2026 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: 12-Team PPR Mock (1st Pick)
Updated: Tuesday, August 18, 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.
PPR Mock Draft: 12 Teams, 1st Pick
Starting positions: 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (RB/WR/TE), 1 K, 1 DST; Bench spots: 6
1.01 - Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Detroit Lions
There is a clear top two — Gibbs and Bijan Robinson — atop draft boards this summer. The tiebreaker for many is the more favorable offensive environment in Detroit (over Atlanta), but these two elite backs are more 1A/1B than 1/2 in terms of my rankings. Gibbs has racked up 3,768 yards from scrimmage and a league-high 38 touchdowns in 34 games over the past two seasons.
2.12 - Nico Collins, WR, Houston Texans
The good news is Collins has three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, averaging a 17-game pace of 88.6/1,384.3/8.5 with 15.6 Y/R over that span. The bad news is Collins has missed multiple games in all five of his NFL seasons, and C.J. Stroud has regressed since winning NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2023. That said, he has still finished top-10 in fantasy PPG (half-PPR) over the past three seasons (among WRs who've played 8+ games): 14.7 (WR6), 14.7 (WR6) and 12.7 (WR10) in 2023-2025, respectively.
3.01 - 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.
4.12 - Luther Burden III, WR, Chicago Bears
Especially since the Bears traded DJ Moore to the Buffalo Bills, Burden's offseason hype has felt like a runaway train, slowed only a groin injury. At this point, however, there is hope that he will ready to play Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers. Coach Ben Johnson has compared the second-year receiver to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jarvis Landry, receivers he has previously coached, while also saying in May that he's "buying Luther Burden stock right now."
5.01 - D'Andre Swift, RB, Chicago Bears
Swift remains atop a relatively unchanged depth chart on one of the league's best offenses. Meanwhile, Ben Johnson's goal isn't just to win the Super Bowl. "I want more than that. I want to have the highest-scoring offense ever, which happens to be the 2013 Denver Broncos. I know how many points per game they scored (37.9), and I want to surpass them. I want shutouts. I want blowouts."
6.12 - Jadarian Price, RB, Seattle Seahawks
With the Seahawks losing Kenneth Walker III to the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency, it made (some) sense for the Seahawks to use their first-round pick on Price, especially since Zach Charbonnet (ACL) may not ready for the start of the season. Given his first-round pedigree (even though they explored trade-back options before selecting him), Price is in the unusual scenario where he may start 2026 stronger than he finishes as Charbonnet works himself back from injury. Price is ideal as a fantasy team's third running back with the hope that he gets off to a strong start, which then limits any potential dip in workload when the team's at full strength.
7.01 - Justin Herbert, QB, Los Angeles Chargers
I'm all in on the Chargers offense, and Herbert was my highest-ranked quarterback at this point. While Dak Prescott (7.02) and Jaxson Dart (7.03) also went in Round 7, I regret this pick in hindsight as Trevor Lawrence (11.12) and Brock Purdy (13.05) went MUCH later. Herbert is my QB8 and Lawrence is my QB9.
8.12 - Jayden Reed, WR, Green Bay Packers
Reed still may not see too many snaps in two-WR sets, but the departures of Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks this spring opens the door for a more concentrated target tree in Green Bay. Reed appeared in only seven games last season, but among receivers with 8+ games played, he finished as fantasy's WR22 (11.6) and WR34 (10.0) in half-PPR fantasy points per game in 2023 and 2024, respectively. That means I likely have him ranked too low in my rankings.
9.01 - Kenny Gainwell, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
In his lone season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Gainwell had a breakout campaign of 1,023 yards from scrimmage, eight touchdowns and 73 receptions. Only Christian McCaffrey (102), Bijan Robinson (79), and Jahmyr Gibbs (77) had more receptions than Gainwell. Now in Tampa, it's unclear exactly how the workload will be split, especially between Bucky Irving and Gainwell. The prolific receiving back should maintain standalone flex value, especially in full PPR formats, but he has contingent upside if Irving, who missed seven games last season, were to miss time.
10.12 - Jayden Higgins, WR, Houston Texans
Higgins has drawn comparisons to teammate Nico Collins, but he's a player who should take a step forward in his second season.
11.01 - Chris Rodriguez Jr., RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Liam Coen already has some built-in trust with Rodriguez due to their time together with the Kentucky Wildcats. Especially when compared to teammate Bhayshul Tuten, Rodriguez isn't an exciting option, but Tuten's "co-starter" is a steady player who gets what is blocked, which could earn him more snaps than fantasy managers expect. Through three seasons, he has averaged 4.6 yards per carry and has never averaged less than 4.5 YPC in any season. Moreover, he ranked top 10 in yards after connect per attempt (3.46) last season among back with 50-plus carries, per PFF. (He also ranked third in 2023 as a rookie, but he had fewer than 50 carries in 2024.)
12.12 - Keaton Mitchell, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
13.01 - Jonah Coleman, RB, Denver Broncos
Mitchell and Coleman are late-round bench stashes who have plenty of upside if there are injuries to those ahead of them on the depth chart.
14.12 - Minnesota Vikings DST
15.01 - Ka'imi Fairbairn, K, Houston Texans
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