Fantasy Football Mock Draft 2023, 12-team PPR: Tyreek Hill or Travis Kelce?

Running through a new Fantasy Football Mock Draft for the 2023 season in a 12-team PPR league, picking at No. 5 in a snake draft. 

Forget Christmas, what’s actually better than fantasy football draft season? You know, that magical time when you aren’t staring down the barrel of 24 hours at a Waffle House or whatever punishment your league doles out. No, the draft is the time when all of your fantasy hopes and dreams are possible.

Of course, for that to happen, you better be prepared. That’s why we’re here to help with an early-August fantasy football mock draft to give you at least a guide or idea of how your draft could play out.

The fact of the matter is that tough decisions are everywhere in the draft. But as has been famously said, you can’t win your fantasy football league in the first round, but you can definitely lose it then. So we’re going through this fantasy football mock draft for a 12-team PPR league picking from the No. 5 spot in a snake draft. Do we go with Tyreek Hill or take Travis Kelce to give us the trump card among NFL tight ends?

Decisions, decisions.

Let’s see where these decisions can take us, though as we go through the full 15-round fantasy football mock draft before analyzing the roster we end up with to give you an idea of how your team might look if you follow such a strategy.

Note: This mock draft was compiled using FantasyPros Draft Wizard mock draft lobby and was completed with 11 other users and me to best simulate a real-life fantasy football draft.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft 2023, 12-team PPR league: Pick No. 5 snake draft

Fantasy Football Mock Draft Round 1

• Team 1 (1.01): Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota Vikings
• Team 2 (1.02): Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco 49ers
• Team 3 (1.03): Ja’Marr Chase, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
• Team 4 (1.04): Austin Ekeler, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
• Team 5 (1.05): Tyreek Hill, WR, Miami Dolphins
• Team 6 (1.06): Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs
• Team 7 (1.07): Cooper Kupp, WR, Los Angeles Rams
• Team 8 (1.08): Saquon Barkley, RB, New York Giants
• Team 9 (1.09): Stefon Diggs, WR, Buffalo Bills
• Team 10 (1.10): Davante Adams, WR, Las Vegas Raiders
• Team 11 (1.11): Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons
• Team 12 (1.12): A.J. Brown, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

For as valuable as Travis Kelce is at the tight end position, the upside of Tyreek Hill was simply too great for me to pass up at this spot.

Despite catching only seven touchdowns last season and playing multiple games with either Teddy Bridgewater or Skylar Thompson at quarterback given the injuries to Tua Tagovailoa, Hill finished as the WR2 in fantasy last season, catching 119 balls for 1,710 yards.

Kelce is far and away the TE1 but the fact of the matter is he’s not going to put up the same level of production as Hill if that major role in the Mike McDaniel offense continues and Tua can stay healthy. I’m taking the flashy upside here and not thinking twice about it, especially with some of the value that I believe can still be had at tight end.

As far as the rest of the first round, Austin Ekeler going fourth was a bit of a surprise, but totally understandable given the arrival of Kellen Moore in LA, which could put him in a higher-usage role a la Tony Pollard in Dallas but with more of a usage share.