There's an old saying in fantasy football: "The best laid plans of mice and men, something something, my entire team is on the injured reserve list!"
No matter how much or how little you prepared for this year's draft, odds are pretty good you've encountered some bad luck: injuries, teams that haven't jelled on offense, sleepers who keep hitting the snooze button ... Mark Andrews. Hey, it's OK. This stuff happens. It's not your fault. And it doesn't have to define your season, either.
ESPN Fantasy lets you draft new leagues well into the start of the season. Draft before kickoff of the first game of the week, and that's when you start with a 0-0 record. Draft any time after that, and you begin on the next scoring period.
With that in mind, as well as to tickle our "what if" fancy and help you assess what players may be worth today as opposed to their draft-day value, we asked the analysts who took part in our preseason Mock Draft Project to reconvene and pick players one more time. They were to pick as if they were starting a brand-new league beginning in Week 5, but with all the benefits of four weeks of game film, box scores and 20/20 hindsight.
The drafters, in order: Daniel Dopp, Matt Bowen, Tristan H. Cockcroft, Tyler Fulghum, Liz Loza, Stephania Bell, Field Yates, Eric Karabell, Eric Moody and Mike Clay. These were their picks. For each pick, you'll find the average pick and positional rank at which they were taken during the Mock Draft Project (MDP). At the bottom, you'll find each individual team, as well as a list of notable players who didn't make the cut this time around.
Round 1
1. CeeDee Lamb, Dal (WR1) -- Dopp | MDP: 2.4 (WR1)
2. Saquon Barkley, Phi (RB1) -- Bowen | MDP: 11.0 (RB5)
3. Justin Jefferson, Min (WR2) -- Cockcroft | MDP: 7.8 (WR5)
4. Nico Collins, Hou (WR3) -- Fulghum | MDP: 28.1 (WR14)
5. Alvin Kamara, NO (RB2) -- Loza | MDP: 33.0 (RB15)
6. Kyren Williams, LAR (RB3) -- Bell | MDP: 15.0 (RB7)
7. Malik Nabers, NYG (WR4) -- Yates | MDP: 46.8 (WR24)
8. Amon-Ra St. Brown, Det (WR5) -- Karabell | MDP: 7.0 (WR4)
9. Marvin Harrison Jr., Ari (WR6) -- Moody | MDP: 21.1 (WR11)
10. Breece Hall, NYJ (RB4) -- Clay | MDP: 2.9 (RB2)
