Fantasy Football mock draft: Zero-WR gambit highlights our second August 0.5 mock

One manager tests the depth of the wide receiver pool with a different strategy

By Jamey Eisenberg

Aug 18, 2021 at 10:59 am ET • 3 min read

USATSI

Heath Cummings tried something Tuesday night in our latest 12-team, 0.5 PPR mock draft that we don't see much of these days. He started his team with a tight end in Round 1, a quarterback in Round 2 and didn't draft a receiver until Round 6.

You've heard of Zero RB, right? Well, Heath went Zero WR in this mock draft, and his roster has plenty of positives with a few negatives. Let's take a look at his team.

The tight end at No. 6 overall was Travis Kelce, and Heath drafted Patrick Mahomes in Round 2. That's arguably the best stack for any quarterback-receiver combination, and it should work out great for Heath on most weeks.

His next three picks were running backs with D'Andre Swift, Darrell Henderson and Josh Jacobs, and one of those will be Heath's flex option. There's a lot to like about these first five picks, and Heath is strong at quarterback, running back and tight end. And now the fun begins.

Heath's next seven picks were spent on receivers in JuJu Smith-Schuster, Robby Anderson, Deebo Samuel, Marvin Jones, Terrace Marshall, Henry Ruggs and Rashod Bateman. This is a good group, but it's filled with backup singers and no star. Smith-Schuster and Anderson are quality starters, but everyone else is a question mark.

I like Jones as a sleeper, especially with D.J. Chark (hand) hurt. But I didn't like the Samuel pick in Round 8, and I would have gone with someone with more upside like Will Fuller, Jaylen Waddle, Elijah Moore or Mike Williams, who were all available.

We'll see how this works out for Heath, and hopefully at least three of his receivers come through to complement Mahomes, Kelce and his trio of running backs. If that happens, as well as Swift, Henderson and Jacobs playing close to their draft value, Heath should have a solid squad.

I like that Heath experimented with a new roster build, but I'm sure next time he will prioritize receivers over the running backs after starting his team with Kelce and Mahomes. It's hard to sacrifice receivers in this format.

I took a more balanced approach with my team from No. 12 overall, starting with Saquon Barkley and Jonathan Taylor. I love the potential of those two running backs, who have fallen in drafts because of injury concerns. If healthy, both are stars.

It worked out great when I ended up with CeeDee Lamb in Round 3 and Cooper Kupp in Round 4. Now, I have two elite running backs and two top-15 receivers. I followed that up with Dak Prescott in Round 5 and Travis Etienne in Round 6, and this team is oozing with upside.

I rounded out my receiving corps with Antonio Brown, Laviska Shenault and Darnell Mooney, and I also drafted lottery ticket running backs in Tony Pollard, Darrel Williams, Xavier Jones and Damien Williams. My receivers are in great shape, and if any of these backup running backs get the chance to start this year then this team is loaded.

There is a giant hole, however, and that could be at tight end. I waited too long to address the position, so I drafted Blake Jarwin with my final selection in Round 15. My choices at that point were Jarwin, Mike Gesicki and Evan Engram, and I went with Jarwin for the Cowboys stack. Most likely, unless Jarwin is a capable Fantasy starter, I will be streaming tight ends this year.

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, FLEX (RB/WR/TE) and DST. There also are six reserve spots for a 15-round draft.

Our draft order is as follows:

1. Dave Richard, Senior Fantasy Writer
2. Andrew Rossow, Podcast Listener
3. Sam Lopez, Podcast Listener
4. Meron Berkson, CBS Sports HQ Producer
5. R.J. White, Managing Editor, SportsLine and CBS Fantasy
6. Heath Cummings, Senior Fantasy Writer
7. Adam Aizer, Fantasy Football Today Podcast Host
8. Jacobs Gibbs, SportsLine Fantasy Analyst
9. Jack Capotorto, CBS Sports HQ Producer
10. Scott Engel, SportsLine Fantasy Analyst
11. Chris Towers, Senior Editor, Fantasy
12. Jamey Eisenberg, Senior Fantasy Writer

So which sleepers, breakouts and busts should you target and fade? And which QB shocks the NFL with a top-five performance? Visit SportsLine now to get Fantasy cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called Josh Allen's huge season, and find out.