Perfect Draft: 8th in a 12-Team ESPN PPR League

Aug 24, 2020

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There’s no sugar coating this one, the late-middle draft spots are rough this season. You miss out on the stud RBs, the top WR and possibly the top TE in Round 1, and you have to wait eight to nine picks before you’re even up again. One positive thing about having to draft in the murky middle is that you shouldn’t miss out on any positional runs from either side of the turn.

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In this draft, I’ll be looking to either take a pass-catching RB if one happens to fall since it is a full-PPR format, or select the best elite WR left. If Travis Kelce or George Kittle is on the board they will be in consideration, due to their high PPR projections that mirror some of the WRs that could be there for me.

In this article, I will walk through a perfect draft with the eighth pick in a 12-team ESPN PPR league. Each pick was optimized using projections and value-based rankings from the 4for4 Draft Hero tool.

Draft Hero Settings

Roster Settings: 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (WR/RB/TE), 1 Kicker, 1 DEF, six bench spots
No restrictions on when to draft positional players: I tend to be one of the last to draft a QB or sometimes TE, but I still like to be aware if players are falling in a specific draft. This feature sets Draft Hero apart so I keep no limits on recommendations.
No K or DST until the last two rounds: I prefer to stream both positions and would rather draft depth for my bench than select either a kicker or team defense before the last two rounds.
1 QB, TE, K, D/ST: For this mock, I want to simulate a league that has a more advanced approach to roster construction, so I’m switching the maximum number of the “onesie” positions to just one. This can be done by going to League Settings from the Home page and selecting the Rosters Tab. With only 15 rounds, this creates a more realistic approach to the modern draft.

For a comprehensive tutorial on setting up Draft Hero for your league, read our Draft Hero Walkthrough.

Jump to Pick: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Round 1, Pick 8 (8) - RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Chiefs

I was not expecting to take an RB here, but Clyde Edwards-Helaire fell to me and I’m always flexible on my draft picks. The software did not offer him as a top suggestion, but the ADP probably hasn’t caught up since Damien Wiliams decided to opt-out for the 2020 season.

CEH has a pretty clear path to touches in the Kansas City backfield and he’s been praised in camp as a fast learner with great vision. The Chiefs coaching staff has been working with his timing on screen plays, which instills confidence in him seeing plenty of targets in this high-octane offense. I wanted a pass-catching back and think I got him here in the first round.

Each round, Draft Hero suggests the top available suggestion along with four alternatives, as shown at the top of this section. Throughout the rest of the article, I will note those suggestions as well as my top alternative to the player that I actually selected.

My Top Alternative: Davante Adams

Round 2, Pick 5 (17) - TE - George Kittle, 49ers

Since I already zagged in this draft I decided to continue in the second round. I actually chose Draft Hero’s top non-QB option, but my normal tendency would be to take one of the elite WRs here like Julio Jones, or even Austin Ekeler since he’s a pass-catching RB. However, locking up a stud TE makes sense for me since I’m already committed to streaming both kicker and defense, so now I won’t have to worry about the position for the rest of the draft.

George Kittle was the TE2 in 2019, and may have been first, had he not missed two games with a knee injury. He‘s averaged 81 receiving yards per contest with five touchdowns each season since 2018 and the 26-year old led all TEs and WRs in broken tackles over the past couple of seasons. One reason I am good with Kittle this early is if we look at his 15.9 PPR points per tilt last year, it was right on par with Allen Robinson’s 15.9, who ended as WR7. Given positional scarcity, I like this pick here.

Suggested Alternatives: Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Julio Jones, Austin Ekeler

My Top Alternative: Austin Ekeler