Tom Strachan | Wed, Mar 29th 2023, 7:12am EDT

Dynasty Rookie Mock Draft: PPR (2023 Fantasy Football)

It is always drafting season here at FantasyPros and thanks to the Mock Draft Simulator you can quickly simulate any scoring settings and play out the draft. In this article, we’re using the Simulator for a rookie mock draft, single QB full PPR. If we were to instead want Superflex or tight end premium it would have been easy to tweak the settings to allow for that by increasing the positional value in the settings. The Simulator has randomly assigned me pick six.

Dynasty Rookie Mock Draft

First Round

Like in most drafts, Bijan Robinson is the first player off the board. At this point, it would be surprising to see Robinson not be the 1.01 in Superflex drafts, and in single QB formats there should be no hesitation about taking the best running back prospect since Saquon Barkley with the first overall pick. Bryce Young is next off the board, followed by three wide receivers before our first pick. In single QB formats, there is some appeal to the idea of taking a quarterback here, both CJ Stroud and Anthony Richardson have appeal and look to be good fantasy options for the next few years. Richardson in particular could turn into a very valuable fantasy asset if he’s able to develop some of his fundamentals and techniques. Instead, though, Jahmyr Gibbs is the pick here, as he could have been the RB1 in other classes. At 5 feet 9 inches tall and 199lbs, Gibbs is slightly undersized, but his 4.36 speed and 80 receptions in the last two years show the ceiling he can deliver and the distance between Gibbs and the RB3 is sizable enough to feel there is a tier break we should take advantage of.

Following our pick the two quarterbacks, Stroud and Richardson, go off the board followed by Zach Charbonnet as the RB3 and Jalin Hyatt as the WR4. Will Levis becomes the fourth quarterback drafted, in some single QB drafts, but he might fall further than this into the second round, particularly if Levis lands in a spot where he might sit for a substantial period of time while working on his decision-making skills. To round out the first round, Zay Flowers is the fifth wide receiver, who looks set for a wide range of outcomes but continues to be taken highly in mock drafts and is well-liked by many of the draft community.

Second Round

To start the second round, we see two running backs get drafted in the first three picks with Zach Evans and Devon Achane. This is an area of the draft where it’s a good idea to take shots at running backs, with them having the potential to see their value increase significantly should they find their way into a large workload at any point. Josh Downs is the WR6 off the board and could likely be selected earlier in many drafts, he’s a high-upside player who many see as one of the better wide receivers of this class and if he can land in a positive situation he might be sneaking into the 1.09-1.11 range. At 2.04 the first tight end of the class is taken with Michael Mayer selected. Mayer projects to be an every-down player in the NFL thanks to solid blocking skills as well as a strong ability to catch the ball. That makes him an appealing option in fantasy drafts and in tight end premium leagues he will likely go even higher. Ahead of our second pick Kayshon Boutte is selected and it’s entirely possible that he falls much further than this. The one-time first-round prospect tested poorly at the NFL Combine and with off-the-field questions marks, he could be a third-round pick in fantasy rookie drafts. For our next selection, it’s a toss-up between Kendre Miller and Sean Tucker, both prospects are interesting players but I leaned towards Miller who had 1,399 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns in his final year in college. Miller looks like the kind of player NFL coaches will love and he could find his way onto the field early in his career. Sean Tucker is the next player taken before Marvin Mims, Israel Abanikanda, Tank Bigsby, Dalton Kincaid, and Evan Hull.

Third Round

Through two rounds we’ve seen nine running backs be selected, along with eight wide receivers, four quarterbacks, and two tight ends. Although the order might change, this feels quite similar to what we can expect in rookie mock drafts after we know the landing spots for all involved.

To start Round Three, Tyjae Spears is the first selection, followed by Cedric Tillman, Roschon Johnson, and Rashee Rice. One spot ahead of us Eric Gray is selected leaving us with a choice of some dart throw-type players. There could be an argument for taking Hendon Hooker here, as Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network continues to speak up Hooker, saying the NFL itself is much higher on him than the wider NFL community is and if he gains first round draft capital he will likely move into Round Two of single QB rookie drafts. Instead, the pick here is Darnell Washington, who is a 6-foot 7-inch tight end, weighing 264 lbs and still managing to run the 40-yard dash in 4.64 seconds. Washington isn’t an elite route runner but could be a fringe TE1 with the right landing spot and a scheme that allows him to see solid volume right away.

After our final pick Hendon Hooker does get drafted followed by Chase Brown, Parker Washington, Tanner McKee, Xavier Hutchinson, and Sam Laporta.

Conclusions

Thanks to the Mock Draft Simulator pulling on the expert consensus rankings, nothing here feels too out of the ordinary. Using the Mock Draft Simulator we can run many versions of this in a matter of minutes to see how things change when we take certain players in certain positions.

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Dynasty Rookie Mock Draft: PPR (2023 Fantasy Football)