Tom Strachan | Tue, Jul 30th 2024, 5:57am EDT

Fantasy Football Mock Draft: How to Approach Pick 1.12 (2024)

The NFL season will be here faster than expected. Before that comes the all-important fantasy football drafting season. What better way to prepare for your fantasy football draft than completing FREE mocks with our fantasy football mock draft simulator?

This series will give you an overview of what you can expect to see no matter which first-round pick you draw. In what feels like a very strong first round in 2024, nailing your picks will be more important than ever.

Let’s dive into our approach for the fantasy football 1.12 pick for upcoming drafts. We look into the players likely to be available, those to target/avoid and a mock draft from the pick to help you prepare for your fantasy football league.

Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Pick 1.12

Let’s dive into our approach for the fantasy football 1.12 pick for upcoming drafts. We look into the players likely to be available, those to target and avoid and a mock draft from the pick to help you prepare for your fantasy football league.

Players to Consider at 1.12 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

Here are players likely to be available when you make your selection:

Players to Target at 1.12 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

If available, you should target these fantasy football players at the 1.12 draft pick.

Garrett Wilson (WR – NYJ)

So far through Garrett Wilson‘s young NFL career, he’s caught passes or at least been targeted by quarterbacks like Zach Wilson, Joe Flacco, Mike White, Chris Streveler, Trevor Siemian, Tim Boyle and briefly took the field with Aaron Rodgers. Even at 40 years of age and coming off an Achilles injury, Rodgers is still by far the best quarterback Wilson will have played with. Wilson has posted an identical 56.5% catch rate in both of his seasons in the NFL and it shouldn’t be surprising to see that jump a good amount this year. The biggest concern will be whether the Jets play slowly and their defense keeps the games low-scoring. Rodgers has always had his favorites in the red zone and Wilson can thrive as long as someone keeps Nathaniel Hackett from being too involved.

Drake London (WR – ATL)

Perhaps no player improved their fortunes this offseason quite as much as Drake London did with the addition of quarterback Kirk Cousins. Desmond Ridder ranked 66 out of 68 quarterbacks in Pro Football Focus (PFF) passing grade in 2023 and averaged 10 fewer catchable passes per game than Cousins did. Going from a low-volume inaccurate quarterback to a highly accurate, pass-first offense can do wonders for London, who has averaged a miserable 4.27 receptions per game through 33 NFL games. It’s not outlandish to think that number will double in 2024.

Yes, you are paying a premium for a player who hasn’t ‘done it’ yet, but London is a player who deserved to be picked eighth overall in the 2022 NFL Draft. The only thing that’s held him back is no longer a factor in his outlook.

Players to Avoid at 1.12 Fantasy Football Draft Pick

Here are a few potential fantasy football draft landmines that you should avoid.

Saquon Barkley (RB – PHI)

Having just turned 27 years old this offseason, Saquon Barkley isn’t necessarily past it just yet, but he’s played over 14 games just once in the last three years. Through seven seasons, he has only three 1,000-yard seasons. Barkley finds himself playing on the best offense and with the best offensive line of his career now that he’s made the intra-division jump to the Eagles, but there are still reasons to be pessimistic.

Barkley has averaged 293 receiving yards per season over the last three years, falling below 1.0 yards per route run in two of the last three and having not been above 1.5 since his rookie season. The Eagles threw the ball to RBs at the 12th-lowest rate last year, which doesn’t help Barkley’s case. This is before we mention Jalen Hurts‘ prowess at the goal line, having 16 rush attempts inside the 5-yard line (eighth-most) while converting 13 into touchdowns.

Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR – ARI)

The Cardinals selected Marvin Harrison Jr. with the fourth overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft as they try their best to surround Kyler Murray with enough talent to help him succeed and return value on his contract. Harrison is currently the WR8 in average draft position (ADP), which for a rookie is awfully high.

When Justin Jefferson entered the league in 2020, he had 88 receptions for 1,400 yards and finished as the WR11 in PPR formats. Ja’Marr Chase had 81 receptions for 1,455 yards a year later and finished as the WR5. This is the level that Harrison has to ascend to in his rookie season to pay off. Still, the associated cost is much higher than before, with Jefferson available as WR48 in his rookie year and Chase as WR29.

There is an upside to Harrison, but at this cost, there is also a downside with the other wide receivers in this range being easier clicks.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft from the 1.12 Pick

We used our FREE fantasy football mock draft simulator to show you an example of a draft from the 1.12 position. You can sync your league for free and mock draft against your fantasy football league settings to prepare more specifically for your draft. Here’s how our fantasy football mock draft from the 1.12 position turned out.

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