Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - Mock Draft Episode! + Importance of SOS and Tiers

in a position so scarce for upper echelon talent, every down talent. I look at Demarko Murray. I look at J. Jai. I look at maybe Todd Gurley. And I say there aren't very many other workhorse caliber backs here. What are the thoughts here? Very important pick. Second pick. This is the time of year where you try these strategies, where when you're doing the mock drafts, you go, okay, well, well, you know.

generally it's like, okay, well, we've got the stud running back. I want to be safe. I want to grab that stud wide receiver, so I know I've got one of each and then kind of fill out the roster. But you have to know what happens because it's different every year. What happens if you start the draft running back, running back, running back. You know, what's that going to look like? And so I would say, it's only one way to find out, gentlemen. Exactly. So I'm going to Marco Murray here. This is a mock draft. We can learn a lot. And it almost tempts me to.

depending on who's on the board, maybe even follow it off with the running back. Yeah, the tier two guys is going to be emptied out. But I'm with Jason. I'm going to lean DeMarco Murray here for, I think that's what I would do if this was a real draft, but also then just the curiosity of we're practicing. So let's see what the team shapes up to be. I took DeMarco Murray for us. But let me ask you this. Now that you knew in hindsight, DeMarco Murray drops to that second pick, do you regret not taking?

Jordan Nelson in the first round? Or are you completely content with this? I'm content. I guess time will tell. Yeah. In a standard league to be able to have two stud running backs. Love it. George's a double-digit TD guy. I, yeah, in a standard league, I just adore him. Let's put it this way. We have two running backs. I would say that while Michael Thomas was very attractive there, he is still a sophomore with more inherent risk than a Jordy Nelson.

who you know has been established for a long period of time. So getting somebody like DeMarco Murray, he does have an established role. I like it. There's no doubt that that combination of running backs is going to be the best so far in this league. Aaron Rogers went right after DeMarco Murray, actually in the middle of the second round here. So for me, that is a thank you to the team that took him because that meant some more wide receivers are dropping down the board. Lamar Miller, Michael Thomas, J. J. J. Jai, Todd Gurley in the second round. Second round ended with Fournette, Cooper, and Cooks.

I think you're going to see Cooks consistently in the back of the second, early third. DeAndre Hopkins, Doug Baldwin, Devante Adams in the third round. Rob Grankowski, I kind of hope that maybe he'd slide down here to the ninth pick of the third round, but he goes off with the fourth pick. Tom Brady, Alshan Jeffrey, Drew Brees, and Marshawn Lynch. Now, Marshawn could have a big impact in standard formats. Yeah, we saw Latavius Murray jump 12 touchdowns on the ground, I believe it was. So Marshawn...

If he can be healthy, should be able to be right around that area. Looking forward to this third pick here. You're wide receivers who you're looking at. Alan Robinson, Sammy Watkins, Demarius Thomas, who has, through what I consider no fault of his own, his touchdowns have come down the last couple of years. I don't know if Thomas can get those touchdowns back up where you would want him. And so I just...

I don't know if I want to go with any of those three wide receivers. Is there a wide receiver who you fancy at this area? Or are we looking at maybe taking a guy like the crow here and just throwing, going three running back right away? Yeah, you know, I still really do like Demarius Thomas. I think when you're looking at a situation where you didn't get that, you know, that stud, that top, you know, five wide receiver.

when you can grab a guy who has been as consistent for as many years, even with different quarterbacks, to be that first, you know, certainly capable of being a wide receiver one. I believe I have him ranked as a wide receiver one. That would be the wide receiver. I prefer, you know, as far as the running back position. I'll throw. Thomas, I know the touchdowns came down, but in 2015, even with the reduced touchdowns, he was still the 11th best wide receiver. Right.

I was going to throw out for our tiers. We have, Isaiah Crowell is still in our tier three. And meanwhile, over here in the, because we're down into tier four of wide receivers, you're like Michael Crabtree is very possible that he can make it back to us. And we, and I have Crabtree ranked higher than Demarius Thomas.

Yeah, so Andy. Mike and I have debated it back and forth. So Andy, I think it's fair that you get to be the... You know what? I'm going to take to Marius Thomas. I thought about going all in on the wide receivers, running on the running backs. But here's what I'm taking to Marius Thomas. While I agree, the tiers are similar there with Crabtree and Thomas. Thomas offers top 10 upside.

at the position, something that we can get here at this point. I agree Alan Robinson does too, and I think a lot of people listening are probably saying, why in the world isn't Alan Robinson being more heavily discussed in this situation? But the reality is, is there are a lot, I mean, his touchdown total has plummeted last year. Not only that, you bring four net in and you have a different type of offense, I think, this year. Plus, his name doesn't begin with a D. And we've drafted two players, Devante Adams and DeMarco Murray. We needed Demarius Thomas.

That is standard practice in fantasy football you want. That's good analysis. Alliterative drafting. Delaney Walker, next pick, please. Oh, no, no, no. So I took Demarius Thomas. Let's see how lucky we got with who drops to us in the fourth. Carlos Hydez, Isaiah Crowell, gone. Alan Robinson, Mark Ingram, Spencer Ware and Michael Crabtree. Oh, one pick away. Gone as well. However, lots of names I like at the wide receiver position here, Sammy Watkins, Keenan Allen, Terrell Pryor. Terrell Pryor.

Jarvis Landry, Emmanuel Sanders, Golden Tate, Julian Edelman. You also have Jordan Reed still on the board in the fourth round, maybe a consideration here. Maybe Tyler Eifford. Yeah, I might wait and see if I can get there to the fifth round. Running backs, you have the rookies, McCaffrey and Mixon. You have Eddie Lacey and Montgomery, and I'm starting to not like a lot of what I'm seeing at the running back position.

Andrew Luck's still on the board in the fourth round here. I was wondering if you were going to bring up Andrew Luck because I know that this is... I don't want to take him in the fourth. I'm proud of you. Fifth round, I would. If it comes back to us, mark him down. And that is one thing you want to keep in mind when you're either...

one of those early picks or one of the late ones like we are in this mock. We're at the nine, meaning you have to know, are you near the turn or away from it? So this pick, we're going to have a whole lot of guys go after this pick. So we have to be looking at. You've got to recognize that. Yeah, we're going to be drafting different tiers of players next time, or at least that has to be the assumption. So who's the best player left that we actually like? For me, it would definitely be Sammy Watkins. I know that you guys might.

might not agree since we've got demarius thomas sammy walkins to me is one of the only top five upside type of guys i was prior i'm sure is going to be prior is my favorite but i will say this i rarely look at the by week situation but if we did draft prior freeman demarius thomas and prior would all be on by in week five week five yeah so you get them out of the way early but

I'm not a Sammy Watkins fan. I realize he's probably the top guy on the board by consensus. I'm not going to make the pick, though. I took Thomas in the previous one. I think I'm going to throw it over to Mike, and then we'll go from there. The two names I was looking at Terrell Pryor and Sammy Watkins. So we seem to have a hive mind here going on this particular pick. And I see a world where Terrell Pryor is a wide receiver one in Washington.

Sammy Watkins can, I agree with Jason, Sammy Watkins can be top five if he can play more than five games. But, oh, I'm going to go Sammy Watkins. Let's do it. Let's find, let's, let's do it. All right. Let me, we're going to let the picks roll around. Freeman, Murray, Thomas Watkins.

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Uh, appreciate the support. Those companies help support this show. Good deals. You know, we always bring those to you. All right. Let's get back into the draft. We have Devonta Freeman, DeMarco Murray, Demarius Thomas, and Sammy Watkins. Yes, I'm cringing well. I said the last name, but I do recognize the upside. And that is something that I love having with a fourth pick in the draft. Now it happened, gentlemen. Andrew Luck fell all the way to the ninth pick of the fifth round. He's on the board here. Some names that went off. Jordan Reed's gone. Christian McCaffrey's gone.

Doug Martin, Tyree Kill, Jarvis Landry, Joe Mixon. By the way, we'll be posting the results of this mock draft on our website, the Fantasy Footballers.com. So if I'm skipping over some names as we proceed through the draft, do not fear. You can read them. You can check them all out. And you can criticize our decisions on Twitter at the FF Ballers. All right. Tyler Eifert's still on the board here at 509. Somebody I would think about long and hard here.

I do think about Andrew Luck. I've said this before. It's the first time. Andrew Luck and the fifth is the first time I'm kind of considering that range. I see him not far off of Aaron Rogers who went in the second round of this draft. I think he's a difference maker. However. Do you still think Andrew Luck here when there are such good dename players like Dalvin Cook and Dante Moncrief and you can get Derek Carr later?

Well, Dak Prescott is obviously in heavy consideration. I apologize for the Sammy Watkins. No, here's the deal. Here's a perfect, I love that this took place. I love that Andrew Luck sitting here at 509. And I want to highlight, because when I said that on the show before, it is very subjective to what else is on the board. Saying that I'm going to consider Andrew Luck in the fifth round is saying I'm going to consider him compared to the other players that are available. Now, Tyler Eifford here.