Fantasy Football 12-team-PPR mock draft 2023 recap, full results: Early rush on wide receivers

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We held a very fun 12-team, PPR mock draft Tuesday night during our live stream on YouTube. I encourage you to watch the recap because you'll get some incredible insight.

The biggest takeaway of the draft was the early rush on receivers. Six receivers were selected in Round 1, seven receivers went in Round 2, five receivers were drafted in Round 3 and seven more receivers came off the board in Round 4. That's 25 receivers in the first 48 picks.

To put that in perspective, only 17 receivers are being selected in the first 48 picks based on the CBS Sports Average Draft Position. Now, I believe our mock draft is more reflective of what you'll see in a three-receiver PPR league -- and the CBS ADP factors in all drafts with multiple formats -- which means if you want a quality receiving corps then you need to be aggressive in drafting them.

Jacob Gibbs did that with his first three picks from the No. 8 spot with Tyreek Hill, Garrett Wilson and Calvin Ridley. He still ended up with a running back corps led by Dameon Pierce, David Montgomery and Rachaad White, which is excellent.

Dave Richard and Dave Kluge of Football Guys each took a Hero RB approach and got three receivers with their first four picks. Richard started from the No. 10 spot with Stefon Diggs, Derrick Henry, D.J. Moore and Christian Watson. And Kluge went with CeeDee Lamb, A.J. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs and Amari Cooper to start his team from No. 11.

You can see how the rest of their rosters turned out below, but I like the way all three of these teams began their draft. Leaning on receivers is smart in this format, and it helps if you're picking in the back half of Round 1, given your options in Round 2.

I took a different approach from the No. 3 spot. I started with Ja'Marr Chase and expected to take a receiver in Round 2, but I didn't like the options on the board at No. 22 overall, so I pivoted to Josh Jacobs. He could end up as a steal at this spot if he's on the field for Week 1 despite his holdout.

In Round 3, I went with the best available player in Josh Allen, and I was very happy with this start. But when I was up in Round 4, 24 receivers were gone, which was a surprise, so I took the best player available again with Aaron Jones.

I thought Diontae Johnson would make it back to me in Round 5, but he went right after I drafted Jones. So instead of trying to fill out my receiving corps -- my next best options were Chris Godwin, Christian Kirk and Terry McLaurin -- I decided to make my running backs a strength and get Miles Sanders.

Going with a Hero WR approach might be a mistake in this format. But I love the combination of Allen, Jacobs, Jones and Sanders to go with Chase. And I was still pleased with how my receiving corps ended up since I got Marquise Brown (Round 6), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Round 7), JuJu Smith-Schuster (Round 9), Jameson Williams (Round 10), Nathaniel Dell (Round 11), Tyler Boyd (Round 13) and Rashee Rice (Round 14).

Another cool aspect of this mock draft was who drafted with us. As part of our upcoming Draft-A-Thon to raise money for St. Jude, we auctioned off three spots in this draft. And I wanted to see how each of those teams turned out.

Mazen Elatrache from Michigan had the No. 2 pick, and he went with Christian McCaffrey. Running back is the strength of his team since he drafted Jonathan Taylor in Round 2, and he also got solid value on Javonte Williams in Round 7. If all three are of those running backs are healthy, that's a tough trio to beat.

Mazen also got a standout quarterback in Joe Burrow, and he has a quality receiving corps led by Tee Higgins, Diontae Johnson and Jordan Addison. I like the Burrow-Higgins stack, and if the running backs do what they're capable of, this team will be competitive.

Matthew Catania from Texas had the No. 4 pick, and he went with Travis Kelce. That might seem early for the No. 1 tight end, but he's such a difference maker that it's hard to argue with that selection.

Matthew was also aggressive in drafting Chris Olave in Round 2 (we typically don't see him selected until Round 3), and that contributed to the early run on receivers. Joe Mixon was a solid selection in Round 3, and I like the way Matthew built his team. His starters are Trevor Lawrence at quarterback, Mixon and Kenneth Walker III at running back, Olave, Drake London and Tyler Lockett at receiver, and his flex options include Skyy Moore, Antonio Gibson and Rashod Bateman.

O.J. Webber from Oregon had the No. 12 pick, and I loved his start with Tony Pollard and Amon-Ra St. Brown. He followed that up with Jerry Jeudy and J.K. Dobbins, and it's almost identical to what I would have done.

O.J. took Brandon Aiyuk in Round 5 and then made a surprise selection with Jahan Dotson over Terry McLaurin in Round 6. We'll see if that comes back to haunt O.J., but overall, I love the way he built his team. His quarterbacks are Anthony Richardson and Aaron Rodgers, Evan Engram is his tight end, and he has high upside players on his bench with De'Von Achane, Elijah Mitchell, Zamir White and Zay Flowers.

In this league, all touchdowns are worth six points, and we award one point for every 10 yards rushing and receiving and one point for every 25 yards passing. We also award one point for every reception. We feature a starting lineup of QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE and FLEX (RB/WR/TE) with six reserves for a 14-round draft.

Our draft order is as follows:

1. Zach Brook, FFT Social Media Coordinator
2. Mazen Elatrache, St. Jude donation entry
3. Jamey Eisenberg, Senior Fantasy Writer
4. Matthew Catania, St. Jude donation entry
5. Adam Aizer, FFT Podcast Host
6. Daniel Schneier, Senior Fantasy Editor
7. Joel Cox, CBS Sports VP Business Development
8. Jacob Gibbs, SportsLine Fantasy Analyst
9. R.J. White, Managing Editor, SportsLine and CBS Fantasy
10. Dave Richard, Senior Fantasy Writer
11. Dave Kluge, Football Guys Fantasy Analyst
12. O.J. Webber, St. Jude donation entry

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