2016 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Strategy and Cheat Sheet for Opening Rounds

This is the year where all the previous fantasy football strategies get turned on their heads.

In the past, the talk was about loading up on running backs and figuring out who at that position would be trustworthy. However, wide receivers are the hot commodity in 2016 with the NFL completely transformed into a passing league.

This change and others will create some intriguing picks in the first few rounds of your draft. Here is a look at projections for a 10-team league with standard scoring, along with a breakdown of how you should approach the big day. 

Strategy for Early Rounds

Stick with Receivers You Can Trust

As mentioned above, running backs have been devalued in fantasy football. The separation between the top performers and an average player at the position remains huge, but there is no confidence in who will be good by season’s end.

Last season, “sure things” such as Le’Veon Bell, Marshawn Lynch and Jamaal Charles dealt with injuries, while Eddie Lacy and C.J. Anderson failed to live up to expectations. In the end, Devonta Freeman surprised just about everyone while becoming the leading scorer at running back in standard leagues.

While you still want to add running backs, the top picks should go to those you can trust to perform at a high level on a consistent basis.

This year, the best option is a wide receiver in Antonio Brown.

Although Brown did struggle a bit while Ben Roethlisberger was out with an injury, he is a stud when the quarterback is healthy, as noted by Evan Silva of Rotoworld:

Antonio Brown in Ben’s last 16 full games: 152-2039-12.In 15 career games w/o LeVeon: 138-2004-11.#Steelers lost 178 targets from 2015.

— Evan Silva (@evansilva) August 18, 2016

Silva also pointed out the success Brown has had when Bell has been out of the lineup, as he will be for the first three games of the year because of a suspension.

Julio Jones is the …

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