2026 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: 12-Team Half-PPR Mock (3rd Pick)
Updated: Saturday, August 15, 2026The 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 2026 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), 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 2026 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 - Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons
Ja'Marr Chase is an absolute stud and my WR1, but one of Jahmyr Gibbs or Robinson falling is ideal when picking at 1.03 (like in this mock). Robinson led the NFL in yards from scrimmage (2,298) last year and no player has more since he entered the league three seasons ago (5,648). Over the past three seasons, he also leads all running backs in targets (261), receptions (198), and receiving yards (1,738).
2.10 - Brock Bowers, TE, Las Vegas Raiders
Injuries and the team's offensive dysfunction made 2025 a season to forget for Bowers and his fantasy managers, but he's an elite talent who immediately dominated as a rookie (112/1194/5). New head coach Klint Kubiak, who fed Jaxon Smith-Njigba a 35.8% target share in 2025 with the Seahawks, dubbed Bowers a "football robot from heaven." While a 35.8% target share shouldn't be expected, Bowers is the clear No. 1 passing option in this offense who could see more than the 153 targets (sixth-most in NFL) he saw as a rookie in 2024.
3.03 - Malik Nabers, WR, New York Giants
Not only did a knee injury prematurely end his 2025 season, but there was some genuine concern that Nabers would start the year on the PUP list. Those concerns have abated and perhaps he starts the season slower than some might otherwise expect, but Nabers would be drafted 15 picks or so higher if it weren't for returning from his injury. Like Bowers, Nabers had an elite 2024 rookie season (109/1204/7) and could be hitting his stride when it matters most.
4.10 - Jaylen Waddle, WR, Denver Broncos
Compared to my rankings, this is a full-round discount for Waddle, who is 35th overall in my top 150 fantasy football cheat sheet. Forking over a first- and third-round pick (while also swapping fourth-rounders) for Waddle means the Broncos should feature Waddle (over Courtland Sutton) in a passing attack that ranked top four in the NFL in pass attempts (613).
5.03 - David Montgomery, RB, Houston Texans
Montgomery is a solid (if not spectacular) RB2 for this team. Woody Marks should continue to see a prominent role as a pass catcher, but the Texans traded multiple picks (fourth- and seventh-rounders) for Montgomery. For a team with a dominant defense that should keep games close even when trailing, I expect Montgomery to finish the year with roughly 250 touches, 1,200 yards from scrimmage and 8-10 touchdowns.
6.10 - Caleb Williams, QB, Chicago Bears
Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, improved in his second season and first with Ben Johnson, as he finished as fantasy's QB5 and saw significant improvements in TD% (3.6% to 4.8%), Y/A (6.3 to 6.9), and Sack % (10.79% to 4.05%). The sky's the limit for Williams, who should be more comfortable as he enters his second season in Johnson's offense with a talented group of young pass catchers (Colston Loveland, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, etc.).
7.03 - Parker Washington, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Counting the playoff loss to Buffalo, Washington had 26/454/2 on 41 targets over his final four games in 2025. Yes, Brian Thomas Jr., Jakobi Meyers, and even Travis Hunter (still) can make it difficult to project the team's wide receivers, but all signs point to Washington picking up where he left off (and being the most productive of the bunch).
8.10 - Jonathon Brooks, RB, Carolina Panthers
Brooks generated plenty of offseason buzz, and the hamstring injury to Chuba Hubbard could allow Brooks to take control of the backfield sooner than later. Either way, he has plenty of upside as my RB3.
9.03 - Josh Downs, WR, Indianapolis Colts
The biggest (potential) concern at this point is the potential signing of Keenan Allen, who remains unsigned but has often been linked to the Colts. Allen may be 34 years old, but he has earned more than 120 targets in each of the past three seasons.
10.10 - Chris Rodriguez Jr., RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
One of the "co-starters" in the Jaguars backfield, Rodriguez's end-of-year fantasy production could turn out to be much closer to that of Bhayshul Tuten than is expected. At a minimum, he's worth a stash in Round 10.
11.03 - Kyle Pitts, TE, Atlanta Falcons
The plan was never to draft Brock Bowers AND another tight end, but Pitts fell too far for me to pass him up.
12.10 - Keaton Mitchell, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
13.03 - Tank Bigsby, RB, Philadelphia Eagles
Both Bigsby and Mitchell provide some upside for this team's backfield. Mitchell has more standalone weekly value, but Bigsby may have a higher ceiling than Mitchell if there were injuries to their team's starter.
14.10 - New England Patriots DST
15.03 - Eddy Pineiro, K, San Francisco 49ers
MORE: View full mock