Fantasy Football - Mock Draft Episode! - Podcast for 5/22

Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in, everybody. It's mock draft time. Oh, ha, baby. Oh, you got me. We are still back. Oh, I didn't see that coming, Mike. That was a surprise. And what a great time you stepped into the void because I won't be welcoming in for a while. I will. And you stepped into the void and you delivered. the excitement the people have been looking forward to. I got a, uh, I got a DM from Brooksie. Oh. And he was like, I mean, you know, uh, uh, uh, Christmas Carol Tiny Tim? Yeah, that's, he was like, brooksy. Yeah, he was, or like all of. He was like, please, sir. He wanted it. I need it's mock draft time, sir. You know what? There's one crutch. Yeah, yeah. The first mock draft of the season.

Thursday, May 22nd, it deserves some special attention. We are degenerates. What are we doing? This mock draft is going to be outstanding today. It is filled 100% like the three of us are in the draft. The rest of the draft is filled with staff from the fantasy footballers live. So there won't be any, you know, no AI drafting in the middle of May. It's actual decisions and picks by. parts of our team and so i'm a i in this draft we build the adp yeah this is this is going to be so much fun i don't know what's going to happen i'm sure my team will look great but it's going to be it's going to be a good time we have other things to talk about first we have 10 days 10 days until my goodness the ultimate draft kit it has been requested this song

I don't think we have to fulfill every request. I haven't hit that button in a long time, Mike. You know, over the last couple of years, AI has really come a long way. And that was an AI made song a couple years ago. I feel like they could do a better job. I feel like if we were... I don't know, man. That might be the pinnacle. That was the people of AI. You ever heard that song? It's beautiful. Yeah, 10 days until the ultimate draft kit, which means you have 10 days to get it at pre-order pricing, all of our tier-based rankings, all the customized scoring for your league. We have the ability now you'll be able to import your ESPN private and public leagues, your NFL league sleeper, Yahoo, we've got support for the most platforms we've ever had. We've got 100 plus player profile videos coming out. We got all our sleepers breakouts, busting values figured out consistency charts.

The mobile app is outstanding. A huge shout out to our team here. Oh, man. The update that is coming. The update that is coming. By the time the ultimate draft kit launches, it will be out. Make sure you download the latest version of the app. It is faster than it's ever been. It's more effective to be able to switch between scoring systems and to search for players and to be able to filter players and mark them. It is an extremely valuable tool. It is our like. Now you are laughing. What's going on, Chuckles? I'm laughing because I just saw a piece of poop on our set. Wait, what? Yeah. Oh, come on. What is this? There's a piece of poop just sitting on the set. Oh, man, going back to Deucers Alley. Joksters. You know, it doesn't take much to entertain low IQ people. You know what I mean? Man, that's why Jason left. Oh. It was a great joke. It was a good gag. Yeah, that, um,

That was funny. Ultimate draftgad.com is where you want to go for that. And we do have an announcement. Hit an announcement sound. Thank you. The Dynasty Week. I already did that. We did have Dynasty Week last week. There we go. That is three virgins. We have a winner. We were giving away a sign Nico Collins jersey. The winner? Gentlemen? Let me pull the tab back up. We got Max Hughes. Max, congratulations. You will be receiving a Nico Collins jersey. Signed. Any more poop on the set? Not yet. Not yet. Oh, okay. Okay. Oh, great. This is a thing now. There's a thing that we do. Just hide poop on the show. Great. It's a reason to go to YouTube, I guess. Let's talk news. News and notes from around the league. Well, well, well, I.

said on the show on Tuesday, I did not think that the Tush Push band would pass. And then every single tweet and piece of news that we got from that moment on said it was definitely going to get banned. You looked real stupid. And I was like, I guess I was way off. And then Adam Schaefter reports today the proposed ban of the Tush Push did not receive enough votes at the owner's meeting. Well, the last thing I saw that was that they're pulling it. behind closed doors. They did that. Oh, and then they voted. I believe it as a done deal. 10 teams did not vote to ban it. So they voted to keep it. Oh, I've got the names. I needed them out. I need to know who the true heroes are. Let me tell you who the true heroes are. The whole division wanted it banned. Of course. Other than Philly. The NFC West wanted a band. And you know what? We're weak. Look, I will allow all NFC East people to want to ban it. Right. That's fine. I would too. That's fine.

I would be in the coward's position and I would own it. I would say, yeah, I don't like that play. Okay. Yeah, they won the Super Bowl. I don't like that. Yeah. Yeah. So I'll tell you who is awesome because there's 10 teams that banned, that said, we're not banning this play. Yeah. We're going to stop the play. Nine of those 10 teams, they don't play the Eagles this year. So that's pretty cool. But the real juggernaut, I mean, the lions, the lions are out there. They're on the schedule. They got the Eagles this year and they're like. No, we're not, we're not. Dan Campbell is not going to stand for being weeks off. Man Campbell. Man Campbell. Coming through. Guns Mahoney. Dude. Dude. My dude, Dan, the legend of Dan Campbell just man Campbell. It's biting kneecaps. It grows. This is, like, is he pulp onion? Eagles, Ravens, Browns, Lions, Jaguars, Dolphins, Patriots, Saints, Jets, and Titans said, we're going to play football.

and try to stop. Yes. Love it. Okay. All right. It won't go anywhere. I don't know if Mike was, you know, publicly, it seems like, you know, man Campbell. It's the manly thing to be pro push. But I think some are deep down with the first pick in our League of Record draft and Saquan Barkley sitting there, you might have wanted it to be banned. I would have accepted it because I would have personally benefited from it, but I still did not want it to be banned. Couple other things you can talk about real quick before we jump into the mock draft. The Titans, you know, this is more discussion from head coach Brian Callahan. Says he wants the backfield to be more of a split in 2025, a healthier division of labor between Pollard and he did. The part of the quote that I find the most interesting is he says, I think in a perfect world it's a healthier division of labor. Yeah, we don't live in that world. And look, Tajay Spears is fine, but Tony Pollard is a.

good running back. He's a better running back. So the perfect world is like the better player needs to be on the field more. I think what you're saying is in a perfect world, Taj Spears would be good enough to split 50-50. That's what I'm reading. This is not any different than the way they walked into the season last year. All the talk last year was about an even split. But then push came to shove and Tony Pollard was better. That's going to happen. Move Pollard's ADP down and I'll take it. Pollard was one of five running backs to average 16 plus rush attempts and three plus.

3.5 plus targets a game. So, you know, if you're the better player, you're going to play more. And Spears miss games with injuries. So, yeah, this is maybe just a discount on Tony Pollard. Maybe he shows up in the values. I would, like, I will say, I'm not going to, you know, just say, I guarantee it's the exact same as last year. You have to pay attention to this stuff. But they did say it. And there was just, there's such a difference watching. To me, there's a difference watching part in Spears. Remember when Michael Carter was supposed to have a big part of the backfield with Peace Hall? Kyron Williams says he's feeling good about his chances for an extension. So what are we like, we're like pre-extension optimism? It is. This is one of the most important. Like I would say for fantasy purposes, for dynasty leagues, this is the contract I've been waiting for because.

what happens to Karen's value with or without this extension is monumentally different. If he gets an extension, I think he's a top six fantasy running back who's young enough with several more years to play for a good team. If he doesn't get it, he's probably going to hit the free agency market next year and get replaced and become pretty irrelevant on some other team. I did not know this. This is news to me. I did not see this announcement. The Buffalo Bills will be featured on the 2025 edition of Hard Knocks. I like it. That'll be fun. Mm-hmm. And I guess they want me to tell you that Kenny Pickett and Dylan Gabriel will take the number one and number two reps for the Browns. Okay, that's not really a shock for me. When OTA's, well, Flacco's not in that list. Yeah, I've heard he may be moving on. Mm-hmm. I've heard he may be a trade candidate for a team that needs a real backup. Yeah, because they didn't, I don't think they anticipated the double up in the draft.

of, you know, taking two guys and then they traded for Kenny Pickett. But I guess just, I mean, in the order of things, I would expect the guy who got their first picket to get the first opportunity and then the draft pick higher than Shoulder Sanders to get the second one. But if Flacco left, I mean, the door's even more open for one of these rookies to be the starting quarterback at some point during this season. I think we know. It will be really hard. Like I tried to stack Kenny Pickett for 17 games. because I believed that that was who they brought in to be the starter. That is, you know, who will be their primary quarterback? But then the more I dug into it, I'm like, there's just no way this team with their projected win total with Kenny Pickett's talent level, that he can play 17. They're going to lose too many games. They've got two rookies behind him. I just don't see a world where he succeeds enough. Any other news back there anymore? Poop on this set?

No, sir. It's only matter. Funny clowns over there in Ducers Alley. Okay, well, it's time. Let's do it. The fantasy footballers mock draft. Well, well, well, it is, it's time. Maka Laca, ding dong. 12 team half PPR draft. Mock draft. We've got one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight in, one flex. Four bench spots. I am drafting at the two spot today. Mike at the three. Jason down near the turn at pick 11. But like I said, all the spots are filled with live drafters here from the fantasy footballers team. So we're going to get right into it. And the first pick off the board, the Falcon has the pick and Jamar Chase is gone. Number one. Okay. That puts me on the clock. And I think my selection here, Tush push or not, we'll go safe.

Kwan. Okay. Sequin Barclay is very safe and I will take Saquan Barkley here at the 102 and get it off to a smooth start and put Mike in a different position. At the 103, I'm already like, because I have not mocked draft yet. Please tell me you're tilting. No, I'm not tilted. I've just, it's like a, oh, this is an actual real decision now that I'm, I'm looking at it because I got CMC's my RB1, but. And you're not going to draft them in the second round. We all know the risk, yeah. If I want him, I got to take him here. And it's like Bijan's my two. Now that I actually have to make that selection and inherit the risk that is Christian McCaffrey, am I willing to do it? It is certainly hard. And I mean, he's not even close in ADP, but he won't make it back. Well, I mean, that is part of the risk rating versus you're projecting Christian McCaffrey in the UDK for a full season.

But there is a risk factor to Christian McCaffrey that you've ranked higher than Dijon. 100%. And so that is still a decision to be made. That's why we say you factor all those elements in when you're making the draft pick, not just the order of operations. How are you going to build your team? What are you looking at risk-wise down the line? Yep. And upside. And Andy, you were talking about on the, I think, Tuesday's show. And I'm with you of like looking over the 49ers schedule. It's juicy. That's like, that's a schedule that they should be really winning games. And like I don't see a way. I'm just, oh, stop talking. I'm take Christian McCaffrey. Oh, I'm going to do it. And like, part of that decision, you know, of like, Brock Purdy's there. The extension's in. And it's like, and I was voicing, I have some concerns about Michael Pennix. You know, like, Bijon is still going to be great in all. But it, do we get into week seven? And we're like, man, Pennix doesn't have enough to make this offense really hum.

And it's hurting Bijon. It will be fascinating. I would have taken Bijan at two over Sequin. That was one of the things I was surprised about coming into the offseason. It was like, okay, Sequin's going to be the number one running back, you know, what he just did, 2,000 yards rushing all the rushing touchdowns, the great offense, running it back with all the same personnel. But when the stats... fell. I had Bijon in my number one spot. I, you know, he projects to catch so many more passes than, uh, Sequin. And also there is a little bit, to me, Bijon is the least risk yet. I, I, I agree. I think he does. He feels like he's the safest, but his true ceiling to me doesn't feel like Sequin or Christian McCaffrey.

I agree with that. We know the explosive plays. We know that Sequin brings you game or week-winning weeks. Yeah. I just looked at the numbers, by the way. I have 274 fantasy points in a half-point league projected for Sequant, and I have 275 for Bejohn. I have them literally neck-and-neck. I said, I think Seq's safer to me because of the Pinnock's variable by a little bit. That's why I went that way. Both guys belong there. After Mike went with CMC, that meant Bijon dropped to four. Then Jefferson off the board, C.D. Lamb at 106. Gibbs drops to seven. Do you think Gibbs will be higher than that in the majority of drafts? Yeah, I mean, he's going to be in this range. Yeah, anywhere from five to seven. Because Jefferson and Lamb, I don't blame anyone for starting the draft with one of those two guys. It'll just be how do you prefer to build? So Gibbs at seven.

Derek Henry off the board at 108. Wow. He just signed a new two-year extension. Yes, he did. It doesn't really seem like there's a way for Henry to have a disappointing year to me. I think Henry is very safe. Pucanakua goes 109 ahead of Amman Rae St. Brown. Amman Ra goes at 110, and Jason, you're on the clock here as we get through the first round. Five wide outs off the board, five running backs off the board. Are you asking AI what to do here? I see you typing over there. Yeah, no, I know who I want to take for sure. So we have a situation right here. I see him. I don't know if you know how to type that. So we can all. Yeah, let's just announce it. No, I'm bringing it up. Yeah. Jason is very easy. He's trying to buy time because he cannot find Ashton Genty, which means he cannot spell. No, he's just sitting there. I'm looking right at him.

You found him, didn't you? He just showed up. He just popped back in. I refreshed it. He's there now. I was on the wide receiver tab. Oh, he's not going to be. He's not in there. I kept so. I'm like, I know. I know there's an A. I know it's over here. I know it's gentie, but there's an A in it. Have you ever done this? This would have been amazing if you had to draft a different player. That would have been the best possible outcome. I've timed out, guys. I can't find him. Yeah, I think this is a spot where he will go in August. I mean, I could see him climb up. That was great. I can see him going four. Yeah, yeah, he might. But some people are just going to be like, there's going to be a lot of leagues where he's at the back of the first. And I think that value is astronomical. Because McCaffrey will not go at the three in, I think most leagues. I bet McCaffrey's true ADP will be like the second half of the first round.

unless you keep taking them this high and maybe you drive it up. But Ashton Genty to Jason eventually at the 111, Josh Jacobs off the board at 112. I have Josh Jacobs ranked very high in my running back rankings. I have them ahead of Christian McCaffrey and Bucky Irving and those guys. I think that Jacobs will, for a lot of people, be one of the highest value picks because he just drops. This is just what he does. And I'm not surprised Brooks is the one that took him at 112. because Brooks has always been a Jacobs believer. And, you know, he's the motor on that offense. He's going to score double-digit touchdowns, I think. So Jacobs goes at 112, Nico Collins at 201, and Jason back on the clock, hopefully with a simpler to spell name. Yeah, it should be pretty easy to find this one. I know where I'm going. I will say this. I have Malik Neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr. available to be drafted here. Brian Thomas Jr., I have...

So high. He's my wide receiver four. He's ahead of Malik neighbors and my personal rankings. Both would be excellent picks here. However, I think that I'm going to take that positional advantage. I'm going to draft Brock Bowers. You know, I've been saying this this all season. You are. You are team raiders. Yeah, sure. I mean, I think both of those players are going to be complete difference makers. And if you've got them at, you know, there's. There are years where, you know, if you had Antonio Brown and Levy on Belt, you're fine. And this projects that way for me because there's not a lot of other people on the roster I'm fearful of. So Brock Bowers at the 202 neighbors, Brian Thomas and T. Higgins back to back to back off the board after Bowers. And then Jonathan Taylor at 206, A.J. Brown goes off the board to Betsy. Betsy has lamb and A.J. Brown. Oh, man. No T.

And so the wide receiver position all filled up. And then Tray McBride goes off the board at 208. Okay. Look, had he been sitting there for either of us, Mike? I'm sure we would have. Very strongly considered it. Yes. ...thought about Tray McBride in the second round here. But we'll take a break before Mike and I make our second round selections. First round, I went Barclay, Mike with CMC, Jason with Gentie. All went running backs. I don't know how often we... end up that way in these mocks. But all running backs in the first round, and we'll be back in just a second. All right, Mike, you are back on the clock. Christian McCaffrey was the first round pick at 103. Devon A. Chan just went off the board at 209 to producer Borland himself. What's your thought process right now? So the wide receiver run has changed where, how I'm looking at this, you know, I would have hoped a

a higher tiered wide receiver would have dropped compared to the running backs so but i'm just going to take the value that is that's coming to me and my in my personal rankings the i have him at running back seven so i will be selecting chase brown one of the big big winners of the nfl draft i know there's uh what's who's the rookie who the bengals take that everyone Todd Boyd? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Look, I know he's got his supporters around there, but I think that Chase Brown is going to be Joe Mixing levels of opportunities and snaps. And he's going to catch the ball so much. Yeah, he is going to catch a ton of dump-offs from Borough. Tage is exciting because so much production and he lands on a roster that's, you know, great offense with only Chase Brown to have him. But then I watched film and I was like, well.

There's a reason he dropped so far in the draft. Chase Brown was a day three guy too. It took him, like they kept going to Joe Mixon, who was on the field. That was his best quality. Chase Brown's a great player. I also knew you would take Chase Brown over Bucky Irving. Yes. Which benefits me. I have Bucky Irving higher than Chase Brown. I'm also sitting here at the two, three turn. looking at the Falcon, who has Jamar chasing the first round, who needs to pick up a running back. Because my number seven wide receiver, Drake, London, and my number eight running back, Buck Irving are both sitting here. Ooh. I'm going to go ahead and snag Bucking Irving here. I think it is the player. It's the player that I want. Wait, who put a poop emoji on my draft pick? We're just frying a poop all over the place. There's baby Jake. Baby Jake, you think I want to find out?

We are doing a podcast, baby Jake. People can see this. Oh, my gosh. I knew it was a problem to get him into this draft. So I went with Bucky Irving to pair with Saquan Barkley. Drake London does go next. I want to pretend that I forced that pick. Yeah. So Jamar chased Drake London, and then he gets good value on Kyron Williams at 301. You have to like that. Right. Yeah, I mean, I love Kyron Williams in the third round. I think that's where he's, that's where he's been going all offseason in best ball. I don't see him. Is he in your top 10? Yeah, he is. Yeah, he's my RB 10 right now. So it's, that's pretty wild. All right. I am back on the clock, Barclay and Irving for the first two rounds. I'm in, you know, the point of the mock draft is to work through the thought processes. Absolutely. And the first time you react to things.

It's between, for me right now, it is between Marvin Harrison, who I have inside my top 12, to be my wide receiver one. Or the place I'm in right now is like, if I wanted a top tier tight end, I'm not going to get one with the next pick. So this would be a super early Kittle spot. Sure. Because I don't think there's a chance at 411 that George Kittle is there. It's just a little bit too early for me. So I'm going to go ahead and lock in. a top 12 wide receiver by my board and go with Marvin Harrison. I was really hoping you didn't do that. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I mean, Marvin Harrison is lower in ADP. If people are going by ADP, he should get to the end of this round with me. And that would, you know, by ADP. By ADP. Yeah, I think I passed on like six whiteouts that are on sleepers ADP currently listed higher.

Yeah, and I would have taken Marvin Harrison. I would have dreamed of him getting to me at the 3-11. So, Mike, you were on the clock, McCaffrey, Chase Brown, pick 303. So you can tell this is an all-staff draft as a quarterback has not been drafted yet. So it's very tempting to take whoever it is at your QB1, Lamar, Allen, whoever it is, it's hard, but I'm going to hold off on that. because Ladd-McConkie is still available. I mean, he is not anymore because he is on my roster. Ladd-McConkie is in my top 10. I mean, just check out anyone's grading of Ladd-McConkie on the season, the peripherals, like the target and yards per route run. There's fantasy production, him being doing that all in his rookie year. People who chart how open a player gets. I have failed to see anything negative about.

what lad mcconkey did last year and it took it like herbert it took time for the passing game to get going but i i think that lab conkey's ceiling is tremendous i do like trey harris i don't have a problem with him at all but i think that lad is a true number one and top five is in range of outcomes for him wow that is that is very bullish i love hearing that because i love lad i am all in man wow so harrison to myself Mike grabs a white out as well. So we have two running backs and a wide receiver through three rounds. JSN goes to Al Borland with the next pick. Terry McLaren off the board. Rashi Rice at the 306. What do you think about that? I hate it. I hate it for me. No, I've got Rushi Rice very high.

I don't have the suspension happening this year in my current projections. Let's talk about him for just a split second. Sure. Because I feel like I'm in a different place with Rashi Rice than you two are. I think you two are, you have an expectation that he'll just hit the field and be their alpha in every capacity, fantasy wise. And you don't see the emergence of Xavier Worthy over the back half of the year or the availability of Hollywood Brown impacting him very much. And I guess I just want to. Like for me, I do see things being a little different than when he was kind of on fire before the injury. But both of you have him graded out really high. Yeah, I have him being the clear-cut number one target in the offense. That doesn't mean that Xavier Worthy and Kelsey and Hollywood aren't involved. But I do think target market share of the chiefs, it will be Rushie Rice in the middle of the field, those short quick slants that seemingly were unstoppable last year before the injury.

He's my wide receiver 13 right now. He is much riskier here than most people. When you say, oh, he's my wide receiver 13, that's great. There's obviously a range of outcomes here where Kelsey's still at a 24% target share and doesn't take a drastic drop the way that I'm projecting and that Xavier Worthy becomes better. So it's a risky pick. But we're at a place right now in the draft where when I look at the wide receivers available, They aren't, to me, no one is flawless here. So I would rather take the upside of what we saw in those first three games last year with Rushie Rice when he was like the wide receiver two. Yeah. And the worthy breakout is interesting to me because they did. It seems like they finally gave up on how they were using them at the beginning of the year. And then they said, okay, we're just going to try and use you like Rice. We're going to be gadget.