We are deep within a mock draft season, and although point-per-reception leagues have become the majority of leagues, a good ole fashion standard league is always fun to join and compete in. These leagues emphasize touchdowns and running backs forcing you to change your default strategy and adapt if you want to take the title home in 2023. It’s important to practice drafting through the summer to prepare for the big day. And what better way to practice than using our FREE mock draft simulator?
Today, we will break down a 10-team standard mock draft to help you when it’s time to compete in your standard leagues this off-season. We will break down the picks, the strategy used, and why we selected certain players over others within the draft. We decided to take the middle of the draft and selected from the fifth pick; with that said, let’s get to our first pick and begin breaking down this team.
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Standard Mock Draft Strategy in 10-Team Leagues
1.05 Nick Chubb (RB – CLE)
Having Nick Chubb slide to the fifth pick is a blessing in this standard draft setup. The draft began with Bijan Robinson, Tony Pollard, Justin Jefferson, Christian McCaffrey, and Nick Chubb. However, on this list, you can argue that Nick Chubb is the best runner in the NFL and that it is a blessing for our fantasy team in this draft slot. Without Kareem Hunt, we can draft a three-down workhorse coming off of the most underrated 1,525 rushing yards in the last five years. Chubb once again averaged five yards per carry and posted a career-high in touchdowns with 13 total. Last year with Kareem Hunt on the roster, Chubb finished in the top 10 for backfield opportunities, and now his main competition is Jerome Ford. Volume is king, especially in a standard league, and this team is off to a perfect start with Nick Chubb.
2.06 Najee Harris (RB – PIT)
After the turn, we had Travis Kelce and Rhamondre Stevenson drafted from our boards, leaving us to choose from a few options to build this team. We can continue to create our volume and opportunities with Najee Harris or turn to wide receiver with Cooper Kupp and Tyreek Hill. Although the big play ability of Tyreek Hill was tempting, we drafted Najee Harris.
Najee Harris has landed in the same realm as players like Kirk Cousins. The name isn’t “sexy,” but they get the job done. Najee Harris is a volume machine with Mike Tomlin, whose coaching style loves to utilize one running back above a committee. Harris has also shown up to OTAs slimmed down and “looking explosive,” according to reports. If Harris can be explosive to pair with his surge at the end of the season (RB7 after his bye), we could be looking at our first two players handling the ball at a 250+ attempt total for 2023.
Once again, volume is king, opportunity matters, and Najee Harris had five games with 20-plus carries during the second half of 2022. Unless you believe Kenny Pickett is making a significant jump as a player in this offense, you should draft Najee Harris behind this restructured offensive line.
3.05 A.J. Brown (WR – PHI)
A golden rule in fantasy football is to draft players from good teams and good offenses. With that rule in mind, we selected A.J. Brown over wide receivers with new quarterbacks such as Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave. Last season, Brown finished WR4 overall. He had a top-ten finish in points per game (ppg) and reached a 29% target share within the explosive Philadelphia offense. He also finished second overall in yards per route and sixth in yards per reception.
The Eagles’ success hinges on utilizing the yards-after-catch ability and the size of A.J. Brown. Expect more of the same this season, with the Eagles looking to finish the story and not compete in the Super Bowl but win in 2023.
4.06 Miles Sanders (RB – CAR)
After seeing some of our favorite players come off the board, like Mark Andrews, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Jahmyr Gibbs, we land Miles Sanders to continue building our volume-based strategy in this mock draft. Miles Sanders will slot into our flex position most weeks and has the chance to bring us workhorse ability to this starting lineup. Frank Reich is a 1RB system type of coach, with his second running back seeing less than 25% of the carries in his tenure as a head coach. With Bryce Young‘s size concerns, Reich should lean on Miles Sanders to keep the hits away from his young franchise quarterback while allowing Bryce Young to slowly learn the game at a slowed-down pace for this season.
This system will lead to max volume for a player who signed a four-year deal and totaled over 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns the year before. The touchdowns may regress due to changing teams and inheriting a lesser offense, but the volume should increase and allow us to run those numbers back in 2023.
5.05 Lamar Jackson (QB – BAL)
Sadly, Jalen Hurts was drafted at 5.01 in this draft. However, Lamar Jackson fell into our laps at 5.05. Konami Code quarterbacks always lift your team’s potential ceiling as they can score through the air and on the ground. Especially in a standard league where PPR isn’t something to factor in, you need something to differentiate your team from the rest. Lamar Jackson’s mobile ability is incredible. He now has an offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, who wants to open up the offense, and the Ravens finally provided talented wide receivers to surround Lamar Jackson within 2023.
Lamar Jackson’s value is trending upward, and grabbing him in this position allows our starting lineup to have three running backs (Chubb, Harris, Sanders) plus a running quarterback. If all the running backs reach 200 carries and Lamar reaches 100 rushing attempts, we now have 700 plays this season to create fantasy points before he even throws a pass.
6.06 James Conner (RB – ARI)
James Conner has a beautiful situation in 2023. His starting quarterback Kyler Murray, a Konami Code within himself, will likely miss the beginning of the season and possibly the whole 2023 campaign. With Murray on the sideline, James Conner can shine as the focal point of this Arizona offense. Last season, Conner finished the last eight games as the RB4. He averaged 17 fantasy points per game during that span.
This season with their new head coach Jonathan Gannon leading the charge, the Cardinals will do their best to keep their woeful defense off the field and keep the ball out of their backup quarterback’s hands, leading to James Conner having the potential to touch the ball 250-300 times this season and is the perfect add on to our roster.
7.05 Terry McLaurin (WR – WAS)
Terry McLaurin can be a scary pick. However, we have seen him with worse offensive coordinators and worse quarterbacks deliver each year. In 2023, Sam Howell should be under center. In week 18, with Howell under center, Terry McLaurin saw a 33% target share. McLaurin is a perfect example of consistency regardless of his quarterback, as he has averaged 1,120 yards and 4.5 touchdowns in the last three seasons. Suppose Howell continues to hyper-target his favorite players (something that young quarterbacks do). In that case, we could see a positive upward trend for Terry McLaurin and his value on our fantasy team. This draft selection in the seventh round has some risk but some reward in our WR2 position.
8.06 Christian Kirk (WR – JAC)
Let’s mitigate the risk of our last draft selection with a player that can be the consistent target in his high-powered offense in Jacksonville. Last season Kirk set career highs in multiple categories. He had a 23.2% target share. Kirk also ranked 12th in deep targets, fifth in red-zone looks, and 22 in yards per route run. Although Calvin Ridley enters the picture in Jacksonville, Kirk’s contract demands he stays within the offensive as a prominent player. With the Jaguars’ easier strength of schedule (SOS) while facing both the AFC and NFC South, taking the swing at Kirk as a low-end WR2/ high-end WR3 is perfect for your lineups.
9.05 Mike Evans (WR – TB)
10.06 Jahan Dotson (WR – WAS)
11.05 Rashod Bateman (WR – BAL)
At this point in our mock, the players will be grouped together as they will be bench players who can provide upside and possibly work their way into starting positions on our team. The first player is Mike Evans, who has a rough situation in 2023 with the new starting quarterback Baker Mayfield. Mike Evans was the poster boy for consistency; last year showed his descent, and with Baker Mayfield, this is a risky play. However, he is a bench player. We reach for the upside here and know his snap percentage will not be affected by this offense. With his massive size, Evans could still give us contested catches and red zone looks, which is more than enough for us to draft him for depth on the bench in this mock.
Jahan Dotson was our next pick, and typically, drafting both wide receivers from a mediocre offense with a quarterback question is risky business for your lineup. However, the reward mitigates this risk in a standard league. Both Dotson and McLaurin can put touchdowns up in bunches. When Dotson returned from injury, we saw who he could be on the field, as he ranked 20th in target share and third in end zone target share.
With Eric Bieniemy leading this offense in Washington, one of these two Washington wide receivers is going to elevate their game and fantasy value. We also have two wide receivers who will be on a team having to play from behind, allowing for more passing opportunities, someone will emerge as the alpha in the offense, and until that happens, we have another wide receiver who has talent and skill to take over a game.
Rashod Bateman was our final wide receiver in this trio that we selected. With Lamar Jackson as our quarterback, we zero in on this wide receiver target to help us complete a stack and raise the ceiling for our fantasy team from week to week. Before his injury last season, Rashod Bateman was the WR34 in fantasy points per game and had an 18.8% target share within that period.
Bateman has talent in bunches; his most significant issue is staying healthy. In this round, taking a shot at talent is always a great move. We want to select people that can win us weeks when they have to enter our starting lineup or someone who can elevate our team because they outplayed their ADP; Rashod Bateman is the definition of that level of upside, especially when paired with his quarterback to complete the stack.
12.06 Pat Freiermuth (TE – PIT)
13.05Chigoziem Okonkwo (TE – TEN)
14.06 Jerome Ford (RB – CLE)
15.05 Daniel Jones (QB – NYG)
Our strategy of hammering home volume with our running backs and taking touchdown upside in our wide receivers has led us to push the tight end position into “dart throw” land. Thankfully, in round 12/13, we could take two styles of tight-end selections to cover a safer floor and upside. Our first selection with Pat Freiermuth allows our team to explore the safer floor from week to week with a tight end who totaled 98 targets finishing with 63 receptions for 732 yards. He is a crucial component of the Pittsburgh passing game and should continue to compile stats within this offense.
Next on our tight ends with unique names is Chigzoiem Okonkwo (Chig). Chig is interesting as he averaged 14.1 yards per catch and 9.8 yards per target. During this campaign, he flashed impressive speed and the ability to break tackles. With the bleak Tennessee Titans’ pass-catching options, Chig can become the second option within this offense. A strict rule of thumb when drafting tight ends is that they must be a priority in the offense (the third option or better). Chig allows us to take rare abilities and follow that rule; with Pat Freiermuth on our team, the risk is worth the reward in this round.
In the 14th round, we follow one of the oldest rules in fantasy football: “Handcuff your running backs.” To begin our draft by selecting Nick Chubb, we will now draft Jerome Ford. The Cleveland Browns’ offense is strong, and if Nick Chubb was to go down with an injury, we have the next man up in an offense that is above average in the NFL and can move the ball well on the ground. This selection is a precaution/depth draft selection and nothing more for our team.
Finally, we finish this draft by twisting the same handcuff rule. We have a quarterback with injury issues in the past with Lamar Jackson; therefore, we need someone on the roster who can change the game if needed when/if Lamar Jackson is out due to injury. Enter Daniel Jones. Jones is another mobile quarterback who can provide 700 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. The New York Giants have question marks at their wide receiver position. However, suppose Darren Waller returns to form, and the rest of the pass-catching options elevate their game. In that case, Jones can become a dangerous fantasy football option giving us two strong Konami quarterbacks to conquer the 2023 season.
Draft Board & Recap
That is our fantasy draft for this 10-team standard draft. We received an A (93 out of 100), our only “weakness” being our tight-end position. This team is projected to lead the league in overall value as well. If you want to see the rest of the advanced analysis, please check the draft analysis we provide here.
Remember to always read the fantastic work here at FantasyPros. If you ever need more help with your fantasy team, don’t hesitate to contact me on Twitter at @jpep20. Have a great 2023, and good luck!
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