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'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.
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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. We've already mocked from the No. 1 spot — now, we move to the second overall pick. Below is the full roster, plus key takeaways.
Full Roster
QB: Caleb Williams, CHI
RB: Bijan Robinson, ATL
RB: Quinshon Judkins, CLE
WR: Chris Olave, NO
WR: Malik Nabers, NYG
TE: Mark Andrews, BAL
FLEX: Rome Odunze, CHI
Kicker: Jason Myers, JAX
Defense: Chargers
Bench: Parker Washington, JAX
Bench: Blake Corum, LAR
Bench: Isaiah Likely, NYG
Bench: KC Concepcion, CLE
Bench: Zach Charbonnet, SEA
Bench: MarShawn Lloyd, GB
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Strategy
I went over this a bit in the first instant mock, but I'm not straying from Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson at 1-2. Yahoo analyst Scott Pianowski has been preaching the same going into this season and has Robinson as one of his favorite targets for 2026. Justin Boone also prefers the No. 2 pick in the draft because you get your pick of Gibbs or Bijan in most cases. I agree with both those sentiments; drafting in the 1 or 2 slot at least makes your initial decision pretty easy, so you can focus more on what's to come in your draft.
As for strategy, in the No. 1 mock we used more of a Hero RB approach and waited a bit at WR. This time around, we made a concerted effort to go WR in Rounds 2-3 (but also balanced things out a bit throughout). Running backs will likely fly off the board so I made it a priority to shore up my starters before the fifth/sixth round. You can check out some of our analysts favorite strategies for this season here.
Rolling the Dice on Malik Nabers + More WR Thoughts
Nabers has been the most talked about player in fantasy football this offseason. Right now, it's looking like he'll be OK for the start of the season. And even if Nabers were to miss the opener or a few games, I feel good enough about my WR room withstanding that early on. But with this pick, I get a player with first-round upside at a third-round price, which feels like a risky (but potentially rewarding move). When Nabers is healthy and on the field, he's one of the best WRs in the world. The Giants also don't have a ton of target competition and I trust the new coaching staff to make sure Nabers gets his. Joel Smyth breaks down Nabers' potential to bounce back and what history tells us.
I love Olave as my WR1, especially after it looks like Jordyn Tyson will miss the start of the season with a hamstring injury. Though, you could argue it'll hurt the Saints offense overall. But given the type of game scripts New Orleans should be in (and the offense's pace of play), Olave should be a target hound all season. He's also coming off his best NFL campaign and is entering his prime years at age 26. Kellen Moore is an exciting young head coach and Tyler Shough is an exciting young QB — sign me up. Hayden Winks talks a bit about Olave's stock moving up after Week 1 of the preseason here.
I decided to roll with another QB-WR stack in this draft with Williams and Odunze. I'm a big Rome believer, same as my colleague Matt Harmon, who has Odunze as one of his "My Guys" in his Draft Day Blueprint, which you can check out here. Odunze feels like the perfect Year 3 post-hype sleeper in a great offensive environment. Plus, his draft cost is great at an ADP of 68.4. I had to reach a bit for him given my draft position, but don't be afraid to do that every so often, as Pianowski writes in his draft mistakes to avoid.
Late-Round Tight End
I'm a big believer in the strategy and am also fine streaming the position in most cases during the season. But if I'm going to grab a TE late in my draft, I usually want some type of Plan B. In this case, we went with a TE approach that had multiple angles.
Likely left for the Giants, leaving Andrews as the clear TE option in Baltimore. I like both situations a lot and both players given their ADPs. Likely also gives me insurance on Nabers; in the event the WR isn't ready for Week 1 or gets hurt again, I can see Likely being a top target for Giants QB Jaxson Dart this season. Boone highlights Likely as one of his breakout TE candidates for this season.
As for Andrews, there's virtually no competition behind him on the Ravens' TE depth chart. Rookie Matthew Hibner is getting some hype but he's the only threat to Andrews' snaps/targets it seems. Andrews feels like that boring, overlooked veteran who goes on to finish as a top-12 TE this season (sort of like Dallas Goedert in 2025).
Quick RB Overview
I like Judkins as an RB2 given his upside. The Browns aren't the best environment but I think Judkins' talent can win out; he's an explosive play waiting to happen when healthy.
I like the idea of taking Charbonnet and stashing him in an injured reserve spot until he's healthy. That allows me to pick someone up off waivers after my draft. Plus, if Bijan and Judkins are great, I'm not worried much about RB the rest of the season. If something happens, Charb could be a solid RB2/3 option by the middle of the season. Lloyd and Corum are high-value backups who should have some role behind their RB1s, but have an easy path to fantasy relevance through injury.
Final Thoughts
The bench and TE position are a bit weak but I really like this build. I have enough insurance if something happens to Nabers and there's tons of upside with guys like Odunze, Caleb Williams, Parker Washington and Judkins. Stay tuned for more instant mock analysis in our next installment.
Level up with Yahoo Fantasy Ultra
Beyond the Instant Mock Draft tool that's part of Yahoo Fantasy Plus, we also have a new subscription tier this season, Yahoo Fantasy Ultra, which offers an even deeper experience thanks to our Draft Playbook and Strategy Lab.
Sign up for Fantasy Ultra and unlock over 150 pages of advice with our Draft Playbook, including ...
Top targets and players to avoid from Justin Boone (the top in-season ranker of 2025), Matt Harmon, Josh Norris, Joel Smyth, Scott Pianowski and Hayden Winks
In-depth positional advice and strategies for every draft pick range
32 sleeper and 32 breakout candidates
Cheat sheets
Half and PPR rankings
Half and PPR positional tiers
More than 125 player profiles
An Ultra subscription also comes with access to several top-notch tools like Yahoo's Draft Strategy Lab to mock draft like a champ with tons of features, including filtering by each analyst's rankings or a draft strategy style (like late-round QB).
If you're looking to up your game this season, consider Fantasy Ultra.