2015 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Round 3

Scoring: This mock draft is based on standard-scoring formats and is for the 2015 season only (i.e., not keeper or dynasty leagues). Passing touchdowns are worth four points while rushing and receiving touchdowns are worth six points. In addition, one point is earned per 25 passing yards, 10 rushing or 10 receiving yards.

Mock Draft Start Date: Saturday, August 22nd
Mock Draft End Date: Tuesday, September 1st

Four of our site's contributors — Kevin Hanson, Brendan Donahue, Sean Beazley and Dan Yanotchko — will make picks for three teams of this 12-team mock. The mock will go 12 rounds with no kickers or team defenses selected.

Although this is a slow draft, we will post picks as they occur, along with comments from Kevin Hanson, as opposed to waiting for the entire mock draft to be completed.

Round: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 - Teams | Positions

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Here are Round 3 results of our 2015 Fantasy Football Mock Draft:

3.01 - Dan Yanotchko (Team I): T.Y. Hilton, WR, Indianapolis Colts

Hilton had a breakout 82/1,345/7 season last year. And that breakout year would have been even better if he weren't limited down the stretch by a hamstring injury. With good health, Hilton could set new career highs in both receptions and yards this season.

3.02 - Kevin Hanson (Team I): Andrew Luck, QB, Indianapolis Colts

Quarterback is deep and I usually like to wait on the position, but there is a clear-cut top tier with Luck and Aaron Rodgers and I'd be willing to take either in the third round.

Throwing for 4,761 yards and a league-leading 40 touchdowns, both of which were career highs, Luck's 40 TDs last season nearly equalled his total from his first two seasons combined (46 TDs). During the season, Luck had the second-longest streak of 300-yard games (eight) in NFL history. Not only does Luck lead one of the league's most prolific passing offenses, but he gets a boost from his mobility with at least 255 rushing yards each year and a total of 12 rushing scores.

- 2015 Fantasy Football Projections for the Indianapolis Colts

3.03 - Brendan Donahue (Team I): Frank Gore, RB, Indianapolis Colts

With the exception of an 11-game season in 2010, Gore has rushed for 1,000-plus yards in eight of his past nine seasons with at least 1,100 rushing yards in four consecutive seasons. Coach Pagano has said that he still views Gore as an every-down back, which means he should get the opportunity to extend that streak. One of the league's better pass-catching backs earlier in his career, Gore should be much more involved as a receiver with the Colts than he has been over the past four seasons (average of 18 catches per season) in San Francisco.

3.04 - Brendan Donahue (Team II): DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Houston Texans

Emerging as the team's most productive wide receiver last season, Hopkins took a huge step forward in his second season with a 76/1,210/6 stat line and the team has subsequently released Andre Johnson in the offseason. If there's any concern when it comes to Hopkins taking another step forward in his third season, however, it's the team's less-than-inspiring quarterback play, but he's a strong WR2 option for Brendan behind his WR1 (Randall Cobb).

3.05 - Sean Beazley (Team I): Alfred Morris, RB, Washington Redskins

Morris averaged a career-low 4.1 YPC last season, but he rushed 265 times for 1,074, respectable numbers but also career lows, and eight touchdowns. Washington's offensive line struggled last year, but the team used the fifth-overall pick on Brandon Scherff and the addition of Bill Callahan to the coaching staff is certainly a positive for the team's offensive line play and rushing attack overall.

3.06 - Sean Beazley (Team II): Melvin Gordon, RB, San Diego Chargers

With significant injuries to the team's running backs, the Chargers ran the ball only 39.45 percent of the time last season (compared to 46.66 percent, eighth highest, in 2013). Assuming a healthy backfield, I'd expect the Chargers to be closer to 46 percent than 39 percent this season. A top-15 selection in the 2015 NFL Draft, Gordon should get the bulk of the early-down work for the Chargers with Ryan Mathews now in Philadelphia.


3.07 - Dan Yanotchko (Team II): Brandin Cooks, WR, New Orleans Saints

Before suffering a season-ending injury in Week 11, Cook's 86.3 fantasy points ranked 25th among all wide receivers and his 53 receptions led all rookie receivers. Once again generating plenty of buzz in the offseason, Cooks is poised for a major breakout with the team's offseason trades provided that he stays healthy.

3.08 - Dan Yanotchko (Team III): Mark Ingram, RB, New Orleans Saints

Once again, Ingram missed multiple games and has now missed a total of 14 games over his four-year career. That said, Ingram set career highs -- 226 carries, 964 rushing yards, nine touchdowns and 29 receptions -- in the 13 games he did play in 2014. Re-signing with the Saints, Ingram should lead the team in carries. And given the team's offseason moves, a transition to more of a run-based offense appears to be in the offing.

3.09 - Kevin Hanson (Team II): Lamar Miller, RB, Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins coaching staff has seemed reluctant to give Miller as much work as his fantasy owners would have liked, but Miller was highly productive on a per-touch basis (5.09 YPC, 7.24 Y/R) last season. With more than 15 carries in only four games last season, Miller still managed to post his first-ever 1,000-yard season (1,099 rushing yards).

In addition, Miller was very consistent throughout the season as he finished as a top-21 fantasy running back in 12 of 16 weeks. Although they didn't draft Jay Ajayi until the fifth round, his presence could cap Miller's upside in 2015 but I still expect his touches to be fairly close year over year.

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3.10 - Kevin Hanson (Team III): Jimmy Graham, TE, New Orleans Saints

Slowed by a shoulder injury, Graham had 54 yards or less in six of his final seven games last season and finished with only 889 yards, a four-year low. With his trade to the Seahawks, Graham goes from an offense that averaged 41.2 pass attempts per game, second-most in the NFL last year, to one that averages the fewest (28.4/G).

Over his past four seasons, however, Graham has averaged 89 catches, 1,099 yards and 12 touchdowns per year. I think it's unlikely that reaches the 89/1,099 this season, but I do think he could score double-digit touchdowns as the Seahawks clear best red-zone (receiving) option.

3.11 - Brendan Donahue (Team III): Ameer Abdullah, RB, Detroit Lions

There is a lot to like about Abdullah, but this is a little too rich for my blood. Highly productive at Nebraska with back-to-back 1,600-yard campaigns, Abdullah finished first in the vertical jump (42.5 inches), broad jump (10-10), 3-cone drill (6.79) and 20-yard shuttle (3.95) among running backs at the 2015 NFL Scouting Combine. Provided Joique Bell is ready for Week 1, however, Abdullah will likely begin the season behind Bell on the depth chart, although his role within the offense should expand as the season progresses.

3.12 - Sean Beazley (Team III): Andre Ellington, RB, Arizona Cardinals

The good news is that Ellington averaged more than 20 touches per game last season. The bad news is that Ellington averaged more than 20 touches per game last season. Given Ellington's size (5-9, 199), it wasn't a huge (no pun intended) surprise that Ellington didn't hold up for a full season and missed the final four regular-season games.

With the substantial bump in workload, Ellington underwhelmed as his yards-per-carry average plummeted from 5.5 YPC as a rookie to 3.3 on 201 carries last season. That said, the foot injury he battled all of last season is now healed and the Cardinals improved their offensive line this offseason.

> Continue to Round 4 of our Fantasy Football Mock Draft
> Go back Round 2 of our Fantasy Football Mock Draft

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