Mock Draft Mayhem Returns! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/17

I don't know who you are, but I do know what you need. I can tell you, I know some gentlemen with a very particular set of skills. Skills they have attained over a long career of studying tape and statistics. Skills they want to share to make you a nightmare for the rest of your league. Head over to www.ultimatedraftkick.com and order it right now. You will be prepared for your draft. Your league will be frightened of you. And you will kill them. To the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. It's football time, boys. I just checked. Okay. I wasn't sure. A little bit. A little bit of football today. I'll take it. It's just one game.

I thought I was going to get a, when you started, I thought I was going to be its mock draft, mock draft. It was. And then I was like, oh, crap, is it mock draft and football time, which it is. It's mock football time. Yeah. Which is really what this is. Preseason is mock football. How many games tonight, Mike? Just the one. We got the Cleveland Browns at the Philadelphia Eagles. And I am. very much enjoying that they have the records of the team. Oh, yeah, that's nice. So the Cleveland Browns coming in at a cool one-in-one, and the Eagles are 0-1. My mom, when I saw her, she's like, she wanted to talk Cardinals preseason victory. They did have a huge comeback win over the Broncos. And I was like, yeah, you probably saw more of that than I did. But welcome in one and all mock draft episode. I'm going to make a prediction.

I think this will be maybe the most entertaining and informative mock draft of the offseason. So we've got a mayhem mock draft today. It's a battle of the, battle of the turns. Yeah, the 101 and the 112. You two will be drafting head to head. I will be scattering some bombs throughout the draft for you to navigate, much like, you know, league mates will do in your actual drafts. And it's going to be a lot of fun. So the big story this week, last chance to enter, to win the ultimate draft kit for life. Our giveaway concludes on Friday. We have a live stream that ends at 630 Eastern. So that'll be the deadline. You enter by going to ultimate draft kit.com and picking up the ultimate draft kit by Friday.

And so those of you that have already supported the show and purchased that, not only do you have the best resource possible for your draft on the desktop, on mobile. We have an app for the UDK, but you also are entered to win the UDK for life. We're also going to give away a signed Eric Henry jersey and some more swag assigned T. Higgins mini helmet. And the winner, like I said, will be announced at the end of that live stream. We'll be live on YouTube, Twitch. We'll be live on X. Can you still do that? Yeah. Well, that's great. You thought they might have shut that down? I don't do it. You don't know. Who knows what they're doing? I'm going to call it Twitter. Great. For a little while until Google changes the thing. We're like, if you search on Google right now, it'll say something like topics on Twitter. Did you mean Twitter? Yeah. And then of course I did. It'll be everywhere. So you can tune in there. Ultimate draft kit.com to get involved.

The Dynasty podcast. Yeah. It released a new episode yesterday morning. It was, and it was the inaugural nasty Boys of Summer episode. Deep, deep, deep cuts. That's what dynasty. That's the really, that's the part that brings me more joy than any other part of the dynasty football or fantasy format is finding those guys. They're just, they're just a little bit nasty. But they're like, they might be on the waiver. And you could pick them up and somehow they turned into a starter for you for a couple weeks. And I believe last year, Mike, you and I won a championship. We did. Hit that button. Jared Patterson in our lineup. No, well, last year was Hassan Haskins. Ah. Hit that button again for Hassan. But the great thing is sometimes a nasty boy like Juan Johnson. Oh, that's a nasty boy. You pick him up and also you're like.

Well, I apparently have a tight end one on my team now. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, that is what it's all about. And there's nothing quite like the satisfaction of investing in a nasty boy and having it pay off over the long term. That's what I'm telling you. It is the greatest feeling. And so, yeah, there's a lot of them. And check that out, the Dynasty podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts. Let's hop into the news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. All right. This is significant. Joe Mixen found not guilty of aggravating menacing. Okay. And so that is completely dealt with. In the court of law, there will not be any further ramifications for Joe Mixon, who I think is a screaming value this year. He is the best running back by a lot on a Super Bowl caliber team.

who will catch a ton of passes with the absence of Somagia P. He already did last year for what it's worth. He will have massive opportunity. So that's good news for those of you with Joe Mixing on the roster. Jonathan Taylor left camp again, this time for a personal reason. His absence is excused, not related to contract, according to the Colts reporter Stephen Holder. But we have yet to feel comfortable with Jonathan Taylor this offseason. It's bad vibes. Traylen Burke's LCL sprain during practice. That's great news. If you saw the video and, you know, the way he went down, you just worried, okay, this could easily be, you know, an ACL tear and his season could be over. It looks like he's going to, you know, need two to four weeks to recover. Maybe he's not there for week one, but he's not missing the season. It is not my favorite thing to have, you know.

had happened for a guy that has dealt repeatedly with injury. Last year's rookie season could have been much better, obviously, if it had not been disrupted a couple of times. Breece Hall, still dealing with occasional knee soreness, still wonders if he can make certain cuts. It makes sense. Matthew Betts are injury experts that it's normal at this point in the recovery, but it's also, I think, something we expected for the first half of the season that there was going to be. Look, that's half the battle with these major injuries is player confidence in doing what they used to do. The margin of error at the NFL level to be a successful running back, it's so small, right? Like, it's, you know, there's a lot of guys that make the NFL as running backs and they never really get snaps and they never make teams and they never contribute because they're just a little bit worse than the elite of the elite. So getting that confidence back that's going to take some time.

It's why they brought in Delvin Cook. And, you know, it adds to the fuel that maybe Breece Hall is a second half winner like he was projected to be last year at this time of the year. Yeah. I mean, the season kicks off here in a couple weeks. If right now he's still dealing with some soreness and, you know, has a little bit of the mental hiccups on being able to cut, you can guarantee that they're not going to just open him up. for full force football here come week one. That's just, it's not, there's no chance that that happens, especially with Dalvin Cook there. So when you draft Brees Hall, you need to know that you're, you're not starting him week one. You're not, you probably aren't starting him until week three at least. Jordan Addison in the concussion protocol could return as early as Monday, won't be in the preseason game. Okay. Which is a bummer because, you know, you like to see the rookies play. Just a.

have him on display. He had a good first game. And more than likely, I mean, with the new preseason structure, it would surprise me a little bit if they put him into week three. It feels like teams just preseason week, which is now the final preseason week. They just are like, okay, clear the bench. If you're not going to make the team, just go out there and put some tape out. Russell Gage, we got the word. It was a season ending injury, ruptured Wright-Pateller tendon. That's super unfortunate for Russell Gage. I mean, how old is Russell at this point? Trying to pull it up real quick. He is 27 and a half. That's just, that's a devastating knee injury to have to come back from at his age. It could be the end.

Trey Palmer was a sixth round rookie wide receiver on that roster if you're looking for a nasty boy in Dynasty. And then Kate Otton, I think, will be the biggest beneficiary. I already kind of like Kate Otton as a sleeper, second year tight end on a team that, you know. Jason refuses. I have refused. And then I've tried to talk him into Kate on so many times. You know, it's Mike Evans and it's Chris Godwin that are going to soak up targets, both having great camps, both ready to rumble with what looks to be Baker Mayfield after. He has created separation between him and Kyle Trask. A couple of Lions wide receiver injury updates. James hamstring injury. He will not be part of the preseason. It doesn't. Everybody's reacting very strongly to this. I guess I'm not because I know he's got six extra weeks to recover. It's not about the recovery for me. It's about a player who missed most of last year. Then when he was on the field, he got.

Just a handful of targets. He entered the year with one total reception. He wasn't a full-time player by any stretch, but this is a first-round wide receiver who by the end of the year is playing 25% of the snaps. But in the time on the field, he got nine targets. He caught one of them. Granted, that one was a 41-yard house call, so that's great. But the fact that he has his six-week suspension, and now he can't practice with the team on trying to... while they're trying to install the offense right now, and then he has to be removed from the team, it makes the idea of picking him up around week four or week five. Like, when will he really be ready? Like, are you going to be confident to just plug him right in week seven? And at this point, I would say no. I'd imagine he's going to hit a bunch of waiver wires in week two or three when people...

see his name at the end of drafts, want to take him, then realize, I need roster spots, and I can't put him on IR, and they're going to just let him go. And so, yeah, you're going to need to pay attention, but you're right. I mean, he's not, confidence is not going to be the word associated with that addition. Upside will be, sure, but not confidence. Alman Ross St. Brown, likely back on the field between sometime this week or next week. Small ankle injury should be okay. Devante Adams says he is ready to go. All right. He's back at practice. Dolphins left tackle Terran Armstead carted off with a right leg injury. Not good. This is a very, very good tackle. And if you look at the performance on the field with and without Taran Armstead, it is pretty wide. Why don't you share those numbers? Well, yeah, I mean the.

Rich Rebar tweeted out when he was on the field, Miami quarterbacks were pressured on just 28.4% of dropbacks with him off the field that climbed to 46.5%. Sack rate more than doubled. 46.5. That is not a sustainable rate for quarterback health. No, especially if your quarterback is to a tongue of Iloa. Yeah. So that is. Hopefully he's all right. Yeah, not good. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com. slash insurance. You guys ready for this? Oh, I don't think so. Can we be ready for this? No, you can't. The fantasy footballers mock draft. Well, this is going to be fun. We got a mock draft mayhem episode looking at a baller's preferred format draft, 12 team half PPR, one quarterback, two running back, two wide receiver, one tight end, one flex, four bench spots. I'm going to have the power.

I got the power. You're going to have to react. And very interestingly, it's going to be a whole bunch of back-to-back picks on today's show. So quick reminder, Jason's at the 101. Mike's at the 112. Do not lock your pick in until you get permission from me. Because you got back-to-back picks. Yes, sir. You got back-to-back picks. I can't have any funny business going on because I've got three mayhams to use on each of you, the ability to... veto a pick making you choose again, and we are adding the wrinkle of when you choose again, because I veto your pick, it has to be another position. Cannot be the same position. Oh, well, how nice for you. You get that new rule. I didn't get that rule. No, you didn't. Ridiculous. The second one is I can replace a pick with a player of my choice. You won't like it. And the third one, I will give the power.

bestow the power to your competitor. I'll give them the ability to make your pick for you. And we'll kick this thing off, Jason. You are the, you're the man that starts this draft. You're at the 101. Yeah, right now, the 101 is going to be, uh, the 101 is usually Justin Jefferson in most formats. Um, I think it's if you wanted to go chase, if you want to go Christian McCaffrey, there's a couple different. good options at the 101. For me, if this was a full PPR, if this was a three wide receiver, it would be an easy Justin Jefferson. Since it's two wide receiver, two running back in a flex, it's half PPR. I'm going to take the positional scarcity of Christian McCaffrey if I have permission, which of course I do because right now it's all good options here, right? Correct. Yes, you can start the draft with the expected selection of a stud. Christian McCaffrey off the board.

followed by Chase and Jefferson, then Echler, Berkeley, Kelsey, Tyreek Hill at 107. Like that value, Cooper Cup at 108, like that value. If I could guarantee those two players at 7 and 8, that would be my preferred draft spot in most drafts. Bejohn, who lives to be drafted at 109 these days, is taken there. And then Stefan Diggs and Devante Adams. before Mike is on the clock at 112 with two picks here. So it's time to make your choices, Mike. Have you mocked at the turn here? Not like this where I feel like I'm being pushed into a very high T start and just going double double on these running backs because left on the board is my, look, I have Derek Henry at number two.

And he is on the board. I got, it's a toss-up between Tony Pollard and Nick Chubb. I have Pollard technically at five and Nick Chub at six, but these guys are within just a mere fraction of each other. And I have been taking, I've been taking Tony Pollard a lot in the mock draft. So I'm actually going to switch it up just a bit to see, you know, I want to see what the team looks like at the end. So I'll give you both my picks here would be Derek Henry and Nicholas Chubb. Wow. A delicious combo of running backs that I will allow you to select. All right. Ooh, I like that. I'm going to give the respect to King Henry the Yeti. And then I will take Nick Chub in this. What a second round pick. What a loser. The amount of touches between those two players that you guarantee for that roster.

The amount of fragility and risk with those two players. I don't know. Is there really risk? Yes, there definitely is. I don't know. I don't know if there's risk. I mean, I feel like you essentially nullify the Henry risk with the Chubb selection in a lot of ways. But so Derek Henry, Nick Chubb, A.J. Brown goes next. C.D. Lamb, Jonathan, Taylor, Garrett Wilson. A couple of quarterbacks. I feel like I need to do like some pushups real quick or something. Oh, yeah? Yeah. I'm just. The testosterone is coursing. Dan Campbell would be a coursed through my body. Patrick Mahomes goes at 206, Amonara St. Brown at 207, Josh Jacobs at 208, Josh Allen at 209, and then Waddle and Stevenson. So Jason, you are back on the clock. I am back. Oh, come on. What are you upset about? Nothing. Clearly. Yeah, right. All right. Right now I've got Christian McCaffrey. I'm looking at.

The wide receiver position, and I really do like one of them better than the rest. So if I could have my selection here, I would take Christopher Olave. Is that the reaction that you were providing, Mike? It's one of them. There's many problems with this current scenario. Yeah, you're not going to tease what you would do with 301 yet. Oh, no. No, I thought Mike was so dumb to save both of his picks together. Mayhem. In that case, I'm going to use my first mayhem and I'm going to hand the pick over to Mike the fantasy hitman. You're going to get one guy that you want here probably. But I don't know if you're going to get two. All right. Well. So Mike, you get the opportunity to disrupt a roster that starts with Christian McCaffer. I don't know how you do that, but we're going to find out. Yeah, there's not a whole lot I can do. I can just kind of disrupt Jason's plan or at least what my plan would have been.

If I were Jason, because I love the Chris Olave pick right there, just a young wide receiver who is on the precipice of a massive breakout. And he would be his wide receiver one. I mean, they would be leaning on Olave to be the guy. But I'm going to give you a wide receiver one, who's technically a wide receiver two. I'm going to give you T. Higgins. Okay. Wide receiver 1B for the Cincinnati Bengals, setting you up. You'll see what I have done here for this next pick. All right. Well, since I am on the clock, I guess Chris Olave is still there. Yep. So I would select Christopher Olavee. Go for it. Oh, all right. Go for it. All right. All I didn't want was you to hit that turn with Christian McCaffrey. And Tony Pollard. And go Chris Olave and Tony Pollard. That is. My skin would have just.

burst off of my body in rage. They're just flesh everywhere. It is 100% what I would have done. Yeah. Those were the two players that I would have taken. And, uh, man, do I like the one-on-one if the draft can fall like that? That was the, that was the true no is Tony Pollard fell to the edge of round two. That is just that is he was in consideration for you. Yes. At the turn. Absolutely he was. So that was your, your cry into the night. These stupid. Autogen picks. Yeah. So Higgins and Oliva, wide receiver, wide receiver. One of those of Mayhem selection. Disrupting your Tony Pollard. I mean, you could have taken Pollard. That would have been a... So here's what happened, just to walk people through it. When I got to my pick and saw Tony Pollard, that's who I wanted.

but to play the game, I brought up Christopher Olavi first so that then there was a chance, you know, I could get Pollard. But then after talking up Christopher Olavi, realizing I wanted him, I'm like, huh, he's still there and I could take him. So, I mean, there's really no downside with either one of those players. All right. Well, you have McCaffrey Higgins and Olavie to start this draft. And Pollard and Najee Harris go next. Interesting spot for both those guys. Mark Andrews at 304, Jalen Hertz. at 305. Then Devante Smith, his teammate, Brees Hall, Lamar Jackson, Jimmy or Gibbs, full Tee for Team 9 with Bejohn, Taylor, and Gibbs. Joe Burrow goes next. You've got five quarterbacks off the board at this point. And then Travis E. TN, a player, I think we're going to be talking a lot about over the next couple of weeks. He goes next. Mike, you are on the clock at the 312 and the 401. Yep, I am up.

Travis E.T.N. going a spot before me was a full blessing for this team because I know the scheming would have certainly started for Jason's brain. The risk of taking the two running backs while I have two very high-level running backs, and I'm happy with that start. But the wide receivers left for that true wide receiver one range. DK Metcalf, Andy, I'm sure you're very comfortable with him as a number one. I am not so much. Kind of the same for Debo. So it feels like Keenan Allen might be the pick there. But then I go back over to the running back position. And he was mentioned in the news that this case was dropped. He's still inside the top 10 of my running back rankings. And Joe Mixen would be my pick right here.

Joe Mixing the selection. I'm going to let you take that player. All right. I'll let you take Joe Mixing. Nice. No, that's fine. Let's build up a disaster here. You're going to have the most T of all time. And you've- Keenan Allen would be my next pick. And that's not happening. That's fine. Mayhem. That's fine. What's actually interesting here, and I'm going to take the pick. This is going to be my selection in this draft because I see something here. I see. You know, you're going through this draft. You're through three rounds. You see Allen and Mahomes and Hertz and Jackson and Burrow go off the board. And look, you're at the turn. Uh-huh. You got a long wait. I do. I do. But you love a couple of Justin's in this draft. I do. I do. And even though you've got no wide receivers on this roster yet, I think you want to be out ahead of this quarterback situation. I do. And of course I do. Of course you do. So I think you're going to take Justin.

Herbert. Oh, okay. Go ahead and select Justin Herbert, Mike. That is your pick here. You've got to be so excited that that wasn't a running back given to you here. I kind of figured the mayhem was coming and I was expecting the other position, which I would have taken Justin Fields. So going Herbert over Fields is not the best for me. Oh, this feels. This is not an ideal build. Henry, Chub, Mix, and Herbert. Oh, come on. But we've got lots of rounds left for you to fix it, Mike. So, yeah, you've got to navigate that. Debo, Samuel, D.K. McCaff, and Calvin Ridley go next. I think all three of those players myself, I think, are values in the fourth round. Kenneth Walker, who took first team reps finally, back to practice. I have. Goes at 405. Where are you guys at with Kenneth Walker right now? I've shifted. I've moved him.

I moved him up a little bit. At least a few spots of... I noticed we actually both moved Charbonnet down a little bit. Yeah, just the... Even with the injury, I mean, he's back on the field now. I don't think he's in full practice just yet. I could be incorrect about that. But the drum beat out of Seattle is still. Kenneth Walker's the guy. He was right back to first for the running back team drills. And more and more, he has his inefficiencies, certainly. The goal line is a big concern, but I think he's going to be the primary guy. I certainly think he's going to start that way and feeling pretty good about it as well. So Walker goes at 405. We're going to take a quick break and come back with the rest of the draft. All right, Mike's team, Henry Chubb, Mix, and Herbert, fourth round continues. Hawkinson goes at 406. Keenan drops to 407, then Amari Cooper at 408.

Aaron Jones, Justin Fields. Yeah, that one was so tough. I really wanted him to make it to me, but two picks too early. And then Miles Sanders at 411. Jason, you are on the clock. You've got back-to-back picks. Yeah, I'm going to look at taking a player. that I think Mike and I both really believe in, really like. I'm not sure you like him as much, Andy. So if I'm allowed to take this pick, since I've got Christian McCaffrey and two wide receivers, I'd be looking at J.K. Dobbins, who is also back to practice and looks healthy and spry. Now, that would be Dobbins ahead of Madison and Cameron Acres and Damien Pierce and James Connor. Why don't you make that pick? Oh, all right. I will.

Now, we are a benevolent master of mayhem over here. Yeah, I wouldn't hold your breath, Mike. We're entering the fifth round. Do I even need to say who I would pick? Yes, you do. We got a little. That's the rules. Well, no, you don't. What surprise? It's deucer mayhem time. What? Oh, my gosh. The light, there's a full light show? There's a whole light show going on. Wow. All right. So we have. What was that? A bit of a surprise here. We've got Deucer Mayhem. They are chuckling back in Deucer's Alley. And guess what, gentlemen, they own the fifth round. They own the fifth round for your teams. They're making both your picks this round. I just wanted to be clear. I got Mayhemmed into Justin Herbert to go with my high tea team. And I will also get this one. Uh-huh. That is correct. Uh, you love to see it.

Deucers have control now. Cool. Brooks, Al, Kyle, who's in charge of these picks? It's a group effort, but I'm going to make the announcement. We've got the perfect pick for Jason. Oh, baby. It's right up with his ADP, and it's just too perfect. Jason is selecting George Kittle here. Oh, okay. Yeah. That makes sense. I've bodied him. Look, he's a great player. He'll have a couple big games. Wow. Not a guy I want to take at the, at his ADP. So go ahead and take him. You got to make the pick. You got to click the button yourself. George Kittle of 501. Congratulations. Thanks. The deucers hitting hard with their first deusers mayhem.