Fantasy Football: Guest pickers change look of April 0.5 mock draft starting with Derrick Henry second overall

We recently held a fun, 0.5 PPR mock draft featuring nine members of our CBS Sports staff, as well as three amazing analysts in the industry. Joe Pisapia from Fantasy Pros, Zach Berger from Triple Play Fantasy and Matt Donnelly from Dynasty Vipers helped us with this mock draft, which we aired live on our Fantasy Football Today YouTube page.

We plan to do a lot more of these mock drafts following the NFL Draft at the end of April, so keep an eye out when we post them. It’s awesome to talk through our picks and review each round in live action.

For this mock draft, I love the way each guest analyst built their teams. Berger had the first overall selection, and he paired Jonathan Taylor with Miles Sanders as his top two running backs. He has Joe Burrow at quarterback and Zach Ertz at tight end, but the strength of his team is at receiver with Tee Higgins, DK Metcalf, D.J. Moore and Mike Williams. And he can play all four of them since this is a three-receiver league with a flex.

Berger also has three lottery-ticket running backs with A.J. Dillon, Alexander Mattison and Khalil Herbert, and all three could be tremendous difference makers if they end up in starting roles at any point this season. Berger also has D.J. Chark on his bench as well.

Pisapia picked second overall, and he started his team with Derrick Henry, Antonio Gibson and Keenan Allen. To get Allen after starting RB-RB is fantastic, and he also selected Jerry Jeudy, Hunter Renfrow and Rashod Bateman for his other top receivers, with Jakobi Meyers, K.J. Osborn and Braxton Berrios on his bench.

Pisapia was the first Fantasy manager to draft a quarterback with Josh Allen in Round 4, and he has stars at quarterback, both running backs and at least one receiver spot with Keenan Allen. If Jeudy hits as expected now that Russell Wilson is in Denver, this roster is more than formidable if everyone stays healthy.

Donnelly picked at the end of the first round at No. 11 overall, and he also built a stacked roster, starting his team with Joe Mixon, Ja’Marr Chase, J.K. Dobbins, Ezekiel Elliott, George Kittle and Adam Thielen. Those feel like several home run selections — imagine Elliott in Round 4 now — and he followed that up with other quality picks like Cordarrelle Patterson in Round 8 and Wilson in Round 10.

Donnelly also has some upside with his other receivers in Brandon Aiyuk, Tyler Boyd and Kenny Golladay, and this is another team that will be tough to beat.  

As for my team, I had the No. 5 pick, and I love my first four picks with Najee Harris, A.J. Brown, Aaron Jones and Cam Akers. That gave me a solid foundation, and I filled out my receiving corps after that with Brandin Cooks and Marquise Brown, which was fantastic.

My reserves are also promising with Tony Pollard, Raheem Mostert and Trey Sermon at running back, as well as Michael Gallup and Will Fuller at receiver. I just need Fuller to sign with a team where he’ll get consistent targets.

I drafted Deshaun Watson in Round 10, and we’ll see what happens with a potential suspension. He has top-five upside based on his per-game production, but he could also wreck your Fantasy team if he misses a significant amount of games. To back up Watson, I drafted Kirk Cousins in Round 13.

The one position that’s questionable for me is tight end, and I waited to draft Mike Gesicki in Round 14. We’ll see how he does under new coach Mike McDaniel, but this could be a position I’ll be streaming if Gesicki struggles early in the year.

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 0.5 points for every reception. We feature a starting lineup of QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, DST and FLEX (RB/WR/TE). There also are six reserve spots for a 15-round draft.

Our draft order is as follows:

1. Zach Berger, Triple Play Fantasy

2. Joe Pisapia, Fantasy Pros

3. Ben Schragger, CBS Sports Podcast Producer

4. Frank Stampfl, CBS Sports FBT Podcast Host

5. Jamey Eisenberg, CBS Sports Senior Fantasy Writer

6. George Maselli, CBS Sports Fantasy Editor

7. Daniel Schneier, CBS Sports Fantasy Editor

8. Meron Berkson, CBS Sports HQ Producer

9. Heath Cummings, CBS Sports Senior Fantasy Writer

10. Chris Towers, Senior Editor, Fantasy

11. Matt Donnelly, Dynasty Vipers

12. Dave Richard, CBS Sports Senior Fantasy Writer