Fantasy Football 2018: Examining Expert Mock Drafts After Preseason Week 3

Fantasy football advice isn't hard to find. If you have the time to listen, your family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors, barbers, doctors and delivery drivers all have "expert" opinions to offer.

Valuable fantasy football advice requires a certain level of research. But the time invested can reap big rewards, as perhaps the only feeling better than claiming the largest portion of the prize pool is having bragging rights over your league mates for the better part of a year.

Since the start of the actual 2018 NFL season is just around the corner, we'll help you digest some of the best data out there by rounding up mock drafts from three fantasy experts and examining the rationales behind their rosters.

Fantasy Football Expert Mock Drafts

Jamey Eisenberg, CBS Sports (2nd Pick)

12-Team, 0.5 PPR

Kelvin Kuo/Associated Press

1. Todd Gurley, RB, Los Angeles Rams

2. Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Cheifs

3. Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals

4. Kenyon Drake, RB, Miami Dolphins

5. Marquise Goodwin, WR, San Francisco 49ers

6. Jamison Crowder, WR, Washington Redskins

7. Cooper Kupp, WR, Los Angeles Rams

8. Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers

9. D.J. Moore, WR, Carolina Panthers

10. Marqise Lee, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

11. Keelan Cole, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

12. Devontae Booker, RB, Denver Broncos

13. Theo Riddick, RB, Detroit Lions

14. Stephen Gostkowski, K, New England Patriots

15. New Orleans Saints D/ST

16. Chester Rogers, WR, Indianapolis Colts

If you've sought out any fantasy football advice in recent years, then people preaching the merits of waiting to draft a quarterback probably sounds like a broken record.

But this is why the message keeps being repeated. Eisenberg used his first seven picks on skill players, grabbing last season's top scorers at running back (Gurley) and tight end (Kelce). Then, when he finally went QB at pick No. 95, he came away with Newton—last season's second-best signal-caller and seventh-highest scorer overall.

Despite this being a three-wideout league, Eisenberg's early run on running backs was done "by design to see how my team would look by waiting on receivers."

This wasn't the most inspiring group before Lee went down with a season-ending knee injury. (This draft was held before the injury.) Now, it really needs Goodwin and Crowder to produce like the No. 1 targets their respective depth charts say they are. It could also use a sophomore leap from Kupp, plus a big freshman effort out of Moore.

Finally, the decision to grab Gostkowski ahead of the kicker run could be a nice boost. It happened late enough that there weren't great skill options left—the pick was sandwiched between Doug Martin and Javorius Allen—and there's little reason to think Gostkowski will fall back from last season's second-place finish.

Field Yates, ESPN (6th Pick)

12-Team, Non-PPR

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

1. Antonio Brown, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

2. Davante Adams, WR, Green Bay Packers

3. Jerick McKinnon, RB, San Francisco 49ers

4. Marshawn Lynch, RB, Oakland Raiders

5. Greg Olsen, TE, Carolina Panthers

6. Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots

7. Kelvin Benjamin, WR, Buffalo Bills

8. Cooper Kupp, WR, Carolina Panthers

9. Jeremy Hill, RB, New England Patriots

10. Cameron Meredith, WR, New Orleans Saints

11. John Brown, WR, Baltimore Ravens

12. Rishard Matthews, WR, Tennessee Titans

13. Ryan Grant, WR, Indianapolis Colts

14. Rob Kelley, RB, Washington Redskins

15. Stephen Gostkowski, K, New England Patriots

16. Atlanta Falcons D/ST

This could be coincidence based on how the draft board broke down, but the start seems a bit mechanical as if Yates was checking off positional boxes along the way—two wideouts, two running backs, a tight end, a QB.

It'll be interesting to see what type of value he extracted with those picks.

The Brown-Adams tandem will be tough for any team to top. Adams paced the NFL in touchdown catches over the last two seasons (22), and he should be even more active with Jordy Nelson out of the picture. During that same time frame, Brown sat second in scoring grabs (21), receptions (207) and receiving yards (2,817).

If McKinnon proves durable enough to be a three-down back (he's already missed time with a calf strain), he'll get a ton of touches as San Francisco's new $30 million man in the backfield. He's best in a PPR format, but he's an upside play in any format.

Lynch, on the other hand, is best in this scoring setup. Despite being 32 years old, he also has potential both for what he showed late last season (86.8 rushing yards per game over his final five contests) and how he might shine under new head coach Jon Gruden.

Olsen is a bit of a question mark after an injury-riddled 2017 season, but he's always been a safety net for Newton and that might be more true with Benjamin in Buffalo. Finally, Brady is somehow always Brady—he's averaged 4,487.9 yards and 32.4 touchdowns over the past seven seasons.

Tyler Loechner, Pro Football Focus (9th Pick)

12-Team, PPR

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

1. Julio Jones, WR, Atlanta Falcons

2. Michael Thomas, WR, New Orleans Saints

3. Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Arizona Cardinals

4. Kenyan Drake, RB, Miami Dolphins

5. Dion Lewis, RB, Tennessee Titans

6. Greg Olsen, TE, Carolina Panthers

7. Marquise Goodwin, WR, San Francisco 49ers

8. Duke Johnson, RB, Cleveland Browns

9. James White, RB, New England Patriots

10. Andrew Luck, QB, Indianapolis Colts

11. Kenny Stills, WR, Miami Dolphins

12. Adrian Peterson, RB, Washington Redskins

13. Bilal Powell, RB, New York Jets

14. Antony Miller, WR, Chicago Bears

15. Wil Lutz, K, New Orleans Saints

16. Detroit Lions D/ST

Like Eisenberg, Loechner approached this mock with an eye on experimentation and utilized the "Zero RB" strategy.

"There really isn't a hard-and-fast definition for 'Zero RB,' but generally speaking, if you go non-RB-heavy to begin the draft, you're kicking off with a 'Zero RB' strategy," Loechner wrote.

It's an interesting approach in this golden era of passing. Whether it works in this case depends largely on the workloads and effectiveness of Drake and Lewis. Both could be facing timeshares—Lewis, at least, is definitely splitting carries with Derrick Henry—but each is the most versatile option in his backfield.

It's also worth noting that the final three running backs taken on this team could all find their way atop their respective depth charts. Whether they'd provide consistent value from those spots might be a different discussion, but it's hard to argue with the opportunity when these are the fourth, fifth and sixth running backs on a team that purposely neglected the position.

This wide receiving corps is phenomenal. The only challenge will be finding ways to work in Goodwin, Stills and Miller when the top three don't have byes, since the league only starts two wideouts and one flex.

Ultimately, though, this club's fortunes might be riding on Luck. In the not-so-distant past, that'd be a great thing—like when he threw for 4,240 yards and 31 touchdowns in 2016. But he's coming off a season lost to shoulder surgery, and he didn't exactly set the world on fire this preseason.

"It took all the way up to Andrew Luck's final series in the preseason for the first-team offense to score a touchdown," ESPN.com's Mike Wells observed. "...The first-team offense scored 16 points, had six punts and an interception in 11 series with Luck in the preseason."

Statistics used courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference and NFL.com.