The fantasy football season is set to start on Thursday and with many teams still drafting around the country, ESPN fantasy football expert Matthew Berry has put together a number of pieces of advice for the season, including rankings, sleepers and mock drafts that can be found here.
Berry is the top fantasy football expert for ESPN and he always has some interesting things to say about the game and one thing that appears to be the consensus for everyone is that Adrian Peterson is the top pick among players this season. Peterson rushed for 2,000 yards last year and looks stronger than ever and if he can be used as a keeper in your league, do it, because he will be gone with the number one pick no matter what.
Peterson is number one in Berry's mock and following that are more and more running backs. In the first round with expert picks, Arian Foster, Ray Rice, Doug Martin and CJ Spiller were the next players off the board, while Jamaal Charles and Marshawn Lynch along with LeSean McCoy were next. The running back position is as valuable as ever this season, especially with teams using running backs in more productive sets and out of the backfield, including with Charles and Martin.
Alfred Morris, Steven Jackson and the dual threat Matt Forte finished out the first round, while Stevan Ridley and Calvin Johnson were the next players off the board in the second round. Johnson should be the first wideout off the board no matter what happens in your draft and the first quarterback should be Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees, but that shouldn't come until at least the second round and the mid-part at that. It isn't that quarterbacks aren't valuable, but RBs are the number one value position for the 2013 fantasy class.
In PPR leagues things change a bit and in those Johnson should be considered a first round pick and players like Reggie Bush and Shane Vereen will move up. Wideouts like Dez Bryant and Julio jones should go soon after Johnson and names like AJ Green and Brandon Marshall should be very valuable as well after big seasons in 2012.
Some other players that are sleeper options in the top of the draft include David Wilson, Montee Ball as well as Randall Cobb and a player like Andre Johnson is a good pick later in the third round or fourth if he slips as a number one receiver option. Darren McFadden is a risk, as is Chris Ivory, but a solid breakout candidate is Lamar Miller with the Dolphins, as he is taking over frm Reggie Bush.
Here are the first two rounds from the mock draft and here is a link to the full mock from Matthew Berry on ESPN.
ROUND 1
Pick Overall Position Player By
1 1 RB1 Adrian Peterson, Min Lipscomb
2 2 RB2 Arian Foster, Hou Cockcroft
3 3 RB3 Ray Rice, Bal Quintong
4 4 RB4 Doug Martin, TB McCormick
5 5 RB5 C.J. Spiller, Buf Berry
6 6 RB6 Jamaal Charles, KC Joyner
7 7 RB7 Marshawn Lynch, Sea Yates
8 8 RB8 LeSean McCoy, Phi Gramling
9 9 RB9 Trent Richardson, Cle Harris
10 10 RB10 Alfred Morris, Wsh Cwalinski
11 11 RB11 Steven Jackson, Atl Hunter
12 12 RB12 Matt Forte, Chi Karabell
ROUND 2
Pick Overall Position Player By
1 13 RB13 Stevan Ridley, NE Karabell
2 14 WR1 Calvin Johnson, Det Hunter
3 15 RB14 Maurice Jones-Drew, Jac Cwalinski
4 16 RB15 Frank Gore, SF Harris
5 17 QB1 Aaron Rodgers, GB Gramling
6 18 WR2 Dez Bryant, Dal Yates
7 19 RB16 Chris Johnson, Ten Joyner
8 20 WR3 A.J. Green, Cin Berry
9 21 WR4 Brandon Marshall, Chi McCormick
10 22 WR5 Julio Jones, Atl Quintong
11 23 WR6 Demaryius Thomas, Den Cockcroft
12 24 WR7 Larry Fitzgerald, Ari Lipscomb