Head-to-Head Mock Draft! + Kupp Concerns - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/1

You got Aaron Jones, right? He's perennial top 12 type of guy. I just don't believe in him that much right now. I was going to throw out the question because at least the rumor mill came out and said that the Packers were one of the surprise teams that were very in on Jonathan Taylor to the point of they were made an offer. They were prepared to trade for him and they were prepared to give him a contract extension, which he wants to get. Again, rumor mill. Does that factor in to? how you are looking at the Green Bay Packers running backs, that the team is, I mean, every team should always be looking to upgrade, but does it shake your confidence at all? Aaron Jones is, he's at the age cliff as well. Yeah, it's more about the age cliff and the unknown of the offense. I don't see the huge upside anymore. I know that he's been a top 12 guy four years in a row, but that doesn't mean he is going to be a top 12 guy this year, especially at that age.

So I find myself basically being out on Aaron Jones. You got J.K. Dobbins, a player we both like. You love them a lot. You've got the youth. JK2L. You got the youth of Kenneth Walker. And if I'm going for explosive upside, I think he's probably the best pick available. And then you got the presumed volume of Miles Sanders and Alexander Madison. So I am going to try to swing for the fences here. I want youthful. explosive athletes on my team. That is usually what works out the best. So I'm going to take Kenneth Walker and pair him with Jemir Gibbs. And hopefully those guys can, those guys can hit. Because if those two guys are good, my team's outstanding. We had a mini running back run. So you took Kenneth Walker, was followed up by Alexander Madison, Aaron Jones, Justin Herbert, there in the back of the fifth. That's quite solid. Dobbins.

T.J. Hawkinson and T.J. McLoren. Jason, you are back on the clock. Do you... Did you say T.J. McLaren? Did I? You sure did. I apologize. You sure did. Yeah. I'm sorry, Terry. Uh, Jason, do you regret your Jalen Hertz pick at all? Are you still feeling good about it? No, I feel very good about the Jalen Hertz pick. I will say that, um, you know, I don't regret it, but if I knew for sure. that right here on the clock, Justin Fields is available. That's where I was going. Yeah, I mean, I would much rather have Justin Fields in the sixth and then add Chris Olave to my roster in the third as opposed to whatever wide receivers are available now, which would be like Chris Godwin or probably the player that I think I'm going to take. I was actually hoping, and this might surprise you, because I've talked a lot of trash about this player for a long time. But it was because he was... Zach Moss. It was home.

That's a bridge too far. Okay. Cut that out. Cut that out. Don't let him ever say something nice about Zach Moss. So, no, it was a player that, you know, a while back was a fourth round pick. He's been gone with an ear infection, a little boo-boo. And so he's been dropping in drafts to a place where I think he is a good value. The king of the forest. The king of the forest. Oh. T.J. Hawkinson. And now that he's got the money, the earache has gone away. Well, the Eric was gone. It was the back. Sure. It's all filled up. Nothing $64 million couldn't fix. But yeah, I was hoping he got to me in a 10-teamer to be able to have a solid volume play. Since he is gone, I do think I'm looking at either running back or wide receiver. You got Cameron on the board at running back. And at wide receiver, I'm going to, I'm going to take a pick on a guy that.

has been complete, we've talked about this the whole offseason. What in the world is this player? Is he awesome? Like top 10 type of talent? Or is he just a one trick pony and the Hall of Famer's gone? I'm going Christian Watson. I'm going to take him because. Nice. Nice. There are a lot of vacated targets here. And I don't think we've really talked about that with regards to Christian Watson. We've talked about what he did last year is stretch run of all the touchdowns. But Alan Lazard is gone and Tonyon is gone and there are, you know, Cobb is gone. Christian Watson is going to have way more opportunity this year than he had last year. And even if he has a quarterback downgrade with his athleticism, his talent. I mean, that's the theme of my team right now. Youthful athleticism, you know, between, other than Tyree Kill. Elderly athleticism, everyone else, youthful athleticism. Now, I love that pick right there. Like, you're not paying a huge price.

If Christian Watson doesn't pan out, then you just, you'll be able to move on. And I'm going to take a similar approach. There's a lot of players that I like, specifically Tyler Lockett, but I think I can play the ADP game one more round. And is that because you know I don't pick a game before you. That is part of it. I know my league. Well, I know the one human who's in this league right now. And I'm going to do the exact same thing about the player I talked up in my bowl of predictions. I'm going to take Drake London right here. All right.

So after Drake, Drake London went Trevor Lawrence, Jerry Judy, James Connor. Then we got starting the seventh round, Cameron Acres, DeAndre Swift, Dallas Goddard. I am back on the clock. I'm just going to peek at the running backs in case. So with this type of a build that you're in, I'll just focus on your team because the player might make it to you. Alvin Camara. You have to ride up the three-game suspension. He will simply clog your roster for those three weeks. I don't know that we've talked about it in a while, but all the beat reports where this is a rejuvenated player, it looks like there was some sort of muscle asymmetry thing that they corrected, allegedly, and he looks great. He looks like an explosive younger Alvin Camara.

Is this the point where you would be willing to take the risk on him and just say, I'm going to hold for three games and I can figure it out? Yeah, the point where you take the risk on Alvin Camara has nothing to do with what round you're in. It's not like, oh, he's a good value in the seventh or the sixth or the eighth. It's what other players are available? Are there players that you think have the same upside? For instance, Javante Williams, does he, to you, have the upside of Alvin Camara and then isn't missing three games? Then you take Javante. And I do think we're really, really close to the place where Alvin Camara is good. The only names that I question would be Javante Williams. I know you might wonder about Rashad White if you believe in the volume. I don't. David Montgomery with the touchdowns. And James Cook, to me, has the, he's got the potential upside, that real league winning upside. But I think Alvin Camara is absolutely in the conversation here with all those players. Because if you say,

On a per game basis, who do you expect to have the most points? It's probably Alvin Camara. So we are in the seventh round. My team build so far is very wide receiver heavy. Jamar Chase, Chris Oliva, Keenan Allen, Drake, London. I only have Tony Pollard as my one running back. And I have Darren Waller. Looking at the quarterback position, I see this is make sure you're paying attention. Look at the grid. Know who has a quarterback. Yes, eventually. especially in this, knowing what your league is, people will start taking a second quarterback. I don't think that's going to happen yet. But the majority of people have their quarterback. It looks like it's only me and team nine without our starters. And Watson, DAC, Tua, they're still, Gino, Daniel Jones. They're all still on the board. So I do not feel pressured at all at this point to take a quarterback that could be a...

a wrong assumption, and then all of a sudden the pressure has put back on to me. But I'm going to bypass that position. And even though I still only have the one running back, and I have wide receivers, and this wide receiver is going to sit on my bench to start week one, or maybe I play him over Drake London. Tire the locket, I think that I cannot bypass what he represents to a team. So I'm taking him here. I am loading up on wide receivers. All right. I don't mind it at all. And Alvin Camara did go one spot before me. So I didn't have to make that decision. The only player that went outside of that was Chris Godwin before Alvin Camara. So now I'm on the clock. And I'm looking at my roster. I've got Tyree Kill, A.J. Brown, Christian Watson. And then I got Jamir Gibbs and Kenneth Walker at running back. So I could use a running back. But I am looking at the guys I want. And the player that I really, really want the most is James Cook. He's...

a little bit further down in ADP. And there's a wide receiver that I think is a great value here. So I'm going to play the game and I'm going to see if I can get James Cook to fall to me. And I'm going to take Mike Williams, a player that, you know, we were saying, now I'll remind you before you click the button, Jay. The ADP game has not been kind to you as of lately. That is true. But you know what, Mike? Whatever happens can happen in reverse. Don't draft scared. James Cook, he's coming back to me. Okay, you took Mike Williams. Dalvin James Cook goes next. Dalvin went, George Pickens, Christian Kirk, Giovante Williams, Deshawn Watson, and Kyle Pitts. Jason, you did it. I did it. Congratulations. I finally won an ADP game. And everyone else loses. That is great. We were hoping he wouldn't make it back. I know, I know. Although I wouldn't have been too sad because I did have another player queued up where assuming.

that if James Cook were to have gone the pick right before me to make me tilt the most, then the player I had queued up would have not gone the pick right before me, which was Kyle Pitts. Ooh. Let me tell everyone how you draft Kyle Pitts, okay? Because this is, you know, it's been a rough ride with him through his career so far, and you know he's going to be a talented player, he's going to be out there capable of being the number one tight-in and all football. I like that a rough ride with Kyle Pitts. includes a thousand receiving yards as a rookie tight end. Yeah, and it sucked. It really did. I know, I know, but it's like, because no touchdowns. But he had a thousand yards as a rookie tight end. I think he's good. He's so good. He's super good. So here's how you draft Kyle Pitts. Okay, you try to find him out of values. He's a great value here in the eighth, but you do it, excuse me, in a mock draft. That's where you take Kyle Pitts. That's the only place. Oh, it's great.

It makes you feel like, man, I got a star on my roster. But you don't actually have to have Kyle Pitts because it's a fake team. Every time, I think we've both experienced this or I forget if I was talking to you or if it was Andy. I've drafted Kyle Pitts in one of my leagues. I have drafted Kyle Pitts in one league. And how did you feel? Like when I saw the name and decided I was going in, I was. Fully convinced. I was locked in. This is incredible. Great value. Thousand yard receiver as a rookie. Tight ends just don't do that. Younger than Dalton Kincaid still. And always. Massive opportunity should be the 1B target on his team. Click. I've made a terrible mistake. It feels like you already. It's so funny in fantasy where you can you can support a guy, love a guy. Undo. And you think you're seeing clearly. But it's only after you make the pick that clarity comes and you go,

Oh, he's not going to be good this year. It's that post-draft clarity. Yeah. Yes, exactly. We've all been there. So, yeah, so I highly recommend drafting him in all mock drafts. I'm going to take James Cook here and complete this strategy. I can't believe he came back to you. Oh, man, another young explosive athlete. Look at my young team. Ignore Mike Williams. I like where it's going, but I mean, it's a 10-teamer, so you tend to like your team no matter what. Hollywood Brown goes, Isaiah Pacheco is next. Shazam, a player that I didn't, like, he was... Are you still sitting just with Tony Pollard? I am. And at the top of my cue, it was Rashad White easily. But there was no way that he was going to make it back to me with the number of picks that were involved. Like, I...

Had to trust my process of, no, Tyler Lockett is just too good of a player. I have to get him here. And then I'll figure out running back on the way back. And then boom, Rashad White, the gift that has dropped into my lap, a young player, is he a super explosive athlete? Kind of. But his opportunity is tremendous. I like Rashad White here in the eighth round. David Montgomery, Brandon Ayuk, Michael Pittman. Deante Johnson, Mike Evans, Jackson, Smith, and Jigba. I am back on the clock here. I have my five wide receivers. I have my two running backs. Let's take a peek here at quarterback because we are getting to the point where something is going to have to give. But I also, I only have three more picks. I'm realizing so I need to make sure I get a running back. I'm going to take Khalil Herbert right here.

That's a you pick for sure. Yeah, Antonio Gibson, a strong consideration. I love having Gibson, but I believe in Cleo Herbert so much as the locked-in starter. I'm going to take him. Jordan Addison, Gabe Davis, gave the babe right before you. Jason, you're back on the clock. Jordan Addison, Gabe Davis, were the two highest players I was targeting. Oh, that is the worst. Yeah, when you're targeting one, okay. But when you've got like a handful of guys and then they all go, you're like, oh, I'm good. And then you're not, that stinks. Over, which is a Pro tip, overfill your cue. You always got to go one more. Even if it's a player, you're like, I don't, I really hope I don't have to draft this player. Put them there just so you don't tilt your face off. It's funny. I'm disappointed that Addison and Gabe Davis went, but I didn't tilt. You'll notice. And the reason why, Mike, I did have three players queued up at that point. And the third player is, I think, the last tight end available that I believe.

will be pretty good this year. I think he's my tight-in five on the season and to get him here in the ninth round. Usually if I don't get one of those top guys, I'm like Tyler Higbee or Gerald Everett in the last round and I'm just going to stream the position. But Pat Friarmouth sometimes falls this far, what we've seen from the Pittsburgh Steelers. If Kenny Pickett can be a legit... NFL quarterback, then the talent of the Muth, he's going to get leuth. Yes, I believe in the Muth as well. Brandon Cooks, Antonio Gibson, Jahan Dotson, Dotson, and Zay Flowers at the turn. Those are some great picks that I want. That is a very good pick there, or picks by Team 10, Zach Charbonnet, A.J. Dillon, Jason, you're back on the clock. You have two more picks. I have two more picks, and I'm going to take a guy here in the 10th round that my last...

This is so weird because I have not been in on this player. Our manager is a diehard Saints fan. We have a bet about Derek Carr versus Kirk Cousins, yada, yada, yada. He's sending me all this propaganda and inappropriate material. Is it Derek Carr bicephic? No, they were shorts. Oh, okay. That's good. But some of the propaganda has led me to. kind of believe that there is a chance. Oh, no. It's good propaganda. It's working. It is. In my last three real leagues, I have taken this player in the double-digit rounds. So it's like, it's not a risk. And I, so I'm going to take him again here since it's been happening in real life. It's Michael Thomas. I don't necessarily think Michael Thomas is going to be his former number one wide receiver self, especially with Chris Olave on the field, probably being the number one wide receiver for this team. But.

It doesn't cost me anything to find out if Michael Thomas still has it. You know, Derek Carr has supported two wide receivers before back in the Crabtree Cooper days. And if you've got a Crabtree Cooper situation here with Chris Oliva and Michael Thomas, then Michael Thomas is a steal in the 10th round. And if he sucks, I'll just move on. It is the 10th round. It is time for me to take my quarterback. And I have a bunch of options I can go with. And it's actually an overwhelming amount of options that I have to kind of. work through everything. Dak Prescott would be my highest ranked quarterback, but all the quarterbacks that I have ranked here, there's barely any separation between the two. So, Dak, in consideration, but I have Tony Pollard. Do I really want to be rolling out a quarterback running back stack? Tony Pollard is a pass catcher, so it's not the worst thing in the world like having Herbert and Echler, but I'm not sure I want to go that way. Gino Smith.

I like him as a late round option. He would stack with Tyler Lockett. Daniel Jones. Does he take another step while maintaining his rushing yardage? It's certainly possible and it would give me the Darren Waller stack. Are you writing down who I'm drafting? I wrote down who you're drafting. Okay, because I haven't mentioned yet who I'm actually drafting. Hold on. Clear this. Yep. Nope. I got it. You got it now? Yep. I'm taking two. Yep. That's ladies and gentlemen. It's what I wrote to a band. You did write it. Yes. I wrote down Daniel Jones. I thought you've been pro Daniel Jones. He's got the rushing floor for that dual threat upside and you have the stack with Waller. So I thought for sure you'd go that way, but you can make bad picks. That's fine. I actually like it. And what I'm going to consider here with my last round, it might surprise you because...

I waited all this time for quarterback. I took Tua, Traylon Burks, Brian Robinson, Evan Ingram, went next, David Nijoku, Dak Prescott, Rashad Penny. And I just want to, you know, I want to be sure that Tua is actually that guy. And I'm going to go with Daniel Jones as my last pick. I knew it. I'm going to find out, does Daniel Jones actually take the step? Sure. And then between those two quarterbacks, you know. Hopefully I can make some decisions. Either one of them takes a step forward, and it's pretty unlikely that you're going to be able to trade a quarterback and a 10 teamer, but one of them makes the step forward that this is my clear number one starter. I remove the other one back to the waiver wire, or they show me that I need to go back and forth between the two of them. So I think that it's an interesting way to look at the end of your draft that I don't normally do, but I don't know.

We went with it this time. Jamal Williams, Aaron Rogers. Jason, you're on the clock for your last pick. All right. I know my last pick, kind of. I know I'm between two players and you and I are going to talk through this because I've been struggling with one of these guys. One of them is Devon A-chain. That's the one I've been struggling with. You know if you've been listening, I've loved him since the NFL draft, his situation, this. perfect system that he has a match for with his 4-3-2 speed looked awesome through camp, looked great in preseason. And then the problem with A-chain has always been his size, his weight. Guys that big don't usually do great for fantasy because they don't get the total volume opportunities in real life on the field to get it done. And then the fact that he got injured in preseason says they might have to limit his touches just because of the reality of his body.

But he is an awesome player. I think he, with the Jeff Wilson injury going on IR, his opportunity is going to be there early to establish something. And if he establishes it, I think he can hold on to it until he gets injured and not relinquish it. So he's one player. And the other player is a fellow rookie, picked four picks later, both third round picks. It's Tank Bigsby, a guy that I've been talking up as I believe he will get involvement. Every single game, maybe, you know, the first two weeks as a rookie gets slower, you know, more and more involved. But the quote was, we're going to work him in over the season. Yeah. I do think by week three, he will be having enough volume to be a relevant flex option every week. But I don't, he doesn't have the opportunity to take over. Like I do think Devon A-Chane could take over and just win the job over Moster. Tank Pigsby's not just winning the number one job over Travis E.T.N.

Obviously, injuries in both those situations. So, Mike, who do you think is a better pick at this point, Tank Biggs B or Devon A-Chain? Because of the Jeff Wilson injury, I would go A-Chane. Then I will go tank. No, I'll take A-Chane. So are you closing out with A-Chane. My final roster ends up being Jamar Chase, Chris Oliva, Keenan Allen, Drake, London, Tyler Lockett. At running back, I have Tony Pollard, Rashad White, Khalil Herbert. This is I will be... This team would be reliant on the waiver wire, and I have no problem heading into the waiver wire with those guys as my foundation. Darren Waller has my tight end, Tua and Daniel Jones. I want to see what's going on week one with both of those quarterbacks. My one, if I could change one thing, it would be. So switch teams with me? No, it would definitely not be that. It was in the Cleo Herbert pick, do I take the calculated risk of drafting either Dotson or Zay Flowers there?

letting, seeing if I can get Khalil Herbert on the way back, which... Given that you only had two running backs on the roster, I think you've made the right decision. That's why I went with that. But again, don't draft scared. If I had gone with that and I ended up with Khalil and Dotson or Flowers and then just the one quarterback, I would have been happier with that. Who do you got, Jay? All right. I have up top, Jalen Hertz. At wide receiver, I've got Tyreek Hill. A.J. Brown, Christian Watson, Mike Williams, and Mike Thomas. Running back, Jemir Gibbs, Kenneth Walker, James Cook, and Devon A-Chane. They're the team of young, explosive little bitty baby boys. Sure. And then I got Pat Friar Muth, the Mewth getting Luth on the field this season. I really like how it turned out. Yeah, that's going to do it for the Mock Draft. That's going to do it for all the mock drafts. I hope that everyone has enjoyed them.

Reminder, the Ultimate Draft Kit, it's still there if you have not picked up a copy at Ultimate DraftKit.com. We got tiered rankings, customizable cheat sheets, our sleepers, breakouts, busts, all that good stuff. A bunch of research if you want to dive in before your draft. And if you want to get your draft graded, Part of the UDK Plus is the draft analyzer, and of course that comes with the DFS pass, which is about to kick into high gear if you want to play some Fanduil or some Draft Kings. And don't forget about the Megalobole, the greatest tournament of all time. It will be drafting all the way up until the day before kickoff. And I'm going to look, you've made it to the end of the Friday episode, right? People might have turned it off already. I'm going to just let people know right now they're listening. I am in the Tuesday.

10 a.m. Q. So if you want a chance to be in my lead, sign up for that cue, and I will be in one of those teams. And whoever wins the Meglabel will play with all of us in the listener league next year. That's going to do it for the fantasy footballers podcast. I'm Mike Wright, Jason Moore, for Jay Gris, the risiest of all bears and for the deusers. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you next week. Goodbye. you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast join our fantasy football community on join the foot dot com and follow us on twitter at the ffballers