Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - Early MOCK DRAFT Episode!

Summary

Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - Early MOCK DRAFT Episode!

Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
Release Date: March 22, 2017

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Introduction

The episode kicks off on March 22, 2017, with hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright gearing up for their earliest mock draft of the year. The trio expresses excitement about diving into mock drafts, aiming to provide listeners with strategic insights and actionable advice to dominate their fantasy leagues.

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News and Notes

Before delving into the mock draft, the hosts touch upon several pertinent news items affecting the 2017 fantasy football landscape:

• Kelvin Coleman Signs with the Packers:
  Andy Holloway [09:12] highlights Kristen Michael's return to the Packers' backfield alongside Ty Montgomery, signaling stability and potential depth for fantasy managers.

• Latavius Murray's Ankle Surgery:
  Jason Moore [12:35] discusses Murray undergoing ankle surgery to remove bone chips, assuring listeners that it shouldn't significantly impact his availability for training camps.

• Cam Newton's Shoulder Surgery:
  Jason Moore [12:22] notes that Newton will undergo surgery to repair a partially torn rotator cuff, raising concerns about his health and performance prospects.

• Marshawn Lynch's Future:
  The hosts speculate on Lynch's potential return to the Oakland Raiders, with Jason Moore [11:20] emphasizing that if Lynch returns, it will likely be with Oakland, impacting fantasy considerations.

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Mock Draft Overview

The primary focus of the episode is conducting a comprehensive 12-team standard snake mock draft from the third overall pick. The hosts discuss their strategies, player rankings, and the rationale behind each selection, providing listeners with a play-by-play guide to navigating their own drafts.

Round 1

• Pick 3: David Johnson
  Jason Moore [17:19] endorses Johnson as his top pick, appreciating his dual-threat capability as both a runner and receiver:
  “His usage as both a running back and a pass catcher is just off the charts.”
  Mike Wright [17:39] opts for Ezekiel Elliott, valuing his consistent performance.

Round 2

• Pick 15: Mark Ingram
  The hosts debate between wide receivers and running backs, ultimately choosing Ingram for his reliability:
  Andy Holloway [25:06] states, “I'm putting David Johnson and Ty Gurley on the roster.”
  Jason Moore [25:13] concurs, emphasizing the importance of securing a dependable RB.

Round 3

• Pick 27: Doug Baldwin
  Mike Wright [27:05] selects Baldwin, appreciating his steady contributions despite some inconsistency:
  “He's a guy that I think will be around in a few more picks.”
  Jason Moore [27:29] expresses reluctance but acknowledges Baldwin's value.

Round 4

• Pick 38: Tyreek Hill
  Choosing Hill represents a strategic gamble on high upside:
  Andy Holloway [46:21] reflects on Hill's potential, while Jason Moore [46:24] highlights his explosive capability.

Subsequent Rounds

The hosts continue to navigate the draft, filling out their rosters with a mix of established stars and high-potential sleepers:

• Wide Receivers: Selections like Michael Crabtree and John Brown aim to balance proven performance with breakout potential.
• Running Backs: Latavius Murray and Doug Martin provide depth, addressing possible injuries and bye weeks.
• Quarterback: Mike Wright [54:10] finalizes Kirk Cousins as his QB1, balancing current value with future potential.

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Strategy and Insights

Throughout the mock draft, the hosts share valuable strategies:

• Early Running Back Focus: Prioritizing top-tier running backs early to ensure a strong foundation.

• Flexibility in Later Rounds: Balancing depth with upside, allowing flexibility to adapt to player performances and injuries.

• Quarterback Streaming: Emphasizing the importance of streaming QBs rather than rushing to secure one early, especially given the depth and variability at the position.

Notable strategic discussions include:

• Andy Holloway [22:07]:
  “I like doubling down on reliability there.”
  Emphasizing the value of securing dependable players early.

• Jason Moore [30:11]:
  “Fourth round is always muck.”
  Highlighting the unpredictable nature of mid-round selections and the importance of tier-based decisions.

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Final Team Roster

By the end of the mock draft, the hosts finalize their teams with a balanced mix of running backs, wide receivers, and a single quarterback:

• Starting Lineup:

  • RB1: David Johnson
  • RB2: Mark Ingram
  • WR1: Doug Baldwin
  • WR2: Michael Crabtree
  • QB1: Kirk Cousins
  • Flex: Latavius Murray / Jameson Crowder / Doug Martin / Tyreek Hill
  • TE1: Kyle Rudolph

• Bench:

  • WR: John Brown, Jameson Crowder
  • RB: Doug Martin, Tyreek Hill, Latavius Murray
  • QB: Kirk Cousins
  • Kicker & Defense: Matt Bryant, and others as needed.

Jason Moore [50:25] reflects on the robustness of their roster:
"Starting running backs of David Johnson and Mark Ingram. We got tried and true."
Mike Wright [50:52] emphasizes the strategic placement of their quarterback, allowing flexibility and depth in other positions.

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Final Thoughts

The hosts conclude the episode by reiterating the importance of mock drafts in preparing for the real draft. They caution listeners against overvaluing mock draft grades and stress the need to focus on building a championship-caliber team rather than satisfying algorithmic evaluations.

Andy Holloway [59:54]:
"If you want to win that, just close your eyes and hover your button over auto draft or whatever draft, whoever it says to draft every single time and then you'll get an A and you'll lose horrifically."

They also promote their Ultimate Draft Kit, offering extensive player profiles and strategies to further aid listeners in their draft preparations.

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Notable Quotes

• Andy Holloway [01:57]:
  “You got part of that, right? But I'm trying to shame him into trading me AJ Green so he can get a better flex than Tyler Higby.”

• Jason Moore [04:10]:
  “And he missed three games in the middle of the season where he was not playing.”

• Mike Wright [21:15]:
  “I think when not compared to who's left on the board.”

• Andy Holloway [22:07]:
  “I like doubling down on reliability there.”

• Jason Moore [46:24]:
  “Tyreek Hill could... I like Tyreek Hill.”

• Andy Holloway [59:54]:
  “If you want to win that, just close your eyes and hover your button over auto draft or whatever draft, whoever it says to draft every single time and then you'll get an A and you'll lose horrifically.”

---

Conclusion

This early mock draft episode from The Fantasy Footballers provides a thorough exploration of drafting strategies and player evaluations for the 2017 fantasy football season. By blending insightful analysis with engaging discussions, Andy, Jason, and Mike equip listeners with the knowledge and confidence to approach their own drafts strategically, aiming to secure a winning edge in their respective leagues.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

This is hall of Fame and Marshall Falk, and you're listening to the Fantasy Footballers.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, coming to you from the fantasyjocks.com studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Andy Holloway]

It's Thursday, March 23rd. We're back.

[Mike Wright]

That can only mean one.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, when it's March 23rd, it has to mean mock drafts. Is that what you were gonna say?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Is it that time of year?

[Mike Wright]

It is. Finally. Finally, we made it. So when we can mock draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Believe it or not, we had our earliest mock draft last year in February.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

We were eager beavers. Welcome to the show. The Fantasy Footballers back again. Andy, Mike and Jason. We have a great show. The earliest of early mock drafts happening today live on the show. Some of our favorite episodes are these mock draft episodes we are drafting together. We'll be doing a standard League 12 team draft, drafting from the three spot. So stay tuned for that. It's going to be great. So great. We also have a little bit of news today. A great quick question. I had a dream last night. Okay. I had a dream that Brooks. Brooks quit.

[Jason Moore]

And our great producer.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, I've been giving Brooks a lot of grief lately because in our Dynasty league, he currently has Tyler Higby in his flex spot alongside Martellus Bennett, putting him on blast. And I've been putting him on blast because I'm pretty much just trying to, like, wear him down into the.

[Mike Wright]

You're trying to shame him into trading Tyler Higby to your team.

[Andy Holloway]

You got part of that, right? The shame part was correct. But I'm trying to shame him into trading me AJ Green so he can get a better flex than Tyler Higby. It is a.

[Jason Moore]

It's a long play, very strange strategy. Right?

[Mike Wright]

You look, your team's real bad, so make it worse.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, your team's real bad. So get two deliciously wonderful players for me. Don't shake your head over there, Mike. You're ruining my game.

[Mike Wright]

Not even close.

[Andy Holloway]

So I. My dream. He quit. He quit the. He quit the team. So, Brooks, I appreciate the fact you're still here this morning. I'm not going to be relenting. Are you doing okay?

[Jason Moore]

I'm okay. I'm here to stay.

[Andy Holloway]

How's Higby? Oh, he's great. Okay, good. He's going to be great this year. I'm sure it's flexworthy. All right, we'll get into the mock draft very shortly. Quick question of the day, though. I want to know. Look, this is a great question. Because I see him. Speaking of that dynasty league, I see him in a starting running back spot, Tevin Coleman. Where do you draft Tevin Coleman?

[Jason Moore]

I believe you mean Tevin Coleman.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you got a soul man reference.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, coal man.

[Andy Holloway]

I hope that bodes well for you. Wow, you guys just ran with that.

[Jason Moore]

Well, you know, you gotta run with it.

[Andy Holloway]

Cedric the Entertainer would be proud. All right, where do you draft the soul man? Where do you draft Tevin Coleman? Or can you think anymore?

[Mike Wright]

No, I'm done.

[Jason Moore]

Tevin Coleman right now.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Jason Moore]

We're just gonna have to call him Tevin.

[Andy Holloway]

Right?

[Jason Moore]

Okay, so Tevin T.C. yeah, T.C.

[Andy Holloway]

Where'S he right now?

[Jason Moore]

He's going in the fourth round.

[Andy Holloway]

I believe he finished right around 20, right in the running back ranks. 20, 21.

[Jason Moore]

He had a lot of very large games last year where he would. Especially through the air. I mean, you can look at his game log and you notice that, all right, he had, you know, a big game here or there when it. When it comes to more rushing the ball, but when it came to receiving, you know, he had a game where he had 95 yards receiving, 132 yards receiving, 45 yards, 47 yards. So that's more the type of back he is.

[Andy Holloway]

For four games with more than 10 carries, average around eight, eight, probably for the season.

[Jason Moore]

And he missed three games in the middle of the season where he was not playing. So to finish, you know, in a half point at running back 21, I think that leads a lot of people to expect huge things from Tevin Coleman. And for me, I think he is being overdrafted right now. I believe in the fourth round, that is too high for Tevin Coleman. I think that his role in the offense is there. It is there. But his role does not give him the opportunity that we'll see. The kind of success he had last year, he.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, I have a question for you. Dynasty league, Derek Henry, Tevin Coleman, who do you draft first?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Figure I'll put you on the spot there. That seems like that's two names to throw out there. People like them, they're both tough.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, I love Coleman. I was. I jumped on that bandwagon last year, or I mean, it was actually, if you follow the show I was on, I was on it as a rookie year. I think he's an excellent player, but I'm with Jason. I think he's being overdrafted right now in redraft or he will be standard. He'll be overdrafted when it comes to redraft time just because he will have these, he'll have major, major weeks. He's a flex worthy guy, but he'll also have these weeks where he burns you. I mean it's, it didn't feel like there was a specific goal line role. Like the Falcons didn't say, okay, Coleman, you're, you're the guy. It's just, it's game flow, game flow, the package that they descend, that they decide to put in. And so it's going to fluctuate.

[Andy Holloway]

Now we understand that if he took over the job, oh, he'd be a monster. He'd be a monster.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, that's part of it. Which is built into his price. And as far as for Dynasty, that's the thing you have to weigh is are the Falcons going to re up Devonta Freeman? There's been the chatter already of his contract situation is going to come to a head very, very soon.

[Jason Moore]

The answer is yes, they will.

[Mike Wright]

And you think they will.

[Jason Moore]

I 100% think they will re up him. Everything that I've read from Atlanta when I was looking the, this offseason and last offseason to kind of see how do the Falcons feel about him, they say it's a priority and that doesn't always mean that it can happen. But given you know, how the, how he is so important to the type of offense that they run, I think that and that they have said they, they want that to be a priority. I believe he's going to resign. So for me, I would take Derek Henry.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, well then that would 100% point to Derek Henry because Murray while he's here this year, maybe this is the last year of Murray in Tennessee and then Derek Henry can be a monster. It's, I'm not, I lean with Jason that they will resign Freeman. But what's crucial to the success of the Atlanta Falcons is if you, I mean you break down their cap of what they're spending on their running backs, it is minuscule. Devonta Freeman was I believe a fourth round draft pick. Tevin Coleman's a second round draft pick. So they have, they owe, you know, Coleman right around maybe close to a million bucks this year. Devontae Freeman, possibly.

[Andy Holloway]

Ah, that's chump change.

[Jason Moore]

But that's what I mean.

[Mike Wright]

Their, their cat as far as their cap space. They can spend it elsewhere and have the team be great while you have awesome running backs for super cheap.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, we have some good news stories we're going to get into right here.

[Mike Wright]

Kelvin Coleman.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh man. Good loving. I got a truckload. All right, Twitter Heffballers. You can follow the show. We're also on YouTube. Subscribe over there. You can watch the show. We are on the web thefantasyfootballers.com that's where you can submit questions to the show. We love to help you out. So you can find all of our amazing articles, including some fantasy reaction articles this week on desean Jackson's transition to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On Charles Pryor heading to Washington. We have a strategy article about not drafting a defense. We have new reception perception articles for Matt Harmon coming out tomorrow. On Friday we have a Monday and Friday. Mike is staring down a small fly in the office.

[Mike Wright]

There is a small flying being that is that it's like it's a being being, not a bee.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I know there was a bee.

[Jason Moore]

Mike would be around the studio just dreaming.

[Andy Holloway]

But it's entertaining to you because you're laughing at it because it keeps like.

[Mike Wright]

Dive fake dive bombing towards my beverage.

[Andy Holloway]

And.

[Mike Wright]

And I don't want to swat and knock everything off the desk, including my.

[Andy Holloway]

You're afraid of this item, this little being, as you would call it?

[Mike Wright]

Maybe.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. News and notes time.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

The gift. He just doesn't go away. He just will not go away.

[Mike Wright]

He's like a bad penny.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the best analogy. Kristen Michael has signed with the Packers. I loved the story on him. First it was visiting the packers, then it was signing with the Packers. Then it was he's the only team. This was the only team interested in him in any way and the only visit that he'd made.

[Mike Wright]

The packers are savage. This is now two running backs that were on their roster last year and they made them come in for a visit.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, right. That's. That's an excellent point. So Kristen Michael is back with the Packers. Time Montgomery. Kristen Michael comprised the backfield that I think will eventually have either a veteran veteran or a rookie. But to add to the mix.

[Mike Wright]

But I agree that there's a likely chance they will add somebody. But at the same time now there's also a chance that it's just Kristen Michael and Ty Montgomery. So I believe that the Time Montgomery, especially the dynasty people, had a mini celebration yesterday after the signing because there's a chance now that he remains the predominant running back for the team.

[Andy Holloway]

I would argue now that you signed Kristen Michael and you have Ty Montgomery, it seems highly unlikely. So to your point, it seems highly unlikely that they would spend early draft capital on a running Back, therefore handing a job to somebody in its entirety. So I think Montgomery has a role carved out. You know, Mike McCarthy has been very vocal about the fact he is a running back. He is a running back. He has a running back. So, yeah, I agree with you. All right. Not a lot of news on the Marshawn lynch front just yet. Pretty much a story came out interviewing his. Well, you know. No. No real news.

[Jason Moore]

No, I know, but you say just yet, like there will be news.

[Andy Holloway]

Know that, right? There will be news one way or another.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, there will be. There'll be much more smoke coming.

[Andy Holloway]

Marshawn lynch, they interviewed his agent who has not spoken to Marshawn lynch basically said, hey, he misses football. I saw another story yesterday talking about last year when the Seahawks were hearing from Marshawn that he was considering coming back. It was only going to be for the Oakland Raiders even last year. And so if he came back, I expect him to be on Oakland. The question is, you know, what do we know? And we don't know a whole lot more than we knew on.

[Jason Moore]

One of the things we know is where Marshawn lynch has been for all of this, which is Canada.

[Andy Holloway]

Really good place to work out.

[Jason Moore]

He's going to get back and be like, what's everybody talking about?

[Andy Holloway]

No way, man. He retweeted that little Oakland Raiders playlist.

[Mike Wright]

The story from talking to a manager who has not spoken to Marshawn in quite some time. Oh, the off season is the best.

[Andy Holloway]

Speaking of. Not that at all. Cam Newton will undergo surgery on his throwing shoulder to repair a partially torn rotator cuff.

[Jason Moore]

Something you could have done two months ago.

[Andy Holloway]

I always, I always think that with these surgeries, it's funny.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, it's better if you can avoid the surgery, right? I mean, I think that's better for. If you can heal on your own. When you talk about long term health of quarterbacks and their throwing shoulder surgeries are not very good for that, which, you know, we need to be aware of that with Andrew Luck, who also had an off season shoulder surgery. Trevor Simeon, if he's a starting quarterback. But this is, this is not good news to have a surgery. Not good news to have it this late, but he should be recovered in time.

[Andy Holloway]

Your medical school credits are coming in handy with that.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, surgery bad.

[Mike Wright]

I have an update on the bug. He's now on my screen.

[Andy Holloway]

The bug is on your screen. This is a small bug. I saw it fly by.

[Jason Moore]

It is very tiny.

[Andy Holloway]

Latavius Murray underwent ankle surgery. I read about this it is bone chips getting removed.

[Mike Wright]

Spurs.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Being removed from the ankle. This is something that teams knew about. It's why he had to come in for a visit so their medical personnel could check it out. And they obviously signed him to a contract. Minor surgery. They expected him to be ready for training camp.

[Jason Moore]

I'm not.

[Andy Holloway]

Does it concern you in any way?

[Jason Moore]

Not.

[Andy Holloway]

He had ankle problems at the end of last year.

[Jason Moore]

He did. And getting the surgery is something he needed to do. I always, when these news come, when news comes out like this and the team goes, we knew about this. I always wonder, you know, I mean obviously they brought them in, they did their medical check. I'm sure they knew but it always makes me go like what are they going to say if they didn't? We made a big mistake, guys.

[Andy Holloway]

This guy had no idea.

[Jason Moore]

We had no idea. Whoopsies. You know. No, they, they're going to go, no, we knew about that. And we're fully confident fans, don't worry.

[Mike Wright]

Seeing a general manager holding a press conference and then just making the shrug emojis.

[Jason Moore]

Whoops.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah. That, that doesn't fly. As a gm, you always have to pretend you know what's going on even if you don't. Alright. Before we jump into our mock draft, which I am, I'm stoked about mock.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Before we do that, I want to thank today's sponsor, great friends of the show, pristineauction.com the absolute best place, place to get authentic sports memorabilia across all the major sports. I'll tell you what, they do not get their memorabilia. They don't steal that out of Tom Brady's locker room. Okay? It's authentic sources.

[Mike Wright]

I've heard it's very valuable.

[Andy Holloway]

It is very valuable. But they've chosen not to do that just for you.

[Jason Moore]

The high road.

[Andy Holloway]

They took the high road and they have hundreds of daily auctions right now on pristineauction.com look we visit with these guys on a regular basis. They're based out here in Arizona where we are just an amazing company, a great owner and a company that is out there trying to find the absolute best deals for you. And so Definitely check out pristineauction.com youm can go sign up on the website pristineauction.com that's P R I-S T I N E auction.com Set up a free account, let them know the fantasy footballer sent you and let's go ahead and get into the mock draft.

[Jason Moore]

The fantasy footballers mock draft.

[Andy Holloway]

I cannot believe how obsessed Mike is with this bug.

[Jason Moore]

No, I will Grant him this. I cannot believe how obsessed this bug is with his beverages. He's hopped to the left, one to the right.

[Andy Holloway]

Why do you have two beverages?

[Mike Wright]

Well, I did not have time for the coffee in the morning.

[Andy Holloway]

So you've got double. You're doubling down.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, I had to double fist it.

[Andy Holloway]

So your left arm is coffee, right arm is Lacroix.

[Mike Wright]

Well, it's now empty because the bug drank it. I'm thinking about once I get this bug because this is a big moment. Sports history. No, this thing's going on pristine auction.

[Andy Holloway]

Can you autograph the bug? I thought at least take a picture of it for Instagram. This poor little bee said, all right, 12 team standard draft. We have. We're going to draft from the three spot. And we're doing that because Jason said that's where he wanted to draft from.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Well, here's. Because this is our first mock draft of the year, there are a lot. I mean, one of the most common questions we get this time of the year is, where should I draft from? I can choose the number one spot to where to draft from. Where should I choose? And for me, when I have looked into mocks this year, I have been saying the sixth spot because there's three, in my opinion, three stud wide receivers, three stud running backs. But I think the three is better because the more that I've done these mocks, I really want one of those three running backs. I want them bad.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. Well, you're going to get one today because we're drafting from the three spot. I'll go ahead and kind of give you the highlights of each round, just like we always do on these mock draft episodes. We'll make a decision. If we can't agree, we'll hand the keys to somebody and they'll make the pick. But right now, we're starting the mock draft again. Like I said, 12 team standard draft from the three spot snake draft.

[Jason Moore]

And this is@ fantasydraftwizard.com so you can. You could do your mock drafts@fantasydraft wizard.com Very easy, quick to do.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Super fast. All right, number one, Lev Bell, off the board at number one. Really? To me, these three guys are pretty interchangeable. To me, if anybody makes a case to draft any of them over the other one, I'm like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. Ezekiel Elliott goes number two. And so we are on the board. We're on the board here. And so is David Johnson. What a better way to start our mock draft season with David. David Johnson, who you don't want Marshawn.

[Jason Moore]

The more that he's tempting here. But I will pass the more that I look into these three running backs because obviously it is our job to order them. Even though I feel like, you know, they're all good, you can make a case for any of them. I think David Johnson will end up in my number one spot.

[Mike Wright]

Really?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean the, his usage as both a running back and a pass, you know, catcher is just off the charts. Love Bell has more injury concerns in my mind. So I think we are lucky to get David Johnson at the three spot.

[Mike Wright]

Right now I have Zeke as my number one standard guy and Lev is my number one half and full PPR guy.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. And you can see our early rankings which are coming into shape, you know, slowly but surely on the website the fantasy footballers.com we did go with David Johnson rounding out that top three. The next four picks are wide receivers and that was Antonio Brown, Oda Beckham Jr. Julio Jones and Mike Evans went 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the first round. LaShawn McCoy follows it up as the next running back off the board. I think that's one of the big questions out there is hey, what's that next tier of running backs? Who's it going to be?

[Jason Moore]

Him and DeMarco.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure, sure. McCoy went, then A.J. green at 9, DeMarco Murray and Jay Jai 10 and 11. Jay at 11. Does that, is there any wincing going on there? Is it just a fear of what he could be? What happens to that team? I do think Miami's a potential destination for a rookie or a veteran to land there. I don't know how much that will impact Jay or not.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe. I mean they, they have a Jay who by this point the team has to be happy and have some faith in him. They still, they spent a high pick on Drake last year. So I can't imagine a high profile guy will enter this backfield and mess things up. But for me, JJ in the first, it's going to happen. It will happen in drafts. It's not for me. I know he had three games of 200 yards. Absolutely incredible. But his other games were subpar. I mean you're talking those other games he was averaging, you know, 50 to 60 yards and that's just for a first round running back. If I'm going to get three humongous games and then 10 other just garbage ones, that's not a first round guy to me.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think that Jay Ajay is. He's been given the keys. He's Gone on the test drive. Everything looks good, but the loan could still fall through, right? Like, he's not driving home with the car yet. Although I know Brooks is really hoping he does with him on his dynasty roster. Jordy Nelson at 112. Love Jordy Nelson.

[Mike Wright]

Jordan.

[Jason Moore]

So good.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, really close to getting him yesterday in our dynasty league. Disappointed that it fell through, but since.

[Jason Moore]

2011, Jordy Nelson has the second most touchdowns receiving, and he didn't play one of those seasons. That's. I mean, that's incredible.

[Andy Holloway]

Before we get out of the first round, why don't you drop that Odell Beckham Jr. Stat you dropped on Twitter? Because I went number five.

[Jason Moore]

I was looking up research on Jordy, and I was blown away that he was the second highest despite not playing in 2015. When it comes to receiving touchdowns since 2011. And then I look at the list and I go, wait a minute, wait a minute. Why is Odell Beckham way up here? He was 15th on the list of total touchdowns receiving since 2011. Since 2011, but he wasn't drafted until 2014.

[Andy Holloway]

That's amazing.

[Jason Moore]

That's a. I would say he's pretty good at football.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Second round since this is a snake. Second round went Hilton Howard, DEZ Bryant, and then three running backs in a row, Melvin Gordon, Devonte Freeman, and Todd Gurley. Gurley at this point is what that puts him. The 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th running back off the board, Todd Gurley. Do you like the value there before we draft? Okay.

[Mike Wright]

I think when not compared to who's left on the board.

[Jason Moore]

So you say. I think I like Mark Ingram a little bit better, who's still available.

[Andy Holloway]

Interesting.

[Mike Wright]

I him a lot better when it.

[Jason Moore]

Comes to the two guys that I'm back and forth on have been Todd Gurley and Carlos Hyde. I think the off season has gone better for Todd Gurley, but both those guys are all right. So I don't. I don't mind the value there, but I don't think. Fantastic.

[Andy Holloway]

I can see this mock draft being one of the first opportunities for us to see some of where we diverge in our opinions of players, which is great. I mean, why do you mock draft? You mock draft to get a lay of the land, to get an idea of where you actually value somebody. And it's a great way to prepare yourself for your fantasy draft. And more than that, it's a great way to see how value changes over time. That's the thing that makes a big difference when you mock draft on a regular Basis.

[Jason Moore]

And doing it starting early like we're doing is actually important for that. You can't tell how things go over time if you're just jumping in late.

[Andy Holloway]

It also lets you test strategies like, you know, go rb, heavy wide receiver early, that type of thing. All right, we are on the clock, gentlemen. David Johnson's on the roster. We're sitting here at 207.

[Jason Moore]

A lot of good players left.

[Andy Holloway]

Running backs on the board, Carlos Hyde, Mark Ingram. Those are the big names to me. Latavius Murray.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, yes, voice of public opinion.

[Jason Moore]

Aaron Rodgers is still available.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, that's true, that's true. It is the second round though. Voice of public opinion. And I know you will assuredly draft him in the second round.

[Jason Moore]

But no, I'm going first round, baby. Now we'll be looking at quarterback round round here.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's an interesting.

[Mike Wright]

Who knows?

[Andy Holloway]

Rob Gronkowski's on the board. Did not go in the first.

[Mike Wright]

I don't think he will this year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, probably not. But he is sitting there at 207. Interesting. Brandon Cooks, DeAndre Hopkins, Doug Baldwin, Keenan Allen, some of the other big names. Alan Robinson sitting there. Devonte Adams, who had a great season last year. Anybody else, a consideration from the names.

[Jason Moore]

Carlos Hyde and Mark Ingram are on the board. Those for me. There's two guys that I'm deciding between. So I'll just say those two and hear your thoughts. I'm thinking Mark Ingram and I'm thinking DeAndre Hopkins. Now, I have been the one against Hopkins, but there's a 50, 50 chance right now. I would say in my opinion that Tony Romo ends up in Houston. It's Houston or Denver to me.

[Mike Wright]

There's 100% chance it will not be Brock Osweiler.

[Jason Moore]

Right. Which is which Good. It's not. He didn't have that great a season with Tom Savage either. I think that was only like two games. But Hopkins value, should Tony Romo be there would be a first round type of guy. If he's got Tony Romo throwing him the ball, in which case we already have the running back. However, my higher ranked player is probably going to be Mark Ingram.

[Andy Holloway]

I do not have the level of confidence in Hyder Ingram that you guys do. Where you put him in that, like, if Gurley's on the board here, it's a done deal. I'm putting David Johnson and Ty Gurley on the roster. I gotta be honest. Maybe it's because it's March. I'm being swayed a little bit by this Rob Gronkowski name sitting on the board in the second round here I don't have to spend first round draft capital on a difference making tight end. I understand you have to read into him as healthy, which has been an impossibility. I mean, it's been a while. Any temptation with Rob Gronkowski? Are you guys going with a running back or wide receiver?

[Mike Wright]

I have. I'll give you a twinge. A twinge of interest in Rob Gronkowski, but not very much.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

I would say mine is less than that.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, then I'm going to. Yours is less than that. Okay, so where do we want to go? Why don't you two decide?

[Mike Wright]

We both like Mark Ingram a lot.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, but if you got. If you're not sure on that, since we already have a running back, I'm also fine. Do you guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, Alan Robinson's the name I consider over Hopkins, so I think because of disagreement on the wide receiver, I'm fine with Mark Ingram.

[Mike Wright]

So you guys are both ready to go right back into the pool Second round with either Hopkins or Robinson?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm not going. Cooks going in the hot tub. I'm not going Cooks. I'm not going. Keenan Allen off the injury. I'm not going. Sammy Watkins off the injury. I'm not going. Alshon Jeffrey. Switching teams for me. This is for me. Robinson or Hopkins are the two that I'd consider.

[Jason Moore]

This is literally Tony Romo for me. Like if I knew Tony Romo went to Denver, Hopkins would not be in consideration for me here. I would. I would probably.

[Andy Holloway]

We got to make a Mark Ingram.

[Jason Moore]

So let's do. Here's what I would recommend. Let's go Mark Ingram because we're going to be able to see at the end of this draft when we start with two running backs, where do we land? Are we decimated at wide receiver or we still good?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I did it, guys. I went Mark Ingram. So we have David Johnson, Mark Ingram on the roster.

[Mike Wright]

Brandon, we also had the quick turnaround.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, we did.

[Mike Wright]

Don't forget about that.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's an important factor in your draft. If you're on snake draft, you're drafting towards the top or bottom of the round. Consider that with what's on the board and where. Where your opponent's going to take a player or a position. Mark Ingram, we took him. Brandon Cooks, Carlos Hyde, Deandre Hopkins and Spencer Ware went with the next four picks. That leaves the likes of Keenan Allen on the board. Alan Robinson.

[Jason Moore]

Doug Baldwin.

[Andy Holloway]

Doug Baldwin. And guess who's still there in the third round, gentlemen. Robert Gronkowski.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. You can, you can talk me into it in the third round.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, you're sitting here with one of the best running backs in the league, David Johnson. You have the opportunity now, but you've. Rather than, let's say you had spent the pick of Ingram on Hopkins, would that tempt you more into taking Gronkowski? Because you would have. You'd have a running back and a wide receiver already.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, for me it would. For me, my worry about taking Gronk here, we're.

[Andy Holloway]

We have a big weight. Yes, exactly.

[Jason Moore]

There's a lot of players and there's still wide receivers here that I think are top flight. I mean, for my rankings, you know, I've got Doug Baldwin as my number nine ranked wide receiver. That's a wide receiver.

[Mike Wright]

He's the highest wide receiver left for me and I have him also at number nine.

[Jason Moore]

Really?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I thought I would be high.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, if the number nine wide receivers on the board right here, we should take him, right?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

The logic is you take the number nine wide receiver. I think we have what, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 wide receivers off the board so far.

[Jason Moore]

That's value.

[Andy Holloway]

It's value. And yet Doug Baldwin does what he always does. He just kind of. You kind of grimace.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Because you, I mean, Keenan Allen. Allen Robinson.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Doug Baldwin, taking him as your one is not going to feel great.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Three of the biggest wide receiver names out there that are shiny and a lot of upside. Keenan Allen, Sammy Watkins, Alshon, Jeffrey. They're all talented and they're all injured all the time.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, and they all. Doug Baldwin, far more inexperienced quarterback play.

[Jason Moore]

Right. Doug Baldwin is going to plug in since we've already got our stunt running.

[Mike Wright]

Backs, not Keenan Allen.

[Andy Holloway]

So you're. Let's make the decision right here. Mike, the pick is going to be to you, but I'm going to lay this out there. Are you going to be happy in a situation where you're putting Doug Baldwin on this team and not Rob Gronkowski in the third round right now? Because it's one to one right now. Gronk's going to be gone, Baldwin's going to be gone. You're not getting both. Make the pick.

[Mike Wright]

I'll go. Doug Baldwin.

[Andy Holloway]

Doug Baldwin.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Like it.

[Andy Holloway]

Doug Baldwin is on the roster.

[Mike Wright]

I'd rather have the experiment of the later round tight end. Let's. Let's get a lay of the land of who's available that we want, like Tyler Higby.

[Andy Holloway]

Am I right?

[Jason Moore]

Am I Right.

[Andy Holloway]

So our first quarterback goes off the board in the middle of the fourth, Aaron Rodgers. Followed quickly by Andrew Luck at the ninth pick of the fourth round. After we selected Doug Baldwin. Gronk with the next pick. You had C.J. anderson. And then three wide receivers, Robinson, Watkins and Adams. Keenan Allen's gone. Obviously, we had a long wait to the next pick. You saw Alshon Jeffrey go. Demarius Thomas is gone. Robert Kelly in the fourth round. How confident would you be with that pick?

[Mike Wright]

As of today? That'd be a great pick.

[Jason Moore]

That is fantastic. But obviously, if they.

[Andy Holloway]

He went ahead of Latavius Murray.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, for sure.

[Jason Moore]

As he should. I mean, if they go and get a Leonard Fournette, a Dalvin Cook and say, hey, we're going in another direction, then obviously this will change after the draft. But right now he's the starting running back for a really good offense and he has been fantasy relevant. This is the fourth round. I would much rather have that than Latavius Murray.

[Andy Holloway]

Interesting.

[Jason Moore]

Behind Minnesota's offensive line.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so only one tight end to go off the board. Robin Gronkowski went off. Kelsey Jordan Reed still on the board. Greg Olson will on the board at the wide receiver position. Let me give you a lay of the land. Jarvis Landry's there. Troll Pryor, Michael Crabtree, Julian Edelman, Golden Tate, Dante Moncrief. And then at the running back position. Not a strong consideration for me, but you do have that flex to fill and some depth. Latavius Murray, Jeremy Hill, Jonathan Stewart, Jason. Talk a little bit about evaluating tears at this point in the draft and how it might define your decision.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So when you get to this round, this is really where you can start to see. All right.

[Mike Wright]

Fourth round is always muck.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Fourth round is where you go, okay. There's some guys I kind of like in every different position. And so you have to look at your rankings and your tiers and say, okay, is how many guys are left is what I look at in each tier. So there might be a Tier 3 wide receiver, but. And he's the last in that tier, so then I know I've got to pull the trigger on him. But if there's four guys left, I mean, once we make this pick, we're quick back on the clock. So I'm going to go, there's plenty of guys in this tier. Even if I like so and so a little bit more, I'm going the other direction. There's a guy for me.

[Andy Holloway]

Go ahead.

[Jason Moore]

That I think I would take here, that I'M confident will be around in a few more picks. And that's Terrell Pryor. I think when we look at our roster, Doug Baldwin is, you know, tried and true, a little bit more steady. Terrell Prior to me has that upside that shiny like he could end up being a top 10 wide receiver. We're in and that would be a fifth round pick. That's where I'm fine taking that risk. On the high upside.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, to me, I draft Latavius Murray here. I think he's the last in my tier of running backs of relevance here. A volume running back. No, I don't like Minnesota's offensive line. No, I don't like that situation. But he's going to fall into the end zone and he's going to get the ball a lot. I don't see that opportunity coming for Frank Gore. I don't see that opportunity for Jonathan Stewart because I think Carolina drafts the back Jeremy Hill struggled. You know, you've got Bilal, Palamir, Abdullah, I mean Latavius Murray standing alone. To me, as a volume running back on an offense that did move the ball with Sam Bradford, you know, as.

[Jason Moore]

I've been doing these mock tests, I would take Latavius Murray, the one running back who keeps falling later and later and later, who I actually like and I think in real life I'm going to end up with him. And you might be grossed out by this name because I think I can end up with him even around later is Matt Forte. He's old, he's, you know, Bilal Powell is being drafted like two rounds ahead of him. But he is a guy that I think is still, I think he still got it. He was pretty good last year, but I'm not considering him.

[Andy Holloway]

I take him on the bench.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

For me it's Latavius in this, in this opportunity here. I do think that Trout Pryor will drop to the next round and there's enough wide receivers that I like to fill in that wide receiver two role. You know, I like depth at running back. You know, the chance of Mark Ingram getting injured, it's up there. And so I would like to have another high tier, high volume running back, but I can be swayed. What do you guys think?

[Mike Wright]

I'm with you. That Latavius is interesting here for the volume. I disagree with you that Frank Gorb won't have that opportunity. I mean, 263 carries last year. They're a team that they're being linked to, you know, some running backs in the draft. Whether or not that happens, but there's still a chance that he has the opportunity in. Meanwhile, there's a handful of wide receivers here, but we are in a standard league. So I actually like Crabtree as my pick here, but I also, I fall in line with. If you go Murray here, there's. We can risk it that there's a chance that Crabtree falls back to us.

[Andy Holloway]

Take the shot.

[Mike Wright]

That's what I. I'm willing to do that.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's take the shot.

[Jason Moore]

Or who.

[Mike Wright]

Who do you think is more likely to come back? Latavia Crabtree.

[Andy Holloway]

I think Crabtree is more likely to come back.

[Jason Moore]

I agree with that, but I think both would be gone.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, let's find out.

[Jason Moore]

I would rather have Crabtree and Terrell Pryor than Latavius Murray and Terrell Pryor, but I think both are good options.

[Andy Holloway]

What about Latavius Murray and Michael Crabtree?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, Crabtree is still there.

[Mike Wright]

Who dares wins, my friends.

[Andy Holloway]

It's interesting though, because I did.

[Jason Moore]

Terrell Pryor didn't make it back.

[Andy Holloway]

I did think about Jordan Reed there. Tom Brady went. So it went tight end, quarterback, tight end. We took Murray, it went Kelsey Brady, Reed and Pryor. So Pryor ended up going second pick. I. I would have been in the Crabtree camp.

[Jason Moore]

Probably over Terrell Pryor, you're saying?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah. I understand your logic there with the kind of like the upside of Pryor. But, you know, we've taken the choice. We've made the choice to go three running backs already. And so I like the. I like doubling down on reliability there. And so I think Michael Crabtree is a good pick. I think we're all in agreement. We'll take him here and.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And not meander on this pick too much. So right now our roster is David Johnson, Mark Ingram, Doug Baldwin, Michael Crabtree, Latavius Murray sliding into the flex. Certainly solid performers on this team. Let's go ahead and see what happens the rest of the fifth round. Jeremy Hill went highlight to this round. Stephen Diggs. Stefan Diggs went one spot ahead of Julian Edelman. What are your thoughts on that, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

It's a standard league. I don't hate it. Stefan Diggs, I mean, he's. He's such an interesting guy because you've seen, I mean, just incredible flashes. You remember how he started last year, Weeks one and week two. You look like. You look like you stole a top 10 wide receiver late in the draft. Turned out that wasn't the case as he kind of meandered there for A.

[Andy Holloway]

Few weeks and then burst again for three weeks.

[Mike Wright]

Then he exploded again and then he vanished again. It's, and it's, it's attributed to injury, but he is, he is a guy that I think will be kind of the new hotness this year that like that, that not only fantasy geeks will know about, but kind of like the more mainstream public players will know about this year. So he'll be very polarizing in the draft. But to take him before Edelman is, I would personally, I would not do that.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that just Brady versus Yes. Bradford?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, even I'm fine with Bradford. Bradford could be sneaky. Like the Minnesota passing offense could be very sneaky in this next season.

[Andy Holloway]

If there was some point per completion league, you'd be, you'd be all over Bradford.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

Point per five yard completion.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's. But it's his second year in the system. We saw that it can work. He was the most accurate quarterback of all time for a single season and he missed week one because he was just traded there as the season started. Just saying there's some sneakiness. There's a very, very sneaky.

[Andy Holloway]

There's probably some of you listening out there that saying, okay, why are you not talking about quarterbacks? The quarterback run just happened. All right. We took Michael Crabtree with our fifth pick, Breeze, Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton and Ben Roethlisberger all off the board before our next pick. And look, the reason, the reason we didn't take quarterback is because of that happening, that, the potential for that to happen and the fact that when the quarterback run happens, you benefited a different position. We've talked about it.

[Jason Moore]

There's still wide receivers I love on the board that were there last round because quarterbacks got taken. And when I look at quarterbacks, the difference between those tiers of guys that were just being drafted, you know, Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Newton, Matt Ryan and guys that will be drafted way later, like Jameis Winston, who I've got my eye on in almost every draft because he's late and I think he'll be great.

[Andy Holloway]

I got my eye on you.

[Jason Moore]

You know, I would much rather have Jameis Winston several rounds from now or any number of guys and grab a great wide receiver here to fill out our team.

[Andy Holloway]

So right now, eight quarterbacks have been drafted by my count here, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 quarterbacks in a 12 team league. On the board, Derek Carr, Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins, Matthew Stafford, Jameis Winston. I would love even Andy Dalton is somebody that can start for your team. You can fill in those other positions and you can stream. You know, we're all about streaming the quarterback position. You can do that here.

[Jason Moore]

One of the best values this year might actually be Blake Bortles. Because Blake Bortles is, I believe, going mostly undrafted this year. Like he's not going to be a late draft pick. I think he might go undrafted in. On principle in many leagues. On principle. In the last two years he's been a top 10 quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

You're supposed to warn those operating machines before you talk about Blake Bortles.

[Jason Moore]

I apologize. But he, you know, when it comes to fantasy, it doesn't matter if he's got a bad throwing motion or if he's throwing, you know, just making terrible decisions.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's what's incredible about Blake Bortles. I mean, I'm looking at this last year. How many. Okay, so he finished as the 10th best quarterback, first of all. So we already said 10 are off the board and Bortles is probably not. Not in the next three or four picks for us, even if we took a quarterback. That being said, finish number 10. How many? Three touchdown games the Blake Bortles have last year. I don't know if you know which direction I'm going here.

[Jason Moore]

I can see it. So I.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that's cheating.

[Jason Moore]

That is.

[Andy Holloway]

That is the definition.

[Mike Wright]

I'm gonna guess one.

[Andy Holloway]

One.

[Jason Moore]

That is a great guess.

[Andy Holloway]

He had one. So it's kind of. Kind of a crazy year. Certainly one of those guys where if you just watch the game, you go, oh man, I don't want him on my fantasy team.

[Mike Wright]

And what's interesting about him, Bortles compared to. I mean, there's other guys. I was talking about Mariota a lot in the office yesterday. Bortles really only had looked like one performance there where he absolutely devastated you. He had a couple performances where you would want more out of your quarterback. But you have compare him to Mariota. Who People. People want. I think that the public wants Mario to far more than Blake Bortles. Meanwhile, Mariota had a at least a handful of games where he destroyed your team.

[Andy Holloway]

Some interesting picks here in the sixth round before, you know, we had a long wait before our next pick. I'm interested in this, you know, Jarvis Landry. Wow, that's a great standard league pick.

[Mike Wright]

Standard, standard league.

[Andy Holloway]

But he went, you know, eighth pick in the sixth round. I like it. Eric Decker, ninth pick in the sixth round. I like that too. I mean, Eric Decker quietly just sitting in New York.

[Jason Moore]

Still.

[Andy Holloway]

Still on a roster. No Brainer Marshall, kind of a monster on that team. You know, if it's him and a noonwa and Josh McCown slinging the rock with no regard for human life or interceptions, because that might be the best way to describe those three games are.

[Mike Wright]

Going to be great.

[Andy Holloway]

No regard for his own human life. I love. I love Eric Decker as a sneaky play. He's not going to be flashy, and the value you're going to get on him is great.

[Jason Moore]

Jarvis Landria, to go back to him, he only had four touchdowns last year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

So where do you think he finished in standard wide receiver?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to guess 13, 14.

[Mike Wright]

I would go like 17.

[Jason Moore]

You guys are right around at 16, which this is. We're well past.

[Andy Holloway]

How can you argue with that?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's a great pick.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, we're on the clock, guys. Seventh pick of the sixth round. Some wide receivers to talk about. Golden Tate's on the board.

[Jason Moore]

Golden Tate, Jameson Crowder, desean Jackson. Those are three guys that I love. Like, I really like them this year.

[Andy Holloway]

In a standard league.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, I'm. I am fully in on that. The other name I would toss in is I would consider Brandon Marshall here.

[Andy Holloway]

You would consider. Yeah, I could see that. What about. What about Zach Ertz? He ended the second half of the year as the number one tight end. You already have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 tight ends off the board ahead of him. Any confidence that Zach Ertz can get it done this year?

[Mike Wright]

I don't know.

[Andy Holloway]

Not worth. Not worth the pick. Better to find a value later.

[Mike Wright]

I would prefer to find a value later. Zach Ertz, he is. I mean, like you said, I don't remember what week it started, but he went on just a full tear in the last half or so, was averaging the most points at the tight end position. However, there was no alpha wide receiver in Philadelphia at that time, and they've got one now.

[Andy Holloway]

I want to toss the pick to Jason. Let him make the call for us here. I do want to remind listeners right now, we're sitting here with David Johnson, Mark Ingram, Doug Baldwin, Michael Crabtree, and Latavius Murray. If you do not draft a quarterback or tight end here, which it seems unlikely that we're going to do either of those, you are drafting depth at this time. You're not drafting necessarily a starter. You're drafting depth. I think that scares people off doing it because they say, hey, let's fill that. You got to, you know, I get that question a lot.

[Jason Moore]

Fill your starters.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you fill your starting Lineup out before you look to depth?

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, then make the pick for me. I guess we're not going to tie it into quarterback.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I definitely recommend not doing that. Get your running backs and wide receivers deeper for me, because it's standard. I'm actually going to go Jameson Crowder, because I think in a standard league, he was a red zone target last year. That was almost surprising how many red zone targets he got. You've got desean Jackson gone. You've got Pierre Garcon out of there. I think Jameson Crowder is a really important piece. He's young. I like him here as a depth.

[Andy Holloway]

Piece, I will allow you to select that wide receiver there, Jameson Crowder. I will tell you this. I thought your entire sentence was going to end with Brandon Marshall's name. At the end of it, when you. When you said, okay, because it's a standard league, I thought. I thought I'd get the Brandon Marshall or desean Jackson talk because both of those guys touchdown opportunities at least fit their size better. You know, Jameson Crowder coming out of the slot. I think it's a little bit anomalous. Like, I wouldn't have taken Jameson Crowder there because I think his touchdown numbers are anomalous. With Jordan Reed being a little bit banged up last year. You know, the wide receivers Crowder was throwing to was not Terrell Pryor and Josh Dockson. It was smaller guys. You know, Per Garcon is a possession type of guy. Sean Jackson was on and off the field. I would have gone a different direction, but Jameson Crowder has been drafted, and I like that.

[Jason Moore]

One of the things I just want to throw out there, I win, I win, I won. Is that I feel like guys that get a lot of receptions right, you know, the Julian Edelman, Wes Welker types, the Jarvis Landry, the slot guys in a ppr, it is almost counted against them. Like, it's like they're like, oh, that's just a PPR guy. You realize receptions are still like, the only way they score.

[Andy Holloway]

They count that in standard.

[Jason Moore]

It's like you have to catch the ball to get any fantasy points. So it's not a bad thing to have a lot of receptions.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, well, Brandon Marshall made it around to us, but you know who else did? It jumps off the page to me right here. At least sitting in the third pick in the seventh round. Frank Gore is still there.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, there is.

[Andy Holloway]

Gore is still sitting there.

[Mike Wright]

There is a handful of very interesting running backs to me at this point in the draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Paul Perkins Frank.

[Mike Wright]

Matt Forte is Frank Gore to me. So Frank Gore, Montgomery Forte, maybe. But also, I mean, it's. We're at the point here where we're mock drafting in March, so it's extremely early. We have no idea what they're doing. But there he's still allegedly a starting running back despite the fact that he will be suspended.

[Jason Moore]

I was wondering if you were going there because I was going to point him out.

[Mike Wright]

Doug Martin is still on the board.

[Andy Holloway]

The upside of Doug Martin as your fourth running back in this situation based on not knowing what happens in the draft, to me, it's between Paul Perkins actually and Doug Martin because they're in similar situations in the fact that they have upside. If New York doesn't do anything else in their backfield. Paul Perkins has a lot of upside. That offense with Shepard Marshall and Odell Beckham Jr. On the outside, to me, there's an opportunity there for Paul Perkins to make some pay.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, there's an opportunity there. I went back the last three years and kind of took a look though at how much did running backs weigh, you know, because, like, it factors in the success of running back, how much their mass and guys who are under £210 are. It's far more infrequent for them to actually have success, to have top bill fantasy success. And Paul Perkins is a smaller guy right around that 200 mark, unless he's managed to put on some muscle this off season. So I would go, even with my disdain for Doug Martin at this point in the draft, I would still be.

[Jason Moore]

Okay taking and I would as well.

[Andy Holloway]

What about Tyreek Hill? Tyree Kill still on the board here.

[Jason Moore]

This is where I shift to upside. Good.

[Mike Wright]

This is where he's there.

[Jason Moore]

This is where I shift to upside in a draft where I go. I've got kind of starters. I'm confident in who can break into the starters. Doug Martin absolutely could. Right. He comes back from his suspension. If he's still the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lead back, he's a top running back, so that's great. Tyreek Hill fits that bill.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Tyreek Hill finished the year at 13 last year.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. Tyreek Hill could. I don't necessarily think he will, but he could. So I like Tyree Kill. I like Doug Martin. I'm between those two guys. Someone make the pick.

[Mike Wright]

We'll let Andy make the pick.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll take. I'll take Doug Martin. Oh, you know, I didn't feel very confident in the Mark Ingram selection where we did. I'll take Doug Martin for The potential upside, we're gonna. We're gonna roll way down into the back of the eighth round. Now, some names off the board. You have Derek Carr and Dak Prescott both going. Interesting that Dak Prescott went ahead of Derek Carr. I would have taken Derek Carr.

[Mike Wright]

I have Dak ahead of Derek. I have Dick.

[Jason Moore]

Scary high.

[Andy Holloway]

Matt Forte off the board. Frank Gore is gone, and Forte went. Actually, where did Forte go? A couple spots after Frank Gore. Amir Abdullah off the board. Kenny Brett and his new home in Cleveland is gone. And then Cameron Braid, who had a very good year last year, off the board as well. We're sitting here now, back of the eighth round. Kyle Rudolph is sitting there, and he should be the pick.

[Jason Moore]

Look what I wrote down on my sheet of paper. Kyle Rudolph is what it says.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I know. Grammar. That's what it says.

[Jason Moore]

That being said, I would also consider because I really like Jack Doyle, for instance. Oh, yeah. I like Kyle Rudolph more certainly. But Tyreek Hill is still here.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

We just looked at. Should we take Tyreek Hill or should we take Doug?

[Andy Holloway]

I guess I didn't see Tyreek as well on the board. I think we'll take. I think we'll take Tyreek. I'm gonna go ahead and there are some. Get the freak off the board.

[Jason Moore]

Plenty of quarterbacks. All the quarterbacks gone. There's still Kirk Cousins, Stafford, Jameis Winston.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me. Let me pose this question to Mike. We're sitting here now. We took Tyreek Hill, center, DeSean Jackson, Rashad Matthews off the board. Third pick of the ninth round. Is this the time you jump on Kirk Cousins here, Mike, because you're in the ninth round. Is there a tier change from Kirk Cousins to Stafford Rivers?

[Mike Wright]

Winston, I'm pulling up my quarterback rankings right now.

[Andy Holloway]

And by the way, Kyle Rudolph still there. Gio Bernard, Paul Perkins still on the board. The depth on our roster right now is looking mighty fine.

[Jason Moore]

I love it.

[Mike Wright]

And I have Kirk Cousins right now as my number seven. And I have Jameis at 10, Matthew Stafford at 11.

[Andy Holloway]

So you would not really.

[Mike Wright]

I still have three quarterback ones available to me as well. And despite my affection for Kirk Cousins and would want him on my team, I would probably still roll the dice here.

[Andy Holloway]

Rudolph seems like a big tier advantage over guys that are still on the board, like Martellus Bennett, Ladarius Green, Zach Miller, CJ Fedor with Jared Cook, Eric Ebron.

[Jason Moore]

I agree. When we. When I looked at Greg Olson's horrendous second half of last year and started looking at the bust rate, weekly of tight ends. And I was disgusted over the season that Greg Olson actually did have a very good year because I wanted to prove him wrong because he destroyed my fantasy team. The other guy that was tied for him as best with not having bad games was Kyle Rudolph at the top of the list. So I love getting him here. I agree. He's a big teardrop from him to anyone else.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, are you okay with Kyle Rudolph here?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, absolutely.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

I already talked about how I think the Vikings can be very sneaky. Sam Bradford's accurate, loves throwing to the tight end.

[Jason Moore]

So our team now.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, go ahead.

[Mike Wright]

Would be give the run back.

[Jason Moore]

Starting running backs of David Johnson and Mark Ingram. We got tried and true. Doug Baldwin, Crabtree at the wide receiver, flexing in either Latavius Murray, Jameson Crowder, Doug Martin or Tyree Kill. Plenty of depth for injuries, for bye weeks, for all of that, for matchups in the Flex. And then we've also got Kyle Rudolph in that flex. I really like how this team is turning around and at the quarterback position already.

[Andy Holloway]

Turning around, huh?

[Jason Moore]

The quarterback position still has three quarterback ones according to both Mike and my rankings in Kirk Cousins, Matthew Stafford and Jameson.

[Andy Holloway]

Jameson Winston, interesting name there. Danny Woodhead goes off the board in the ninth round. That might interest people. Paul Perkins finally went off the board in the ninth round. A name that I was hoping might drop through was Willie Snead. He actually went with the fourth pick of the 10th round. A little disappointed in that.

[Jason Moore]

I know my pick here.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, at this point, some names on the board upside of Josh Dachshund sitting there. You have Tyler Lockett running back wise. It's quite thin at this point. I'm glad we have four of them. Kirk Cousins, Matthew Stafford, Jameis Winston, all still on the board. Mike says or Jason says, he knows the pick. I hope it's not another Viking.

[Jason Moore]

It's not. I do love Adam Thielen, but because we have Kyle Rudolph and they don't have a high powered offense, I'm not taking a stab at both of them because I wouldn't want to be forced to both.

[Andy Holloway]

No, Brooks, it's not Tyler Higby. No, I know it is. I know you want that second, third, fourth tight end to fill out your flex. No, no, Brooks, no. Calm down.

[Jason Moore]

There are some good upside guys like Kevin White and Josh Dachshund, but for me, and maybe this is a little too early to grab him because I think we can get him later. But I don't want to lose him.

[Andy Holloway]

Is it John Brown it is John Brown. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

John Brown is a guy who has been a top fantasy wide receiver already in his career, who is on a great offense, and last year is stuck in everybody's mind to get him here in the 9th or 10th when he's a guy that just might end up becoming a starting wide receiver over the likes of Doug Baldwin and Michael Crabtree.

[Andy Holloway]

I agree. Are you cool with John Brown, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm okay. The other. The only other name I was going to throw out there is Tyro Williams is still available, and he is very interesting at this point.

[Jason Moore]

He's very interesting.

[Andy Holloway]

So here's how I would look at the strategy. We basically have our. We have two bench spots. Our quarterback and then the defense and the kicker. For me, at this point, I think we take John Brown, we have the quick turnaround into the 11th round. I think we take our quarterback then. And then you take a flyer with that last pick. One thing that you should.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, to me, we have one bench spot.

[Andy Holloway]

That's exactly what I was going to say is we really only have one bench spot because. Well, wait.

[Mike Wright]

No, because.

[Andy Holloway]

Why is your reason.

[Mike Wright]

Because Rex Birkenstocks is still available.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah. Rex Burkhead. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Hey, if we can end up with Rex Burkhead and John Brown, you know, as our final running back and wide receiver guys on the bench, I'm pretty happy with that.

[Andy Holloway]

Took John Brown, still have all three of those quarterbacks on the board. I would worry that if we take Burkhead now, that all three would be gone.

[Jason Moore]

Well, look, DeAndre Washington is still out there, and as of right now, Oakland has not replaced, you know, the starting running back, which would. Would mean DeAndre Washington would be there. I think there are.

[Andy Holloway]

By the way, Jalen Richard is going ahead of DeAndre Washington in. In ADP, right?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I would take him ahead of Washington.

[Andy Holloway]

So what do you. What do you want to do?

[Mike Wright]

I would.

[Jason Moore]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you want to take Kirk Cousins here? Do you want to take Matthew Stafford? You want to take Jameis Winston, or you want to take Burkhead and wait and see what quarterback we get with our last pick?

[Mike Wright]

I believe that once drafts are really rolling, Rex Burkhead will. Will not be available this late. But I would go. I'll take Kirk Cousins here.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's take Kirk Cousins. We're rounding out this draft, closing it down.

[Jason Moore]

I would have got.

[Andy Holloway]

Tyrell went after him. Kirk Cousins is our quarterback as of right now. And with our final pick, you see some defenses going off the board. Malcolm Mitchell went in the 11th round, 12th round, you have Darren Sprols could be sneaky there. I really think there's a value potential for Sproules on that offense. Tory Smith went in the 12th round. James White, Jameis Winston, Rashad Perryman, Adam Thielen still on the board. If you want to complete the entire Vikings roster.

[Jason Moore]

Wait, did Rex Burkhead go or is he still available?

[Andy Holloway]

I believe the Rex Burkhead, he's going.

[Mike Wright]

To still be available. Now, the thing about what's interesting here is Philip Rivers is still available. I mean, perennial quarterback one here.

[Andy Holloway]

Burkhead is gone, by the way.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, is he?

[Andy Holloway]

Burkhead went in the night.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I wasn't.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, okay. That just happened then.

[Andy Holloway]

Really. Well, we're in the. We're in the 13th or 12th, so.

[Mike Wright]

Captain let me down. He did not. Let me know.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Burkett is gone. So, you know, Adam Thielen. Marvin. Marvin Jones, Cameron Meredith. If you wanted to go, DeAndre Washington. The truth is, is. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're probably dropping a guy, you know, in a real season. What I do here is, what I don't want to do is take a guy that I think might be good, might have a shot at being good in week seven because he's not going to be on my team. I need a guy that can pay off in week one and make it look good to me that I drafted him with my last pick. If a guy cannot flash in week one here, he's going to be gone whether or not he flashes in week six. So for me, I want to make sure I take a guy that can do that.

[Jason Moore]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

For me, I'm not sure who that is. It's probably Adam Thielen.

[Jason Moore]

For me, there's no chance I take a wide receiver here. Zero. I take another running back because I look at my roster, I've got plenty of wide receivers. I'm going to be able to get wide receivers off the waiver wire.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, we're running out of time. Close it down.

[Jason Moore]

I'm taking DeAndre Washington. As of now, he's the starting running back in Oakland's, you know, starting.

[Andy Holloway]

I wouldn't say that he's the starting.

[Jason Moore]

Running back or presumptuous or 50, 50 timeshare guy.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a timeshare and, you know, defense. I'll go ahead and take the hometown Cardinals and we'll close it out with.

[Mike Wright]

Remind people here we have an article that just went up on. On the website talking about rethinking your. Your draft of if your rules do not specify it, don't draft the defense.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

Don't draft a kicker. Take another shot on these high upside flyer type of guys who maybe something happens during training camp and all of a sudden, well, that player has now shifted into, into a starting role.

[Jason Moore]

Perfect example of that real quick is handcuffs. I don't usually like drafting handcuffs at the draft, but if they're guys I'm going to have to drop before week one to then sign a kicker or a, or a defense, then I'm like, oh, great. Well, if the starter gets injured in preseason, I've got a player.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I don't, I don't. I really don't know how to tell you this, Jason. It's going to disappoint you, but Chandler Canton. Zara is already gone.

[Jason Moore]

Oh.

[Andy Holloway]

So I ended up having to take this is. I ended up having to take Matt Bryant.

[Jason Moore]

Wow.

[Mike Wright]

Matt Bryant was a.

[Jason Moore]

That's pretty good.

[Andy Holloway]

So why don't, why don't you guys run back our roster for us?

[Mike Wright]

Well, I was going to throw out. I saw him still available and it was just a. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Marvin Jones was still available to be drafted week three last year. Everyone is bail.

[Andy Holloway]

It stings so bad when you draft a guy and when he has an explosion type of game like you did against Green Bay, you just keep playing him.

[Jason Moore]

And then if Marvin Jones didn't have week three where he exploded and everyone thought he was going to be great and he just had an average season last year, he would be drafted right now.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, he would.

[Jason Moore]

That makes no sense. All right, so our final roster. We got Kirk Cousins, David Johnson, Mark Ingram, Doug Baldwin, Crabtree, Kyle Rudolph, Latavius Murray, Cardinals and Matt Bryant. And then a bench of Crowder, Doug Martin, Tyree Kill, John Brown and DeAndre Washington.

[Andy Holloway]

Final thoughts on this roster, gentlemen, before we close out our first, our early mock draft of 2017.

[Mike Wright]

Say I feel okay.

[Andy Holloway]

You feel okay?

[Mike Wright]

I feel okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you feel a little bit of a lack of flash at the, at the wide receiver position?

[Mike Wright]

No, I feel it. Maybe it's just, it's the fact of like you don't. When you don't get one of your like your guys the later round that, that sleeper that you just want to have.

[Jason Moore]

So Burke had ruined everything.

[Mike Wright]

It really did.

[Jason Moore]

But I really like this team. I think it's set up for a standard league and got got the important pieces where they matter. I believe so. And our depth I think is very good as well.

[Mike Wright]

I think that's just, that's an interesting part of the mental game of you can set your heart on one of these late round guys and then if you feel like I didn't get that one guy, it's and it destroys everything for you. It shouldn't because the draft is still solid. I'm choking. Probably the bug.

[Andy Holloway]

Bug in your throat.

[Jason Moore]

He's been eaten.

[Andy Holloway]

One final reminder before we close out the show too. Please, please. I know it's hard because we all love a pat on the back and we all remember being in grade school and getting that, that A plus, but please don't read too much into any of the mock draft evaluation grades that you'll get from yahoo or from fantasydraftwizard.com or anything. Look, this is so early. Those things are based on just algorithms of where guys finished and you're trying to draft a team that can win the championship, not win the post draft review.

[Jason Moore]

If you want to win that, just close your eyes and hover your button over auto draft or whatever draft, whoever it says to draft every single time and then you'll get an A and you'll lose horrifically.

[Andy Holloway]

If you do want further help in dominating your fantasy football draft, check out our ultimate draft kit@ultimate draftkit.com I've got these guys booping on my screen here. Ultimate Draft Kit.com we have 100 plus player profiles. This was a huge hit last year. It'll get you ready for your draft. Draft time is the best time of the year. We absolutely love it. And you can keep it right here on the Fantasy Footballers podcast. The fantasy footballers.com the draft time is the right time, especially if you want to get Tevin Coleman.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, check out fantasytalks.com the promo code is footballers. Goodbye.

[Andy Holloway]

Tyler Higby, Undrafted. Wow.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter effbot dollars.