PPR Superflex Football Mock Draft

Training camps are underway, and it is time to start preparing for fantasy drafts. This week, we have another mock draft to help fantasy managers prepare for their upcoming season.

Taking part in mock drafts is a fantastic way to understand what to expect in fantasy football. While no two drafts are the same, understanding positional runs and the ADP of players can help you best understand how to construct your team.

The most recent mock draft, which took place, was a 12-team, SuperFlex draft with PPR scoring. The mock draft consisted of 13 rounds and included 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 FLEX and 1 SFLEX lineup spots. Check out the results and the breakdown of the team’s strategies below.

Early-Round Observations

In most Superflex formats, the quarterback position goes flying off the board in the first two rounds. It initially appeared that this league would follow suit at the start of the first round.

Four quarterbacks came off the board in the first five picks. The fifth quarterback was drafted by Team 7. The only players who broke up the quarterback run were Saquon Barkley (Team 3) and Ja’Marr Chase (Team 7). Both are justifiable picks in the first round of a PPR format. There weren’t any surprises with the first wave of quarterbacks with Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrow getting drafted early.

One curious development in this league was the number of managers willing to wait to secure a quarterback. Patrick Mahomes was the only other quarterback to go off board in the second round (Team 8). Only two quarterbacks (Bo Nix, Team 5’s second quarterback, and Kyler Murray, Team 11) were selected as well.

In total, just eight quarterbacks went off the board in the first 36 picks, with just one team drafting their two weekly starters. In this draft, nobody panicked to push up the secondary wave of quarterbacks, which causes talented skill players to fall. 

Be warned, that is not a typical start, and other draft boards could look far different at the quarterback position. 

How Should You Build Your Quarterback Room?

There are many ways to handle the quarterback position in Superflex formats. This draft featured several of them. 

First and foremost, if you can secure one of the league’s top rushing quarterbacks in the first round, you have to take them. Drafting that combination of ceiling gives you a weekly advantage of punting on a second quarterback (since you don’t need their scoring as badly) or shooting for upside and drafting a second quarterback early.

In this draft, the managers who took the first four quarterbacks off the board selected their second signal-caller by the fifth round. Team 1 paired Josh Allen’s QB1 upside with Brock Purdy’s back-end QB1 production in the fifth. Team 2 paired the most dangerous passing and rushing quarterback (Lamar Jackson) with the massive upside of Caleb Williams in Ben Johnson’s offense in the fifth as well. Team 4 paired Jayden Daniels with the high-risk, high-reward upside of Dak Prescott in the fourth round. Finally, Team 6 went for the double rushing ceiling with Jalen Hurts and Bo Nix in the third round. 

Other managers use the early rounds to load up on the falling skill talent before selecting back-to-back quarterbacks at the end of the second wave of signal-callers. Team 9 (Jordan Love and C.J. Stroud in Rounds 4-5 and Team 11 (Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield in Rounds 3-4). 

Finally, you have managers who hold off on quarterbacks until the final wave, gambling on their ability to hit on the right third-tier quarterbacks to pay off. Team 6 (Trevor Lawrence Round 5 and Cam Ward in Round 7) and Team 12 (J.J. McCarthy in Round 6 and Michael Penix Jr. in Round 7) all punted the high-end talent at quarterback. 

Taking a third quarterback is a matter of build and preference. Teams that generally fade the quarterback will add a third on their roster. At the same time, picking a quarterback who is available at value given the position’s scarcity on the waiver wire makes sense for the early-round quarterback drafters as well.

Seven of 12 teams in this draft took a third quarterback. Four of the five teams that selected a first-round quarterback landed their third quarterback between Rounds 8 and 10. 

Did Recent News Affect the Draft?

There has been a lot of recent news that will undoubtedly shift ADP early on in drafts. The three biggest ADP shifts will potentially come from rookie running back Quinshon Judkins and veteran wide receivers Rashee Rice and Jordan Addison. 

At the time of this draft, the Rice and Addison plea deals hadn’t been broken yet. Now that both cases have been resolved, the NFL can move to suspend both players as soon as Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season. Both players are set to miss multiple games this season.  Both Rice (WR17) and Addison (WR35) came off the board where they usually would, but that should change dramatically in the coming weeks.

The news that had already broken was Judkins’ arrest for domestic violence in Florida. The NFL has not gone lightly on domestic violence issues in the past and even suspended another Browns player (2024 second-round pick Mike Hall Jr.) five games for a plea deal he took in a summer arrest before the 2024 season. Further complicating matters is the fact that Judkins had not signed his contract, which means he cannot practice with the team while the proceedings play out. 

It is a near-certainty that Judkins will be suspended unless the case is dropped entirely. It also seems like the Browns are in no rush to sign Judkins to a contract, with the case looming. Judkins will not be able to practice with the team, which could further stunt his role with the team in his rookie season.

Judkins (RB22) was drafted ahead of his current Sleeper ADP (RB24). That is a risky play given the multiple factors playing against the rookie at this time. However, if the case is dropped quickly, it could pay off. 

Is the Zero-RB Strategy Still Viable?

Quarterbacks aren’t the only strategy that are deployed in Superflex drafts. Zero-RB and Hero-RB builds can also be used with the shifting values of the quarterback being pushed up. In this draft, most teams took a balanced approach. However, there were different strategies being deployed to build out a running back room in this draft.

Two different teams selected a running back in the first two rounds (Team 2, Jonathan Taylor and Team 11, De’Von Achane). Team 11 took just three running backs (Achane, Chuba Hubbard in Round 6 and D’Andre Swift in Round 8) while Team 2 waited until Round 10 to build out their running back room (Taylor, Jordan Mason, J.K. Dobbins, Tank Bigsby and Tyjae Spears). 

There was also one team (Team 10) that utilized the running back onslaught technique, selecting a running back with their first three picks (Bijan Robinson, Derrick Henry and Chase Brown) with one additional running back in Round 12 (Jaydon Blue).

There were two teams (Team 6 and Team 7) that waited until the sixth round to secure their first running back. Team 6 started the draft off with Ja’Marr Chase, Brian Thomas Jr., Ladd McConkey, George Kittle and Trevor Lawrence before selecting their first running back (Joe Mixon). They then took five straight running backs from Rounds 9 to 13 (Travis Etienne, Jaylen Warren, Rhamondre Stevenson, Ray Davis, and Austin Ekeler). 

Team 7 was more balanced in their running back approach, selecting David Montgomery (Round 6) and Isiah Pacheco (Round 7) and then taking shots on Najee Harris (Round 11) and Isaac Guerendo (Round 13). 

Eleven of 12 teams in the draft took at least four running backs in 13 rounds. Two teams (Team 2, five and Team 6, six) selected more. 

When is the Best Time to Take a Tight End?

The tight end position remains an enigma in fantasy football. On the one hand, targeting one of the top options in the early round is a way to gain a distinct advantage over the rest of your league. On the other hand, investing a high pick on the tight end takes away an advantage at other positions where you start multiple players (RB and WR). 

2024 was the first time since 2020 that all of the top-12 tight ends averaged double-digit points. Seven of the top-12 finishers last season also finished in the top 10 in 2023. The only new names were a rookie (Brock Bowers) and three veterans (Jonnu Smith, Taysom Hill, and Cade Otton). 

In this draft, the two high-end target earning tight ends, Brock Bowers and Trey McBride, went off the board in the second round. That isn’t shocking since they ranked sixth and eighth in total targets among all pass-catchers in 2024. Both players are in offenses that added minimal pass-catching competition (although the Raiders’ addition of Ashton Jeanty could impact Bowers). 

After that, the next tight end wasn’t drafted until the fourth round (George Kittle). Another full round passed before we got a fourth tight end off the board (Sam LaPorta). 

Most drafters in this mock draft waited until the seventh round or later to draft a tight end. Five tight ends went off the board in the seventh and eighth rounds. Another nine went off the board from the ninth to the 13th rounds. Six different teams took two tight ends, hoping that one of their options could have top-five upside outside of the early round options. 

The tight end position remains one of the hardest positions to figure out in fantasy. If one of the top options is available in the second round, a top pick like Bowers or McBride is worth a shot, given their target share. If not, there are plenty of solid veterans like David Njoku, Evan Engram or Mark Andrews or exciting rookies like Tyler Warren or Colston Loveland available toward the end of drafts.