Mock Draft Mayhem: Head-to-Head Battle! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 7/1

All right, three shows a week. It begins now, and why not start with your average, ordinary mock draft episode. Just run of the mill, right? Wrong. Mayhem in the building. Mike's got all the power. Don't miss a minute. A wild, incredible mock draft is on the way. Hey, Foot Clan, we have a great mock draft episode for you today, complete with a bunch of mayhem. But before we get started, I want to remind you the Ultimate Draft Kit is out right now. And today is the day that the draft analyzer is released. You can learn all about how you can dominate your fantasy football draft draft with our suite of tools and resources to help you at Ultimate DraftKit.com. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway.

Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Here we are July 1st. Yes, do not. Do not check the date of your calendar. We are here, and it is Saturday. Saturday, July 1st, Mike. The beginning of the season in a lot of ways. We're up to three shows a week. Happy to have you with us. I imagine some people were probably surprised. to see that, checking their podcast app on Spotify and Apple wherever you're listening. And you see a new episode pop up. And you say, hey, I'm in my underpants. I was about to mow the lawn. In my underpants. And is that not? Well, yeah, we're in Arizona. Everyone mows their lawn in their underpants. It's too hot to go outside with clothes on. I mean, I feel like that's safe in the backyard. At least. It should be.

And then we've got a new episode for you. So welcome, man. We're excited. Yep. Having a schedule, we've been on this schedule now for our, this is our ninth season. Yeah. Ninth season. And yet it still surprises people when we jump to three shows in July. But well, I mean, it surprises me sometimes. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how calendars work. I never know when it's going to be another month. Yeah. And this is the reason we go to Saturday shows and go to three a week is because this is now July 1st where people start. Check them back in. I've already seen messages on Twitter of like, hey, time to hop back into fantasy, time to get prepared. A lot of the casuals, the casuals, they start in August. Absolutely. But you listening now? Oh, you're going to dominate them casuals faces off. Couldn't have said it better myself. And they'll be like, where my face? It's off? Today is a mock draft episode, but not just any mock draft. Jason and I are going head to head. But this is the second ever mock draft.

Yeah, thanks. That was perfect. Mock draft mayhem episode, which means Mike will have a tremendous amount of control during this. Look at me. Look at me. I'm the captain now. He will be able to ruin us in many ways. Put us in a position where, look, we say mock drafting is a wonderful exercise throughout the off season, but the real truth of your actual draft is you're going to be in a different position. You're going to be surprised. You're going to be reeling when the player you wanted goes around before you thought they were going to go. And you're going to have to think on your feet. So Jason and I today will be facing off trying to build the best roster we can, but Mike will be using some power ups against us. And we're looking forward to that. That'll start momentarily. And last year we did this, I had the power. Mike demanded the power this year. And now Jason, I took it. Oh, next time. Yeah. Next time there will be mayhem.

The next two mock drafts are going to be pretty cool. That'll be Mayham. Thank you. Yes. A new nickname. One of the favorite months. I'm writing that one down. Mayham. That is the month of the year, Jason enjoys him the most. But no, it's going to be fun. And then the next mock draft after this one, I'm not sure what the timeline is on it, but the deucers are going to be involved. People have been asking for them to participate. I've been asking for the opportunity to mock them publicly on the show for their picks. They've been. And those things have come together. They've been.

crying, shaking, saying we, don't put us on the mock draft. They've all bought the UDK and they're prepping up. I don't know why they're Jimmy Stewart with like a really high voice, but they are. I said it at the top, ultimate draft, ultimate draft kit.com. The draft analyzer is out right now. It came out today that lets you import your team from Sleeper, Yahoo, ESPN, or you can manually import your team and run it through the draft analyzer. We're going to break down your strengths or weaknesses, which fantasy football are associates with your team the most and likes it the most. Tell you where your values are, where your weaknesses are. It's going to be, like, get in there. It's on the app. It's on the web. It's part of the UDK Plus. And it's easy if you just have the UDK to upgrade. If you want access to that right now, Ultimate DraftKit.com. Without further ado. News and notes from around the league. I feel like that was very misleading.

Yeah, I thought we were going into the mock draft. Yeah, because this is, this is more further ado to wait for the mayhem mock draft. It's like, and now the moment we've been talking about that you've been waiting for, liar. The news. The news. All right. All right, Andy. I think you're 100% right about that. I should have said, Let's move on or something. Or maybe even let's get into the news. That would work. You really built up this news section. So welcome to more ado. Yes. And there couldn't be something more ado than Devante Parker signing a three-year extension with the New England Patriots. 14 million in guarantees. That's the number. It's up to 33 million in value. But some people saw this and said, hey, why? Yeah.

I think that's fair. Warren Sharp put out a tweet. So good. Highlighting Devante Parker's separation numbers using next gen stats. That's never been his game though. Ever. But listen, it cannot be your game, but it can still be unbelievable to do this. To finish. Oh, I had not seen the tweet. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. He finished in 20-202nd out of 132 wide receivers. In 2021, he finished 127th out of 127 wide receivers. And then in last year he was 122nd out of 122 wide receivers. So dead last in separation ranking for three consecutive years. And you're right. It's not his game. Like, you know, it was never Alan Robinson's game. He was always very low in those numbers even in his peak years. However, dead last three consecutive years not having separation at all.

is not a benefit to you as a wide receiver. $33 million. It's, I mean, it's a one year, $14 million is how I'm looking at it. That's too much for what he brings to the table. What is ironic is, you know, I've seen some people be like, oh, so they're out of the Hopkins race. There's actually, this is tied to the way that they restructured. This actually opened up some cap space in a way that might. allow the team to sign D'Andre Hopkins. So while it seems counterintuitive, this move could actually be caused in order to get D'Andre Hopkins on the Patriots. Yeah. And, you know, Juju Smith-Schuster is not healthy yet. So he's missed all of the New England off-season program. He's been rehabbing the knee injury. It's been a chronic issue for him. They don't have Jacoby Myers anymore. Like,

there's a world where Devante Parker, if they don't sign DeAndre Hopkins, has some relevance this year. And if Hopkins is signed, which, look, I guess I'd put the odds that New England is at the top of that list. I mean, I think New England is likely to get him because he's eventually going to settle for less money. Yeah, that's right now my number one destination. But, you know, Parker, Parker will have some touchdowns and he'll have some relevance. But in most leagues, I mean, I can't see a normal redraft league. If they don't sign. Hopkins, a juju isn't healthy. I still don't know if I would use my last pick on Devante Parker. Yeah, it's totally fair. But he could be one of those players that you see on the waiver wire after week one where he catches a couple touchdowns. And you're like, oh, okay, I'll pay attention. He did some good work for himself. Oh, sorry. I was getting into the hype train, Mike. I'll just say he finished the year with six for 79 and two touchdowns against Buffalo. Trying to see if this train will run Mike off. You can't stop me. Nick Chubb.

News out of Cleveland. Brown's running back coach, Thumb Mitchell, saying he'll have the opportunity to catch more passes. So people will see that he's more than just a running back. Nick Chubb is ranked extremely high. I mean, he's unbelievable. Yeah, he's my running back three right now has been pretty much since we launched the UDK because if you just look at, you know, that's the nice thing about statin these players out and looking at, you know, Kareem Hunt is gone. and this team is going to pass more, there's just not a world where he doesn't catch more balls. To have the coach come out and say what kind of the analytics pointed to already, it's really nice affirmation, but this is, I think this should be the expectation this year. And if we went back two years, three years, four years ago and said, hey, this Nick Chub guy who's always like, you know, leading the league or.

near the top of rushing yardage and one of the best running backs in the league. If he were to catch 40 or 50 passes in a season, how would he be for fantasy? I think we know the answer. Last year he was the number one running back through the first 10 weeks. So you're going to be extraordinarily happy with that. If he ends up with more targets and more receptions, during that run, the first 10 weeks where he was the number one running back, he would have caught 24 passes. So he wasn't actually catching any passes during that time and was still that dominant. So, yeah, I mean, he should be on the radar number three, number two, number one. I mean, I don't mind any of those selections. Yeah, we'll see how the target shake out. But when Deshaun Watson got into the game after serving his suspension, we saw about a 21% target share to the running back position. That would have been 14th in that.

time span, but the wide receiver targets were very low. So that we'll see if the addition of, you know, Cedric Tillman, Elijah Moore, we'll see that that could juice that number up and take away from the running backs. But 21%? I mean, okay, that's middle of the pack. The idea of seeing him out there on third down is what attracts me. Sure. Because they don't have the depth that they had. Cream Hunt during most of his tenure in Cleveland was a starting caliber running back. that demanded time on the field and was a better pass catcher. Chubb is probably the best that they have, even in that role. So Miles Sanders also rumors there about catching more passes with Carolina, Frank Reich, talking about it on video. Yeah, I was going to say, you know, I don't know if rumors is the right word. You know, sometimes you hear a beat reporter say, oh, I expect so-and-so to catch more passes. This was a video of the general manager and Miles Sanders and the head coach.

talking about we're going to need you to catch more passes this year like you did when you caught 50 great like that yes we'll see i mean he came in his rookie year with frank rike and caught i think it was 50 passes yeah 63 targets 50 for 50 509 yeah i mean that would be huge for him and and they signed him to a big money deal for a running back so i 100% believe it. This is why I, you know, these are two players that when we first launched the UDK, I was, I was much higher than what I expected, and both were because of this, just the past catching ability and necessity for these offenses. All right, let's see if this last piece of hype gets you excited. NFL networks, James Palmer, talking about multiple people in the Broncos building believing Tim Patrick is the best football player in the team's wide receiver room.

I mean, a lot of excitement about Jerry Judy. But Tim Patrick was the one getting a lot of press heading into last year's camp with Russell Wilson, the best rapport with Russell Wilson before his ACL injury. Hearing this news, you know, it puts him on the radar for fantasy. It puts him in a position where I'd certainly like I'm not touching Cortland Sutton in any circumstance. And so Jerry Judy I'm interested in. But Tim Patrick, it's very. You know, his injury was very early last year. It was in training camp. And so I do like the skill set that he has. Yeah, the news matters. If you're doing like underdog best balls, you're going 18 rounds. You can get right near the end of the draft and find Tim Patrick, who will have his games of relevance. But, you know, this is hype train on Tim Patrick, but it's also kind of a little bit.

negative for some of the other pieces. Obviously, there's Cortland Sutton, there's Jerry Judy, there's Marvin Mims, the rookie. And there's another piece of news recently that came out that said that Jared Stidham is out playing Russell Wilson. No. Yeah. Have you guys seen that? I have not seen it. Yeah. So that's not good. No, that's not good. And I believe it only because I watched Russell Wilson all season last year, as I'm sure you all did. Limited. This is a problem. So if you're telling me that Tim Patrick, hey, he's healthy. He's in the mix. Now we got like four good wide receivers and Greg Dulcich and Russell Wilson still sucks. That is like, sign me out of that. I don't want. Hey, sign me out. Yeah. Do you know how big of Cajones that this team and the head coach would have to have to make that pivot? Oh, but they have it.

I mean, this is Sean Payton's team now. Russell Wilson, sure, they have an out. I mean, if Sean Peyton comes in and Russell Wilson sucks and he says, yeah, we're not going to do this. We're going to cut you at the end of the season, move on, take a giant dead cap. That could happen. I don't. Maybe you're right. But I have to believe that a majority of the conversations in bringing in Sean Peyton was help us not. have wasted all of this money. You are the guy to fix the problem that happened last year with this monumental investment. I don't know if the team would give him that ability or not. Yeah, I mean, obviously that's their goal. Best case scenario for everyone involved with the Broncos is that Russell Wilson regains his Hall of Fame worthy career, you know, at the direction of Sean Peyton. But I do believe that the long-term investment of the franchise.

is far more committed to Sean Peyton than it is to Russell Wilson. Now, what if I told you the account that tweeted out the news about Jared Stidham in their bio, it says Jarrett Stidham hype man? Now, did they change it after that? I mean, I don't know that it matters. Look, I am anti-Russell Wilson, so I'll take all bias. Also, I don't know how we made it through. an entire segment here, Tim Patrick's segment, and not even say Fireball Jones, which is his true birth name. That's on us. If you look at the certificate, the doctor signed it. Yeah, Fireball Jones. He's back, baby. I'm just, I was a little worried that maybe the nickname is what really, maybe set him up for failure last year. Well, like a smash jacks in Paul Perkins situation. Yeah, like, no, never. So, yeah, Fireball Jones could be relevant this year. I am.

you know, much more optimistic in him having him and Judy having relevance than Jason the Jared Stidham-truther. But because there's a far worse situation in fantasy, I think, for rookie quarterbacks, unproven quarterbacks where we're still looking and paying attention to the wide receivers. Jerry Judy, despite the absolute. disgusting performances last year, still had games that mattered. So we'll see. Denver was Sean Payton. It could be a little bit of a renewal. That is it for hype. I don't have anything else. There's no more ado? There is one more ado. A little Saturday tease, Jason. We're going to finally get into the mock draft. Are you prepared? I don't even believe you at this point. You've got your quatch hat on, and it's time to do it.

The fantasy footballers mock draft. Well, here we are. Jason, we're going head to head, but Mike is here to ruin the day. Mike has three mayhams that he can use on each of us during the draft. They're up on the screen if you're watching on YouTube. Here is what Mike has control over. He can make us, he can veto a pick, which will make us choose a different player. and he can use that once on each of us. He can replace a pick with his own choice, which he can also use once on each of us. And then the final one is he can make it opponent's choice. So he will give me the ability to pick your player and you the ability to pick my player. It is a 12-team half-PPR draft. I am drafting from the three-spot. Jason's in the sixth spot.

one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight in, one flex, four bench. Jason, you seem nervous. You look a little sweaty. Yeah, so, you know, you're laying the groundwork, you're setting up the rules, and you're illustrating what Mike's options are. He can make us repick. He can pick for himself or our opponent can pick. And I'm sitting at the 106, and I have a lot of fear that I know exactly. I just, I think I know one thing that's coming, but we'll see. So, um, I don't know. Like if you think about our three personalities, I tend to think Mike is the most merciless with power. So I think that this could be a very dangerous draft for us. And he is also very attuned to sensing when we are really hoping he doesn't do something. And so I'm going to try to see how much psychological warfare we can do. I'm going to do a lot of aura reading.

Oh, good, good, good. What color is Jason's aura, by the way? Right now? Yeah. Blue. That's right. He was right. That's impressive. So here we go. The draft has begun. And look, we're seeing this more and more. Justin Jefferson at the 101, Jamar Chase at the 102. And I'm sitting here at the 103. Yeah, that's a gift. And it's Christian McCaffrey. So I'm going to take him. We have not, we've seen what an average of four or five running backs going in the first 12 picks. That is not normal from the last nine years. Yes. Sorry. And so I just, I just saw that Travis Kelsey went at the 105, which means Mike can't make me into Travis Kelsey in the first, which is what I assume is happening. And.

I was not going to. Oh, good. But I wanted you to sweat it out. So I'm a little bit disappointed here with Team 5. And I know I need to be patient when I make these picks to give Mike the opportunity to destroy me. Getting Christian McCaffrey at 103 did spark my interest here to use a power up right away. But I just letting it settle in. You're letting us get a sense of security. I got to let the dust settle and then find my way. So Jefferson, Jamar Chase, I took Christian McCaffrey a gift at 103. I was really worried about that pick being stopped because I didn't have a strong conviction with the number three pick with other players. Which is why you didn't give Mike the opportunity for mayheming. That's right. I just, I'm doing this. No, we can go back. No, no, we're good. Austin Echler went 104, Travis Kelsey at 105. Another thing we're seeing a lot this offseason, Kelsey inside the top five, because of that conundrum. You get to the point where you're like, uh,

Well, I know he's great, and I'm unsure about these other options at running back. Jason's on the clock. This is an easy pick for me. This would be Cooper Cup, who I've talked about recently. I could take him at the 101. I could take him at the 102, the 103, certainly here at the 106, when if Christian McCaffrey and Austin Eckler are gone and Cooper Cup is available, that would be my pick. I will take Cooper Cup. I'll allow it. Oh, all right. I was just waiting. All right, Cooper Cup. That was a moment. Mike's finger is you couldn't hear it on the podcast, but it was creeping. People could feel it. It was creeping towards the button. So man, unscathed in the first round. Man, generous, kind, handsome. Yeah, thank you. That would have been my pick if McCaffrey was stolen from me by Mike. So Cooper Cup at 106, great pick, Bejohn Robinson at 107, Tyreek 108, a couple running backs. Jonathan Taylor, Nick Chubb, C.D. Lamb and AJ Brown rounding out the first round.

Second round begins with Stefan Diggs, then Sequin Barclay and Derek Henry. Both of those players seem like, you know, not a bad place to be in the second round. And then Almanrault St. Brown, Devante Adams, and then Patrick Mahomes. Mm-hmm. And Jason, back on the clock with Cooper Cup, just setting the foundation of just a great team on the way. Yeah, just a great team on the way. There's a couple of players that I had hoped dropped to me that didn't. proud of what's happened to the ADP Chubb, you know, about a month or two ago, he was falling to the like the two, three turn. Now he's in the first round, which is where he belongs. But Derek Henry has fallen. I've seen him in the third round. I would have loved to grab him. He's not there. Since I've got Cooper Cup, if there is a great running back left, I would go that direction. And there is to me, it's Josh Jacobs. So if I am allowed to pick, my pick would be to pair Cooper Cup.

with Josh Jacobs. And no. Mayhem. Yeah. Yeah. Here we go. There's no way that that was going to happen. No. Because it was too delicious. No. That is not going to happen. And we're going to see. Yeah. What power up are you using? I'm going to pick. Oh, okay. For Jason. Yeah. And we're going to see. See, I can't even rejoice that much because if I overindulge in what's happening to you, then you're going to get it. The trap is set for me. Like. What happens here to Jason's team? Should he, like a lot of, a lot of drafters are dealing with this situation of what do I do with the big name quarterbacks? If I take them early, what does my team look like? Well, Jason's going to find out. I'm going to give you, Jason. Which one?

I'm going to give you Jalen Hertz. Yeah, my man. I didn't know if you were going to. I showed a little bit. Because between, do you have Hertz or Allen ranked higher? So I have Josh Allen ranked higher in my rankings, but you know that Jalen Hertz is my guy. So I hurt you a little bit, but then I put the band-a-in-on. Yeah. All right. Oh, geez. This should be fun. I'm over here because I too have found good fortune in this draft. Jason has cup and Jalen Hertz and then Waddle, because Jalen Hertz goes early, and I do want to point this out before disaster strikes my team. With Mahomes and Hertz going in the second round, it was Waddle and Pollard that went next. When quarterbacks go early, like we've talked about this, it's not a late round quarterback universe right now, but that doesn't mean that the realities that we brought up in late round advice aren't true, which is that when positions, onesie positions like quarterbacks and tight ends go early.

it pushes down value at the other positions. Josh Jacobs is still on the table for me at 2. That'd be a great start. 10. That would be such a good start. And that will be my pick if I'm allowed to make it. Great pick, Andy. It will be Josh Jacobs. What a great pick. Lock that in. Oh, you son of a good. I knew it. Really? I'm good? Of course. Yes. Of course. Joshua. Jacobs. Because that's the way better decision. Mike is nailing this. The fact that, I mean, that's just putting an, he gets an extra jab here because he saves his mayhem pick on not using mayhem, but causes mayhem. Just back to me again. Did you want Jacobs? Because I got it.

No, he got Jalen Hertz. He got the guy he wanted. So I start with Tier 1, Tier 2 running backs, Christian McCaffrey, Josh Jacobs. Josh Allen goes next. Breece Hall, Travis E.T.N. and Ramandre Stevenson. So the running back run has begun, and Jason has none of them yet. Yeah. I am back on the clock with McCaffrey and Jacobs' third pick of the third round. Looking at the landscape here with those two running backs. I mean, this is kind of going back in time to the strategy that is most often played out by my teams, which is if you have powerhouses at that position, the freedom you feel the rest of the draft is significant. I have lower tier running backs I like later. I don't feel a pressure to go grab one. Now, if I wanted to, the guys on the board that are actually the most attractive to me is Jumeer Gibbs. Because what better position than having Jacobs and McCaffrey to let Gibbs be this potential top tier running back?

Otherwise, Najee Harris, Kenneth Walker, Mix, and Dobbins, I'm not as enthusiastic. At wide receiver, it's Garrett Wilson on the board right now, Alave. Boy, I'm actually tempted to take Gibbs and go three running back to start this draft. I think that will be my pick unless it is ruined by Mike. I think Garrett Wilson obviously is jumping out at me, but I think the idea of adding Gibbs and maybe actually having like three of the top eight. running backs potentially in PPR? I am going to, I'm a little surprised here. Right. Because I'm trying to throw you off. You did. You mayhemed the mayhem. Yeah. Because I was going to force a very high T start for you. I was going to make you go triple running back. But then you said, no, I have more T than you think. So I'm good. Yeah, you could start with your three running backs. I'm not feeling the mayhem at all. Jim. We'll see. Is the pick. Garrett Wilson went next. I think that's what the.