2025 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: 12-Team Half-PPR Mock (3rd Pick)

Updated: Tuesday, August 5, 2025

The best way to become good at something is to practice. So, what should you do if you want to draft a better fantasy football team?

Practice, of course!

Leading up to the start of the 2025 NFL season, we will use the fantasy football mock draft simulator to complete fantasy football mock drafts. And we will do so using a variety of scoring formats — point per reception (PPR), half-PPR, standard scoring and even 2-QB leagues — and league sizes. The goal is to provide you with a good representation of the team that you may be able to draft given your league settings while also providing the rationale of why we made the picks we did.

> Our 2025 mocks will be centralized here: Fantasy Football Mock Drafts.

That said, nothing beats practicing yourself so (check out the simulator) and complete a mock in a matter of minutes.

Half-PPR Mock Draft: 12 Teams, 3rd Pick

Starting positions: 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (RB/WR/TE), 1 K, 1 DST; Bench spots: 6

1.03 - Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Detroit Lions

Perhaps a surprise by many to not take Saquon Barkley here, but I have Bijan Robinson and Gibbs ranked as the RB1/RB2, respectively, in my 2025 fantasy football RB rankings. Gibbs set or tied career highs across the board in rushing (250/1,412/16, 5.6 YPC) and receiving (52/517/4, 9.9 Y/R) in his second season. Gibbs was also top five among running backs with a minimum of 17 targets in yards per route run (1.67) and YAC per reception (11.5), per PFF. Gibbs was especially good when David Montgomery missed the final three regular-season games (RB1 overall), but he was also the RB3 (RB4 on a PPG basis) from Weeks 1 to 15 when Montgomery was also active.

2.10 - A.J. Brown, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

Leading the league in books read on the sideline during games, Brown missed four games in 2024 but channeled his inner excellence to finish with 67 receptions for 1,079 yards and seven touchdowns. While there were some quiet games, Brown's 2024 per-game averages of receptions (5.2) and yards (83.0) weren't that much lower than his career averages (5.7/86.8). The only real concern with Brown from a weekly fantasy production standpoint is the potential for a big day from Saquon Barkley and the game script leading to low passing volume overall.

MORE: Jalen Hurts 2025 Fantasy Football Outlook

3.03 - Trey McBride, TE, Arizona Cardinals

The good news is that McBride smashed previous career highs in targets (147), receptions (111) and receiving yards (1,146). Among all players (wide receivers included), he finished eighth, fourth, and 11th, respectively, in those categories. The bad news is that he had only two touchdowns and has a total of six through three NFL seasons. If there's a glimmer of hope, McBride finished top three in TE targets from inside the 20 (21, T-2nd), 15 (16, T-2nd), 10 (12, 1st) and 5 (seven, T-1st).

Yes, Brock Bowers deserves to be TE1 in fantasy drafts, but it's a 1A/1B (or 1A/1A) situation with Bowers and McBride. Even though I have Bowers ranked ahead of McBride, the former Colorado State tight end may offer a little more value nearly a round later.

4.10 - DJ Moore, WR, Chicago Bears

Moore posted a career high in receptions (98) in 2024 while posting career lows in yards per reception (9.9), yards per target (6.9) and ADOT (7.5). In fact, those numbers are much lower than his non-2024 career averages — 14.3 Y/R, 8.7 Y/TGT and 11.4 ADOT. With second-year improvements from Caleb Williams as well as improved coaching and play calling, we should see better overall numbers from Moore in 2025.

5.03 - D'Andre Swift, RB, Chicago Bears

Heading into the draft, the Bears were one of the teams that many projected to take a running back early. Chicago drafted a running back but not until the seventh round (Kyle Monangai, 233rd overall). Barring any trades that shake up this backfield, there is plenty of potential value to unlock by rostering Swift or Roschon Johnson.

MORE: 2025 Chicago Bears Fantasy Football Projections

6.10 - Jaylen Waddle, WR, Miami Dolphins

Waddle set career lows across the board — 58/744/2 on 83 targets — in 2024.

Although he's coming off a career-worst season, there is upside with Waddle given his low-end WR3 ADP.

7.03 - Calvin Ridley, WR, Tennessee Titans

Ridley has back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns including his first in Tennessee last season and he led the NFL in player share of a team's air yards (44.58%), per NextGen Stats. Team reporter Jim Wyatt said of Ridley that "it seems like he's even more eager to work, and to embrace helping Ward, and the rookies around him" [compared to last season]. While it would be reasonable to expect ups and downs for a rookie quarterback, the rookie version of Ward should still be better than Will Levis (12 starts in 2024) and Mason Rudolph (five).

8.10 - Jauan Jennings, WR, San Francisco 49ers

Jennings had a breakout season in 2024 with 77 catches for 975 yards and six touchdowns on a team-high 113 targets. With Deebo Samuel Sr. in Washington and Brandon Aiyuk likely to miss the start of the season, Jennings has the opportunity to build upon last year's success (especially early in the season).

9.03 - Bo Nix, QB, Denver Broncos

Nix started slowly (didn't throw first touchdown until Week 4), but he was one of the most productive fantasy quarterbacks from Week 5 through the end of the season. During that span, he completed 68.3% of his pass attempts for 3,115 yards, 28 touchdowns and eight interceptions while rushing 69 times for 320 yards and two scores. He was fantasy's QB5 (QB6 on per-game basis) from Week 5-18. The Broncos added Evan Engram in free agency and used a pair of top-75 picks on playmakers — R.J. Harvey (No. 60) and Pat Bryant (No. 74) — in the 2025 NFL Draft.

10.10 - Austin Ekeler, RB, Washington Commanders

Ekeler missed five games in his first season with the Commanders, although he was efficient with his touches — 4.8 yards per carry (six-year high) and 10.5 yards per reception (five-year high). While he averaged nearly three catches per game (2.9), that was a six-year low. Even so, he's a bit undervalued when comparing my rankings and projections to his current ADP.

11.03 - Ray Davis, RB, Buffalo Bills

Davis finished his rookie season with 130 touches including 17 receptions, 631 yards from scrimmage and six total touchdowns. If James Cook were to miss any time, Davis would become a weekly RB2.

MORE: 2026 Buffalo Bills Mock Draft Roundup

12.10 - Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Even if Etienne and/or Tank Bigsby start the season ahead of Tuten on the depth chart, it doesn't take much imagination to see what Liam Coen can do for a talented Day 3 rookie running back (see Irving, Bucky), especially with no connection to the previous regime's running backs.

13.03 - Roschon Johnson, RB, Chicago Bears

We've seen multiple running backs — Gibbs and Montgomery — perform as fantasy starters in Detroit's offense under Ben Johnson. That doesn't automatically mean that will be the case with the Bears, but I trust Johnson to scheme more production out of team's backfield than is currently expected by the fantasy community. Yes, Johnson has enormous upside as a handcuff if Swift were to miss any time, but he may hold some standalone flex value as well.

14.10 - Detroit Lions DST

15.03 - Cameron Dicker, K, Los Angeles Chargers

MORE: View full mock