Most of our analyst drafts at CBS Sports have a lot of the same Fantasy managers, namely Adam Aizer, Heath Cummings, Dave Richard, and myself. Thankfully, we have a big roster of people who draft with us, but when you do as many mock drafts as we do, you tend to know how everyone builds their teams.
Every now and then someone does something a little different, which happened with Will Brinson in our latest 12-team, 0.5-PPR mock draft. Will did something most of you have been doing based on the CBS Sports Average Draft Position data, which is drafting Saquon Barkley in Round 1 (his ADP is No. 9 overall). Will drafted Barkley at No. 6 overall, ahead of Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, and Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Now, I'm excited about Barkley this season with his move to Philadelphia, but I couldn't draft Barkley in that spot. He was the No. 4 running back behind Christian McCaffrey, Breece Hall, and Bijan Robinson, which isn't crazy, but I would rather have the receivers who went after Barkley in this format.
After drafting Barkley, Will didn't do anything else shocking. He drafted Josh Allen as his quarterback. Along with Barkley, his top running backs are Tony Pollard and Chase Brown. His top receivers are Drake London, Jaylen Waddle, and Diontae Johnson, and Dalton Kincaid is his tight end. On the bench, Will has Romeo Doubs, Khalil Shakir, Brandin Cooks, Dontayvion Wicks, and Rashod Bateman at receiver, with Trey Sermon as his lone reserve running back.
It's a solid squad, and if you're like Will and believe that Barkley can be a top-five running back, then don't hesitate to draft him in the first round. He should have a standout campaign leaving the Giants for the Eagles with massive upgrades in offensive line and quarterback play.
I had the No. 10 overall pick, and I took the best player available for the most part at the start of the draft with A.J. Brown, Kyren Williams, Travis Kelce, Josh Jacobs, and Tank Dell with my first five picks. In Round 6, I drafted Rashee Rice, and this could be a great selection if he's not suspended for any games this year.
I drafted Ladd McConkey in Round 7, and this draft was done before we knew Justin Herbert (foot) was injured. If I could redo this selection, I probably would have drafted a running back instead, and the guys who went after McConkey were D'Andre Swift, Tyjae Spears, and Brian Robinson Jr.
Dak Prescott was my selection in Round 8, and I closed the draft by focusing on running backs with Gus Edwards (Round 9), Blake Corum (Round 10), MarShawn Lloyd (Round 12), and Elijah Mitchell (Round 13) with four of my final six picks. I also drafted Rashid Shaheed in Round 11 and Demario Douglas in Round 14.
I like this roster a lot, and I handcuffed my top running backs here (Williams and Jacobs), which isn't something that I planned to do. But Corum and Lloyd give me insurance should something happen to Williams and Jacobs, and both could be special talents if ever given starring roles.
In this league, all touchdowns are worth six points, and we award one point for every 10 yards rushing and receiving and one point for every 25 yards passing. We also award 0.5 points for every reception. We feature a starting lineup of QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE and FLEX (RB/WR/TE) with six reserves for a 14-round draft.
Our draft order is as follows:
1. R.J. White, Managing Editor, SportsLine and CBS Fantasy
2. Daniel Schneier, Senior Fantasy Editor
3. Dave Richard, Senior Fantasy Writer
4. Jack Capotorto, CBS Sports HQ Producer
5. Zach Brook, FFT Social Media Coordinator
6. Will Brinson, Senior NFL Writer
7. Joel Cox, CBS Sports VP Business Development
8. Jacob Gibbs, SportsLine Fantasy Analyst
9. Heath Cummings, Senior Fantasy Writer
10. Jamey Eisenberg, Senior Fantasy Writer
11. Adam Aizer, FFT Podcast Host
12. Thomas Shafer, FFT Podcast Producer
