First MOCK DRAFT of 2020 + The Infinite One

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast: First MOCK DRAFT of 2020 + The Infinite One

Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
Release Date: May 7, 2020

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Introduction: Setting the Stage for the Mock Draft

The episode kicks off with light-hearted banter among the hosts about Mike's initial reluctance to dive into the mock draft activity. Jason teases Mike for not participating as expected, setting a playful tone for the session.

Jason Moore (00:34): "I was waiting. I was. I was. I did it in my head. In my head. I was saying, it's mock draft time. And Mike's just sitting there letting us all down."

Despite the jest, the trio quickly shifts focus to the main event: the first mock draft of the season. They express excitement about testing their player projections and seeing how the draft dynamics play out live.

Andy Holloway (02:19): "Every year people ask, you know, what's the purpose of that mock draft? A lot of it is to just get a sense of the draft board and how it's moving month to month."

Segment 1: Buy/Sell – The Frank Gore Analysis

Before diving into the mock draft, the hosts engage in their beloved "Buy/Sell" segment, examining recent news about Frank Gore signing a one-year contract with the New York Jets.

Mike Wright (05:25): "As you know, we refer to Frank Gore as the Infinity Stone. He's collecting the stones. That's exactly what Frank Gore is doing."

They humorously liken Gore's career moves to collecting the Infinity Stones from the Marvel universe, highlighting his longevity and versatility in the NFL. The discussion revolves around whether Gore's experience and recent signing make him a "buy" or "sell" in fantasy leagues, ultimately concluding that Gore has been around long enough to be considered a safe asset.

Andy Holloway (11:14): "Frank Gore has played a while. He old? Yep, he's old. I don't think he's going to do much here for the Jets."

Segment 2: The Mock Draft – Picking Strategies and Player Evaluations

Round 1 Highlights:

The mock draft begins with the first four picks: Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, and Michael Thomas. The hosts discuss the safety and upside of selecting Michael Thomas early, emphasizing his high target volume and injury resilience compared to running backs.

Mike Wright (13:42): "The only thing that can stop Michael Thomas is injury, and it's just far less likely for that to happen than it is one of these running backs."

Round 2 –3: Balancing RB and WR Positions

Andy selects Dalvin Cook, noting his dual-threat capabilities with both rushing and receiving yards. The conversation heats up around Austin Ekeler, with some hosts bullish on his role in the Los Angeles Chargers' offense, while others express skepticism about his touchdown potential.

Andy Holloway (19:04): "The absence of Melvin Gordon, he's a centerpiece of the offense and like I said on the last show, at this point I'm accepting the production of Austin Ekeler in fantasy."

Jason contrasts his optimism with concerns about Ekeler's offensive context, ultimately agreeing to draft Ekeler alongside Dalvin Cook.

Round 4 –5: Wide Receiver Deep Dive

The discussion shifts to wide receivers like Amari Cooper, Odell Beckham Jr., and emerging talents like Calvin Ridley and D.J. Chark. Mike opts for D.J. Chark, valuing his consistent target share, while Jason leans towards Calvin Ridley, anticipating a breakout season.

Jason Moore (28:44): "Calvin Ridley is going to have a monster season. He's this year's Chris Godwin, if you will. A talented young guy who's been good when he's out there."

Round 6 –8: Enhancing Depth and Addressing Risk

As the mock draft progresses, the hosts address depth at running back and wide receiver, considering high-upside picks like Sony Michel and Marvin Jones. They deliberate on balancing proven veterans with potential breakout stars, emphasizing the importance of early-season performance to set the tone for the fantasy team.

Andy Holloway (35:25): "If you have three running backs, like Eckler isn't, I would start a draft like that."

Bench Strategy:

In the later rounds, the focus shifts to securing bench depth with players like Marlon Mack and Deontay Johnson, who offer potential high rewards with manageable risks. The hosts discuss handcuff strategies and the value of players who can emerge as starters based on early-season performance.

Jason Moore (59:06): "I would take the shot on a guy like Henderson here."

Segment 3: Concluding Thoughts and Final Rosters

As the mock draft concludes, the hosts reflect on their picks, praising their balance of solid performers and high-upside candidates. They acknowledge the evolving nature of player rankings and the importance of adapting strategies based on draft flow and emerging news.

Andy Holloway (63:25): "It's different, though, because you get used to seeing so many rosters from years past, and when you start to have some of these emerging names, that's one of the things a lot of fantasy owners out there see."

The session wraps up with a sense of accomplishment and anticipation for the upcoming NFL season, encouraging listeners to engage with their own mock drafts and share insights on social media.

Mike Wright (63:31): "Pretty good. I like the roster. I think we've got a good combination of solid pieces with upside pieces."

Notable Quotes:

• Jason Moore (05:19): "Frank Gore has played a while. He old? Yep, he's old. I don't think he's going to do much here for the Jets."
• Mike Wright (13:42): "The safety and security of Michael Thomas is a warm, cozy blanket knowing that you still have incredible upside."
• Jason Moore (28:44): "Calvin Ridley is going to have a monster season. He's this year's Chris Godwin."
• Andy Holloway (35:25): "If you have three running backs, like Eckler isn't, I would start a draft like that."

Key Takeaways:

• Player Evaluations: The hosts emphasize the importance of balancing proven veterans with high-upside rookies and emerging talents, adapting to positional needs as the draft progresses.

• Draft Strategy: There's a clear preference for securing top-tier running backs early, complemented by reliable wide receivers and strategic depth picks to mitigate risks.

• Flexibility and Adaptation: The mock draft highlights the need to remain flexible, adjusting strategies based on the flow of picks and the availability of key players.

Conclusion:

The first mock draft of the 2020 season conducted by the Fantasy Footballers offers valuable insights into drafting strategies, player valuations, and the dynamics of building a competitive fantasy team. By combining humor, expert analysis, and strategic discussions, the hosts provide listeners with a comprehensive guide to navigating their fantasy football drafts with confidence and flair.

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Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, what's up?

[Mike Wright]

This is Justice Hill from the Baltimore Ravens, and you're listening to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Mike Wright]

Ah, welcome in.

[Andy Holloway]

I thought we might get an. It's mock draft time. Mike, I'm really disappointed in you.

[Jason Moore]

I was waiting. I was. I was. I did it in my head. In my head. I was saying, it's mock draft time. And Mike's just sitting there letting us all down.

[Andy Holloway]

And he's shaking his head, too, like we were wrong to even assume that he might do that.

[Mike Wright]

You're wrong.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. I. Look, I don't know.

[Jason Moore]

We're wrong about assuming that you're shaking your head that we're wrong. So you think we were correct?

[Mike Wright]

Yes, we have. No bananas.

[Jason Moore]

Got it.

[Andy Holloway]

Thursday, May 7th. Andy, Mike and Jason, the fantasy footballers, back with you. Judge Giamatti is with us as well. We're all excited.

[Jason Moore]

Draft time.

[Andy Holloway]

And it is mock draft time.

[Jason Moore]

What Mike hums or doesn't hum?

[Andy Holloway]

First mock draft of the year on today's show Live. Whatever happens, happens. Guys do well, that.

[Mike Wright]

That's what they say.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll find out whether we, you know, agree with one another or end up having to rotate picks because we can't decide. But it's going to be a lot of fun. Follow us.

[Mike Wright]

I like that.

[Jason Moore]

If.

[Mike Wright]

If we can't decide, we may have to rotate picks because, yes, we've been so agreeable in all. In all the mocks we have done in the past.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I guess it's more of a bribery situation. I get this pick if you give me the next two picks.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we do that.

[Andy Holloway]

We might agree. It'll be fun. It'll be an experiment. That's what mock drafting is about.

[Jason Moore]

Well, the best part is when you do it this early, you get to see the movement. You get to see, okay, this is how, you know, this is how it was in May, but what's really changing? Who's rising, who's falling? So, you know, it's a good, good practice. Good practice to.

[Andy Holloway]

And we're. All three of us are right in the middle of our player by player statistical projections for the 2020 season at various points in that process. And so it'll be interesting because we've wrapped our heads around several of the these teams so far. Here we are in May and we get to put it into practice. And like Jason said, every year people ask, you know, what's the purpose of that mock draft? A lot of it is to just get A sense of the draft board and how it's moving month to month.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And it's really fun.

[Andy Holloway]

That too.

[Jason Moore]

There is that as a big benefit.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. This will be. I know our team.

[Mike Wright]

It's a brain exercise. Like it's, it's fun to do it and go look at your team and go, oh, yeah, imagine. Imagine if I had that team.

[Andy Holloway]

I was going to say that's the only thing I know before the draft is just how incredible our team will be.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's. It's one of those things where in May, I'm sure we can get some real good value on the rookies. Let's go.

[Andy Holloway]

Be sure to check us out on YouTube. YouTube.com the fantasy footballers instagram.com fantasy footballers, twitter @the ffballers and I was just looking on the website and the articles, they be flowing. There are a lot of great articles over on the website from our writing staff. Thefantasyfootballers.com there's an auction Trends article up there right now for you auction players out there that are always knocking down our door for more auction content. Well, there it is. Avail yourselves of it. We have the NFL ready to release the regular season schedule with asterisks on the end of it tonight, 8pm Eastern. But that's exciting, right?

[Jason Moore]

That's super exciting. I can't wait to see the schedule. I mean, we know who's playing who, but what the order of the games are, being able to plug that in, get kind of some strength of schedule plugged into our rankings and the ultimate draft kits. I will be eagerly awaiting the reveal.

[Mike Wright]

This is when you go through and you confidently predict that your team. Okay, we're going 10 and six.

[Andy Holloway]

That always works out too.

[Mike Wright]

This team's going seven and nine and you get the primetime action, man. You get to know, you get to earmark things. Okay, week nine, this primetime matchup is going to be off the chain.

[Andy Holloway]

This is when all the Denver Bronco fans that have been messaging me figure out their path to 12 and 4.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, this is like us last year when we're like, I don't expect the Arizona Cardinals to have many primetime games and they did not, you know. Yeah, that's. That's what the NFL thinks of our team. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Okay, let's do some buy, sell before the mock draft.

[Jason Moore]

Buy or sell, presented by Pristine Auction.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. This buy sell is eternal. This bicelle is immortal.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, it is.

[Andy Holloway]

Everything all right? Couple bits of news. One of them was that Frank Gore has signed a contract to play professional football for another season at least. Reuniting with Adam Gaze in New York for the jets one year contract. So we're going to play some buy sell with Frank Gore's age, basically.

[Mike Wright]

This is excellent. And as you know, if you listen to the show, we refer to Frank Gore as the Infinity Stone. And as was pointed out by a kind listener of the show, the lumber. Zach. He broke it all down for us because.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, break it down for me because.

[Mike Wright]

He'S collecting the stones. That's exactly what Frank Gore is doing. He got the Goldstone from the 49ers.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Started his career there.

[Mike Wright]

Blue from the Colts got.

[Jason Moore]

Which is the space.

[Mike Wright]

And he got the soul stone, the orange stone from the Dolphins, from the Bills, he got the Redstone. He got the green stone now from the Jets. Frank Morges needs a purple power stone, and he will have completed the gauntlet.

[Jason Moore]

We got to get away.

[Andy Holloway]

Is he going to Minnesota?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we got to get into Minnesota or the Ravens next year.

[Jason Moore]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I.

[Mike Wright]

Or not, because then he will snap us out of existence.

[Andy Holloway]

He could do that. Yeah, he could do that. Or he could snap this whole coronavirus thing out of existence for.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, hey, let's get him to the Vikings.

[Andy Holloway]

So, Brooks, you set up a buy sell for us, and this is all based on when Frank Gore entered the NFL, so. Right, and you've picked, what, five items out or something to that nature? Do you want to explain this to me?

[Brooks]

You got it.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Why the Hindi doesn't.

[Brooks]

You summed it up perfectly.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Buy, sell. Frank Gore entering the NFL before the iPhone. Buy or sell. Frank Gore entered before the iPhone. I'm buying.

[Jason Moore]

That's an easy buy for me. Yeah, I mean, the iPhone feels like it's been out forever, but it's crazy. I go back and look at pictures.

[Andy Holloway]

He might have beat the landline out. I'm not even sure, but I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go buy. Are we all by.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we're buying the iPhone. I mean iPhones at what, 13, 13?

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know.

[Mike Wright]

I'm actually not sure when Frank Orr entered the league. It was at least 50 years ago.

[Andy Holloway]

Though, so were we right? Brooks, you were all right.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. We're all want to know.

[Mike Wright]

He stopped halfway through his. Brooks, what is happening today?

[Brooks]

We should go through them, because if I give. You know, you might gain too much info on the future ones.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you don't want to confirm them? We caught you off guard, so you only spoke half a sentence. Got it.

[Jason Moore]

You were.

[Andy Holloway]

That's exactly what I heard. All right. Frank Gore entered the NFL before Tesla was founded.

[Mike Wright]

Oh. Ooh.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Before Tesla was founded. I think I buy that. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Tesla was found.

[Mike Wright]

When was that first?

[Jason Moore]

The first.

[Mike Wright]

When was that Roadster?

[Andy Holloway]

I don't even know if he's younger than Elon Musk himself.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to buy it. I'm going to buy it.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'll buy that as well.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Before Facebook.

[Mike Wright]

Mmm.

[Jason Moore]

Ooh.

[Mike Wright]

Back when it was the Facebook.

[Jason Moore]

That one I'm going to sell.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to buy it. So we've got our first difference here. I'm going to buy before Facebook.

[Mike Wright]

I'm selling that one as well. The old college days.

[Andy Holloway]

What do you mean, as well? Did you sell the one before it?

[Mike Wright]

No, I'm saying I'm selling with Jason.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Before the Nintendo Wii. No, no, I'm selling.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, crap. Where was I when I got my Nintendo Wii? Was Frank Gore.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that how you. You can associate, like, where you first.

[Mike Wright]

I remember the house. I remember the. The room where I set everything up. I sell. I'm going to sell. Frank Gore was in the league before the Wii came out.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to buy. I don't know whether Facebook or the week came out earlier, but I'm starting to feel like this is the trap before the week where we're supposed to have bought everything, because I think that might be it for everything.

[Andy Holloway]

And then lastly, are we buying or selling? Frank Gore entered the NFL before Sam Darnold's 10th birthday.

[Jason Moore]

His quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

His own quarterback now.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that's delightful.

[Andy Holloway]

That's a. I'll buy that. I'll buy that. Because you don't put it in there as a sell. Come on.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I'm going to buy.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. There's been some funny stuff about that with Adrian Peterson as well, of, like, his teammates being eight when he got drafted.

[Andy Holloway]

Are you going to. Incomplete sentences. Tell us the truth here, Brooks?

[Brooks]

Yeah, I can do that. I think I can handle that.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's hear it.

[Jason Moore]

You were.

[Brooks]

Frank Gore entered the NFL in 2005.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, all right.

[Brooks]

So the iPhone you guys all chose by. That was correct. It came out in 2007.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, all right, all right.

[Brooks]

Frank Gore entered the NFL before Tesla was founded. That is a sell.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, really?

[Brooks]

Yes. 2003.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

So that's taken them a little time to get going.

[Mike Wright]

Making car companies, not easy, I'm told.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, what about the Facebook?

[Brooks]

Facebook also sell. That is 2004.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

And then the Nintendo Wii.

[Brooks]

That's a buy. That's 2006.

[Jason Moore]

Nice. I'm gonna win this.

[Brooks]

When that was released.

[Mike Wright]

Dang it.

[Andy Holloway]

And then Sam Darnold's 10th birthday. I'm guessing that's a buy.

[Brooks]

Yeah. Sam Darnold was 8 years old when Frank Gore entered the NFL.

[Andy Holloway]

For the record, I want to. At that point, he didn't even know. All right, so you won, Jason. You want to know that?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I want the Foot Clan to know.

[Andy Holloway]

So the summary here is that buy or sell, Frank Gore has played a while.

[Jason Moore]

He old? Yep, he's old. I don't think he's going to do much here for the Jets.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, that was buy or sell, brought to you by Pristine Auction. Our good friends over at Pristine Auction, check them out. Use the code ballers get a $10 credit towards a sports memorabilia purchase. That's pristine auction dot com. Without further ado, it's time. Let's mock draft.

[Jason Moore]

The fantasy footballers mock draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Also, you threw in a little extra on Nat Drop. You just didn't open the show with it. You're a hard man to predict, Mike. Hard man to pin down.

[Mike Wright]

I'm like a wild stallion.

[Andy Holloway]

You can't tame him.

[Mike Wright]

I cannot be broken. My heart will endure. My spirit will always be free.

[Andy Holloway]

How do you use. So let me ask you this before we jump into the mock draft. You are known as a contrarian. In life, you tend to go the opposite. You know, everyone's walking over there. Let's walk over here.

[Mike Wright]

Everybody except your labeling.

[Andy Holloway]

Even the labeling, you're like, I might come up with a different name for contrarian in order to defeat you.

[Mike Wright]

I've been known to look at the. The other path and say, what's over there?

[Andy Holloway]

But what I'm saying is if people, you know, they also like your, you know, your lyrics for the intro to the show. So if the groundswell of the Foot Clan begins to tell you to do something, oh, then I would give the.

[Mike Wright]

People what they need.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm a rock star in you.

[Mike Wright]

I am a contrarian, but I am also a man of the people. I'm the original man of the people for this show.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, before you were verified. I remember that.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that was. That was a long time ago.

[Andy Holloway]

Great time. That was a great time in Jason in my life.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, it's great. So easy to get verified.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, 12 team, half point per reception, mock draft. One quarterback, two running back, two wide receiver, one tight end, one flex, and we're going to go, what, five bench spots in a defense, and we randomized a Spot in the draft just before we started recording, ended up at number five. Mike, I don't even know if you know that, but we're at number five.

[Mike Wright]

Got it.

[Andy Holloway]

So we're kicking this Things. This thing off. And the first. First four picks. Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, and Michael Thomas.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

That will be interesting to see. How high up does Michael Thomas go? I mean, because, like, I have. I have the pick that I would go at number four, and then I will easily take a number five. But the safety and security of Michael Thomas. Yeah, it is a warm, cozy blanket knowing that you still. You have incredible upside of the guy who finished overall number one at the wide receiver position.

[Andy Holloway]

What do you have with 600, 700 targets?

[Mike Wright]

Something like that. And he's just. He's safe. Like, he. The only thing that can stop Michael Thomas is injury, and it's just far less likely for that to happen than it is to one of these running backs.

[Jason Moore]

Well, it's not even injury to Drew Brees anymore. Like, at that point, James comes in, throws, picks, has to throw the ball a ton, and Michael Thomas has great numbers.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so we're on the clock. First pick here, as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad Michael Thomas went there. I know what you're saying about him being saved at that position. I'm still looking at running back. I've been through my projections with Minnesota.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yes.

[Andy Holloway]

So Dalvin Cook on the board here is enticing, but, you know, others might say an Alvin Camara here, devonte Adams, depending on where you have him projected, I'm sure it's a Dalvin Cook smash pick for me. Derek throwing.

[Mike Wright]

Derek Henry as well. And the surprise, or a surprise so far, of going through my projections, my number three player on my board is available here at number four, and it's Dalvin Cook.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think this is super easy for the three of us. All three of us would easily take Dalvin Cook here. That's. That's the fourth player in order, as expected at the beginning of this draft. To me, I would take him over Michael Thomas. Obviously, you've got injury concerns, but he is. When he's on the field, he is one of those rare. I get two players in one fantasy football roster spot because of how much he produces. So, yeah, it's Dalvin Cook here for all of us.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Yeah. Last year, Dalvin Cook for the record, 250 carries, 1135 yards, and another 53 receptions for 519 yards.

[Mike Wright]

But I mean, the injury concerns are very fair. I know he, I believe that he appeared in 14 games, but he was Dalvin Cook playing that workhorse role for only 11 games. And that's, I believe, what he had two years ago as well. Like, the guy hasn't come anywhere close to a full season.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm very excited about this next bit because I know exactly what conversation we're about to have after. After we took Dalvin Cook.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Derek Henry went next. Alvin Camara, Devonte Adams, Nick Chubb, Joe Mixon, Tyreek Hill, Josh Jacobs finishing out the first round. Very bullish on Josh Jacobs so far when looking through projections in 2020. DeAndre Hopkins kicks off the second round. Then Julio Jones, Leonard Fournette, Aaron Jones, Chris Godwin, Kenyon Drake, Clyde Edwards, Hilaire, which would not surprise me if he ends up right around here in a lot of drafts. For the upside.

[Mike Wright]

Do you have your Kansas City projections done yet, Andy?

[Andy Holloway]

I believe we have all projected our carry counts for that team.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, and we'll just. Just your number right now. I know you still have some teams to finish. How high is Ed sitting right now for you?

[Andy Holloway]

Right now he is at 13 and I have 10 teams left to project, so he'll be in the top 24.

[Mike Wright]

I have him at 15 right now.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, yeah, I've got him at 10, but I've got about half the league left to do. So he'll be in the top 20 for sure.

[Mike Wright]

I was shocked when I saw how high he ended up for me.

[Jason Moore]

I do know that I have him higher than the guy. I assume we're going to have to debate here.

[Andy Holloway]

You thought you were going to say you assume you're going to have to pick.

[Mike Wright]

You are a ridiculous person.

[Andy Holloway]

On the board right now we've got a running back, Dalvin Cook. I'm going to set the stage, Mike, for the fight. And on the board right now you could go. Some people would be staring down Travis Kelsey, the number one tight end on the board. We can talk about that philosophy. Kenny Golladay, who through 22 teams projected, I have in the top five. Mike Evans is sitting there at running back. You have Miles, Miles Sanders. You have Austin Eckler, you have Gurley, you have Carson, you have Jonathan Taylor. So another rookie in case somebody wants to go rookies back to back in the second round. And obviously all the quarterbacks are still there. But the conversation that needs to be had is just around Austin Eckler.

[Mike Wright]

I'm very like, I know where I stand. I know where Jason stands where I am left in full suspense here is. I have no idea where Andy stands on this argument.

[Jason Moore]

Stands much closer to you.

[Mike Wright]

Stand with you, my friend.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, I have Austin Eckler presently ahead of Aaron Jones and Kenyon Drake.

[Mike Wright]

Oh my God.

[Andy Holloway]

Are you going to be okay, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

I've got a fan myself. I got to cool down from that one. So he's in your top 10 for sure?

[Andy Holloway]

He is inside of my top 10. Where did he finish last year, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, Austin Eckler, I believe he running back six and a half points.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So Echler in the situation he's in now, we've talked about it a little bit. Last year, 92 receptions. I have him back down to around the 75 range this year. Last year, 132 carries. I have him up to about 175 carries this year. The absence of Melvin Gordon, he's a centerpiece of the offense and like I said on the last show, at this point I'm accepting the production of Austin Eckler in fantasy. That doesn't mean we have to take him here. We could be, there could be another angle. We could go. But Echler would be my pick personally.

[Mike Wright]

Austin Eckler would be my pick as well. I know that the quarterback situation has, has changed and that's, it's a, it's a fair argument to make. But Austin Eckler, in those first four games when Melvin Gordon was not around and it was the Austin Eckler show, he was a top five running back three of those four weeks. The guy got the bag. He is, he is the centerpiece of the running back position and not just running back. I mean, he'll be moved around, he'll be put in the slot and everything. So I, I believe in Austin Eckler and I believe that he is a top 10 running back for this year.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, and I don't at all. I believe in him as a running back. I think he's talented. I don't believe in this team. I don't believe in the offense. I don't believe that he's going to have anywhere near the touchdown numbers that he had last year. I mean, eight receiving touchdowns. That's when you've got Philip Rivers. He's down at 70 targets for me this year, which would be, you know, a good number coming from Tyrod Taylor and Justin Herbert. But it's not enough to get it done. I've got him behind, you know, I've still got half the league to stat, but I've got Him currently, you know, behind some guys like Todd Gurley and David Johnson, who, you know, the older guys with new teams and new situations. But I just don't think he's, you know, you brought up. Okay, well, when Melvin Gordon was out, he was the guy. Well, that was because they had a roster that assumed they'd have Melvin Gordon and they didn't. They went out and they drafted Joshua Kelly. They're not going to give off Hitler. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Fourth.

[Jason Moore]

Fourth round pick. They, they drafted Joshua Kelly. They've still got Justin Jackson, who was.

[Andy Holloway]

That's my, that's my question for you is carry distribution.

[Jason Moore]

I've got for your team because, because.

[Andy Holloway]

That'S a lot of carries that are going out the door. And I just, you know, Justin Jackson, I understand getting a large amount, but Joshua Kelly getting a large amount is not going to happen.

[Jason Moore]

I. Well, I mean, we just agree to disagree there. I've got Austin Eckler leading the way with 152 rushing attempts. Joshua Kelly with 112 and Justin Jackson was 74.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, Jackson will. I'll bet you anything Jackson out produces Joshua Kelly this year. That'll be a fun one to look at.

[Mike Wright]

So Melvin Gordon leaving the team moves Austin Eckler up 20 overall carries.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's how I have it breaking down.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, the real part doesn't sound.

[Andy Holloway]

Like you could swallow this pick here. Are you going to be able to take it? If we take him, if we get a top five potential running back in.

[Mike Wright]

The second round, where would you go, Jason?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's a good question because you're not taking Eckler.

[Mike Wright]

Like where. What's your thought process here of the guys remaining?

[Jason Moore]

So Todd Gurley, David Johnson, I've got ahead of Austin Eckler. I'm not super excited about them. I don't want to draft them in the second round. Do you have got Kelsey on the board? The one guy that I haven't statted yet that I assume would be my pick would be Miles Sanders. I think Miles Sanders has the potential to really jump into, you know, an absolute year in and year out, top 10 selection, top 10 running back. And you could get him in the second round here. But I haven't personally started him out, so I don't know, you know, how, how that lies. Where do you have Miles Sanders?

[Mike Wright]

I have Miles Sanders as a top 10 guy, but two spots behind Echler.

[Jason Moore]

All right, so I'm going to give this, I'm going to give this pick to you guys. I'm clearly on the island. We'll go with Austin Eckler and I'm going to use that.

[Mike Wright]

Draft is done, man. We log out.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to use that capital here soon.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, the truth is if Miles Sanders had any sort of a season like Austin Eckler had last year, it would be incredible for him. And I haven't gone through Philadelphia either. So he may end up in the same or similar boat. But it's going to be a fun situation to watch. I remind you, Jason, in all of these contentions against Austin Eckler, I want to remind you, you spent the season disparaging their quarterback on a team that ended up drafting what, sixth? So you hate it. You hated the quarterback in Los Angeles that somehow provided and they didn't win here.

[Jason Moore]

I hated the quarterback because he threw a bunch of interceptions and hurt my fantasy team. You know what else? He threw a million dump offs to the running back position because that's what he does. Whereas Tyrod Taylor is going to be mobile. And you know, Herbert, I just don't think is very good.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's distract you for a moment. Why don't you talk to us about something you're more interested in than Austin Eckler?

[Jason Moore]

Sure. I will talk about me all day.

[Andy Holloway]

Every day because now, did you say me or meat?

[Jason Moore]

Both. I'll talk about me. I'll talk about meat.

[Mike Wright]

Michael Keaton.

[Jason Moore]

But I would like to talk about Omaha Steaks for a second. Thank them for stocking my freezer, filling my belly, filling my heart with delicious high quality meat. Everyone's staying at home right now like we've never stayed home before. And there's no better way.

[Mike Wright]

I've never done this before.

[Jason Moore]

No. To stock up on Omaha Steaks than right now. They deliver guaranteed quality and safety with every order. You're stocking up on things you need. You know, don't forget all the foods you love. Steak, chicken, pork, burgers, easy to make meals, everything. I mean we, we've talked about Omaha forever and the Foot clan knows they get great deals with Omaha Steaks right now. Omaha Steaks limited time stock up sales available to all of our listeners to help you and your family stock up on the food you love. You just go to omahasteaks.com, type footballers in the search bar and you can save more than 50% on your order and get free shipping on orders of $69 or more. These packages are perfect for families. They're ready to head straight to your door with free shipping. That's Omaha Steaks.com type footballers in the search bar. You will not be disappointed.

[Andy Holloway]

Look when you start talking about meat Jason and we're getting back to the draft, good things happen and they may have happened for us. After Eckler went cup Melvin Gordon, George Kittle, Mike Evans to finish the second round. Then Travis Kelsey kicked off the third round and if you notice there, wow that was Kittle ahead of Kelsey last year. They were exact exactly the same points per game at the position. So I don't blame anybody. You can kind of pick and choose where you want to go there. LaMar Jackson at 302, Kenny Golladay at 303 and Alan Robinson with the fourth pick. We're back on the clock now. This is interesting. Jason, I'm going to handle hand this off to you to talk about but we were talking before the show. Both of us have Amari Cooper pretty high. Yes, Amari Cooper's on on the clock here at @305 now Mike shaking his head because he's like oh my gosh, that Austin Eclipse coming back to haunt me right now.

[Jason Moore]

It's coming back right now.

[Andy Holloway]

But but you said you would take Miles Sanders in the previous round and he is still available at the fifth pick in the third round. So you could go triple running back to start this or you could go Amari Cooper or Odell Beckham Jr. Juju Smith Schuster, D.J. moore.

[Jason Moore]

Draft strategy wise generally speaking, if you have the chance to get three great running backs, it's actually we've had a lot of success in the past of using those first three picks and grab. You know, if the draft just so happens to fall, we always say stay water. If the draft falls where you can get three great running backs then you can spend the next long chunk of the draft taking a bunch of shots at wide receivers and your core is great. I don't think this applies here because I don't personally view Austin Eckler as a locked and loaded top 10. And while I like Miles Sanders and his upside, both of those guys I see as bigger question marks. It didn't fall where we've just got.

[Andy Holloway]

They're not Dalvin Cook or Ezekiel Elliott or the those type of year in year out guarantees whereas I've still got.

[Jason Moore]

A guy that is, you know, again I haven't statted my entire my entire league out yet but Amari Cooper is currently sitting in wide receiver 5. I did dive deep through all of the Dallas season. All the beat reporters looking at the target shares, you know they lost 80 plus targets with Jason Whitten they lost 80 plus targets with Randall Cobb. Looking at the injury and what happened to Amari Cooper and how he did disappear the second half, how dominant he was in the beginning and looking deep. I, I have, you know, I wasn't sure if I was going to be in on Amari Cooper. Mr. 5050 man over his short career so far. Every year he finishes well. But he doesn't help you in fantasy because he disappears for half of his games.

[Andy Holloway]

That's my fear here is I have him projected very high. I don't think I want to lean on him as my wide receiver one. Those are two kind of separate conversations to me.

[Jason Moore]

See, I feel like my belief towards Amari Cooper in the way that I statted him out is that it's not going to be a disappearing act this year. I believe in him. So he would be my pick here because I think you're getting a wide receiver one in the third round after getting two solid, you know, running backs. Do you guys see another wide receiver on the board that is, you know, Odell Beckham's got the name. Are you confident in taking him as your one?

[Andy Holloway]

If we were concerned about the name, we wouldn't have taken Austin Eckler. To be honest with you, our team could have looked a lot better taking a higher profile player in the second round. But that's not the. I don't see another wide receiver. That makes me super excited. It probably stays between Miles Sanders and.

[Mike Wright]

Amari Cooper here for if we're looking strictly at wide receivers, there are two guys on the board who I have ahead of Amari Cooper. I have Amari cooper at number 12. So I have not completely thrown him in the dungeon.

[Andy Holloway]

You just have him right on the edge of wide receiver one. That way you can kick him over into two anytime you want.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that, that is also very true. The problem with like if we're looking at Amari Cooper and the in the targets that are gone from the team, like the Jason Whitten targets. Those are. I know you guys make fun of me with for Blake Jarwin, but they literally paid Blake Jarwin to just replace Jason Whitten and they drafted a wide receiver in the first round. Like that 160 targets that those instantly vaporize. Those don't just magically go to Amari Cooper. They have replacement players for those already completely.

[Jason Moore]

And I've been waiting to tell you this because I know how excited you'll get. I have granted, still about half the league to go, but I've got Blake Jarwin right now. Sitting at tight end. Seven.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Look, I didn't. I didn't just give all those targets.

[Mike Wright]

Jay, who do you want to take here? We take it to Mario Cooper. Is that what we're doing? We're all in, baby.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. No, but.

[Mike Wright]

Sorry. I have two wide receivers ahead of Cooper. I have. I have D.J. moore ranked ahead of. Of Amari Cooper, and I have juju ranked ahead of Amari Cooper. I'm back in. I know. I'm not going to try and talk you into juju. I will be left. I can be on this island as.

[Andy Holloway]

A better than last year's season because it's impossible not. Not to. Two considerations that I'll bring forth when we make this decision. Number one, we could see what it's like with three running backs. Number two, we don't pick again for 14 picks. So because we drafted at five overall, we've got a decent wait till our next pick. Does that define the position choice here for you?

[Jason Moore]

That makes me less likely to take a running back just because we've got two already, and I like having the flexibility to be able to go either position next round. If we were to take a running back here, then when we're up 14 picks from now, we pretty much have to go wide receiver. Right. I mean, at that. At that point, you're. You're saying you're. Four rounds.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. You will feel backed into it. But I would say that with the. That, that cliff, the. The depth of the wide receiver position, it's just so much stronger because I have Miles Sanders as a top 10 guy. So in May, if I'm leaving the draft in my first three rounds with guys, three players I have projected to be top 10 running backs, like, if. If two of those guys hit. My team has an unbelievably sturdy foundation that I feel like I could piecemeal in some of these wide receivers who are. I think, are still very valuable in the next couple rounds.

[Andy Holloway]

So. So I'm going to. We need to make the pick, and when you echo somebody, you give them the pick on the next round. So I'm going to let Jason make the pick. My vote would be Sanders. Mike, I think you said Sanders, but I can live with your decision there, Mr. Moore.

[Jason Moore]

I so desperately am looking forward to making Mike take Amari Cooper. However, one of the things that we often say on this show when we're doing early mock drafts is you want to. You want to see what happens when you try certain strategies, because we know.

[Mike Wright]

What would happen if you draft Amari Cooper, we know what happens.

[Andy Holloway]

He's about to pick Miles Sanders.

[Jason Moore]

You got to watch.

[Andy Holloway]

I got this pick.

[Jason Moore]

You want me to take Cooper? I'll take Cooper.

[Andy Holloway]

He will take.

[Jason Moore]

With Mr. Coop, he's got the. Let's take Miles Sanders and see 14 picks from now. What our wide receivers. What our wide receivers are going to look like if you start a draft with three running backs. Because like I said, I haven't, I haven't started Miles Sanders out, but I, I assume he's going to be. If he's not in my top 10, he's right there. So if you can get three RB ones, which Eckler isn't, I would start a draft like that.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I mean, he technically is statistically speaking from last year, but.

[Jason Moore]

Last year? Yeah. Are we doing a 2019 draft? I'm so sorry, guys. I. I forgot the memo.

[Andy Holloway]

No, 2020. Gordon's gone and he got paid, by the way. That's all the time we have. We went through two picks, so we are out of here. No, I'm just kidding. Miles Sanders, we took him because Jason said so. Jonathan Taylor went next. Odell Beckham Jr. Amari Cooper, Juju Sutton Mahomes at the end of the third round, D.J. moore to finish it out. And then the fourth round is A.J. brown, Stefan Diggs, Zach Ertz, Todd Gurley, Chris Carson, Adam Thielen and Robert Woods. Now, when you say let's see what happens with running backs, I'm looking at this board and there were 14 picks and it looks like nine of those 14 picks were wide receivers that went after us. Only two running backs, the tight end and a quarterback. So it did thin out considerably.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I would rather have taken Amari Cooper and grabbed here. David Johnson or Love Bell, someone. That is our third running back.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

Who's still got a guaranteed workload.

[Mike Wright]

Let's talk about the fourth. Man, that's. That's, that's some gross, stinky, delicious value right there. Stinky cheese. Stinky delicious. That is. That's. What's the real. What's the stinky cheese? The Notorious Limburger.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, I'm telling. Yes. Yeah, yeah, it is. I'm telling you right now. There are maybe more than ever running backs in that category throughout the draft now with like David Johnson, Lev Bell, David Montgomery, maybe Jordan Howard, maybe Sony Michelle, maybe James Conner. There is a stinky, delicious group of like high volume. Can you pick one out to just, you know, be that RB2 for you? Now there are wide receivers I like. I am. I think we all are very high on Calvin Ridley. He's sitting there. Ty Hilton is still on the board. Keenan Allen, DJ Chark, AJ Green. I don't know how generous. Actually, I do know how generous you guys were with his stats, probably, which is not at all. But I have him hot. Pretty high.

[Mike Wright]

I've got him at 16.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's nice.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's what I got. I don't. The thing about A.J. green is he. He still carries risk. I mean.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Are.

[Mike Wright]

Have we. Have we gotten any message from the A.J. green camp that, like, he's full systems go, he's ready to. If training camp started today, he would be ready to go. Have we heard anything about that?

[Jason Moore]

I haven't heard anything about that.

[Andy Holloway]

I've heard the team expect A.J. green to play, but I haven't heard.

[Mike Wright]

Also, I heard that, like, weekly last year.

[Andy Holloway]

That's true.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I've got A.J. green at wide receiver 21, and I've still got half the league to go. So I'm, I'm not, I'm not in on that. But you're right. So the two guys that I've still got currently in my, you know, very, very high in the top 10 of half the league is Calvin Ridley and DJ Chark. Yeah, I'm a big fan of both of those guys. I think Calvin Ridley is going to have a monster season. He's this year's Chris Godwin, if you will. You know, the, the. The clear number two on the team. There's no way he could take over the number one. But the targets that have been vacated, he's going to have to step up. A talented young guy who's been good when he's out there, you know, so I, I'm a big Calvin Ridley believer.

[Andy Holloway]

Zach Taylor on AJ Green. Everything's been positive. He's fully healthy, says he's working out.

[Mike Wright]

In Atlanta, and that was back at the beginning of April.

[Andy Holloway]

AJ Green healthy, will put up. If he was healthy.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, A.J.

[Andy Holloway]

Green. If A.J. green is healthy, he is one of the best wide receivers in all of football. And I feel like if he finishes in the top 15 this year, Jason should wear like an Age of Green jersey for a week.

[Jason Moore]

Fine with that.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, good.

[Jason Moore]

I like that.

[Andy Holloway]

Where do you want to go here? I do agree with the contention, though. I mean, Lev Bell sitting here makes you kind of regret going Miles Sanders in the round prior some people. New listeners might be wondering why there wasn't a lot of talk about Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes. Dak Prescott sitting there. Kyler Murray sitting there. We haven't brought their names up, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

Just quarterback is a very replaceable. This is a single quarterback league. That's how we prefer to play. And it's just a very replaceable position. You can get valued every, every year. There's value late in the draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, exactly. So where do you want to go? This is kind of tough because we've kind of taken running back off the table. So we got to pick a wide receiver that we like here.

[Mike Wright]

So I'll throw it. Like, I agree with Jason. DJ Chart, Calvin Ridley. Those are my top two wide receiver picks. And this would be very unconventional draft strategy for me, but Mark Andrews is still on the board and Mark Andrews is easily my number three wide receiver, who he probably is in his own tier.

[Andy Holloway]

Like, did you mean tight end?

[Jason Moore]

Like.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah, I'm sorry, tight end. Kelsey and Kittle, they're in the same tier for me. Mark Andrews, he stands in his own tier above everybody else at the position. So is there any way you would go with a tight end here even though you went running back heavy?

[Andy Holloway]

The logic would simply be that we have a short weight. We're at 408 and we don't have to, you know, I don't want our first wide receiver to be Tyler Boyd or Julian Edelman or Hollywood Brown. So Ty Hilton is interesting here, knowing that he is the alpha in that offense and just another touch point for Philip Rivers and Jason, if we could take him here. So let's, let's narrow it down on the wide receiver side and see if Andrew somehow sneaks back to us. Does that sound all right?

[Mike Wright]

That's fine to me.

[Andy Holloway]

So then Ridley, Chark Hilton, where would you go there? I lean Ridley.

[Jason Moore]

Which Ridley would be my pick?

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

It's not going to be the most popular pick right now, but come August when people, you know, really start getting serious, I think you're going to see Ridley skyrocket up the board.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it would have been chark for me.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so now we took Ridley, Connor Acres, David Johnson, Keenan Allen, Devin Singletary, A.J. green, Devonte Parker, Lev Bell. Lev Bell ended up going in the fifth round.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

It's that Frank Gore, man. Frank Gore signs and they're all worried he's going to go down. So.

[Andy Holloway]

But we're staring down. Mark Andrews is still on the board and so is Ty Hilton. And the idea is Ty Hilton here or DJ Chart. Very interesting to me.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, it's. This is, this is a really interesting question. Is that that mid round, you know, do you take your fifth round and use it on a tight end? That is a lot more proven than having to play around with the barfy tight ends later. Or do you keep stocking up your running back and wide receivers because you need more and they score more? I lean towards the wide receiver. I, you know, I was close between whether I would prefer Ridley or DJ Chark. The fact that both of them could be here.

[Andy Holloway]

My vote would be Ty Hilton and we'll give it to Mike. So you said you would prefer Char.

[Mike Wright]

I would have, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I would prefer Ty Hilton. So who do you want?

[Mike Wright]

I would, I would have taken DJ Chark the past round and so I would take him right here. I have Ridley at 15. So now through five rounds, I have three of my top 10 running backs and two top 15 wide receivers. That's a pretty sensational start. And for to speak more to just what Jason's talking about, the fact that we can get his tight end 7 with our last pick, then we could just wait forever. Jarwin season.

[Andy Holloway]

Just for just a counterbalance. I do not have Blake Jarwin anywhere near you to hooligans top five.

[Mike Wright]

I'm reading you. I read you loud and clear.

[Andy Holloway]

Wait, I still have where Blake Jarwin is and Mike's like, like 17.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he's pretty far down for me.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

This is all I have.

[Andy Holloway]

A lot of the league. Jason loving Jarwin. That's what we've got to do.

[Mike Wright]

Need a friend for Jarwin season.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so we did go with DJ Chark as Mike selected. Mark Andrews went next. No surprise. Then Lockett Swift, Metcalf, McLaurin, Ingram. Ingram at 511 and then J.K. dobbins one pick after Ingram.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

There were some quotes today from Baltimore talking about Dobbins as a three down guy. How did you see, how did you see that distribution? I actually have Ingram at 180 carries. I got Dobbins down at 109 in year. I'm curious how you have that distribution.

[Mike Wright]

I have Mark Ingram at 195 and DOB is down at 103.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. I've got Mark Ingram at 176 and Dobbins at 144. So I've got a little.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, you got it. Closer. Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, gave him a few more. So Dobbins ends up going right after Ingram to finish the fifth round. Then Hunter Henry. Then we got. We're back on the clock at 608. Ty Hilton went the pick before Ty Hilton in the sixth round with that offensive line protecting Philip Rivers would have been just an incredible steal here in the sixth round. Yeah, it was disappointing. Would have, could have, should have. That's how the draft goes now. Kyler Murray on the board here in the sixth round. Obviously, if you knew you had a player like Lamar Jackson waiting for you here in the sixth round, last year's, you know, value later in drafts, it would be tempting. So I'm bringing his name up. You have at running back, Raheem Mostert, Sony Michelle, Kareem Hunt. At wide receiver, Jarvis Landry, Debo Samuel, Julian Edelman, Tyler Boyd, Michael Gallup, Hollywood Brown. And right now we're sitting with Cook Echler, Ridley Shark and Miles Sanders.

[Mike Wright]

What do you guys believe right now about Raheem Mostert?

[Andy Holloway]

I am. I think I ended up more bullish than you guys did when we were talking about him the other day. I think the backfield is mostly Mostert and Coleman, so pretty bullish with the way they run the football.

[Mike Wright]

I just. He is an enigma, man. I. Projecting him is so hard where you go and like you're trying to read into the trends. Remember what happened last year where he had the massive breakout in the second half of the season and then it's like playoff week one or whatever. All of a sudden it's Tevin Coleman all over again. Before then, most are just beat the crap out of Green Bay. If I'm remembering it right, it was just so. It's. It's hard to really feel like you have a solid pulse on what San Francisco is going to do.

[Andy Holloway]

They ran the football 498 times last year and Matt Burrida was part of that equation to begin the year.

[Jason Moore]

It's weird to have a team that runs the ball so well with such a good offensive mind, a head coach where you kind of don't want any of the pieces because that's what I mean.

[Andy Holloway]

I want them both. I don't care which one.

[Jason Moore]

It's just one of those things where it's very, you know, New England Patriots of yesteryear where they're going to have a great running back every single week. Good luck starting the right one. And if you start Mostert and this week they just decide, nah, we're going to give it to him this week. And Mostert gets two carries and just.

[Andy Holloway]

Catches a pass to end the game instead of either of them.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. So I do think he is talented and will put up plenty of fantasy points. But how they come and whether or not they're in your starting lineup is.

[Andy Holloway]

I think the issue all Right. So this is a tough pick. I mean, you got Jarvis Landry there, but I think we. We all think that passing volume is going to go down a little bit. Odell Beckham seems to be healthy. They added Austin Hooper to the offense. Cream hunt is there. So a lot of. A lot of players to catch the ball in Cleveland and they should be throwing the ball less. So that would be the concern with somebody like Landry Edelman, who is generally a target monster. You've got to look at Jarrett Stidham and say, okay, well, what can he really provide? Statting out the Patriots was one of the worst experiences of my life is stuff in the streets, man. I just wanted to vomit everywhere because I don't want anybody there. I don't. I really don't. Because Edelman will go higher probably than I would want him and everybody else. I'm like, it's going to be tough to watch. So I feel like.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know if you listed him off as a name, but when I saw the players pop up the player pool, who was left, I'm shocked you didn't just like auto draft Debo Samuel.

[Andy Holloway]

I would be perfectly fine with Debo Samuel here, but we are looking for our first depth piece. If I had to pick between Mostert and Samuel, that's a tough pick. I think I go Mostert, but in.

[Mike Wright]

A wild turn of events, I have Debo at wide receiver 21.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

I have Raheem Mostert at running back 21. 21.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, my goodness. Hey, Mike, I'm just curious, what did you do with Hollywood Brown? Because I'm very bullish on Marquis Brown taking that step forward year two with Lamar Jackson. Man, I've got him in that Tyree kill type of role.

[Andy Holloway]

I wonder why he doesn't know what I have.

[Mike Wright]

I really wanted to be just break free with Marquis Brown and I statted him out. I had him at a certain area. And then even after that, then you guys were talking about how bullish you are and I was like, okay, I gotta go look back at Marquis Brown again. I went back, I said, okay, I can see some things breaking a certain way. And I bumped him up even a little bit more and he is still. He's still buried for me. Like, he's. He's not even a wide. He's. He's not even a three for me. I like.

[Jason Moore]

I.

[Mike Wright]

The path. The path is just too murky. Me seeing that happen where. I mean, yeah, he could be in the Tyree Kill role, but how many times is Lamar Jackson actually going to throw that ball?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's the problem. So I am not in if you.

[Andy Holloway]

Have Debo and raheem both at 21, our team needs a wide receiver more than it does a running back right now. So I'm comfortable with Debo Samuel. Unless you guys want to talk me into, like, Edelman or Gallup. Those would be the other two considerations.

[Mike Wright]

But I'm good going with Debo.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, Gallup, you know, if. If I was taking a wide receiver, Marquis Brown, I'm taking my shot on him. But maybe you could get Marquis Brown later and don't need to necessarily swing here. We should look and just decide how many tight ends are left that we are happy with. Is it. Is it, you know, is it eight? You know, I'd be happy with Evan Ingram, Jared Cook, obviously, those two guys, Kasicki plenty happy with. When you drop down to Gasicki, Hayden Hurst, I have Gasicki.

[Mike Wright]

I have him high.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I like Gasicki quite a bit. But I would be content with Kosicki for sure. You know, it just depends if you see a tier difference between some of these other players. I don't think Hooper has a season like he did last year or anything close in Cleveland. Mike, I know we talked about that. Neither of us see it that way. Ingram is a great risk. We ended up taking Samuel and then Higby Wilson, Landry and Edelman went off the board. Mostert, Mike Williams, Tyler Boyd and Keyshawn Vaughn in the seventh round. You're staring down Kyler Murray in the seventh round right now.

[Mike Wright]

That's fair.

[Andy Holloway]

So that, that pick is very interesting. If you project the top three season out of him last year, where did he finish at 5 or 6.

[Mike Wright]

I can pull that up.

[Jason Moore]

I believe he finished, I want to say seven.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so QB seven.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

You add DeAndre Hopkins in Arizona, Kenyon Drake there for the full season. What they did with Cliff Kingsbury there is, you know, sometimes you take your shot at that magical year. Murray's in that category, Prescott's in that category for me, but only one of them sitting here in the middle of the seventh round. So Kyler Murray here with a big weight before our next pick. Already having depth on our bench is very tempting.

[Mike Wright]

I'll let Jason make the call on it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Jason, it's your pick.

[Jason Moore]

If it's my pick. Overall, I'm, you know, I'm. I'm not worried about losing Kyler Murray. There are guys so late that I love. I mean, you and I were talking About Matthew Stafford. We'll get him with our last pick if we want. And I would be completely fine having him, you know, on our roster going in if it's my pick entirely. I see Marquis Brown still there and Jared Cook. It would be between those two guys, because after Jared Cook, to me, there's a big tear break. So which one of those two guys would you guys like to draft?

[Mike Wright]

Neither. So that's why it's your pick.

[Andy Holloway]

It's your pick, Jason.

[Jason Moore]

All right, I'm taking Marquis Brown. I believe in the talent I have for, like, four years, going back two years into college. And, you know, this offense, he was dealing with injury coming in out of camp, and then through the season, I think he's primed for an explosion. And now that he's our, you know, fourth wide receiver, that's. That's where you could take that risk.

[Andy Holloway]

What's kind of crazy is our wide receivers have ended up being the breakout candidates. I mean, outside of DJ Chark, who still has question marks around Minshew for a full season, kind of broke out last year. But Ridley Debo, Hollywood Brown, you're kind of counting on emerging players at wide receiver. So we took Hollywood as Jason so deftly selected Kyler Murray, Will Fuller after him. Josh Allen went in this round. Aaron Rodgers at 7:12.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, come on.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, man. Wow. Okay. Kareem Hunt in the eighth round. John Brown, Justin Jefferson, Sony Michelle in the eighth round. Again, like I said, that is. It's stinky. But if Sony Michelle receives 250 carries, which is a distinct possibility, it's incredible value in the eighth round, as stinky as it is, you know, you look back at his year, and we all know the expectations, and you look at him, and it's like 247 carries, just under a thousand yards, seven touchdowns in the eighth round. 247.

[Mike Wright]

And he didn't hit a thousand yards.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, he didn't. He was 3.7, 3.7. He was pulling a joint bell. But I'll take. I'll take those numbers in the eighth round. I won't take them in the third and fourth like we had to pay last year.

[Mike Wright]

That's fair.

[Andy Holloway]

We're back on the clock here in the eighth round. Gonna speed this thing along. Jared Cook's still on the board. I'm going to make that pick for us. Unless you're opposed to.

[Mike Wright]

I would take. I would take Evan Ingram. The Jared Cooks. Jared Cook is.

[Andy Holloway]

You would take Jared. You would take Evan Ingram over Jared Cook?

[Mike Wright]

I would Wow. I know. He's a massive health risk. I totally accept and understand that. But Evan Ingram, if Evan Ingram plays top three is in his range of outcomes. And Jared Cook has. He's got Eric Ebron numbers from a couple years ago with the Colts. Like his touchdown regression is coming.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, maybe this isn't as simple of a pick. I think Jason and I though both.

[Mike Wright]

No, but Jason's on Jared Cook as well. So.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, if we like Jared Cook and Evan Ingram, I mean, Jordan Howard probably would have been my pick just because he was the last starting running back in the, in the NFL when you're this late. But I'm happy to have Cook.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, we are in the ninth round now. Names. There are other starting running backs.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, there could be some starters here.

[Andy Holloway]

Jordan Howard went at the back of the eighth. Damian Williams went. Darius Slayton in the ninth. Marvin Jones, great value in the ninth. Marvin Jones is built in value in every draft that he's ever been in. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, he is.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, I had.

[Mike Wright]

He's great. The disrespect for Marvin Jones is ridiculous. Is outrageous, man. He's a good player and he produces every year.

[Andy Holloway]

You know what he represents for us? He represents a like low.

[Mike Wright]

He's a free square.

[Andy Holloway]

We put him in the UDK as a free square as a value every year. We don't have to even think about it.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, it's ridiculous when I'm stating my guys out and I, I'm just like, oh my gosh, I've got Marvin Jones ahead of Keenan Allen and Ty Hilton. What's going on? Like, because he's Marvin Jones checked him.

[Andy Holloway]

Out with Stafford last year. His numbers were going to be like 1100 yards in like 460 touchdowns.

[Mike Wright]

And he's a guy who can actually hit double digit touchdowns.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's got great value.

[Mike Wright]

A player in the ninth round that has that in his range of outcomes. There's just not very many.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. There's no way that I will allow Marlon Mack to fly by us in the ninth round. This far after Jonathan Taylor, we were.

[Mike Wright]

Looking at the exact same player. Andy, where it was. There's probably some starting running backs here between Marlo Mack, Ronald Jones. Like these guys are still the starters. I know we've all got the fever that requires more and more rookies. But like I'm going to take the shot that Marlon Mack is as actually still the starter. John, Jonathan Taylor may overtake the job. I just don't project that being week one. Maybe I get three or Four weeks of value out of Marlon Mack. Maybe. I see week two, he's still looking good with his numbers and I took him late. Now I can flip him like there's, he's. I don't know.

[Andy Holloway]

There is a zero percent chance that there is a full, you know, removal, full supplanting this year. Mac was so good for them and their system and the trust factor not being a rookie coming in. I have Taylor and Mac very similar in fantasy finish at the end of the year. But you're right if you get 5, 6 years of or 5, 6 games. Sorry of Marlon Mack, that's worth a lot. I mean we've seen that with James Conner gets a bunch of work before, you know, love comes back and the opportunities there. So ninth round Marlon Mack is silly to me.

[Jason Moore]

And you can trade those players, those players that are going to get the start, going to get the work early when it looks like oh it is their job, then you sell them high before the rookie takes over. And when you're at the draft, you got to care about those first few weeks a little bit more than normal. You got to care about that. You know, the schedules coming out tonight for the NFL that's going to say a lot of my late quarterbacks that I want to draft because if someone's playing against New England week one and you know, if, if Stafford's week one New England, then I'm not having him on my board for that last quarterback I want to draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, if you're taking a shot at a quarterback, you're not going to endure two or three weeks of bad matchups.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly.

[Andy Holloway]

To prove your point.

[Mike Wright]

Speaking of quarterback, I'm interested where you guys have ended up with Drew Brees because I've got him back inside the top 10. It was an absolutely sensational year. I don't know if you can really buy into this was the resurgence of Drew Brees, but I found myself more and more as I was looking at Breeze, looking at the year he had last year, looking at his future of where he is on top of passing records. I know this is getting really narrative straight, but this might be the last year of Drew Brees. It wouldn't surprise me to see Sean Payton lean. Maybe a little tiebreaker goes to. We're going to have Drew Brees try and throw it in here and let's solidify him as. Let's solidify those all time records here for Drew Brees and we can win games that way.

[Andy Holloway]

27 touchdowns in 11 games last.

[Mike Wright]

He was a beast.

[Jason Moore]

Give Him Emmanuel Sanders in addition to the team he had last year.

[Mike Wright]

And wait, are we agreeing on something?

[Andy Holloway]

And we would have to get the Jared Kuk staff.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, Jared Kuk.

[Mike Wright]

Kuking by the Buick.

[Andy Holloway]

Kuking by the Breeze.

[Jason Moore]

I like it. 10 10th round. I'm happy to grab.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you're content with. Do we agree on a paid.

[Mike Wright]

We did it.

[Andy Holloway]

We must know that the episode is coming to a close at some point here soon. So we have Breeze, Cook, Eckler, Ridley Shark. Another Cook. That would be Jared Miles Sanders, Debo Samuel, Hollywood Brown, Marlon Mack. We have two bench spots left in a defense looking at value on the board. I was talking to Mike yesterday. Anthony Miller had that stretch last year where he was absolutely outstanding in Chicago. You get him a better quarterback in Nick Foles does that. You know, we have a lot of emerging type of picks here at wide receiver. Maybe not the best pick there. Alshon Jeffrey seems like a great value at this point in the draft. Middle of the 11th round. Their team came out yesterday and said he'll be the focal point of point of the offense in terms of the passing offense. Darrell Henderson, if you want to take a shot in the Los Angeles backfield.

[Mike Wright]

So it's take your shot time with two bench spots. I want to and I want to.

[Andy Holloway]

See week one Johnson.

[Mike Wright]

Can I have some magic happen? And those are. Those are my two names right there is Darrell Henderson. Does he surprise people? And he takes the starting job. It's in the realm of possibilities. I don't know if I'm going to project that because I think Acres is very, very good. But if Anderson comes out, gets 15 carries week one, it shouldn't. It shouldn't floor you if that happens. And then Deontay Johnson was actually okay. Ish with the quarterback play he had to put up with last year. So I think if he gets Big Ben, I think Johnson could take a really big step forward.

[Andy Holloway]

Alexander Madison out there because of the Cook situation. Madison had over 100 carries last year or actually 100 on the dot. And we've talked about the durability. There aren't a lot of handcuffing situations. But I know Brooks wanted me to ask the question about Madison as well.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he is a clear handcuff and I think if you want to protect that, he's a. You want to protect that. I'm 100% fine with it. I'm. You know, you could take it with.

[Andy Holloway]

The last pick though.

[Jason Moore]

You could take it with the last pick. I lean towards Darrell Henderson because, Andy, you brought this up years ago and it's proven true over and over those last couple picks on your roster, which we're down to the last two bench spots. You want a guy that you're going to figure out in week one, is he worth something or not? You know, is Darrell Henderson the backup and you know it's Cam Acres or is Darrell Henderson the starter? We're probably not going to know for sure how that's going to split out until week one, but I like being able to cut guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you're going to go to the waiver wire, right? So.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. You need guys that you can cut. So I would take the shot on a guy like Henderson here.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's go ahead and do it. And then I want to bring this up with our last pick here. Mike Gasicki still on the board. And Mike Gasicki second half was double digit touchdown numbers, 700 plus yard numbers. You know Jason, many times you've brought up, look these, these titans take a while. He was drafted to be this athletic weapon in the offense. Kissicki would be another player that you could pick up. Tight ends are hard to find and if he had a great week one, you could trade him or Jared Cook and be in a position to have, you know, a stranglehold on the next emerging tight end. That would be an option. Deontay Johnson sitting there though. I guess that's a hard guy to pass up on.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's ironic. I would throw Preston Williams name out there as well. Mike Gasicki's teammate, the rookie last year who was sensational until he went down with the ACL injury. And that's when Gasecki and Parker's targets went through the roof. They, you know, Miami could have gotten so many. I mean they had what, 11 picks in this draft and they did not really bring in any receivers.

[Andy Holloway]

No, they paid Albert Wilson instead.

[Jason Moore]

So, you know, I think I'm fine with all the names being thrown out there. You could.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, Mike, you know, we'll hand this final pick off to you and we'll see how contrarian you go. But you got the last pick in our draft for us.

[Mike Wright]

Ah, perfect. I will take Peyton Barber.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that's.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I get, I get the pick. I get the pick.

[Mike Wright]

I would take Deontay Johnson if this was my team.

[Andy Holloway]

Any, any interest in Jalen Rager, Bring his name up at the end of the.

[Mike Wright]

No, I mean if you want to grab A.

[Andy Holloway]

Remember McLaren last year after week one.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, I would remember that. McLaurin with the breakout But I almost on accident.

[Andy Holloway]

That would have been bad, that.

[Mike Wright]

But like, desean Jackson's right there. If you're going to take a Philadelphia Eagle, I'm not going to take the rookie.

[Andy Holloway]

Really? You wouldn't take.

[Jason Moore]

I would take Rager over to Sean Jackson.

[Mike Wright]

What's that?

[Jason Moore]

I would take Rager over to Sean Jackson. They're getting young.

[Mike Wright]

I don't draft rookies.

[Jason Moore]

I'd.

[Andy Holloway]

Rookie wide receiver. You leave them to us.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. To wrap this draft up, Drew Brees at quarterback, Dalvin Cook and Austin Eckler at running back. If it was Jason's roster, it would be like Dalvin Cook and Miles Sanders at running back. Oh, we got him, too, because we have him as well. Calvin Ridley, D.J. charcot, wide receiver, along with Debo Hollywood Brown and Deontay Johnson on the bench, we have Jared Cook, or as we say, Jared at tight end. And we also have Darnell Anderson.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Better known as Daryl Henderson.

[Mike Wright]

Known by.

[Andy Holloway]

Better known by all. And then Marlon Mack. Marlon Mack sitting here. What he was before Jonathan Taylor and after is kind of incredible because it was easy to look at Damian Williams and be like, ah, okay, we'll throw him to the side. We've done that before with him. But having to kind of see Marlon Mack toss to the side after, you know, Jason, you love that talent.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

You see it on the film, the way he runs. He's outstanding. Now, you're a big Jonathan Taylor fan, so it's going to be very interesting.

[Jason Moore]

I'm a huge Jonathan Taylor fan. I think he's going to take over the one A role. But you're right, Marlon Mack will be involved. He'll probably start the season with more than he'll finish the season. So having him there late in the draft, I am fine with.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, that does it for the first mock draft of the season. How's it feel, gentlemen?

[Mike Wright]

Mock.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Ding dong.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. That's a strong point.

[Jason Moore]

Pretty good. I like the roster. I think we've got a good combination of solid pieces with upside pieces.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

It's different, though, because you get used to seeing so many rosters from years past, and when you start to have some of these emerging names, that's one of the things a lot of fantasy owners out there. Good advice, like, you need to adjust year to year. There is the risk of missing out on players because you don't. Because you. You fall in love with names. You end up taking Odell Beckham Jr. Before Calvin Ridley, before Chris Godwin, maybe last year. And so you have to pick and choose your spots there. So that is it for this show. Thank you for supporting the podcast. We appreciate you. Let us know what you think of the draft on TwitterFFB ballers or wherever you follow and support the show. I'm sure there'll be some haters out there, but that's what mock drafting is about, man.

[Mike Wright]

Goodbye.

[Andy Holloway]

I still think Peyton Barber was the right thing.

[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 @the ffballers.