Mock Draft Episode + Pacheco Parade - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/23

And now we turn to the world of sports. The football season is upon us, and that means it's time to get ready for your fantasy football drafts. The ultimate draft kit from the fantasy footballers is the cat's pajamas, and only tool you need. The best rankings in the business, sleepers, breakouts, values, it's even got a free companion app. Don't be a pigeon-libered fuzzler. The ultimate draft kit will keep you on the up and up, and keep all the horn swogglers at bay. Don't even think about entering a fantasy football draft draft draft kit without it. Don't be a square. Head to ultimate draft kit.com today. To the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Happy mock draft Friday. Andy Mike and Jason, the fantasy footballers joining you. Big draft weekend.

One of the biggest of the year, if not the biggest. We're so close to football. It's time. And so we want to get you prepped up. And mock draft is a good way to do that. Yeah, there's football tonight. I noticed this year we have omitted the entire preseason. There is no, is not football time until real week one kickoff, Mike. Yeah, the preseason is just, it's not what it once was. So. I mean, I'm excited. I like the preseason. I watch as much as I can endure. But, you know, it's not. It will be soon, though. It will be the real football time. Well, we have, we've got news to talk about before we get into our mock draft. And today we're going to have the deuces. We'll all be picking different teams. But then we've got four members of our team taking up some of the mock draft as well. So it's going to be a little bit of a different ride than we've been used to. It should be fun. Should get us prepared.

Yeah, people have been saying, you know, when you mock draft against a computer, it's helpful. That is a good resource. It is not quite as good as being able to mock draft with real people. Or oftentimes when we mock draft, like we've got this doc for our league of record. I call it the skeleton key. You can find links online for it. But we do it by hand. Like I will draft every other person based on what I know. And people have been saying like, You know, these drafts sometimes are too easy because the computer, we want to draft against other people. They just didn't know that the other people we would find would be worse than the computer. Yeah, take a computer and then, like, I don't know, like take out some of the RAM. Yeah, it's missing some ones and zeros. Right. And then you get deucers. So, yeah. Well, that didn't last long. I told them I probably wouldn't talk about their teams. I wouldn't make fun of them. But I was talking to them as a group. And as a group, I kind of let myself.

Jump right in there. We can't really help ourselves. The water's warm. I'm not saying nothing over here. You are in your heart. You're afraid they're going to put up a fight in the draft? What? What? Why would I be afraid of them? There it is. There he is. We have a mock draft shortly. We've got a big trade to talk about. We're recording this episode a little bit earlier than we normally do because we are heading to Los Angeles for a live show. On Saturday evening. Tickets, a handful available at ballerslive.com if you want to get in there. And the big announcement this week, and I checked the count this morning before I recorded, we are up over 8,000 people in the Megalobul, the world's largest fantasy league each and every year. It's a great time. It's a chance to come and draft with the Foot Clan, and you can learn all about how to join at megalobol.com. Like I said, up over 8,000 over the last couple of days have joined.

And you can pick your draft spot. We're drafting August 31st through September 4th. Your draft time. Draft time. Yeah, you don't get to pick where you're at to be crossed. You don't get to pick where you're at in the draft just when you are available to dress. But we have a bunch of times in there to kind of meet everybody's schedule. Yeah, several days, a couple of times each day. And then the winner of the Megalobole every year gets to play with us in the next listener league automatically. So if you don't have. the talent, creativity, uh, personality to like win the, the submission process. You can just, you could just.

automatically get in by beating everybody in the bag of a little bit. You could have gone like the good fortune to be selected. But you went with like they're devoid of talent, ability, skill, personality. You were on. I'm just ready to dunk on people, man. What's the coffee situation this morning? Because we know you've been bouncing around with the caffeine. You've been testing different bruise and some of them are impacting your cardiovascular system differently. This morning was a double espresso. It feels like it. It does. It really does. It does. All right. I'm looking for... Let's walk draft, baby. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Well, we did have big news this morning when we're recording this show. So you're listening to this. This happened yesterday. The Eagles and Commanders interdivisional trade took place. And it's a big one. It's a big one for your...

future hopes and dreams of a player that had a lot of potential as a first round wide receiver who had a nice rookie season and is no longer a member of the Washington commanders. Jehan Dodson, you know, the vibes? The vibes were spot on with Jehan Dodson. Yes, they were. We had said that the team is just saying some things about Jehan Dodson that we don't like the fact that they're still trying to figure out who a wide receiver two is. Well, it's not Jehan Dodson because he's been shipped out the door to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles send a third and seventh. The commanders sent Jehan Dodson in a fifth. The Eagles had been really looking to find somebody to step up as a wide receiver three in this offense. That's why you got the Paris Campbell acquisition. That's why you had talk of Johnny Wilson. And Jehan Dodson is who they went after. And it's close to the season.

Big deal. Well, he doesn't need to learn a playbook. He just needs to learn, okay, when you're on the field, you run that way. You run down the field as fast as you can, Dotson. It is a, I think a valuable but not fantasy consequential pickup for the Eagles because barring injury, I don't think any of us are looking at Dotson is viable in any capacity. He would be at best an undrafted gym type of player if. An injury took place. Yeah, and from a dynasty perspective, I think the... I actually have a sound effect for his dynasty. Oh, yeah. Is it similar to a falcon? Oh, man. Oh, did you want me to go? Yeah, I thought this is more indicative of his actual value is currently circling the drain. Let's keep talking and we'll find it. Did they hide the toilet from me? Or am I just blind? I...

I don't know. Whatever. All right. Well, there was going to be... Imagine a toilet sound. There it is. There it is. I still don't see it, Al. I'm sorry. I think he's good for a couple long touchdowns, though, for Jalen Hertz. So the interesting thing on the commander's side is that we know Terry McLaurin is the number one bona fide, you know, highest target option in the offense for Jaden Daniels. We had heard and seen on the field through two preseason games. a rapport bill with Diami Brown. He was on the field way more than we expected last year because we hoped Jahan Dodson was like this kind of happened. Like the team kind of, mind you, they changed head coaches and offensive coordinators, but we were hit in the face with the Jahan Dotson disappointment early last year and we continuously would come in here and say, DiMie Brown caught the touchdown today. Or, you know, it was obviously they had Curtis Samuel in the offense and it wasn't Dodson. Now,

Dammy Brown profiles to line up outside, opposite of Terry McLaren. Didn't take me long, but I watched every Diamond Brown snap this morning, every route. You saw all 168 yards on the season? I saw all Sam Howell missing a burner down the field. Dammy Brown is a burner. Do we have a, is this a Nico Collins situation? No, because I, Nico, I could see being an upper echelon talent, and we would call that out and hope for a better quarterback. Diamie is a kind of middling route runner with burner speed, and there were three or four touchdowns that were 100% Sam Hal can't throw the football. It was so similar to when you watched Darnell Mooney with Justin Fields. But when you look at, you know, for a Dynasty League, you should pick up Diamond Brown. I mean, you should. Oh, yeah, yeah. This is somebody that's going to get targets and snaps. He's a nasty boy. But when you look at can I find a diamond in the rough long term on this roster that isn't Terry McLaurin,

You've got to bring yourself to the conversation about Luke McCaffrey, a third round rookie. Even if he doesn't profile as a starter this moment, you know, cream rises to the top. Yeah, and I think Luke McCaffrey plays a large role in them wanting to ship him out because this isn't like, they are still looking for their wide receiver too because I don't think it is Diamie Brown. Damie Brown will be on the field, but I don't think he is talented enough to really be who they want to. having that slot in the future. But they had moved Jehan Dotson to the slot. Luke McCaffrey is more of a slot type player. He was a late transition to wide receiver from quarterback. And he's good. I actually, I like his tape. He had good production in his final season. He is a McCaffrey, which that doesn't always mean anything just because you're the son of, you know, a Hall of Fame player. But when you've got like, you know, multiple. Multiple great.

players in the family that i mean that's like the watts right the watts the i mean yeah but is he the austin rivers of this situation i believe he i mean he was a third round pick he did not get enough is he the seth curry oh you know what i mean yeah i'm just asking i he doesn't profile to be some breakout superstar he's not going to be christian mcalfrey of wide receivers but i do think he is I think he's a quality player. He'll be on the field. He'll have a career. And in many rookie drafts, I've seen him go on draft. Right now, Zach Keas is the slot receiver for the commanders and McCaffrey will be competing for opportunity. Terry McLaurin, you know, I moved him up a little bit in the target, in the target share. I'm kind of big in, big in Ontario this year. I can see that. The Dotson wasn't really.

factoring in a ton to my projections, so it didn't really move Terry for me. Dodson ran the fifth most routes in the NFLS. Yeah, Cardio King. So something interesting. And this offense, it's Cliff Kingsbury. Offensive mastermind. I saw something this morning. I don't, Kyle, maybe you can shout out who shared it, but there's, there's been a, you know. The commanders have 19 screen passes in preseason, and the next closest team is 10, and nothing screams Cliff Screensberry. Nice. Then that kind of a situation. I'm really hoping this is. Hayden Wink shared that. Really hoping this is like a hide your cards, hide your hand before. No, it's not. I know. He doesn't have it. Like he's showing you what he's got all the time. I heard Josh Norris, he also works with Hayden Winks, breaking down of his time to throw.

was lower than anyone else is time to throw last year and his yards per attempt. Who was? Jane Daniels. Oh, I got you. And then the yards per attempt was lower than anyone else was last year. The status, something like that would have just like. Oh, when you have 19 screens, that makes sense. Yeah, like what are we doing here? Well, that's managing a rookie, you know. Maybe. It's, um, it's part of it. Bo Nix was named the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos. excited to see that. Sean Peyton finally, you know, came out and told us what we knew. It'll be an interesting situation there to see a rookie. It's hard. I mean, it's just hard to start week one and be productive and it's hard to provide fantasy value. We've brought that data forward so many times in just, you know, how hard it is to sustain a wide receiver one that isn't a Hall of Famer, that you don't get double-digit touchdowns from somebody like.

Last year we had Cortland Sutton despite Russell Wilson. He was a double-digit touchdown guy. That doesn't happen with this rookie quarterback. Denver's not very exciting for fantasy. No. All right. Elijah Mitchell, Jordan Mason both returned to practice on Wednesday. So the Niners backup running backs getting healthier before they can get hurt again. And Dennis Allen. Dennis Allen always part of our news. We like to bring you the positive spin of sports. Doesn't believe Rashid Shaheeds. toe and foot injury would keep him out for an extended length of time. Okay. That's also to me a news report on Rashid Shaheed's toe and foot injury, because I don't think I was aware of that. I am just happy that we have news of an injury where, to my knowledge, Dennis Allen is not dunking on his player for being injured. Did you go watch the whole Kindry Miller presser? Because I saw the whole thing now. I didn't see the entire. I watched the clip. Are we out of context? Yeah.

Teach me. No, I mean, like, because you want to hear the whole thing to get the context. And context is he sucks. I mean, Dennis Allen is this cross between cremogen and unfiltered and worn out and tired. Stressed. He comes across as so stressed. Like he just like sometimes like Mike said it yesterday, don't be that honest. You know, just protect your player. Don't be so honest. You're like, He just constantly was like, I don't know. I don't know what he can do. I got no idea. He's never here. I know he's got talent, but I don't know what he can do. I'm a big baby. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USA.com slash insurance. We'll take a break and we'll jump right in to a mark a lock a ding dong. All right. Coming back from the break, we did check Jason's caffeine levels. They're very high. How's the heart rate?

It's pretty good. I'm in a resting 120. So when you get into a mock draft, though, that's pretty normal, right? Your mock drafts are. Yep, yep, never been under 100 in a mock. Okay, let's jump in. The fantasy footballers mock draft. Well, this should be a fun one today. 12 team half PPR, quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, a tight influx and four bench spots. Jason drafting from the number two spot. Mike at the six spot, I'm at nine, but we've mixed the team, the squad, the Foot Clan staff, all mixed in, producers and losers alike. Beekat, our video guy at number three, Kyle, Kyle's drafting at the five spot, the Falcon, dumping on the seven spot, and then Papa Josh, who he's at 10.

And he's worried about me sniping him. The Falcon is very pumped that Sleeper has an app on the phone. Yeah, he can take it with him from his laptop, from his desktop, from the toilet. And for those watching on the YouTube channel, as we kick this draft off, I just hit the start button. For those watching, I was feeling a little bit, just a teeny weency bit, like a small part of me, just a little bit worried and guilty about. maybe focusing so much on his bowel habits. Right. And then I roll into this mock draft today. And I'm seeing, I got Jason's face. I got Ketchin's ugly face. I got Khyborg floating head. And then I'm looking Papa Josh looking, you know, elderly. And then what do I see is the Falcon front and center? He's got a toilet avatar. So, you know, this is the position we put our staff in.

is when we decide what you are, you decide to embrace or not embrace it. That is such a long flush. Is that right? Yeah. How are you after you had the opportunity to drop the mailbag drop? Oh, I had nightmares last night. Yeah, you said you blacked out. We've got the screenshots of you sweating. It was fun. My skin's still crawling. Yeah, no, you were, at least you did it. At least you delivered. You could have gone silent or sprinted out of the room. All right. We're into the mock draft. The first pick off the board, Christian McCaffrey. Sorry, Jason. Ah, darn it. I thought for sure he'd be there for me at two. This is really easy. I'm going to make this quick and seamless. There's three top picks in every draft. CMC, Tyreek Hill, C.D. Lamb. The last time I was near the spot, I took Tyreek. So I'm going to go CD Lamb. Plus, you got Tyreek with a thumb injury. You can call that a tiebreaker if you want. There's no right answer, so I want to go different.

Yeah, I get it. You're going to get to see how your team turns out that way. The Lamb contract. It's the thumb injury of financial issues right now, but it's not fun. McCaffrey off the board. Jason went CD Lamb. B-Cat goes Tyreek Hill. No fear at number three. Jamar Chase off the board at 104, leaving the Atlanta native Kyle the Borgogun. Homer. to take Bijon Robinson, just a reach for the Homer. What a reach, only because he is an Atlanta Falcons fan. And that is a joke. This is a great pick. Bejohn deserves to be about that spot in the draft. That puts Mike on the clock at 106, Mike. What are you thinking here in your first round? So it's do I start with a hero running back? Do I take Brees Hall? Or do I go with Amin Rae St. Brown? Ammon Ra just so unbelievably dependable.

at the wide receiver position. I'm looking at his week one line, by the way. Yeah, sleeper picks line is, it's at 87 and a half receiving yards. Like, it's in over under a 51. It's in Ford Field. We love that early schedule. Yeah, he averaged over 100 yards at home. I love that, but I am, I'm going to start with Breece Hall. I hate you. I hate you. I'm going to start that way and just, and see how my mock unfolds. It is the right thing to do. For some reason it. You would go, Breece over Oman Ra? I would. Yeah, and at 109, although I do, you know what, just to be transparent, I put feelers out on Ammon Ra on Dynasty League, in our Dynasty League yesterday. Sorry, not the Dynasty League, in our League of Record. Oh, okay. Because he's a keeper. And I just, good luck, man. I have not. I've been barking up that tree forever. I've never had him. I've never had them on a roster. And I just, I'm so excited about Detroit. I think they're going to win the Super Bowl this year. So I wouldn't have minded the pick, certainly.

But Brees Hall just seems so reliable. I wanted you to pass on him because there's always a chance that he makes it to like 108 108. Brees? Brees. Because of the fact that like the names, right? I mean, you've got A.J. Brown and Ammonra, St. Brown. Justin Jefferson. Yeah, so Brees goes at 106. The Falcon went with Amman Rae St. Brown in 107. You know, Tyreek and Amman Ra feel so. They just feel so safe. Like they do feel safer than Jamar Chase feels, those two picks. Would you not agree? Chase does not feel as safe as Amun Ra and Tyreek. I don't know that there is as safe a pick as Amman Ra. The ceiling we saw last year when he had the touchdowns flowing, the type of player he is, you don't necessarily expect him to be a double-digit touchdown guy. So I do worry that he'll come down a little bit, but the consistency that every week you just know you're.

you're never getting goose from. They can't. Yeah, their offense doesn't function without them, for sure. Jefferson goes at 108, leaving me on the clock with some options here. This is, I mean, 109 just screams Jemir Gibbs all offseason. It just seems like the Gibbs decision is there. We also have A.J. Brown on the board. And those are the two players I am looking at is, is J. Gibbs. It's AJ Brown, Papa Josh drafting behind me, quick turn. You know, you start to look at this point, do you like what you're taking at running back in the second round, whether Kyrin, Sequin, Henry, those guys, A. Chan, or do you like coming back around to the Puka, to the Adams and Harrison? And I look at that and I think AJ Brown is a tier above those guys. And so that's the pick I'm going to make here. I don't go.

wide receiver first round often, but I'm going to do it today. So A.J. Brown off the board giving us six wide outs and three running backs through the first nine picks. Papa Josh went with Gibbs at 110. Sequin off the board next and Garrett Wilson rounding out the first round. Is Garrett Wilson currently a pick that gives you pause? Yeah. For me, he is. I mean, Garrett Wilson didn't finish as a top 30 wide receiver last year. And obviously, We're just saying it's completely because the quarterback situation was bad. Yes, I am. But there are plenty of, I mean, are you saying that all of the guys ahead of him had good quarterbacks? Because that's not true. I am saying that every player in front of Garrett Wilson had a better quarterback, yes. Well, that's better, sure. In the sense, you can't be much worse. That's exactly what I mean is. Look, there was bad quarterback play all over. There always is, but the Jets was.

That was special last year. All right. So heading into round two should be interesting. We get Marvin going at 201. Again, that feels like where he has been going. Jonathan Taylor at 202. So a little Sequin, Jonathan Taylor stack for Team 11. Papa Josh pairs Jamir Gibbs with Puka Nakua at 203. My thought process with Brown was that I'm going to like the running backs coming back to me more. that's what happened. I am very happy to take a guy that's going to probably go by his teammate many, many times, but I'll take Kyron Williams at 204 in this draft, pairing with AJ Brown. Feel good about that. No, I love that. I mean, both of those guys, I think, are the type of player that could finish number one at their position that is not being drafted like that, right? You don't put AJ Brown in the CD, the Tyreek category. You don't put Kyron in the Bijon-Breece category.

But they really are on a per game basis capable of that. Their offense, their talent. Paring those two guys together at the back of the first is very nice. All right. Team 8 went with Olave after my Chiron pick. And then Debo goes to the Falcon, who goes wide receiver, wide receiver, Amonra, and Debo Samuel. Putting Mike back on the clock, Mike, while you're thinking about that pick, we did not talk about one thing with the dots and trade. I drafted AJ Brown in the first round. It's not that Brown or Devante Smith would be hurt, but do you look at this as at least a minor upgrade to Jalen Hertz in the sense that like if an injury happens to those guys were not staring down Johnny Wilson to step up and provide him fantasy value? Yeah, that's not even how I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking about it from that that Dotson will have a couple long touchdowns. And that's good stuff for Jalen Hertz. So yeah, I think it's a small upgrade for him, not enough that I'm going to.

make a move of putting Hertz over Allen. But, you know, just it helps things out. So I took Brees Hall with my first pick. I am going there. I mean, there's so many guys here that are delightful of, you know, especially in my my guy category. Give us some of the names of what you're thinking about. Well, I mean, you know, I don't mind, I don't mind the reach here to take Nico in the second round. You know. wide receivers it's London Adams Iyuk that's why that's why to me Nico is the pick at wide receiver but where I'm gonna go I'm gonna go hi T and despite well based on yesterday's take right yeah yeah right this is who you are thank you I've always been this guy just clip that out everybody and despite it being Jason's my guy oh whoa I am Isaiah Pacheco Pacheco is very very high in my rankings he

This was above Henry. This was above A. Chan? Yes. Above E.T.N. Like Christian McCaffrey, Bijon, B. Jean-Breece Hall, Chiron. And then after that, I'm, you know, calling your shot of who I think can really finish as a top three guy. And I think that things can bounce right in a volume department for Pacheco for him to finish top three. You two have been the leaders of the Pacheco parade, for sure. And I'm interested to see how that plays out. Kaiborg let me know. Now, Kyle, you would have taken Isaiah Pacheco with your next pick. So, you know, Mike got his guy there, even if it's slightly... But yeah, that's early. That's earlier than ADP. But that's how some drafts are going to go. I mean, I obviously don't have any problem with that. I love him. The one that was questionable to me is taking him above Devon A-chan. Like, I would rather have A-chan. I get it. I get the rocket fuel, but I'd rather take a guy who I know that...

He had the fourth highest running back attempt share last year. That's not going to happen. I mean, it's a full bet on efficiency, which with HN, it's not a terrible bet. Pacheco's current sleeper 80Ps 3.03. You got him at 207. So you had to grab him. He would have been gone. Nico Collins goes to Kyle next. Drake Lennon off the board, as he often does in the second round here. And then B-Cat with Tyree Kill in the first goes E-T in the second. That feels like a pretty... good value to me grabbing him there. I mean, he could have gone as high as 202, 203, ETN at 210, and then Jason, I see you've already made a pick. You didn't even want to wait for me to put the ball on the tee. You're like, I'm swinging before the hump is back. I'm still on the clock with my next pick, but I had the strategy coming back to this second and third round turn that I was going to try to take Devon Aitchan with my first pick and Isaiah Pacheco with my next one.

Turned out that when I got on the clock, Derek Henry was there. I played the ADP game to try to pair Derek Henry with Devon A-chan. Would you if that were- So you took Henry? If that were a human in spot one, would you have played the game? I would not have. I would have taken A-chan there over Henry. Yeah, just don't risk that. Yeah, but it worked out for me. Having C.D. Lamb at the top, being able to pair him with two. in my opinion, stud running backs Derek Henry and Devon A-chan. And A-chan always feels, look, I love A-chan. A-chan as your running back one is a little tougher pill to swallow. I get that. So as my running back, too, I love it. Would it be easier to swallow you to switch those picks, but they both went to you still? Like A-chan, what was the first pick?