After focusing on rookies, it seems like a great time to step back from them for a moment and focus on veterans. Startup draft season is right around the corner, so I wanted to see what a startup would look like with only the Super Bowl remaining to close out the 2022 NFL season.
I'm not going into this mock with any specific strategy, but if that is important to you, DLF's Ryan McDowell recently covered potential draft strategies for your 2023 startup drafts. I'm primarily conducting this mock draft to help you get familiar with the most recent trends in ADP and as a way to help make you aware of DLF's mock draft simulator tool. This mock should also give you an idea of where the incoming rookie class falls when they're mixed in with veterans.
I've set up the draft as a superflex, 12-team, 12-round draft with PPR scoring. To add a little wrinkle, I did include the 2023 rookies. I don't usually omit them, so it'll be interesting to see where the projected top picks in this rookie class land in a startup. I was randomly assigned the first overall pick. Although I usually hate picking early, it should give me a different look than I typically get, so I should build a roster that looks different from most teams I've put together in the past. So let's get into it!
Rounds 1-3
For a moment, I was planning on taking Ja'Marr Chase. However, given that this is, in fact, superflex, I knew I had to go with a quarterback seeing how I wasn't going to pick again until the two-three turn. I entertained 26-year-old Josh Allen for a second, but I don't like the way the Bills are trending. Another 26-year-old, Joe Burrow, was enticing here too, and Justin Herbert is only 24, and there's nothing wrong with skewing younger in a startup draft. In the end, Patrick Mahomes might be 27, but he's clearly the overall QB1 and should continue to be for a while. There was no need for me to overthink so much this early.
