Early Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Hero Wide Receiver Strategy with Puka Nacua, Amon-Ra St. Brown and More

We are about eight weeks from the start of the NFL season. That means fantasy football drafts are going to be here before we know it, with early birds already getting underway. I prefer a later draft; so many injuries happen in football, and though they can happen at any time, I like the idea of letting owners get as much information as possible before choosing teams.

It's never too early to start planning, though, and mock drafts are a great way to practice and get a feeling for what your ideal team would look like. With that in mind, I have begun trying different strategies in mock drafts to see what works best for my preference.

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Strategy

For the mock draft I will share below, I had the last pick in a 10-team, standard-scoring snake draft. With running backs flying off the board early, I went with the strategy of grabbing two stud receivers and then essentially ignoring that position the rest of the draft.

The players are mostly interchangeable with others in the same draft range, but it's a good look at the type of guy that is available at different points.

Picks No. 10 and 11: WR1s

Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams

Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit Lions

These guys are both seen as top-six receivers and top-11 players overall in standard leagues according to our FantasySP ADP rankings. That means they were good value picks on top of locking down my receiver spots. Both Nacua and St. Brown would be expected to fill the two WR slots essentially every week.

There's a little risk with each: Nacua missed 6 1/2 games at the beginning of last season and sat out a meaningless Week 18, lowering his overall impact. His per-game numbers were actually a little better in receptions and yards than in his rookie season; Nacua should be right back to making a major impact.

St. Brown has been incredibly consistent over his four seasons, finishing between 90 to 119 catches and 912 to 1,515 yards in each. The concern with St. Brown (and the whole Detroit offense) is how they will perform without offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who left to become Chicago's head coach. The high-level players and offensive line are still there, so I have faith, but I can understand anyone who is hesitant.

You could slot in a few other guys who fit the bill, but I would be elated to walk away with these two receivers as my top players.

Picks No. 30, 31, 50, 51, 70,71, 90, 91: Spamming Running Backs

Joe Mixon, Houston Texans

Breece Hall, New York Jets

James Conner, Arizona Cardinals

D'Andre Swift, Chicago Bears

Tony Pollard, Tennessee Titans

Kaleb Johnson, Pittsburgh Steelers

Cam Skattebo, New York Giants

Travis Etienne, Jacksonville Jaguars

Running back is my favorite fantasy position to draft. Even with the league moving toward major passing, fewer good backs are available, meaning they are a hotter commodity in the early rounds. No matter which strategy I choose to follow, I always end up loading up on RBs. In this case, I drafted eight straight, going with a quantity-over-quality method after skipping the top guys.

Mixon, Hall, and Conner are veterans from whom we know what to expect. There is always more risk with older backs, and Mixon and Conner will be 29 and 30, respectively, this whole season. Hall is younger (24 all season) and maybe more reliable just based on what we expect with the aging curve.

Swift and Pollard play on teams that greatly improved their offensive lines over the past two offseasons to help protect the most recent No. 1 picks, Caleb Williams and Cam Ward. Those QBs surely appreciate the reinforcements, but the running backs will also reap the benefits. Swift also gets Johnson as his new coach, the architect of one of the best running games in football the last few years (though the players also deserve a lot of credit).

Johnson and Skattebo are rookie dart throws. Each could get starting reps by the end of the season, and there's not a ton of risk when taking them in the eighth and ninth rounds, where players are more toss-ups than anything.

A former first-round pick, Etienne hasn't lived up to that billing (I'm against the first-round running back in essentially every case in the NFL Draft). Though Etienne out-snapped Tank Bigsby last year, the latter carried the ball 18 more times and gained nearly a full yard more per attempt. My interest in Etienne is more about his pass catching: he was fourth on the team in receptions in 2024, and new coach Liam Coen was the offensive coordinator for Tampa Bay last year, where Rachaad White caught 51 passes out of the backfield. If Etienne can replicate that output, he will be a valuable fantasy player, especially in PPR.

Picks No. 110 and 111: Filling Positions

TE Tyler Warren, Indianapolis Colts

QB Justin Fields, New York Jets

Each of the past two seasons, there has been a rookie tight end who burst onto the scene and was immediately a top fantasy guy. Sam LaPorta was the player in 2023, then Brock Bowers came through last year and topped everything LaPorta did. That doesn't mean there will be another star in 2025, but Warren is most likely to fit the bill. He was seen as one of the top tight ends in the draft and went to a team with no one standing in his way from getting full reps. In the 11th round, that's a worthwhile investment at a mostly fungible position.

Running quarterbacks are better in fantasy than non-running QBs. Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, and the like are at the top of the scoring list every season; rushing yards are worth more than passing yards, and it's even better when you can combine the two. Fields was QB6 in 2022 when he played 15 games, the most he has ever played in a season. Injuries are a real concern, but there's no one else on the Jets who is going to take his job. I don't expect Fields or New York to be good in real life, but he has the upside of a top-10 fantasy quarterback (though that's far from a lock).

With either of these guys, it would be smart to pair them with another player at the position who has a higher floor, but both Warren and Fields are worthy upside plays, especially late in the draft.

Picks No. 130 and 131: Depth Wide Receivers

Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco 49ers

Rashod Bateman, Baltimore Ravens

There are generally positional limits, and I was only allowed eight running backs, so the rest of the bench needed to come from other positions. Two wide receivers isn't enough; a couple guys with upside late made sense. (This is also where another QB or TE could fit nicely.)

Aiyuk is currently going in the last few rounds (or undrafted) and is valued at $0 or $1 in auctions. He is coming off a torn ACL, and he is expected to miss at least the first month, but there have been some positive reports indicating that he could return soon after those first four weeks. Especially if your league has an IR spot, Aiyuk is a great stash candidate with big-time upside who you can drop any time if you need to.

Bateman could be replaced with about 50 other guys this late in the draft with a similar outlook; I took him because he was a name near the top of the remaining players list at the time. The final bench player you draft is highly unlikely to stay on your roster the whole season, so don't stress too much about who you grab. Look for upside and/or a stash guy, like Aiyuk.

Picks No. 150 and 151: Defense and Kicker

Arizona Cardinals D/ST

Jake Elliott, Philadelphia Eagles

Waiting until the last three rounds for your kicker and defense has been accepted as the best strategy, and I have no reason to argue. They are the most inconsistent fantasy performers from year to year and rely on luck as much as skill more than other positions.

The Cardinals have added really good players and high draft picks to their defense the past two offseasons, and they start the season against the Saints and Panthers. That's a pretty good streaming outlook, usually the path I take with defenses.

Elliott is on one of the most high-powered offenses in the league. They go for it on fourth down as much as anyone else, taking away field goal opportunities, so I understand the logic of going elsewhere, but I also prefer kickers on the teams that score the most. After further thought, I'll probably skip Elliott unless all other good options are off the board because of Philadelphia's propensity to go for the end zone instead of settling.

Conclusion

While this isn't a bad way to build a team, I still prefer a stud running back (or two) right away. RBs are volatile, so some owners prefer to not spend high picks on them; just look at Christian McCaffrey last season. Injuries can happen to anyone, though, and the sheer number of feasible fantasy receivers pushes me toward early backs while knowing I can find receivers later in the draft and in free agency easier.

I would be fine walking away with this roster with the thought that I can find another receiver or two throughout the season and even use the copious running backs as trade bait for the owner who didn't prepare.