Fantasy Football Mock Draft, 12-Team PPR: Clyde Edwards-Helaire at No. 4

Fantasy football mock draft in a 12-team PPR league picking at No. 4.

Fantasy football draft season has finally arrived. With the 2020 NFL season set to kick off in under a month, the clock is ticking for fantasy football managers everywhere to get together with their league-mates, take out all of their notes and try to build a winner in their drafts. And one of the best ways to prepare for that is with a fantasy football mock draft.

One issue I often find with fantasy football mock drafts, however, is how they are devised. Many that you’ll see published feature 10-12 fantasy experts drafting together. But not only does that often encourage group-think within the industry, which is reflected in the draft results, but you likely aren’t drafting with fantasy experts. You’re drafting with friends, fans and so on.

Subsequently, to try and get an accurate representation of what an actual draft could look like, the aptest way to do so was to complete a fantasy football mock draft with the public. Using Fantasy Football Calculator for a 12-team PPR league (nine users, three computer autodrafts) and having the No. 4 pick in the snake draft format, here is how things played out.

Note: All stats are via Pro Football Reference. All 2019 fantasy scoring info via ESPN Fantasy.

Round 1

• Team 1 (1.01) – Christian McCaffrey, RB, CAR
• Team 2 (1.02) – Saquon Barkley, RB, NYG
• Team 3 (1.03) – Ezekiel Elliott, RB, DAL
• Team 4* (1.04) – Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, KC
• Team 5 (1.05) – Alvin Kamara, RB, NO
• Team 6 (1.06) – Dalvin Cook, RB, MIN
• Team 7 (1.07) – Derrick Henry, RB, TEN
• Team 8 (1.08) – Michael Thomas, WR, NO
• Team 9 (1.09) – Joe Mixon, RB, CIN
• Team 10 (1.10) – Miles Sanders, RB, PHI
• Team 11 (1.11) – Josh Jacobs, RB, LV
• Team 12 (1.12) – Kenyan Drake, RB, ARI

I started off with what some would likely consider a hot take. One of the reasons I wanted to get at the No. 4 pick in the draft was for this exact reason. McCaffrey, Barkley and Elliott, in whatever order, are the borderline consensus top-three picks in any fantasy draft. After that, it seems to often be Alvin Kamara and Dalvin Cook, the former especially in PPR leagues.

Chiefs rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire, however, is the bigger home-run swing with an also safe floor to me. He’s obviously already joining one of the best offenses in the NFL. But on top of that, he’s the perfect fit in that offense and the only seemingly real threat to his RB1 workload, Damien Williams, opted out for the 2020 season.

At LSU, Edwards-Helaire stood out as a prospect because of his usage in the passing game. He had 55 receptions in 2019, which is an absurd number for a running back. Andy Reid loves using his backs in the passing game and CEH is an ideal fit to do that while also being a talented runner in his own right.

People often say, “you can’t win your league in the first round but you can lose it.” I don’t subscribe to that whole-heartedly but I do believe you have to show a little guts at certain points in the first round. Pick No. 4 is a spot to do that and I have full confidence in Edwards-Helaire, assuming health, finishes as a top-five RB in fantasy.