Fantasy Football 2023: Final 12-team PPR mock draft recap; the Travis Kelce build; Cooper Kupp at No. 14

USATSI

Would you believe it took over 50 Fantasy drafts for me to select Travis Kelce in Round 1? I'm thrilled it finally happened heading into Labor Day weekend, when many of you are doing your real drafts for this season. A lot of you question if you can build a great roster around a tight end in Round 1, and the answer is yes.

We held this 12-team, PPR mock draft on Friday, and I had the No. 7 overall pick. I actually haven't had many draft spots in the middle of the first round, and when I did, my selections were usually one of Bijan Robinson, Tyreek Hill or Cooper Kupp.

Final 0.5 PPR mock draft

Since Kupp (more on him later) should no longer be a first-round pick, and Hill and Robinson went right in front of me, I finally got Kelce. And I loved the way this team turned out.

Davante Adams isn't my ideal choice in Round 2, but he was my highest-ranked player on the board. And I got lucky that Joe Mixon fell to Round 3, so now I had a top-tier wide receiver and running back to go with Kelce, which is ideal.

I had a tough choice to make in Round 4 with Dameon Pierce vs. another receiver like DeAndre Hopkins, Diontae Johnson, Jahan Dotson or Drake London, and I went for the best-player available in Pierce. The reason that matters is because we start three receivers in this league, and so far I only had Adams

I stuck with the best-player available theme in Round 5 with Justin Herbert, and I like the idea of getting advantages at quarterback and tight end when available. And Herbert has top-three upside this year.

I made it a priority to focus on receiver next, and I drafted George Pickens (Round 6), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Round 8) and Elijah Moore (Round 9) with three of my next four picks. Cam Akers was my selection in Round 7, and he can be my flex, along with Moore.

My reserves are also Roschon Johnson and Ty Chandler at running back, along with Marvin Mims, Nathaniel Dell and Tyler Boyd at receiver. If this receiving corps holds up then this team should be a playoff-caliber roster.

Now, as for Kupp, this is the first draft we've done since he suffered a setback with his hamstring. He was still drafted in Round 2 at No. 14 overall, and that's too soon for me. He was drafted ahead of Tony Pollard, A.J. Brown, Garrett Wilson and Adams, and I'd rather have all of those guys.

We don't know when Kupp, 30, will return to action, and now you have to worry about his health all year. The earliest I would draft Kupp is the back half of Round 2.

One thing to note about this mock draft was who drafted with us. As part of our Draft-A-Thon to raise money for St. Jude, we auctioned off two spots in this draft, and I wanted to see how each of those teams turned out.

Stephen Hauser had the No. 6 overall pick, and he started his team with Robinson. I love what he did next by drafting three receivers in a row with DeVonta Smith, Amari Cooper and DeAndre Hopkins, and then he got Joe Burrow in Round 5 and Dallas Goedert in Round 6. He then went back to focusing on his running backs with D'Andre Swift in Round 7 and Dalvin Cook in Round 8, and this Hero RB build should work out well.

Matt Gremo had the No. 9 overall pick, and he started with back-to-back receivers of Stefon Diggs and A.J. Brown. He then selected two of my favorite running backs in Jahmyr Gibbs and J.K. Dobbins, and I love this balanced start. He also has James Conner as a flex option, Michael Thomas as his No. 3 receiver, Deshaun Watson at quarterback and Evan Engram at tight end. This should be a competitive roster in this league.

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. Thomas Shafer, FFT Podcast Producer
2. Robert Thomas, FFT Facebook Moderator
3. Joel Cox, CBS Sports VP Business Development
4. Adam Aizer, FFT Podcast Host
5. Zach Brook, FFT Social Media Coordinator
6. Stephen Hauser, St. Jude donation entry
7. Jamey Eisenberg, Senior Fantasy Writer
8. Dave Richard, Senior Fantasy Writer
9. Matt Gremo, St. Jude donation entry
10. Heath Cummings, Senior Fantasy Writer
11. R.J. White, Managing Editor, SportsLine and CBS Fantasy
12. Chris Towers, Senior Editor, Fantasy Sports

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