Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Melvin Gordon, A.J. Green still high picks in our latest 0.5 PPR mock

Jamey Eisenberg looks at where several players in questionable situations were selected in our latest 0.5 PPR mock draft, including Melvin Gordon, A.J. Green, Andrew Luck and Kenyan Drake.

By Jamey Eisenberg

Aug 1, 2019 at 4:26 pm ET • 5 min read

A professional wrestler, a two-time Super Bowl champion and 10 Fantasy analysts go into a room. No, that's not the start to a bad joke. It actually happened.

It's a draft room.

We recently held a 12-team, 0.5 PPR mock draft with analysts from other sites, including members of Pro Football Focus, the Athletic and Fantasy Football Diehards. Also taking part in this mock draft was WWE superstar Eric Young (an avid Fantasy player), as well as former NFL cornerback Bryant McFadden, who won two Super Bowls with the Steelers and now is a NFL analyst for CBS Sports.

It was a fun draft, and it was interesting to see where some of the newsworthy players were selected. Since the start of training camp, we've had guys getting hurt, dealing with contract holdouts and fighting for their spots on the depth chart.

Obviously, those things will impact Fantasy drafts, which happened here with guys like Melvin Gordon and A.J. Green. Gordon, who is holding out from the Chargers, went in Round 3 to McFadden. Green, who is expected to be out for 6-to-8 weeks with an ankle injury, went in Round 5 to Bob Harris of Fantasy Football Diehards.

The value for both of those guys is fair for now. With Gordon, we don't know when he will show up for the Chargers, but if he's on the field for Week 1, he's a steal in the third round. Conversely, if this holdout lingers into the season, then Round 3 is clearly a mistake. McFadden went with the upside play here.

As a result of Gordon's holdout, Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson have seen their value improve. Ekeler went in Round 7 here to Daniel Kelley of Pro Football Focus, and Ekeler could continue to rise the longer Gordon is out. He could creep into Round 5 consideration in any PPR format. Jackson went in Round 10 to Dave Richard, and Jackson also will benefit with Gordon's absence.

Green was a third-round pick before hurting his ankle, which resulted in him having a minor surgical procedure. Harris still made him the No. 21 receiver off the board in this draft. He went ahead of guys like Tyler Lockett and Tyler Boyd, which could be a mistake, but Green also could be fantastic value if he's ready for Week 1.

For Harris, Green will be his No. 2 receiver after starting his team from the No. 1 overall spot with Saquon Barkley, Leonard Fournette, George Kittle and Cooper Kupp. The rest of his receiving corps (we start three receivers in this league) is Sammy Watkins, DaeSean Hamilton and DeVante Parker, and Hamilton or Parker might have to replace Green if he misses games in the regular season.

Harris' running backs are solid with Barkley, Fournette, Sony Michel, LeSean McCoy and Nyheim Hines. And he has great tight ends (Kittle and Jordan Reed) and quarterbacks (Matt Ryan and Kyler Murray). If Green doesn't have an extended absence, Harris' team could be very good.

As for McFadden, he started his team with Julio Jones and Patrick Mahomes before drafting Gordon. His running backs are Gordon, Devonta Freeman, Lamar Miller, Chris Thompson and Kareem Hunt. His receivers are Jones, Alshon Jeffery, Marvin Jones, Jamison Crowder and Marqise Lee. He has Tom Brady as a backup for Mahomes, and Eric Ebron and Jimmy Graham at tight end.

McFadden also drafted the first DST with the Bears in Round 9. Go figure that the former cornerback drafts the first defense -- even in Fantasy.

McFadden will need Gordon to be ready by Week 1, or at least early in the season, for this team to be good. Otherwise, he will likely need another 5,000 passing yards and 50 touchdowns from Mahomes again this season to make the playoffs in this league.

I drafted a couple of players dealing with some questionable scenarios right now in Kenyan Drake and Andrew Luck. Drake is headed for a timeshare with Kalen Ballage, and Luck has missed the start of training camp with a calf strain, which he's been dealing with since May.

I got Drake in Round 5 as the No. 23 running back off the board. I took him ahead of Tevin Coleman, Tarik Cohen, James White, Michel and Chris Carson, and we'll see if that ends up as a mistake.

I thought I could get Ballage in Round 10, but he went right after my pick of Marquez Valdes-Scantling in Round 9. That could end up as a pick that I regret during the season.

As for Luck, he fell to Round 8 in this draft. You'll see with the results that most of the quarterbacks fell -- welcome to any analysts' draft -- but I thought he was a great value pick at this spot. Luck should be fine for Week 1, and I didn't draft a backup quarterback.

The rest of my roster includes Joe Mixon, Rashaad Penny, Damien Harris, Carlos Hyde, Darwin Thompson and Giovani Bernard at running back, with Zack Ertz at tight end. I also have JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chris Godwin, Dante Pettis, Valdes-Scantling and Albert Wilson at receiver.

I love my quarterback, tight end and receiving corps in this league, and my running backs should be OK if Drake gets close to 200 total touches. Even though Ballage should be a factor, I still expect Drake to be the best running back in Miami this year.

This was a great draft with some amazing Fantasy analysts. I encourage you to study the results in-depth to use as a guide for your Draft Day.

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), K and DST. There also are six reserve spots for a 16-round draft.

Our draft order is as follows: