Fantasy Football Mock Draft On Yahoo: Drafting From The 1.01
Adam Pfeifer conducted a fantasy football mock draft using Yahoo settings, drafting Jahmyr Gibbs from the 1.01 to start.
For this edition of our mock drafts, we turn our attention toward Yahoo. We’ll be using their fantasy football ADP to complete a 12-team, 0.5 PPR mock draft. Of course, as always, we’ll be using the Fantasy Life Draft Champion mock draft simulator.
Take a look at the entire draft board here.
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Fantasy Football Mock Draft on Yahoo
1.01: Jahmyr Gibbs | RB | Detroit Lions
I believe this is the first mock I’ve done from the leadoff spot. This season, I want to be on either end of the draft instead of the middle. And because I’m typically between picks 10-12, let’s see what a 1.01 squad looks like, shall we? Obviously my choice came down to Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson. Both players are elite, but when push comes to shove, I’m leaning toward the player in the much better offense.
Advantage Gibbs.
Like Robinson, Gibbs has also split work with a good, power running back to open his career. Since joining the Lions in 2023, David Montgomery has averaged a healthy 14.1 touches per game, while accounting for 46% of Detroit’s designed rush attempts during that span. Most of the time, the Lions would deploy an every-other-drive approach with their backfield, though once Dan Campell took over playcalling duties last year, the shift towards Gibbs began to intensify.
From Week 10 on, Gibbs accounted for 63% of the rush attempts, 21% of the targets and handled 19.4 touches per game. Prior to that, Gibbs was averaging 17.8 touches per game, while handling 52% of the rush attempts and a 14% target share. That may have been the precursor to Montgomery’s trade to the Texans.
Sonic now stands alone.
We have a very fun, totally sustainable split of Gibbs playing games with Montgomery sidelined over the last few seasons. In six career games without Montgomery, Gibbs has averaged absolutely gaudy numbers:
- 19.7 carries
- 5.2 targets
- 110.8 rushing yards
- 36.5 receiving yards
- 24.3 touches
2.12: Nico Collins | WR | Houston Texans
After landing the top running back in fantasy, I knew I wanted to double tap receiver on the turn, especially in a 3WR league. Nico Collins comes off the board after DeVonta Smith and Rashee Rice in this draft, despite his Yahoo ADP actually being higher than both players.
From a fantasy perspective, his target volume isn’t quite the same as other players around him, which has capped his upside a bit. Since 2023, Collins’ 24% target share is good, not great. Of course, Collins makes up for it with stellar efficiency, trailing only Puka Nacua in YPRR during that span (2.75). And despite C.J. Stroud’s decline since his rookie year, Collins has still posted fantasy finishes of WR9 and WR8 over the last two seasons.
Volume and injury (he’s yet to play more than 15 games) could keep Collins toward the low-end WR1 status, especially if the Texans continue to rely on their elite defense to win games. But on a per-target basis, he’ll be as good as most wideouts in football.
3.01: George Pickens | WR, Dallas Cowboys
Lately, if I have been drafting a wide receiver in the third round, more often than not it’s been Chris Olave. But I wanted to differentiate a bit in this exercise. Plus it’s half-PPR, which leans toward George Pickens a bit. Always a talented player, Pickens’ full potential wasn’t unlocked during his tenure with the Steelers.
Luckily the Cowboys had the key.
Brian Schottenheimer and company helped Pickens truly breakout during his first year in Dallas, altering his role a bit. During his three seasons in Pittsburgh, Pickens ran go routes 31.4% of the time, the ninth-highest rate in all of football during that span. His 43 targets and 760 receiving yards off go routes were both the most in the league, too. But Pickens had to work so hard to get the football, as the Steelers simply viewed him as a vertical, field-stretching, contested-catch wideout. Pickens ran in routes just 6.2% of the time during his Steelers tenure, including just 2.8% during his final season.
In Pickens’ first season with the Cowboys, he ran in routes a career-high 11% of the time, while any in-breaking route made up 38% of his usage. In his final season in Pittsburgh, just 27.7% of his routes were either slants, in, posts or crossers. On those routes last year, Pickens averaged 7.9 yards after the catch per reception, the fifth-most among wide receivers, while only Puka Nacua had more receiving yards (501).
4.12: Travis Etienne | RB | New Orleans Saints
Given the news that Alvin Kamara will miss the first month or so of the season, Travis Etienne with the final pick of Round 4 feels like a massive value. With a huge component of Etienne’s fantasy production from last year coming from the passing game, any Kamara absence is huge for him to maintain that role. Under Liam Coen in Jacksonville last year, Etienne saw 49-of-52 targets on first down. For however long Kamara is sidelined, Etienne could now take on more of a third-down role.
5.01: DJ Moore | WR | Buffalo Bills
To kick off Round 5, I land my WR3 in DJ Moore, who has top-15 upside alongside Josh Allen. All reports out of Buffalo have been very positive, while the rapport with his new quarterback seems to be growing rapidly by the day.
6.12: Chris Godwin | WR | Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This feels a bit early for Chris Godwin, especially in a half-PPR setting. But when you are at the turn, you have to take a stance on the players you like and throw ADP out the window.
Because odds are that player isn’t making it back to you.
A fully healthy Godwin in a slot role is still exciting to me. Godwin is averaging 0.48 fantasy points per route run from the slot over his last 16 contests, compared to 0.36 points per route when aligned elsewhere. Now OC Zac Robinson deployed 11 personnel only 45% of the time with the Falcons last year, but during his first season in Atlanta, the Falcons led the league in three-wide rate (86%). And the personnel in Tampa Bay clearly favors three wide receivers on the field more often than not, which could mean added target competition for Godwin, but also guarantees a heavy slot role.
And even if the Bucs have plenty of viable pass catchers on the field, there’s a good chance Baker Mayfield can support multiple fantasy starters. Since joining the Bucs in 2023, Mayfield ranks seventh in the NFL in passing yards per game (239.9), while his 32.9 pass attempts per game also rank seventh. During that span, Mayfield has also averaged 10.2 pass attempts per game to slot receivers, the sixth most in football, while only Patrick Mahomes has more total passes to the slot than Baker’s 521.
7.01: Jaylen Warren | RB | Pittsburgh Steelers
Admittedly, this wasn’t the most exciting selection of the draft. Jaylen Warren is likely to split work with Rico Dowdle, though his floor in the pass game makes him an ideal FLEX/bench player.
This past season, a whopping 31.7% of Aaron Rodgers’ pass attempts were at or behind the line of scrimmage, the highest rate among qualified signal-callers. He also led the NFL in pass attempts within one to two seconds from the snap (193), making up a healthy 39% of his total pass attempts. 24% of his passes went to the running back position, one of the highest rates in football, which explains Kenneth Gainwell’s absurd 73-catch season.
In 2024, Warren logged 79% of Pittsburgh’s long-down-and-distance snaps, as well as 78% of the two-minute work. But this past season, those rates dropped to 25% and 16%, respectively. With the Steelers replacing Gainwell with Dowdle this offseason, we could easily see a return to 50-60 catches from Warren, especially with Mike McCarthy coming in to run the offense.
8.12: Quentin Johnston | WR | Los Angeles Chargers
Quentin Johnston showcased his upside to start last season. During Weeks 1-4, Johnson was on a tear, scoring 4 touchdowns, while averaging 9.0 targets, 5.5 receptions, 84.3 receiving yards and 19.9 PPR PPG. In that small sample, Johnson was the WR4 in fantasy points per game, while his 25% target share led the Chargers. Meanwhile, his 38% air yardage share not only led the team, but was also a top-20 rate among qualified receivers during that span.
From that point on, the Chargers offensive line fell apart, crippling the entire offense. Now (mostly) healthy with a huge upgrade in offensive playcaller in Mike McDaniel, Johnston is a very intriguing later-round receiver to target.
9.01: Dallas Goedert | TE | Philadelphia Eagles
Because it would be a while until my next pick, I knew I had to solidify my starting tight end. Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews and Dallas Goedert are all ranked closely for me, but I went with Goedert given his intriguing splits without A.J. Brown. Since 2023, Goedert has been targeted on over 25% of his routes with Brown off the field.
10.12: Brock Purdy | QB | San Francisco 49ers
Purdy remains one of the most underrated quarterbacks in both real life and fantasy. Let’s just hope his pass catchers can stay healthy.
Final Roster of Yahoo Fantasy Football Mock Draft
QB: Brock Purdy
RB: Jahmyr Gibbs
RB: Travis Etienne
WR: Nico Collins
WR: George Pickens
WR: DJ Moore
TE: Dallas Goedert
FLEX: Chris Godwin
K: Jason Myers
DST: Jacksonville
Bench: Jaylen Warren
Bench: Quentin Johnston
Bench: Aaron Jones
Bench: Mike Washington Jr.
Bench: Jalen Coker
Bench: Ja’Kobi Lane
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