, having a sturdy knowledge base can make you better equipped to adapt to those curve balls. We'll help get you up to speed with both a mock draft and keeper-league advice for a 12-team, non-PPR setup.

Mock Draft

Don Wright/Associated Press

Round 1, Pick 1: Le'Veon Bell

R1, P2: Todd Gurley II

R1, P3: Ezekiel Elliott

R1, P4: David Johnson

R1, P5: Antonio Brown

R1, P6: Saquon Barkley

R1, P7: Kareem Hunt

R1, P8: Leonard Fournette

R1, P9: Alvin Kamara

R1, P10: Odell Beckham, Jr.

R1, P11: Melvin Gordon

R1, P12: Dalvin Cook

Round 2, Pick 1: Julio Jones

R2, P2: DeAndre Hopkins

R2, P3: Jerick McKinnon

R2, P4: Michael Thomas

R2, P5: Devonta Freeman

R2, P6: Davante Adams

R2, P7: Rob Gronkowski

R2, P8: A.J. Green

R2, P9: Keenan Allen

R2, P10: LeSean McCoy

R2, P11: Mike Evans

R2, P12: Jordan Howard

Because our hypothetical league doesn't reward additional points for receptions, this mock is even heavier on early running back picks than normal. It's hard to find high-volume ball-carriers anymore, so those who can approach 30 touches in a game are uber-valuable.

That, more than anything, pushes Le'Veon Bell to the top. He not only led the NFL with 406 touches last season, he also had a 60-touch lead on second place (LeSean McCoy).

While it would be reassuring to see Bell emerge from his holdout sooner rather than later, that's not an entirely worrisome development. His franchise tag makes 2018 another contract year and potentially sends his stats skyrocketing.

And remember, we're talking about someone who rushed for 1,291 yards, added another 655 yards on receptions and scored 11 total touchdowns last season.

Also, no, your eyes aren't mistaking you—there are no quarterbacks in our two-round mock.

As dominant as Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady are, the depth at that position is staggering. The same can't be said of skill positions, however, hence the early run on running backs and wideouts.

"There is simply no reason to invest in any quarterback in the first five—perhaps 10—rounds of a single-quarterback draft," Eric Karabell wrote for ESPN Insider. "There is ample depth here—definitely more than 10 quarterbacks worthy of being a fantasy starter—and streaming the position remains a decent plan."

If you want a Rodgers or Brady type, no one is stopping you. You're the puppet master here, so pull the strings however you'd like.

But the rewards for waiting to address the signal-caller spot can be rich. As the average draft position shows, Drew Brees is slipping to the sixth round (6.05), Cam Newton is still there in the seventh (7.02) and Matthew Stafford, who passed for 4,446 yards and 29 touchdowns last season, is going at the back end of the eighth (8.12).

Top 20 Keeper Rankings

Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

1. Odell Beckham, Jr.

2. Todd Gurley II

3. Ezekiel Elliott

4. DeAndre Hopkins

5. Saquon Barkley

6. Le'Veon Bell

7. David Johnson

8. Alvin Kamara

9. Kareem Hunt

10. Antonio Brown

11. Michael Thomas

12. Leonard Fournette

13. Dalvin Cook

14. Mike Evans

15. Keenan Allen

16. Davante Adams

17. Julio Jones

18. A.J. Green

19. Stefon Diggs

20. Christian McCaffrey

If keeper leagues are done properly, they are immensely entertaining—provided the initial talent grab treated your team well.

Widening the lens beyond a single season forces the same kind of big-picture thinking that real-life executives undertake on a daily basis. Not to mention, there's a deeper sense of ownership over your team, since it (hopefully) has the same anchors from year to year.

Age and injury history are giant factors here, since the pursuit is less about a single championship than it is perpetual dominance. Keeper owners might also shy away from the boom-or-bust types, since successful dynasties all rise from a sturdy foundation.

Quarterbacks dip even further down these rankings for a couple reasons. Positional scarcity continues to increase the value of skill players, and the ticking clocks of a Brady (41 years old), Brees (39) or even Rodgers (35 in December) can shrink the size of championship windows.

If Beckham can avoid the injury bug, he's as exciting as it gets for keeper leagues. Wide receiver isn't the most consistent position, but the New York Giants top wideout makes it seem as such. 

His average game over his first four seasons includes 6.7 receptions, 94.1 yards and 0.8 touchdowns. Stretched out over 16 games, that'd be good for 107 catches, 1,506 yards and 13 scores. Last season, that would have made him third in receptions, second in yards and tied for first in touchdowns.

For further context, only six players have ever produced a season with that many grabs, yards and touchdowns.

Beckham turns 26 in November. His best days are theoretically ahead of him.

In other words, if you're fortunate enough to roster Beckham in a dynasty league, enjoy having the ideal building block and have fun forming a powerhouse roster around him.

Statistics used courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com. Average draft position (ADP) obtained via Fantasy Football Calculator.