Fantasy Football Mock Draft Per Day (6/16/13): 20 Teams, No. 9 Pick, Standard Scoring

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Last preseason, we conducted one fantasy football mock draft per day using a mock draft simulator powered by FantasyPros.

Having begun our 2013 series of drafts on June 1st, we will continue to post our draft results and comments up until the start of the 2013 season on September 5th.

We will track all of the mocks here on this centralized page.

Like last year, I will vary the size of the league, the scoring format and draft slot and then post the results of my team with comments.

For today’s mock, it is a 20-team standard-scoring mock and I had the No. 9 pick. The league starts one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker and one team defense.

Here are my picks:

• 1.09: Marshawn Lynch, RB, Seattle Seahawks
• 2.12: Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots
• 3.09: Frank Gore, RB, San Francisco 49ers
• 4.12: Steve Smith, WR, Carolina Panthers
• 5.09: Jonathan Stewart, RB, Carolina Panthers
• 6.12: Tavon Austin, WR, St. Louis Rams
• 7.09: Lance Moore, WR, New Orleans Saints
• 8.12: Kendall Wright, WR, Tennessee Titans
• 9.09: Ryan Tannehill, QB, Miami Dolphins
• 10.12: Malcom Floyd, WR, San Diego Chargers
• 11.09: Jordan Cameron, TE, Cleveland Browns
• 12.12: Denard Robinson, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
• 13.09: Atlanta Falcons D/ST
• 14.12: Josh Brown, K, New York Giants

- For all picks in the mock draft, click here.

Here are some thoughts by position:

• Quarterbacks (my rankings)

  Going into this mock (or virtually any 20-team mock), I prefer to draft my starting quarterback and two starting running backs (in some order) with my first three picks. As one of my top-three fantasy quarterbacks, it was hard to pass up on Brady at 32nd overall.

  Not only are Wes Welker and Brandon Lloyd no longer on the roster, but Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez have some (or a lot of) injury risk. On Tuesday, Gronk will have his fifth surgical procedure (this time his back) in the past eight months. That said, Brady has thrown for more than 10,000 in the past two years combined and has shown that he can produce with or without stud pass catchers.

  Going into his second season, Tannehill has the potential to take a big step forward as the Dolphins have made several offseason additions including signing Mike Wallace to a five-year deal.

• Running Backs (my rankings)

As noted above, I wanted to secure my starting running backs with two of my top three picks and did so with Lynch and Gore. Both backs are coming off back-to-back 1,200-yard seasons, but Lynch set career highs last year with 1,590 yards, which ranked him third in the NFL.

In a league that starts 40 running backs, The Daily Show is a better-than-solid backup to Lynch and Gore when healthy. A college quarterback, Robinson was expected to transition to wide receiver at the next level, but he is not a natural hands-catcher. He is dangerous playmaker and the Jags will likely to try find ways to get the ball in his hands.

Looking back at this mock, I wish I had selected my RB4 earlier.

• Wide Receivers (my rankings)

Compared to quarterback and running back, this team is much weaker at wide receiver. Although he recently turned 34 years old, Smith is has a total of 152 receptions for 2,568 yards in the two seasons since the team drafted Cam Newton. My other starting receiver is Austin, who was selected eighth overall in the 2013 NFL Draft. In the mold of Percy Harvin or Randall Cobb, Austin is an extremely explosive playmaker with the ball in the hands.

While I’m far from loaded at the position, my depth at receiver is solid with Moore, Wright and Floyd. Moore eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career last season, Wright tied Justin Blackmon for the most receptions by a rookie and Floyd had his second consecutive season with at least 800 yards.

• Tight Ends (my rankings)

If it were a shallower league, I would have taken Heath Miller over Cameron. Considering recent reports that Miller may not be ready for Week 1, I wanted to make sure that I drafted a safer (read: healthier) option. Plus, Cameron has the potential to break out in new coaching staff’s TE-friendly offense.

• Kickers and Defense

Almost always, I will take the best available team defense with my second-to-last pick and the best available kicker with my last pick and that’s what I did here.

As a reminder, we will centralize links to our mocks here and you can conduct your own free mocks here.

[Mobile users: Use this link to conduct your mock drafts.]

Tomorrow I will do a 12-team mock using point-per-reception (PPR) scoring with the No. 1 pick.

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