Getting dealt pick No. 11 in a 2023 fantasy football draft is better than it sounds. On the bright side, these managers in the 11 spot get two top 14 players on their respective draft boards to deploy their chosen draft strategy.
Read more: “How to draft” from the… 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 spot
Here’s how I attacked the Roto Street Journal 12-team mock draft with Half-PPR scoring (QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, and FLEX) from the 11 spot:
1.11: RB1, Saquon Barkley
Being so late in the first round, obviously, the mindset going into the pick is, what big names, if any, are left. I prefer a true RB1 with receiving upside, so was looking to see if Bijan Robinson or Saquon Barkley would fall, and in this case, Barkley did, so I snatched him up immediately. From there, I’d take whatever WR was left over between CeeDee Lamb and Amon-Ra St Brown, or if Duck went WR-WR to start, I’d settle for Nick Chubb as an elite RB2.
2.02: WR1, Amon-Ra St. Brown
As mentioned above, I was going to take whoever was leftover of the three from Duck’s 12th and 13th picks. St. Brown has tremendous upside this year and could reach new heights in his third season. I prefer St. Brown to the likes of Davante Adams and Garrett Wilson this year. I’m not a huge fan of Garoppolo throwing to Adams and while Wilson drips in upside, we’ve already seen St. Brown perform at a high level with his quarterback. Overall, I’m very pleased leaving the first two picks with an elite player at each position.
3.11: RB2, Travis Etienne
At the 3/4 turn, I really despise most of the available receivers. If Tee Higgins or Calvin Ridley fell I would have been all over them, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. It felt too early at the time to take Justin Herbert, and the top three tight ends were already gone, so no chance I was reaching for that position. That left me with the RBs, and Etienne seemed like a no-brainer. He sees great volume in an improving offense, he’d make a great RB2 on my team. Plus, I knew it would piss Duck off, which made it even sweeter.
4.02: RB3 (Flex), Joe Mixon
In hindsight, maybe here is where I should have taken Herbert, who I think is going to have a monster season under Kellen Moore. Again, I didn’t like any other positions aside from the RBs available here, so I snagged another high-volume rusher in a high-scoring offense. Mixon could even be leaned on more if Burrow is limited in any capacity to start the year.
5.11: WR2, Chris Godwin
I wanted Darren Waller to fall to me here. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve drafted him this round in mocks (it’s a lot). With my RBs and flex filled, I turned to the WR position. This came down to Godwin and Brandon Aiyuk, but Godwin feels much better and safer. He’ll get a ton of targets on a bad team that will probably trail in most games. I still think Baker’s got some left in the tank and isn’t as bad as everyone makes him out to be.
6.02: TE1, Kyle Pitts
This is where the wheels started to come off. When making the pick, I threw up in my mouth, but I’m chasing upside here. He’s got all the talent in the world, and that passing game can’t be worse than it was last season it just can’t.
This is the point in the draft where I wish I had gone WR-heavy to start with Lamb and St Brown. I could have focused on RBs in this stretch with James Cook, Miles Sanders, Javonte Williams, and James Conner all available, who I’d be very pleased with as my RB3 or flex player.
7.11: QB1: Deshaun Watson
I’m hoping we see the elite Watson of old, who was a consistent top-five fantasy QB in Houston. There’s plenty of talent around him, but the Browns will always be the Browns, and he hasn’t looked good in Cleveland. After Watson, it feels like a steep drop-off in QB talent so wanted to snag him here.
8.02: WR3, Gabe Davis
The Wolf’s second lover. I still believe in Daddy Davis and his talent. Last year’s ankle injury seemed to really derail his season and Buffalo continues to air it out week in and week out. Plus, with the rumblings of Stefon Diggs’ unhappiness (not sure how true those are), you never know what could happen. I’ll take this high upside dart throw for my WR3.
9.11: WR4, JuJu Smith-Schuster
I messed up not taking Dalton Kincaid here as Pitts’ insurance. But, JuJu was another body to add to my weaker WR core. He should get heavy volume as the only somewhat consistent threat in New England’s passing game, as the rest of the receivers are pretty garbage.
10.02: RB4, Tank Bigsby
One of the preseason darlings, mixed in with being an Etienne handcuff.
11.11: WR5, Rashee Rice
I wanted a piece of the Kansas City receiving game, and the rookie has a lot of upside. I would prefer it being Skyy Moore but you can’t win them all.
12.02: TE2, Sam LaPorta
I like LaPorta a lot and think he could see very good volume early on in Detroit. A clear TE1 for the Lions and the Jameson Williams suspension is a huge boost.
13.11: QB2, Jared Goff
I got sucked into a work meeting during this marathon of a mock draft, but I wanted a backup QB here. Geno Smith would have been the first choice, but he went right before. Goff is a great backup option, but I would have seriously considered Kyler Murray for the upside when (if) he returns.
14.02: WR6, Michael Gallup
This was an auto-pick. Looking at the board, I would have taken my boy Clyde Edwards-Helaire from Jackson. I’m still a firm believer. How could I not be?!
Final Roster:
QB: Deshaun Watson
RB: Saquon Barkley
RB: Travis Etienne
WR: Amon-Ra St. Brown
WR: Chris Godwin
WR: Gabe Davis
TE: Kyle Pitts
FLEX: Joe Mixon
Bench: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tank Bigsby, Rashee Rice, Sam LaPorta, Jared Goff, Michael Gallup
FURTHER OBSERVATIONS
Overall I’m pretty happy with the draft. I love the RBs I have and the WRs are good enough headlined by ARSB. Watson and Pitts would have me sweating week in and week out, but the upside for this squad is super high and I think that’s what you need to chase a fantasy title. Swing big, win big.
Looking at how the draft played out, if I could go back and retroactively pick a squad I’d probably go:
Lamb, St Brown, Etienne, Herbert, Akers, Conner, Watson, Davis
You can find the link to the draft board here.
