The new Fantasy Life Draft Champion has revolutionized how mock drafts will take place moving forward.

Follow along as I break down a 12-team, 1QB, 0.5 PPR dynasty mock draft.

Setting Up The Draft

The Fantasy Life Draft Champion is simply phenomenal. There's no other way to put it. You can set so many custom settings to make your mock draft experience as authentic and unique as you want.

For this exercise, I did a 12-team dynasty startup draft. You can see I selected PPR scoring and toggled the roster settings just a little bit. It's a 1-QB mock draft with nine total starting players and a six-man bench.

I also chose a Hero-RB draft strategy, but I could have gone with a Zero-RB, Heavy-RB, or Late-Round-QB approach, for example. The mock draft ADP, analysis, rankings, and feedback will change based on the strategy you select.

Like I said, it's pretty amazing.

Aside from being able to choose the number of teams in this mock draft, you can also select your draft position or have it be randomly selected for you. I went with the random option and wound up with the 1.03. Let's see how the draft played out.

The Early Rounds

The opening round felt pretty chalky, all things considered. With my first pick at 1.03, I went with the Sun God himself. Amon-Ra St. Brown has steadily ascended the dynasty ranks ever since he entered the league.

Check out this progression:

  • 2021 – 119 targets, 90 receptions, 912 receiving yards, 5 TDs
  • 2022 – 146 / 106 / 1,161 / 6
  • 2023 – 164 / 119 / 1,515 / 10

We have him firmly as a Tier 2 dynasty wideout behind only the two players drafted ahead of him in this mock: CeeDee Lamb and Justin Jefferson.

To show you just how crucial it is to have young, elite wideouts anchoring your dynasty team, check out this opening round. Ten of the first 12 picks were WRs, and 18 WRs came off the board before my second pick. Their longer shelf-life certainly makes them coveted assets in dynasty startup drafts.

With my second pick, I was really down to Jahmyr Gibbs and Jonathan Taylor. Considering I already had ARSB, I decided to go with Taylor (#OnWisconsin) this time around. They're in the same tier for us, so I wasn't upset either way.

As I contemplated my third selection, I took a good look at our Cheat Sheet option within the Draft Champion. Knowing I would be waiting a bit until my next pick, it was nice to see which players were remaining in the different tiers as well as checking the percentage chance that various players would make it back to me.

Some quick context. As of my pick at the 3.03, no QBs or TEs had been taken yet. I also wanted to employ a Hero-RB strategy where I take a top-end option early and then wait for a bit on RB2. That means I was almost assuredly going WR here.

These were the WRs I was looking at in the third round. While I like Zay Flowers, I prefer Nico Collins with his new contract and a more pass-heavy QB in C.J. Stroud. Collins would fit nicely as my WR2.

The first TE finally came off the board at 4.03 with Sam LaPorta. While the mock draft continues to burn through WRs at a feverish pace, I'm at the point in my drafts where I like to lock up a top-end TE myself. Similar to why I passed on Gibbs, I am grateful LaPorta went first so I could snag Trey McBride.

Luckily for me, our Draft Assistant also suggested that I take McBride with this pick.

Through four rounds, here's the tally:

  • 0 QBs
  • 9 RBs
  • 37 WRs
  • 2 TEs

It's the year of the wideout. Adjust accordingly. More specifically, here's how my roster compares to the field through the opening quarter of the draft.

Overall, I'm really happy with how it's turned out. Over the next several rounds, I'll be looking to fill out the rest of my starting lineup and maybe address the QB position.

The Middle Rounds

I slotted Diontae Johnson into my WR2 slot as buzz continues to come out of Carolina. On paper, he's clearly the most talented weapon they have and it sounds like the Panthers have quickly realized that as Bryce Young looks to improve after a rough Year 1.

Then, I found myself deciding between another WR or potentially my RB2. With no names really jumping off the page at WR, here's some insight the Cheat Sheet gave me about the remaining RBs:

James Cook was still hanging around as the final Tier 4 option and I couldn't pass that up. While QBs started coming off the board in Round 5, I didn't feel the pressure to grab one just yet with several enticing names still on the board.

In Round 7, I finally grabbed my QB in Joe Burrow. Healthy and tied to Ja'Marr Chase, it was him or Caleb Williams in this tier and I couldn't pass up the Bengals star. I'll have to grab some flex options very, very soon but getting a locked-and-loaded QB1 in a dynasty startup was something I couldn't wait on with a longer stretch of picks before my next selection.

At the midway point, here was my team:

I'm feeling really good about my squad. There's a nice blend of veteran stability mixed with youth and upside. I'm excited about Ja'Lynn Polk as my WR4 because, despite the tempered expectations we should have for the Patriots, he could emerge as a solid target-earner.

The next four rounds flew by without many surprises. I continued to build out my bench/depth with a mix of solid veterans who could contribute in the short-term with younger wideouts whose value should only increase as the months go by.

The Later Rounds

Over the last three rounds, I went with three rookies whom I think could have significant increases in value over the next several years, starting as soon as this season.

  1. I recently tabbed Devontez Walker as this year's Puka Nacua
  2. Ben Sinnott profiles as a poor man's LaPorta and is someone I wrote about whose dynasty stock has risen significantly this offseason
  3. Kimani Vidal has as good a chance as anyone to lead the Chargers backfield and he's easily the cheapest of the bunch

When it comes to the final rounds of your startup, don't be afraid to mix in some high-upside picks. These are players who could rocket their way into your starting lineup or be players you churn on the end of your bench for more appealing options on the waiver wire.

At the end of the day, this mock draft received an A+, which is always exciting.

Obviously, this isn't a real draft and, as much as I wish I could keep this team, I cannot. Play around with different draft strategies and see how you can build the best roster possible.

Talk with our experts or have fun with other fantasy football junkies, join the Fantasy Life Discord Community today.Â