We can't recommend enough the importance of taking part in some mock fantasy football drafts before your real ones arrive. It's easy (just click here and join one), doesn't take much time and gives you the chance to make mistakes that don't count, while getting a feel for where players may land in your specific league size and format.

That latter part is key, because player value changes dramatically based on how many managers are in your league, the makeup of your rosters and your scoring system.

To that point, the value of quarterbacks rose in our recent 10-team, 2-QB mock when compared to our 10-team PPR, 10-team non-PPR and 12-team PPR drafts that rostered only one starting QB.

This time around, we turned to a 12-team, 1-QB, non-PPR format -- and not surprisingly, with no bonus point for receptions, running backs ruled the early part of the first round. In fact, the top eight picks were running backs.

Throughout the draft, those whose value gets a big boost from receiving in PPR formats also took a hit. For example, Travis Kelce slipped out of the first round (No. 17), while James White (No. 57) and Tarik Cohen (No. 66), who make their fantasy mark catching passes, sank as well.

Meanwhile, with off-field questions, Melvin Gordon and Antonio Brown dropped all the way to No. 22 and 23, respectively. On the other hand, Keith Lipscomb snagged Ezekiel Elliott at No. 2 (over pass-catcher extraordinaire Christian McCaffrey), despite his current holdout, believing at this time that it will get worked out before Week 1.

Check out each of the picks below and compare them to our other mocks -- then go do your own mocks to warm up for the real ones.

The participants, in order of draft position, were:

Mike Triplett, Keith Lipscomb, André Snellings, Tom Carpenter, Tristan H. Cockcroft, Kyle Soppe, Matt Bowen, KC Joyner, Mike Clay, Field Yates, Jim McCormick and Eric Karabell