Expert Fantasy Football Mock Draft Recap: 12-Team Half-PPR (June 2024)

The Summer is heating up, and in turn, so are the fantasy football player takes. This week, I rounded up 11 other fantasy football sickos to conduct a 12-team redraft mock in order to get an idea of how the fantasy community is perceiving player values.

All ADP will be from 4for4’s Underdog tool with rankings from 4for4 ranks. The full draft board will be posted at the bottom of the article, but you can jump to it here.

2024 Fantasy Football Mock Draft

• Roster Settings: 1QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1TE, 1 FLEX (RB/WR/TE), 6 Bench Spots
• Scoring of Note: Half-PPR

Draft Participants in Order:

1. Tee - @foulazztee

2. Rhett Dickens - @rhettdickens

3. Harris41 - @Harris41

4. Brendan Darr - @BrendanDarr

5. Space Ghost Force - @SpaceGhostForce

6. Luke Aguinaldo - @Luke4for4VideoDept

7. Stephen Hoopes - @StephenHoopes

8. Karl Safchick - @KarlSafchick

9. Neil Dutton - @ndutton13

10. Justin Edwards - @Justin_Redwards

11. Jennifer Eakins - @JenEakinsNFL

12. MortonSaltBoy - @Morton_Salt_Boy

Rounds 1-3

Takeaways

The early RB vs. WR debate seems to be swinging back toward the pass-catchers early in the 2024 draft cycle. There were 12 RBs drafted in the first three rounds, while 20 WRs came off the board. Only three teams left these rounds with at least two rushers, while three didn’t select an RB at all to start this draft.

The scarcity at the TE position did not cause any panic for this crowd, as only two were selected, down from the three that were selected in this range during our May mock draft. One change we’re starting to see in 2024 is managers typically deciding to let quarterbacks fall out of the first three rounds, after three were going near the 2/3 turn in ‘23. The elite tier at the top didn’t out-score the rest of the position like we’re used to, due in part to a “down” year from Patrick Mahomes.

Biggest Reaches

Josh Jacobs (2.12), Isiah Pacheco (3.05)

This was a pretty by-the-books beginning to the draft, so it’s hard to pinpoint anything egregious here. There were two “overpays” at the running back position, though I can’t fault either of the drafters for their process.

Josh Jacobs is coming off of arguably the worst season of his five-year career, gaining only 2.35 yards after contact (53rd/59 qualifying RBs) and accruing only five rushes of 15+ yards (35th) in the process.To his credit, the Raiders offense ranked 27th in total yards on the year while they rotated Aidan O’Connell, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Brian Hoyer, while the offensive line ranked 23rd in running back yards before contact (1.34). That said, he gets a brand new start in an ascending Green Bay Packers offense.

For Isiah Pacheco, drafters are reasonably concerned about his effectiveness in the passing game after he earned only 0.83 yards per route run (41st/61 qualifying backs) and 5.4 yards per reception (55th). But it’s not like they brought in any competition into the backfield, instead re-signing Clyde Edwards-Helaire to a one-year contract. Pacheco may have gone slightly over his ADP (particularly Underdog’s ADP, which is surprisingly low at 47), but the price is right, in my opinion.

Best Values

Jaylen Waddle (3.07), Stefon Diggs (3.12)

Again, we all started up the draft pretty chalky, so I’ll highlight two relative values, though nothing really pops off the page here. Jaylen Waddle makes for an incredible WR3 for Stephen’s team, as he was one of only two managers to kick things off with a WR-WR-WR approach. Though his ceiling will always be capped as long as Tyreek Hill is on the field, he is coming off his third straight season with 70+ receptions and 1,000+ yards.

Stefon Diggs finds himself in new digs with the Houston Texans, but I’m a little weary of the 30-year-old receiver moping his way off two teams in his career. The toughest competition for catches he’s been up against was back in 2017-2019 when Adam Thielen was rounding into form. This situation is much different, with Nico Collins, Tank Dell, and a deep set of ancillary pieces to contend with in Houston. If I have any of Diggs this season, it will need to be no earlier than this late-third round price.

Rounds 4-7

Takeaways

We see the “onesie” positions get some love here, as half of the league grabs their quarterback and/or tight end. There were back-to-back onesie selections all over this region of the draft as managers attempted to avoid missing out on an entire tier of selections by the time it snaked back to them.

Biggest Reaches

Alvin Kamara (4.11), Aaron Jones (5.03)

Things start to open up here, with more people taking players they like rather than abiding strictly by ADP. Though the Saints are certainly missing firepower in their offense, I’m not sure I want to be handling Alvin Kamara as my team’s RB1 in most scenarios, particularly if he is going to cost a fourth-round selection. The 29-year-old back is coming off the least efficient season of his career, averaging 2.51 yards after contact in ‘23, and will be playing behind an offensive line that we’re very iffy about.

Aaron Jones, another 29-year-old running back, will be in a new home this year, and though he also represents a do-it-all option with the Vikings, he has durability concerns after missing six games with an MCL injury last season. Jones has less threat to his workload than Kamara, as Kendre Miller represents a much bigger threat, but we aren’t all that certain how good the offense is going to look with Sam Darnold/J.J. McCarthy at the helm. According to current Vegas projections, the Vikings are currently projected for the 23rd-most points (387.25).

Best Values

Mark Andrews (5.07), Zamir White (7.11)

“Elite” tight ends burned a lot of people last season, and we’ve seen the first tier or two drop down draft boards as a result. Ahead of the 2023 season, Mark Andrews was being selected as the TE2 at the end of the third round. Injuries sapped a lot of his year, but he still scored 11.3 half-PPR points per game, the fourth-highest mark in the league. Drafters clearly have a bad taste in their mouths, which has dropped him nearly two rounds lower in this mock, even though not much else in the offense has changed. Sure, Isaiah Likely has popped up from time to time, but Andrews is only 27 and has shown incredible chemistry with Lamar Jackson for a handful of years now.

Zamir White is a steal all the way back here, as his competition is essentially a sixth-round selection (Dylan Laube) and Alexander Mattison, who face-planted with his golden opportunity in Minnesota. It’s possible that White falters with a new-found full workload —we have seen that happen a handful of times in the last few years— but he’s one of the last options to grab a team’s bona fide RB1, with other situations (Titans, Cowboys, etc.) almost assuredly resembling a 50/50 split.

Rounds 8 -11

Takeaways

This is where a majority of the ambiguous situations rear their collective heads, forcing drafters to take a stand on guys when we can’t be certain how much they’ll mean to respective teams. We see the Browns, Bengals, and Commanders running backs, along with Seahawks, Bills, and Packers wide receivers, leading the way in unknown usages.

Biggest Reaches

T.J. Hockenson (9.08), Jerry Jeudy (10.12)

I’m not completely against taking a flier on T.J. Hockenson at his typical price point (10.07) in hopes that he will miss fewer than the original eight-game prediction, but I’m certainly not doing it if I’ve already got two tight ends on my team. If you have an IR slot, or if you’re in a best ball tournament where there is heavy emphasis on late-season high scores, I understand.

During the 2022 season, Jerry Jeudy scored 11.4 half-PPR points per game, finishing as the WR21 on a per-game basis. That performance was sandwiched by a WR75 season (‘21) and a WR58 season (‘23). So, is the WR53 price tag here all that egregious? Probably not. But Jeudy was rushed out of Denver —on a team that needed receiving help— for a fourth-round pick. Jeudy is projected to be the majority slot option, with Amari Cooper and Cedric Tillman out wide, but I’m not sure how much upside he provides in 2024.

Biggest Values

Christian Watson (9.04), Zack Moss (9.09), Jayden Daniels (10.01)

Value picks tend to increase the deeper we get into drafts, as people are more willing to reach for players they believe in, leaving the vultures to swoop in. There are three players in a ten-pick stretch I’d like to highlight here.

Some of the most important storylines in Fantasyland reside within these three options: what the heck are we supposed to do with Packers pass-catchers, can Zack Moss takeover a full Joe Mixon workload, will the Commanders get the most out of their rookie quarterback? These are pivotal thought exercises, and we may not know the answer until a couple of weeks into the season. If these options hit, they’ll far outkick their current ADP(s).

Even if they crash and burn, these are all appropriate draft capital to spend on finding out.

Rounds 12-14

Takeaways

As we get closer to Fantasy Draft Weekend, there will surely be mocks with both kickers and defenses, but for now, you’ll notice that we’ve skipped the positions in this mock to squeeze in as many player takes and ADP talk as possible. While some of the players you see here will likely be waiver wire fodder in a full draft with D/ST and Ks, it’s still helpful to see who the fantasy community values at the ends of drafts.

Best Values

Jermaine Burton (13.11), Pat Freiermuth (14.08)

At this point in the draft, it’s good process to grab guys who have a wide range of outcomes, and here are two such players. Jermaine Burton had a turbulent college career but has the opportunity to carve out a real role in an explosive offense that is now missing Tyler Boyd. Per my post-Draft writeup:

“With no off-field hiccups, there is little to no chance that Trenton Irwin, Andrei Iosivas, Charlie Jones, etc., will keep the rookie off the field, but Burton is likely to be more of a slot receiver than he ever was during his collegiate career. Burton will see the field far more than a typical third-round wide receiver, and his upside would be monstrous if anything unforeseen happens in front of him (like Higgins getting the trade he so desires).”

The “Arthur Smith killed Kyle Pitts’ fantasy upside” contingent is strong (and might be correct), but I like taking another stab at Pat Freiermuth in this new Steelers offense. Freiermuth has a very real chance at becoming the second option for Russell Wilson/Justin Fields and has flashed as a consistent pass-catcher, particularly in 2022 when he finished seventh in yards per route run (1.68) behind, you guessed it, Kyle Pitts.

Rookie Costs

Quarterbacks: Jayden Daniels (QB12, 10.01), Caleb Williams (QB13, 10.09)

Running Backs: Jonathon Brooks (RB23, 7.07), Trey Benson (RB27, 8.06), Blake Corum (RB38, 10.07), Jaylen Wright (RB46, 12.05), MarShawn Lloyd (RB47, 12.06), Ray Davis (RB52, 13.12), Tyrone Tracy (RB53, 14.01), Braelon Allen (RB54, 14.02)

Wide Receivers: Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR9, 2.02), Malik Nabers (WR21, 4.01), Rome Odunze (WR33, 6.04), Xavier Worthy (WR36, 6.12), Ladd McConkey (WR42, 8.02), Keon Coleman (WR45, 9.03), Brian Thomas Jr. (WR48, 9.06), Adonai Mitchell (WR58, 11.12), Xavier Legette (WR59, 12.01), Ja’Lynn Polk (WR60, 12.03), Jermaine Burton (WR68, 13.11), Roman Wilson (WR69, 14.03), Troy Franklin (WR72, 14.11)

Tight Ends: Brock Bowers (TE9, 8.12), Ben Sinnott (TE15, 13.03)

Final Draft Board

Bottom Line

• There were 57 total RBs drafted and 73 WRs.
• Nineteen QBs were selected in this mock, with a whopping seven teams drafting a backup.
• Six of the 12 teams decided to draft more than one tight end, leaving 19 selected in total.
• The longest any team waited to draft an RB was 7.07, while the furthest any manager waited to select a WR was 3.12.
• QB selection appears to be trending earlier this season, but there is still plenty of value at the position later in drafts in a single-QB format.
• This early in the Summer, there is plenty of value on draft boards at every position while the hype machine is still churning with no on-field action.