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Ben Zweiman
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As we get ready for the 2026 fantasy football season, there's no better way to prepare than doing mock drafts. And while live mock drafts will give us a great idea of how things might shake out, sometimes they're hit or miss and can be time consuming. Fortunately, Yahoo is offering its Instant Mock Draft tool again this season, available with your Fantasy Plus subscription. If you want to give the tool a spin for free, you can do an Instant Mock Draft for the first three rounds. Head here for more details.
If you're new to the instant mock tool, here are some of the benefits:
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In this series, I'll be performing an instant mock draft out of each pick slot for 12-team leagues with default half-PPR scoring. Today, we're picking a team from the No. 6 spot. Below is the full roster, plus key takeaways.
No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6 | No. 7 | No. 8 | No. 9 | No. 10 | No. 11 | No. 12
QB: Jayden Daniels, WAS
RB: Jonathan Taylor, IND
RB: Cam Skattebo, NYG
WR: Drake London, ATL
WR: Jaylen Waddle, DEN
TE: Harold Fannin Jr., CLE
FLEX: Mike Evans, SF
Kicker: Harold Mevis, LAR
Defense: Vikings
Bench: Chuba Hubbard, CAR
Bench: Matthew Golden, GB
Bench: Mike Washington Jr., LV
Bench: Jake Ferguson, DAL
Bench: Woody Marks, HOU
Bench: Cyrus Allen, KC
Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season
Truthfully, I went with a balanced approach in this draft and also wanted to take some names I haven't went with throughout this series. Not to say I forced those names, but it'll give you some different roster looks — rather than just me taking the same players over and over. As I've mentioned in previous mocks, here are some of our Yahoo analyst's favorite draft strategies, and most of them tell you to focus on RBs and WRs in the early rounds. So we did just that. We also used some recent news to make a few picks. Let's get into it.
I know we wanted to differentiate the rosters of these mocks a bit, but it's tough for me to ignore Jonathan Taylor in the middle of the first round. You can make a case that Taylor (and even CMC) should be going slightly higher in the first round based off 2025. Through Week 10 last season, JT was averaging 25.9 fantasy points per game. From Weeks 11 through the fantasy championship round (Week 17), Taylor only averaged 12.6 FPPG (RB15 numbers). Some of that was due to the Daniel Jones injury. If Jones can stay healthy, we know Taylor is going to get elite touch volume. Had the Jones injury not happened and JT put together a few more gaudy box scores, he likely finishes as the No. 1 flex scorer ahead of Christian McCaffrey last season. Taylor is still in his prime at age 27 and just got a huge payday. Any draft I can walk away with JT as my first pick feels like a huge W.
Waddle is another player popping up on more than one of my rosters in this series. He remains a trendy breakout candidate and I'll pub Matt Harmon's Draft Day Blueprint again, which has Waddle as the one player he's leaving every draft with in 2026. The new Broncos' top wideout is a great target in almost all builds. If you go RB heavy early on, Waddle has the ceiling to be your WR1. If you want a robust WR room, Waddle could even be your Flex or WR3 in deeper roster formats. Here, I was able to land Waddle in the third round as my WR2 behind London.
Justin Boone has Skattebo as one of his RB breakout candidates for 2026. When you get to the Round 4-5 range, there are a lot of backs with question marks, but also plenty of upside. I wanted to snag Travis Etienne Jr. as my RB2 behind JT but Skattebo is a great consolation prize here. I like posing hypothetical questions to judge ADP value. Had Skattebo stayed healthy last season and kept his FPPG pace of 14.5, he would have finished with around 246 fantasy points (or the RB9 overall in half-PPR scoring). He's being drafted as the RB18 on Yahoo as of this writing. We played this game a few mocks ago with Bears WR Rome Odunze.
We went with mostly youth and upside on the bench (other than Hubbard and Ferguson). The Panthers stated that Hubbard and Jonathon Brooks will be in a backfield committee to start the season. Hubbard's ADP took a nosedive after he injured his hamstring but he's expected to be ready for Week 1. Here's more on the situation below:
If Hubbard is healthy and the starter, getting him around the eighth round feels like a great play. Even Brooks that late in drafts is a solid addition to your bench.
We have two second-year players (Marks, Golden) and two rookies (Washington and Allen). The Chiefs' rookie is getting hype out of training camp and Xavier Worthy is dealing with an injury still. We also know Rashee Rice's injury and off-field history isn't great. Allen may not last on your roster but I'd like to see how the first few weeks ago with him.
In PPR formats, I think Marks will have value. He caught 24 of 36 targets last season for 208 yards and three scores and should maintain that pass-catching role behind David Montgomery. The Texans just traded for WR Kayshon Boutte with Jayden Higgins out, but there aren't many reliable options in the Houston passing game outside of Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz. The Houston Chronicle also believes Marks and Monty will be close to a 50-50 split in the backfield. Monty is the RB21 in ADP and Marks is the RB49.
Washington is going to be a popular sleeper pick with Ashton Jeanty dealing with an ankle sprain that could hold him out to start the campaign. We still need more info on Jeanty's timeline with three weeks to go before the opener. But Washington had been flashing plenty of explosiveness in preseason contests. Hayden Winks goes over it a bit more in his preseason Week 2 takeaways.
I wanted to cover Daniels and Evans a bit. The Commanders' signal-caller is being taken as the QB5 on average and has QB1 upside, so prioritizing that pick in the middle rounds made sense since we played it safe for most of this draft. I'm slightly concerned about injuries for Evans but he should outperform his WR27 ADP.
Overall, this is a solid build that offers balance and upside, though the bench could use some work, so the waiver wire will be an early priority. That's fine, I can just keep track of some of the sleepers (and deep sleepers) Justin Boone is targeting for 2026.
Continue reading...
If you're new to the instant mock tool, here are some of the benefits:
Draft immediately: That means no lobbies and no dropouts.
Drafts tailored to your league: No more guessing if a mock draft from a generic 12-team league with standard scoring matches your custom setup. Draft against our algorithm, which mimics your league opponents.
Test strategy: Simulate and try out different draft strategies from your exact draft slot. Find out which approach builds the strongest roster, then nail your live draft with real-time, on-the-clock recommendations.
Subscribe to Fantasy Ultra to unlock our Strategy Lab, 150+ page Draft Playbook and more!
In this series, I'll be performing an instant mock draft out of each pick slot for 12-team leagues with default half-PPR scoring. Today, we're picking a team from the No. 6 spot. Below is the full roster, plus key takeaways.
More Instant Mock Drafts
No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6 | No. 7 | No. 8 | No. 9 | No. 10 | No. 11 | No. 12
Full Roster
QB: Jayden Daniels, WAS
RB: Jonathan Taylor, IND
RB: Cam Skattebo, NYG
WR: Drake London, ATL
WR: Jaylen Waddle, DEN
TE: Harold Fannin Jr., CLE
FLEX: Mike Evans, SF
Kicker: Harold Mevis, LAR
Defense: Vikings
Bench: Chuba Hubbard, CAR
Bench: Matthew Golden, GB
Bench: Mike Washington Jr., LV
Bench: Jake Ferguson, DAL
Bench: Woody Marks, HOU
Bench: Cyrus Allen, KC
Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season
Strategy
Truthfully, I went with a balanced approach in this draft and also wanted to take some names I haven't went with throughout this series. Not to say I forced those names, but it'll give you some different roster looks — rather than just me taking the same players over and over. As I've mentioned in previous mocks, here are some of our Yahoo analyst's favorite draft strategies, and most of them tell you to focus on RBs and WRs in the early rounds. So we did just that. We also used some recent news to make a few picks. Let's get into it.
A Few Familiar Names
I know we wanted to differentiate the rosters of these mocks a bit, but it's tough for me to ignore Jonathan Taylor in the middle of the first round. You can make a case that Taylor (and even CMC) should be going slightly higher in the first round based off 2025. Through Week 10 last season, JT was averaging 25.9 fantasy points per game. From Weeks 11 through the fantasy championship round (Week 17), Taylor only averaged 12.6 FPPG (RB15 numbers). Some of that was due to the Daniel Jones injury. If Jones can stay healthy, we know Taylor is going to get elite touch volume. Had the Jones injury not happened and JT put together a few more gaudy box scores, he likely finishes as the No. 1 flex scorer ahead of Christian McCaffrey last season. Taylor is still in his prime at age 27 and just got a huge payday. Any draft I can walk away with JT as my first pick feels like a huge W.
Waddle is another player popping up on more than one of my rosters in this series. He remains a trendy breakout candidate and I'll pub Matt Harmon's Draft Day Blueprint again, which has Waddle as the one player he's leaving every draft with in 2026. The new Broncos' top wideout is a great target in almost all builds. If you go RB heavy early on, Waddle has the ceiling to be your WR1. If you want a robust WR room, Waddle could even be your Flex or WR3 in deeper roster formats. Here, I was able to land Waddle in the third round as my WR2 behind London.
The Skat Man
Justin Boone has Skattebo as one of his RB breakout candidates for 2026. When you get to the Round 4-5 range, there are a lot of backs with question marks, but also plenty of upside. I wanted to snag Travis Etienne Jr. as my RB2 behind JT but Skattebo is a great consolation prize here. I like posing hypothetical questions to judge ADP value. Had Skattebo stayed healthy last season and kept his FPPG pace of 14.5, he would have finished with around 246 fantasy points (or the RB9 overall in half-PPR scoring). He's being drafted as the RB18 on Yahoo as of this writing. We played this game a few mocks ago with Bears WR Rome Odunze.
Bench Mob
We went with mostly youth and upside on the bench (other than Hubbard and Ferguson). The Panthers stated that Hubbard and Jonathon Brooks will be in a backfield committee to start the season. Hubbard's ADP took a nosedive after he injured his hamstring but he's expected to be ready for Week 1. Here's more on the situation below:
If Hubbard is healthy and the starter, getting him around the eighth round feels like a great play. Even Brooks that late in drafts is a solid addition to your bench.
We have two second-year players (Marks, Golden) and two rookies (Washington and Allen). The Chiefs' rookie is getting hype out of training camp and Xavier Worthy is dealing with an injury still. We also know Rashee Rice's injury and off-field history isn't great. Allen may not last on your roster but I'd like to see how the first few weeks ago with him.
In PPR formats, I think Marks will have value. He caught 24 of 36 targets last season for 208 yards and three scores and should maintain that pass-catching role behind David Montgomery. The Texans just traded for WR Kayshon Boutte with Jayden Higgins out, but there aren't many reliable options in the Houston passing game outside of Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz. The Houston Chronicle also believes Marks and Monty will be close to a 50-50 split in the backfield. Monty is the RB21 in ADP and Marks is the RB49.
Washington is going to be a popular sleeper pick with Ashton Jeanty dealing with an ankle sprain that could hold him out to start the campaign. We still need more info on Jeanty's timeline with three weeks to go before the opener. But Washington had been flashing plenty of explosiveness in preseason contests. Hayden Winks goes over it a bit more in his preseason Week 2 takeaways.
Final Thoughts
I wanted to cover Daniels and Evans a bit. The Commanders' signal-caller is being taken as the QB5 on average and has QB1 upside, so prioritizing that pick in the middle rounds made sense since we played it safe for most of this draft. I'm slightly concerned about injuries for Evans but he should outperform his WR27 ADP.
Overall, this is a solid build that offers balance and upside, though the bench could use some work, so the waiver wire will be an early priority. That's fine, I can just keep track of some of the sleepers (and deep sleepers) Justin Boone is targeting for 2026.
Continue reading...