Fantasy football St. Jude PPR mock draft 3.0 recap: Managers load up early on elite RBs like Bijan Robinson

As I sat down to write the recap to our latest 12-team, PPR mock draft, I got a text from a friend just starting his Fantasy Football prep. He said, "It's got to be a running back year." If that's how you feel, then this mock draft was for you.

This is our third mock draft to benefit the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as part of our 2025 Fantasy Football Today Draft-A-Thon. We have already exceeded our goal to raise more than $100,000 for St. Jude, which is awesome, but we're not done. We appreciate all of your donations in helping us make that happen, and you can continue to donate by going here.

One way you can contribute to our Draft-A-Thon while also helping your Fantasy Football prep for this season is to take part in one of our mock drafts. And this one from Tuesday night was fun, especially in Round 1 with all of the running backs.

Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley, Jahmyr Gibbs, Christian McCaffrey, De'Von Achane, Ashton Jeanty and Derrick Henry all went in the first round. The FantasyPros Average Draft Position data has six running backs in Round 1 -- Achane is at No. 13 overall -- so this could be the norm.

In this draft, receivers like Nico Collins, Brian Thomas Jr. and Amon-Ra St. Brown fell to Round 2, and you can make a case for all of them to go in Round 1 in this format. But the managers in this draft preferred the running backs early.

It was a surprise that no one went RB-RB to start their team, and we only had Josh Jacobs and Chase Brown get selected in Round 2. It was also a surprise to see Jonathan Taylor, Kyren Williams and Bucky Irving fall to Round 3 since typically those running backs are selected in the second round.

Kenneth Walker III, Breece Hall, Omarion Hampton and James Cook also went in the third round, which meant we had 16 running backs drafted in the first 36 overall selections. And there were six managers who had two running backs through Round 3 (Adam Hawn, Larry Graham, Logan Kelley, Adam Aizer, Dan Gray and Tony Bisciotti).

Tony's team was interesting because he started with CeeDee Lamb at No. 4 overall, and then he selected three running backs in a row with Brown, Irving and Chuba Hubbard, who can be his flex. His No. 2 receiver is Tetaiora McMillan, and he drafted his No. 4 running back (Tank Bigsby) before his No. 3 receiver (Stefon Diggs). You should check out the rest of his team to see if you like this roster build.

Two managers waited until Round 4 to draft their first running back (Grahame Kelley and Todd Rones). Grahame's first running back was TreVeyon Henderson after he drafted Ja'Marr Chase, Trey McBride and Ladd McConkey from No. 1 overall. And Todd's first running back was Alvin Kamara after he picked Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr. and George Kittle from No. 11 overall.

Todd has elite pass catchers in Nabers, Thomas and Kittle, and he also added Calvin Ridley, who could be his flex, along with Jordan Addison and Jayden Reed. And I like how his running back corps came together with Kamara, David Montgomery, Jaylen Warren, Jaylen Wright and Raheem Mostert. Todd didn't prioritize running back with his draft, but this should be a competitive roster, which you should check out below.   

I had a Hero-RB build with my team after drafting Gibbs at No. 5 overall. I then drafted Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams and Marvin Harrison Jr. with my next three picks before getting RJ Harvey in Round 5.

DeVonta Smith was incredible value in Round 6, and I couldn't pass on David Njoku in Round 7. But then I built out my running back corps with Jordan Mason, Rhamondre Stevenson and Jaydon Blue with three picks in a row, and I added a sleeper in Round 12 with Jacory Croskey-Merritt.

I'm thrilled with this roster, including Drake Maye at quarterback and Demario Douglas also on the bench. This should be a competitive team in this league.

As a reference point for this mock draft, 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 one point for every reception. We feature a starting lineup of QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, TE and FLEX (RB/WR/TE) with six reserves for a 13-round draft.

Our draft order is as follows:

1. Grahame Kelley

2. Adam Hawn

3. Larry Graham

4. Tony Bisciotti

5. Jamey Eisenberg, CBS Sports Senior Fantasy Writer

6. Rhett Bates

7. Logan Kelley

8. Vincent Giovannoni

9. Mike Renta

10. Adam Aizer

11. Todd Rones

12. Dan Gray