March NFL Fantasy Mock Draft

Welcome to the second Athlon Sports NFL Fantasy Mock Draft of 2011. There will be no fantasy offseason at Athlon Sports.

February's mock draft was conducted with Athlon Sports' default scoring, default lineup and a league of 12 players. During this month's mock draft, we went the 10-team route, gave the starting lineup two QBs and changed passing touchdowns from six points to four points. Athlon editors also answer some key strategy questions about a two-quarterback league: Click here.

You will notice we had an Athlon Consensus draft spot. Let us set up the parameters for the Athlon Consensus picks. Each month the AC will draft in a different spots and represent different draft styles that are commonplace in the world of fantasy football.

For this second mock draft, the Athlon Consensus was the sixth pick in the draft and setup to take the best-available quarterback first and either the best-available quarterback or running back with its second-round pick. From there, the Athlon Consensus went best available player for the needs of its team. It stepped out one time to grab rookie receiver Julio Jones because even the Consensus was impressed with Jones' performance from the NFL Scouting Combine.

We set up the Athlon Consensus drafter for multiple reasons, among those being that there is always a drafter that never deviates from their plan and there is always a drafter that selects players straight down whatever the rankings for the next position tells them. These players affect the outcome of both their drafts and yours as well. So we will consistently represent them in each of our monthly mock drafts at different draft positions on the board each time.

This is a 10-team, head-to-head league. Passing touchdowns are 4 points and all other touchdowns are 6 points. 1 point for 25 yards passing, 1 point for 10 yards rushing/receiving. Receptions are .5 points. Interceptions/fumbles are minus-2 points. PATs are 1 point, field goals are 3 points (30 yards), 4 points (40 yards) and 5 points (50-plus yards). Kickoff/punt returns count 6 points both for individuals and team defenses. Team defenses are scored with 1 point for a sack, 2 points for an interception, fumble recovery, safety or blocked kick. Points allowed are 12 for a shutout, 10 for 1-6, 8 for 7-13, 6 for 14-20, 2 for 21-27 and 0 for 28-plus. Lineup is 2 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 flex (RB/WR), 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DST and 5 bench spots.

The Athlon editors had extended debates on everything from when does the quarterback run stop in the first round to when or if do you draft a third QB to back up the other two. You can let us know what you think by hitting us up on our Twitter accounts — @AthlonCorby, @AthlonSteven, @AthlonSnowman, @AthlonBraden and @AthlonRush.