Fantasy Football Mock Draft On ESPN: Starting Amon-Ra St. Brown At 1.07

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Today’s mock draft will be:

12 teams
Full PPR
3WR
ESPN ADP

Take a look at the entire draft here.

Recapping A 12-Team ESPN Fantasy Football Mock Draft

1.07: Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, Detroit Lions

I’m more tempted to draft running backs early this year than I have been in quite some time.

But in a 3WR, full PPR format, Amon-Ra has to be the selection.

You can make the argument that St. Brown is the third- or fourth-safest player in Round 1. You want consistency? Look no further than St. Brown, who has finished as the WR4 in fantasy each of the past three seasons. St. Brown has averaged 159.3 targets, 1,393 yards and 11 touchdowns over the last three years. He’s coming off a career-high 172 targets, though that number is likely to drop significantly entering 2026. Though not as much as Jameson Williams, St. Brown did benefit from the absence of Sam LaPorta, averaging 11.3 targets and 89.5 receiving yards per game in eight outings with LaPorta sidelined. Assuming LaPorta stays healthy, St. Brown will likely slide into the 145-150 targets, which is obviously still elite.

The Lions will once again have a new playcaller in Drew Petzing, but the passing game will continue to run through St. Brown. Since 2023, no player has more third-down targets than Amon-Ra’s 134, while his 32.4% third-down target share during that span is the second-highest in football. When push comes to shove, we know where Jared Goff is going with the football.

2.06: A.J. Brown, WR, New England Patriots

I debated between Brown and Derrick Henry, but I wanted to experiment with a WR-heavy approach with this draft. Plus, in a full-PPR league, Brown likely gets the edge over Henry anyway.

Brown’s final season with the Eagles is mostly viewed as a disappointment, which is fair, but he still impressed in plenty of metrics:

29.5% target share (6th)
25% TPRR (10th)
14.7 PPR PPG (10th)
2.1 YPRR (16th)

We should fully expect Brown to play a larger role than Stefon Diggs, New England’s (sort of?) WR1 last year, played. In his lone year in New England, Diggs accounted for 21% of the targets, while drawing a look on 24% of his routes. Solid numbers, but he was hardly a full-time player. Diggs ran a route on just 68% of dropbacks during the regular season, which ranked outside the top-50 wideouts. Overall, Diggs finished as the WR21 in PPR PPG. Assuming Brown runs way more routes, a top-five ceiling is in play.

3.07: Chris Olave, WR, New Orleans Saints

The definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting different results. Well, I’ve been drafting Olave in Round 3 over and over again in drafts, and I’m expecting the same results.

And they’re all good.

Olave was a fine third-round pick with a healthy Jordyn Tyson. But with Tyson set to miss around two months, Olave should really be coming off draft boards at the 2-3 turn. Last season, Olave already benefited from added volume once the Saints traded Rashid Shaheed last season. From Week 10 on, Olave dominated, posting a 31% target share and 27% TPRR. The next closest wideout? Devaughn Vele at 18% and 16%, respectively.

I love getting Olave as my third wide receiver in this draft.

4.06: Emeka Egbuka, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Let’s keep loading up this wide receiver room, shall we?

If I wasn’t already deploying a WR-heavy start, I likely would have considered Josh Jacobs to lead my running back room. But because it’s a 3WR format, I get to start Egbuka at my FLEX in a PPR league, giving me an advantage over any other team out there. So that’s fun.

I’m excited to not only see Egbuka (and Baker Mayfield) back to full strength, but also back in the ‘Z’ receiver role.

5.07: Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Tuten as my RB1 obviously isn’t the most ideal scenario, but that’s what you have to expect when you start your draft with four straight wide receivers. Tuten’s floor remains to be seen, but there is a clear ceiling here. Tuten should operate as, at the very worst, the 1A in this backfield. And because Liam Coen’s scheme is conducive to fantasy success, that’s exciting. We just saw Travis Etienne finish as the RB13, and a lot of it was buoyed by schemed usage in the pass game. Etienne ranked third among running backs in screen routes (21), first in targets (12) and second in receptions (9). Tuten, meanwhile, posted strong collegiate receiving numbers (13% target share).

6.06: Jadarian Price, RB, Seattle Seahawks

Price continues to trend upward for me, especially the more work he gets as a pass catcher throughout the Seahawks’ camp. He’s set to lead the Seattle backfield for at least the first half of the season, and given the first-round draft capital, Price should see plenty of work right out of the gate. Since 2016, running backs selected in the first round of the draft are averaging 17.9 touches and 89.6 scrimmage yards per game, while logging around 63% of the snaps. Price is a good player who would have made a lot more noise if he wasn’t backing up the best running back in the country in Jeremiyah Love.

7.07: Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Arizona Cardinals

I admittedly haven’t really drafted Harrison much at all this summer. And honestly? If Jonathon Brooks didn’t come off the board two picks ahead of me, Harrison once again wouldn’t be on my roster.

But while Harrison’s NFL career hasn’t been what we expected so far, there is undeniable upside with him as my WR5. In fact, there’s nothing but upside.

8.06: Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Gainwell is obviously going to see a boost in PPR formats, so I was pleased to draft him in the middle of Round 8. No, he won't lead the Bucs in receiving like he led the Steelers last season, but as one of the game’s best pass-catching and pass-protecting running backs, he should take Bucky Irving off the field on third down and two-minute situations, giving him 50-catch upside.

I’d prefer him as my RB4, but in this receiver-heavy build, I’m okay with him as my RB3, while I can always put him in my FLEX if I’m ever in a pinch.

9.07: Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs

I debated between Kelce and Dallas Goedert for my starting tight end, but with this being a full PPR draft, I sided with Kelce. The efficiency and playmaking continue to decline, but Kelce should once again be able to haul in 70-plus passes from Patrick Mahomes. And given my strength at wide receiver, a solid floor is all I really need at tight end.

10.06: Brock Purdy, QB, San Francisco 49ers

Purdy remains vastly underrated, and while people may become concerned with all of the injuries in San Francisco, he’s proven he can produce regardless of who is on the field.

This past season, practically every skill position player not named Christian McCaffrey missed time for the 49ers. Purdy himself missed time, but on 200 dropbacks with both George Kittle and Ricky Pearsall off the field, he completed 68.1% of his passes, averaged 7.7 yards per attempt, 1.67 passing touchdowns per game and 0.60 fantasy points per dropback. How about back in 2024, when McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk missed so much time? With both players off the field, Purdy dropped back 525 times, completing 66% of passes, while averaging 8.5 yards per attempt, 257.6 passing yards per game and 0.51 fantasy points per dropback.

Since 2023, Purdy’s 18.5 fantasy points per game rank sixth-best among all signal callers. And last year, despite injuries to all of his pass-catchers, Purdy still averaged 19.7 fantasy points per contest (QB6).

Final Roster From My ESPN Fantasy Football Mock Draft

QB: Brock Purdy
RB: Bhayshul Tuten
RB: Jadarian Price
WR: Amon-Ra St. Brown
WR: A.J. Brown
WR: Chris Olave
TE: Travis Kelce
FLEX: Emeka Egbuka
K: Jason Myers
DST: Jaguars
Bench: Marvin Harrison Jr.
Bench: Kenneth Gainwell
Bench: Woody Marks
Bench: Mike Washington
Bench: Zach Charbonnet
Bench: Ja’Kobi Lane

Players Mentioned in this Article

Amon-RaSt. Brown
WRDET
PPG
15.5
Proj
236.3
A.J.Brown
WRNE
PPG
11.6
Proj
206.4
ChrisOlave
WRNO
PPG
13.7
Proj
205.4
EmekaEgbukaQ
WRTB
PPG
9.5
Proj
182.7

Published Aug 25, 2026, 4:00 AM ET