Final Mock Draft + Dameon Fierce, Super Stack - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/26

Mocka, lock a ding dong, baby. It is a mock draft, our final mock draft of the season. We're drafting from the beginning, the middle, and the end of this draft. Laca, lock a ding on. Oh, yeah, baby, so that you can be prepared for your drafts. They're coming up. They're probably happening this weekend. So enjoy the show. Leave a comment. Let us know how your draft goes. Get the ultimate draft kit. Let's have an awesome season together. Enjoy the show. Ladies and gentlemen, drafts are coming. This weekend, it is a huge draft weekend. If you are still not prepared, come on, get it together. The Ultimate Draft Kit is. Time to step up. It is available right now at Ultimate DraftKit.com. Tier-based rankings, all of our projections, 100 plus video player profiles are sleepers, the breakouts, the bus, and we will continue to update this as long as we can. UltimateDraftKit.com.

The Fantasy Footballer Studio is brought to you by Samsung Galaxy. Visit Samsung.com to learn more. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Woo. It's like a, a Ouga. You know, I bid off more than I could chew. Like a coyote. Yeah. No, it was very strategic. Howling. Supes on purpose. Howling at the moon and the bookland. Yeah, I mean, we're out here in the southwest. Lots of coyotes roaming about. In fact, Al Borland, I saw pictures from his neighborhood. He lives a little bit north of us in a lot of it. Like free, free white open desert country. And why did you take a picture of walking down the street the other day? Was it a jaguar?

I think it was a mountain lion. I don't know. It was either a mountain lion or a boss. Yeah, it was like a leopard. I thought it was like a lynx. The mountain leopard. Which I didn't do those exist in Arizona? Links exist. It's probably a bobcat, to be honest. That didn't look like a regular cat. It was really big. Yeah, it looked like something I'd find in a jungle. It was scary. We often make fun of the wilderness that Al Borland lives within because when I have, when I drive out to where he lives. Mm-hmm. I have to pass a sign that says watch out for the donkeys. Yes. Watch out for wild donkeys. America. There are wild donkeys roaming free, roaming the streets. We need signs to avoid them. Where owl lives. Yeah. What is that all about? Havelina. It's ridiculous. And they're actually like they're like it's a real problem. Yeah.

I mean, they're all over the place. It's not just the sign. Yeah, it's not just, yeah, like, get out of my lawn. It's a very necessary sign. You must watch out for all the mules up there. Welcome in to the fantasy footballers podcast. News to talk about, had some preseason games, Damien Fierce going wild. Oh, is that what we're going with? Climbing up the ADP list. How long have you been holding on to that? Well, I'm going to be honest. This was inspired by Twitter. Oh, okay. That's fine. I saw, I saw Damien Fierce on Twitter. Shout out to Twitter. I mean. We want to give, we want to give credit where credit is due. So thank you Twitter. Yes. I saw it from multiple sources. But, you know, this is hype season. And I don't know what size Hall of Fame jersey or, I mean, jacket he will receive what he's getting. I mean, the Hall of Fame crew from the preseason, Damien Pierce, Isaiah Pacheco. Yep.

Romeo Dubs. Dubs. Dubs. And I'm going to throw Isaiah likely in there now because I'm seeing a lot of, you know, that's fair. Isaiah likely, some Trey Lance maybe mixed in. I think Damien Pierce has like, he took over though. Like that last game there, I think he pushed forward. He is officially the preseason hero where he was, he was the value pick yesterday. Hey, I'm claiming success here. I mean, I say he's going to be a star before he entered the Hall of Fame last night. You did. I'm not sure how long, much longer he holds up as a value pick. I know. It's depressing. Over the weekend, he's going to climb ADP. And I mean, I saw somebody whose draft got delayed two days and they're furious.

because they were super in on Damien Pierce. Their draft was supposed to be last night or the night before. It got kicked back for schedules. And now he knows there's no chance of getting him out of value. Are you saying he doesn't have a first rounder? Just grab the guy. It's true. I think that what we saw from last night's game is that there was a lot of rumor like he could. possibly win the starting job early in the season. I think it's confirmed now. He is the starter. You had Marlon Mack basically starting his second half. Yeah, I was going to say the second half is where he got in. So Rex Burkhead appears to be the backup to Damien Pierce. It's still not the best situation in the world, but he looks great and he is the starter. And no matter what, even if he goes up in ADP, he is still a value for, if he goes up another round or two, he's sure. He's still a late round pick. My favorite part.

Beyond him looking great again, which he's just, we talked about it yesterday. He runs so hard. He runs furious. Yeah, furiously. But my favorite part was the interview with Lovie Smith. I don't know if you saw it. I did not catch this. But they were talking after the touchdown drive, which was their opening drive and Damien Pierce, it was the drive of Damian Pierce. He just said, we're a running team. We go old school. Like all these things that you want to hear when you're. Look, they were committed to the run last year averaging something like three a carry. Mark Ingram, if you remember, was just getting useless carry after useless carry because of their commitment. So there's a lot to be excited about. We have our final mock draft episode today on the show. They were more committed to running than winning. Yes, yes, which I mean, several coaches are. In fact, most that are so committed to running. Just hold on. Hold on any week now. It's going to work.

But, I mean, their offense is going to be predicated on that. And we'll see how it looks in the regular season. And I want to say, like, good. Not to establish the run part because I believe in you need to pass to win. But good for the Houston Texans. A fourth round pick, I mean, usually speaking, they just, they toss them at the back of the depth chart and they say, rookie, you earn your way up. Maybe you'll get on the field halfway through the year. But they. They did the right thing and said that this guy, this young player gives us a better chance of establishing the run than Rex Burkhead or Marlon Mack. So good for them. I think that's a really good point. We've seen the stubbornness of the veteran first mentality. Yes. And they went with more success versus. Yeah. So I like that. I would add one more thing because we've brought up a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. The history and the data that we have that running backs basically round four and after.

They don't hit very often. I mean, there are, there are certainly. Yeah, exactly. There are, there are a good example of hits, but I mean, it overwhelmingly does not work out, especially in the long term. If they come and have a good rookie season, they could still be replaced later. But one thing, you know, as, as the NFL changes and adapts, I've brought up the fact that like, Breece Hall has great draft capital, even though he was a second round pick, because. The NFL's not grabbing running backs in the top 10 anymore. That's just, that's the old, olden days. And so all these running backs are getting pushed down. So I do wonder if going forward, you know, running backs that fall just to the beginning of the fourth round, like is that really still the historical? Exactly. That's, it's a good follow up point to what you were saying the other day because I think you are right. I mean, when you were talking about Breece Hall being this elite talent in my head.

I'm still thinking about, you know, you're comparing him at one point to Sequin Barclay. I'm going like, Sequin Barclay is a top five pick. Christian McCaffrey was a top 10 pick. That's where those guys were going and that was the mark, Zeke, top 10 pick. It was the mark of being an actual elite running back and you only have to look to second round pick Jonathan Taylor to know that, you know, it's not going to be that way anymore. Natchie Harris is another example. Cream of the crop at running back. Very late first round pick, right? So something to pay attention to as things change in the NFL. Like I said, final mock draft episode today, very excited to get into it. We are in very different places in this draft. So the strategies shall be flowing. Yeah, this is really great news. Anybody listening, we have you covered. I'm at the two spot. Mike is in the middle of the draft and Andy's at the end. So wherever you're drafting from, if you've got to draft this weekend,

You can pay attention to where you're closest to here and see some of the strategy. That's right. Two more reminders before we kick things off. The Megalibol is open. Megalibol.com. Yes. So we have, I think the number is we're up over 8,000 entries so far. Okay. Okay. So we are on our way, but you get in there. You get one entry at megalobole.com by supporting the show. And then you pick a draft spot. The draft days are September 4th, 5th, 6, and 7th. That's correct. Right up until the day before the NFL kickoff. So that will be a lot of fun. And this year, the playoff weeks for the Megalibul all line up with a traditional league. We've got some fun scoring settings. Please check that out at megalable.com. And the ultimate draft kit available right now. You are drafting. There's an app. You can access it online. You can print a cheat sheet. So however you like to approach the draft.

You can, you know, pull the piece of paper out of your holster or the app or the iPad, whatever you need. Lovey Smith is definitely printing out. See, I'm with Lovey on there. I just, yeah. Although his papers, you know, there's probably a lot. The font size is pretty big. I do always have a, I have an elder state. I have a Sharpie headache at the end of every draft though. Because I, for whatever reason, I go Sharpie. Hink, wink, wink. That's what happens to your picks. Some really gnarly picks. I'll take toad. Quick question. There is a strength of schedule in the UDK for defenses and how they start the year. Who's your favorite team defense to target in the 2022 drafts? I just went and marked a few in my UDK, Jason. Who's your favorite? I'm going to throw two out there because. What? No, you only get one. I only get one. Yeah.

Yeah, they didn't say favorites. Okay. If I only get one, then I'm going to go with these Indianapolis Colts. Oh, that's my favorite too. Okay, well then you guys take that. I'll pick a different one. Okay. I'm going to go with the Indianapolis Colts. Great pick, Mike. Because they start the season against Houston and Jacksonville. When you're taking the defense, sure, you're hoping you hit. You're hoping you get that. What was that? The Jacksonville Jaguars. There was like the 2000, the 2020. Pats team or where they can carry. Yeah, where somehow your defense is just elite and winning you weeks. But that is, it's so rare for that for that to happen in any particular year. So you're just looking at the beginning of the year of the opening season and getting some good match. Give me the 49ers. That should be my second. Sorry. No, 49ers. Chicago and Seattle. Probably. Probably.

The two worst offenses in football, potentially the two worst. All right, Jason is going to take the Cleveland Browns then. Yeah, that would be probably the next pick because the Cleveland Browns open up with Carolina, the New York Jets, the Steelers, and the Falcons. So they're the only team that I think can get you through an entire month without questioning should I stream. That being said, I don't think that they have quite the high-end upside for those first two weeks that the 49ers and Colts have. Those are my two main picks. News and notes from Around the League. Well, Rashad Penny can't catch a break, but he can catch COVID because he tested positive and is out with COVID right now. Should be back in time. Yeah. So the NFL policy now is just a five-dayer when it comes to COVID, right? Yes. There really isn't an NFL policy. They just say that they are following the...

what's the national the CDC yeah the CDC guidelines they don't have an official um COVID protocol anymore so he'll be back by the beginning of the season and hopefully now cannot catch COVID for a couple months at least yep uh yeah that was brought up even with like Kyler's uh situation like there is something to be said about knowing sure theoretically you you might have one two three months uh where you're not worrying about that news because you're going to get it. That's going to happen again this year. I mean, the protocol stuff, the length of duration of impact is going to be lower, but the surprise Saturday, Sunday, oh, no, they're gone. That's going to happen. Yes, it will. Antonio Gibson, head coach Ron Rivera says he expects him to be the team's primary kick returner this season. That is not good, in my opinion. Great news for kick returner leads like a few.

If you get a lot of points for return leagues, then maybe he gets a bump. I mean, this is, I agree with Andy. This is not great news for the overall fantasy outlook of Antonio Gibson because he'll return the kick and then it will be Brian Robinson brought in first. Can you think of any running back? Don't give me wide receivers with punt returns because that happens all the time. But can you think of any running back where? They had this role and then had a significant offensive role. I mean, Amir Abdullah was moved into this role once they were done with him at running back. That was the only example that comes to mind. Cordero? Yeah, well, yeah, a little bit cordarral. And then, I mean, David Johnson's rookie year, I think he stayed on kick return after everyone got hurt. The running backs in front of him that made him the starter.

He became the started because everybody else got hurt. So normally you do that. You do the inverse. Yes. Where like when you're new to the league, you start by returning a kick and then they make you a running back. It's interesting though. I don't think you should be left for dead for the record. I'm not leaving it for dead, but just the, what is the thought process here of Coach Rivera for Antonio Gibson? We're looking at this like, is it because of the fumbling? that Antonio Gibson has been demoted and Brian Robinson moved up. So you move him to kick return? That's what? Like a where you have high probability of a fumble and in a really bad spot on the field, it's strange. I think it is a reliability issue as well. Could be. To, you know, recurring injury situation. So you put them in kick return? I know. Well, yeah, I mean, you're right. That part is silly. It's, you only got one play not to fumble. Antonio Gibson.

will be a good kick returner because when he is in space, that's when he is truly great. You mean during the two chances he gets to return the kick? Yeah, no, I understand that, that the kickoff is kind of gone for the NFL. But I think he will succeed in this role, but it's unfortunate. And fantasy football for the Washington backfield is going to be very difficult to project on a week-to-week basis. Russell Gage. Drake London, not practicing. MVS was unavailable for the preseason game last night due to a concussion protocol. So those are the only other updates that I have for you unless you want to wax poetic on Damian Pierce anymore. Are we pretty comfortable there? I think we're good. Well, let's see where we draft them. Yeah. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. First round, here we go. The fantasy footballers mock draft. All right, we.

are starting our final mock draft of this beautiful off season. Jason drafting from the two spot. Mike from the seven, I'm taking the final pick, the 12th pick of the draft. 12 team half peepie are draft, one quarterback, two running back, two wide receiver, one tight in, one flex, four bench, no deucers. No, no deucers today. In fact, we only have one third of the deucer crew here today. So too many levers, pullies, things of that nature to take control of. Yes. His draft will be just disgusting. All Packers. But let's just say like last time. You're darn right. I did. Oh, my gosh. Take a look at the poll. Oh, I know people like you guys. Yeah, that's fine. Who do you like? That's what that poll was.

Everyone roots for the underdog and the loser, right? Yeah. Yeah. Jonathan Taylor goes 101, Jason at the 102. It's easy. For me, it's Christian McCaffrey at the 101. What? So I will just move on. Holy testosterone. First round. First round, all running back. I'm glad this happened this way because I think home leagues are more often going to look like what just happened in this mock draft. than your usual ADP because when push comes to shove and every time I get into a home league, it's running back, running back, running back, running back, running back, running back, running back. You know, everybody just is so afraid of not having them. Derek Henry 3, Echler 4, Harris, 5, Dalvin Cook 6. Mike, do you keep the running back run happening here? I do not. This certainly pushes me.

in the direction of the wide receiver because it's the top running backs here mixing. What about Alvin Camara? I would consider it. Let me just a hypothetical for you, Andy. If you were sitting in this seventh spot, the draft had gone like this, would you consider Joe Mixing here? Because your projections have him very high. Is he still in your top five? I don't recall. Yeah, I don't know if he stole my top five. I can check on that. But I'm saying like, would you consider him there? Probably not. No, probably not with one of the elite wide receivers. Okay. That I can lock that up. And then I know I'm coming, you know, you're at 107. You're coming back in the second round. There's going to be a running back that you feel comfortable with there as opposed to, you know, going wide receiver really early in the first. So I took Justin Jefferson, who is my number one guy. Yeah. Number one wide receiver. You know, I stared that decision down in one of our leagues recently. I ended up with Derek Henry. But I stared down the Jefferson Cup. And it was really, really hard.

Yeah. To make that decision to chase last year or to try to project a season for Jefferson that will surpass what Cup can do in his kind of follow up. Yeah, I have been fully on the cup side this entire off season. I find myself now leaning towards Jefferson just because of Matthew Stafford's elbow. That situation is real. He just had months to sit and rest and recover. It's not like he's. going to get any more time to recover. So if he misses games, that's terrible. All right. So Mike went with Jefferson. Cup was the next pick off the board. Joe Mixen did go at 109. Now, if he had been there at 112, who would have been my pick? Sure. Devante Adams at 110. DeAndre Swift at 111. Okay. And so I will be going with a combination here of wide receiver running back.

I'm going to go Jamar Chase and I'm going to go with Alvin Camara. That's a nice start. Yeah, I'm very happy about that. I haven't drafted at 112, I think, in any mock draft. I wasn't sure where I, you know, if I'd be staring down that Jamar Chase, Stefan Diggs situation that we've talked about. You could have. I could have. But Alvin Camara still undervalued, still wearing the cloud of the legal situation. which will not, in my opinion, impact him this year, which makes him a bargain. I mean, drafting him after D'Andre Swift. Nick Chub goes next. I don't love being in the position to decide on whether I want Nick Chubb on my team, just for the record. I find that I am fine with Nick Chubb when he falls to the two, three turn. But if he goes this early, that's too high for someone that's not catching passes.

Travis Kelsey, first tight end off the board at 203, Stefan Diggs at 204, and Tyreek Hill at 205. Little sad about that. Would have loved to talk about him as a potential second wide receiver for you, Mike. But are you looking at the running back position here with the longer wait? The just like, Sequin Barkley, I'm getting more and more confident with him the way that the preseason has gone for him, Not necessarily confidence in the Giants overall, but confident that Barclay is back to health and will have just an insane amount of volume. Will Daniel Jones actually throw him the ball? That's a big question. Talk to me about how you think about Sequin versus how you think about Zeke. We had the kind of negative offensive line news with Tyrone Smith yesterday. Zeke has been a favorite of this show due to value. He's not going to probably make it back around you in the third round.

I think there is a chance that he could, but I'm not going to take him over these other two running backs. The one I'm focused here on is Aaron Jones and Giovante Williams. Yeah. Now, Aaron Jones is higher in my projections. I think we have a much higher probability that Jones finishes the year, rank higher than Giovante Williams. But with AJ Dillon there, the chance of Aaron Jones being a top three running back, I think are lower than Giovante Williams. Hopefully that. that working that to make sense. So it's like if you want the ceiling, do I go with Giovante? If I want steady running back one that I for sure can count on, I go with Jones. And does having that's the way I'm going to go? Okay, you are going to go with the steady. You've got Jefferson, who's a ceiling wide receiver that will be steady as well. Josh Allen goes next, first quarterback off the board. Then Mark Andrews and Debo Samuel Leonard Fournett off the board. And then Jason, you are back.

On the clock, Christian McCaffrey, your first pick. Giovante Williams is still there. Zeke is still there. Sequin. Yeah, so. What's the thought process? I just did an underdog draft where I started Christian McCaffrey at the two. And then I took Giovante here. That was who I was wanting. That was who I was hoping got to me. He did get to me when Mike was talking about. I was like, no. You know, I knew Aaron Jones wouldn't get to me just based on the ADP. That being said, it is tough because while I have Christian McCaffrey, there is C.D. Lamb sitting there who has dropped further than normal. He's at the back of the second round right now. So look, I'm near the turn. And I'm going to play the play it out game where you say, okay, if I take C.D. Lamb.

And then I want a running back in a wide receiver at these two picks. I pick in three more picks. The running backs available are Sequin I'm happy with. Giovante, I'm happy with. And then I guess. Yeah, Zeke and Connor at this spot, I'm not quite as happy with. Whereas at wide receiver, if I lose C.D. Lamb, I'd be happy with A.J. Brown. And I'd be happy with Mike Evans. So I am going to take. I don't know where you're going. I was going to say, I'm not sure what that led into. Which one are you going? I'm taking Javante. I love the upside of a Christian McCaffrey, Javante Williams, uh, tandem at running back. And the nicest part is that my guy, C.D. Lamb came back to me. He did. You gambled in one. Congratulations. Sequin and Keenan in between your pick of Javante and C.D. Lamb.

teammate Zeke Elliott, one pick after C.D. Lamb than Kyle Pitts. I would have had an interesting discussion about Kyle Pitts if you made it back to me at 312. Sure. I am. I would have had to consider him at the 3-7. A.J. Brown and Mike Evans go next. Mike, you have often taken Mike Evans, not available to you. He's not. You do have a favorite of yours, James Connor, sitting there at the running back position. at wide receiver, my guy in Michael Pittman, and at tight end, probably not looking at George Kittle here? No, I am not. It's as easy as it. No suspense. Like, honest, James Connor is interesting there because I think that he can finish as a top 10 guy, but it's fantasy football. I love Michael Pittman. I want him on my teams. I believe in the player. Sure. Yeah. It's fun. It's fun to have the players you believe in on your team.

All right. Well, I am less happy with my options here than I was at the one-two turn. That's usually the case. Yeah. So Michael Pittman to Mike. And then Justin Herbert, who I would have selected with one of my two picks had he made it through. I would have gone for that kind of position dominance at this point, drafting that late in the first round. Justin Herbert did go, James Connor, then T. Higgins and George Kittle. So I'm not going to have, I'm not going the Darren Waller route here in the end of the third and the top of the fourth round. At wide receiver, this is really where it gets tough when you're on the turn. You have such a long wait that the average draft position of certain players.

it kind of gets thrown out the window. And the example I'll give you is it's like if I don't take somebody like Alan Robinson here, which seems a little early of my guy, they might not come back around to me. Probably doesn't. Probably doesn't. Other wide receiver options on the board, Mike Williams, another player that I really like, does he get back to me? And Jason's shaking his head, no. There's, there's, you know, 23 more players picked. There's no one that's getting back to you. that you're looking at right now that you would reach a little bit, you always have to take your guys at the turn. Yeah, and it's tough because I don't like where I have to take them. Other running backs on the board, David Montgomery, who I do have much more confidence in than these two gentlemen, especially when I have an Alvin Camara, like Montgomery has a steady and then giving you those birth games that he's given over the last couple of years. I like that.