In our first mock draft following the unfortunate news that Rams running back Cam Akers is out for the season with a ruptured Achilles, all eyes were on Darrell Henderson and when he would get selected. We didn't have to wait long.
Henderson, who is expected to replace Akers as the No. 1 running back for the Rams, went in the fourth round of this 12-team, 0.5 PPR mock draft at No. 45 overall. He was drafted right in front of other running backs like Mike Davis and Myles Gaskin, and this is a good spot for Henderson -- for now.
We don't know if the Rams plan to bring in someone to replace Akers and compete with Henderson for the starting spot. But we can adjust our view of Henderson if that happens, and it will also depend on who that running back might be.
Want more on the Akers injury fallout? Of course you do! We dove a bit deeper on the Fantasy Football Today emergency podcast:
As of now, Henderson's stock is on the rise. And he has plenty of potential in this Rams offense with Akers out, as well as Malcolm Brown being gone.
Last year, before Henderson started dealing with injuries and Akers took off, Henderson scored at least 18 PPR points in three of his first five games. He had six games last season with at least 12 carries, and he averaged over 5.2 yards per carry in four of those outings.
The Rams offense should be better with Matthew Stafford at quarterback, and Henderson has plenty of upside. I'd prefer to draft him in Round 5, but Andrew Baumhor didn't want to wait and got him in Round 4. He was the No. 20 running back off the board.
And Xavier Jones, who could be the new No. 2 running back for the Rams, went in Round 13. He's someone to keep an eye on in training camp with Akers now out.
This was a fun mock draft with three awesome Fantasy analysts joining our CBS Sports crew, including Samanta Previte of the Action Network, Tera Roberts of the Dynasty Vipers and Stephie Smalls of FTN Fantasy. You should check out their teams because each of them built an excellent roster.
We did this mock draft Tuesday night during our live stream on YouTube, and I highly encourage you to check out the results as it happened. You can re-watch the show here .
I had the No. 9 pick, and I started my team with two running backs in Ezekiel Elliott and Antonio Gibson. I love this, and I followed that up with two receivers I'm fond of in Terry McLaurin and CeeDee Lamb. Now, I didn't plan to stack Elliott and Lamb and Gibson and McLaurin, and we'll see how that works out.
I might have gone too robust at running back with my next three picks in Travis Etienne (Round 5), Javonte Williams (Round 6) and Michael Carter (Round 7), but those three rookies were impossible to pass up. And I should have the best running back corps in this league.
I still got Russell Wilson at quarterback in Round 8, and my third receiver is fine with Marquise Brown in Round 9. Since we start three receivers in this league, I knew building depth at that position was what I needed with my bench, which is why I drafted Jaylen Waddle, Tre'Quan Smith, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Henry Ruggs, so hopefully, I'll be OK with my receiving corps.
Adam Trautman is my favorite late-round tight end to target, and I drafted him in Round 11. I'm thrilled with how this roster came together, and this team should be a playoff contender heading into the season.
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, FLEX (RB/WR/TE) and DST. There also are six reserve spots for a 15-round draft.
Our draft order is as follows:
1. R.J. White, Managing Editor, SportsLine and CBS Fantasy
2. Jacobs Gibbs, SportsLine Fantasy Analyst
3. Rob Thomas, Fantasy Football Today Facebook Moderator
4. Andrew Baumhor, CBS Sports HQ Producer
5. Samantha Previte, Action Network
6. Tera Roberts, Dynasty Vipers
7. Stephie Smalls, FTN Fantasy
8. Chris Towers, Senior Editor, Fantasy
9. Jamey Eisenberg, Senior Fantasy Writer
10. Dave Richard, Senior Fantasy Writer
11. Dan Schneier, Fantasy Editor
12. Jack Capotorto, CBS Sports HQ Producer
