We’re one week into the month of August and already, the Mock Draft Army is beyond full-swing. We’ve completed a total of 12 PPR drafts (a mix of 10, 12 and 14-teamers) and four standard drafts of the 10 and 12-team variety. To say that they have been fun would be an understatement. To say that they’ve been educational would be an understatement. From start to finish, these drafts have been an invaluable tool as we prepare for Fantasy Football Draft Day.
While I’d love to sit and write up each and every draft and every interesting moment, pick or comment, there just isn’t enough time. You’re just going to have to join if you want to be a part of it. What I will do, though is write up Thursday’s 14-team, full-point PPR draft as we had an exceptional crew of both experts and readers and the draft room chatter was both entertaining and informative.
Before we get to that draft though (and the ADP for the first nine PPR drafts), I just want to take a moment and acknowledge some of the experts who have been participating regularly and have helped make the Mock Draft Army the success that it is. Big thanks to Doug Moore from Razzball, Lawr Michaels and the gang from Mastersball, Brad Pinkerton from The Sporting News, Bob Harris from Football Diehards, Rob Touzet, Mike Blewitt, Holden Kushner and the SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio crew, Jason Walker from Draft Kings, Russ Prentice from Last Word on Sports, Brad Jerde from Fantasy Team Advice and, of course, everyone from right here at Fantasy Alarm. These guys have taken a considerable amount of time out of their work schedules to help make these mock drafts a strong draft prep commodity.
And of course, all of you who have participated, you have my eternal gratitude.
Now let’s talk about Thursday’s 14-teamer…
Here’s a link to the completed draft board for quick reference: http://www.rtsports.com/football/draft-board.php?LID=165137&UID=fantasyfootball
With an incredibly strong group of drafters, I thought it would be a good time for me to deviate from my usual running back-heavy strategy and see what would happen if I went with wide receivers with my first two picks and see what my backfield would look like after that. With so many mocks under my belt already, I knew the elites at both the running back and wide receiver positions would not be available to me after the second round and considering I was picking ninth, that would easily stretch into the third round. Usually when I test out a theory, I like to go to an extreme, but considering the size of the draft and the quality of competition, I knew that two rounds would suffice. In addition to that, I also wanted to see what the team would look like if I jumped on the hype train and went with players who far too many people are clamoring over. I usually like to leave these guys alone, but for the sake of learning, I thought this was a good time to try it out.
So here’s how it went:
Round 1: Odell Beckham Jr., WR NYG – I bypassed some outstanding talent to make this pick, but you don’t find more hype regarding anyone like you do with Beckham. I’m not doubting his abilities to be a top-tier wideout, but in a real draft, if I was going with a WR-first mentality, Dez Bryant or Demaryius Thomas would have been my call.
Round 2: Alshon Jeffery, WR CHI – Despite everyone and their grandmother hating on Jay Cutler, expectations are through the roof with Jeffery now that Brandon Marshall is gone. If the tandem of Marquess Wilson and eventually Kevin White can prove capable enough to draw coverage their way, then Jeffery should be a strong, heavily-targeted option.
Round 3: T.J. Yeldon, RB JAC – The coaches are raving about him and the beat writers are lining up at his locker on their knees. I need a running back and he fits the hype-train mode. I’m still not ready to pass judgment with regard to whether I would really take him or not. That Jags o-line doesn’t enthrall me.
Round 4: Giovani Bernard, RB CIN – I missed out on C.J. Spiller who went in the second round, so I opted for the next best PPR “monster at the running back position. I still think he’s a little on the small side, but I also don’t believe all the Jeremy Hill hype.
Round 5: Tevin Coleman, RB ATL – I was surprised to see him available this late so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to pounce and try to lock in three backs to use as my core group. It’s just a matter of time before he earns the job, but for now, Devonta Freeman is still considered the team’s No. 1.
Round 6: Matt Ryan, QB – I wasn’t exactly sure how this crew would view the top quarterbacks, so rather than risk a run where I don’t get a guy I really like, like Ryan, I figured I would snatch him up. Three more QBs went between my sixth and seventh round, so I wouldn’t have landed Ryan, but the real run came at the end of the seventh when five-straight Qbs came off the board.
Round 7: Jordan Cameron, TE MIA – The tight end position is a friggin’ dumpster fire and I’ve actually been hyping Cameron as a Comeback Player of the Year candidate. With six tight ends already off the board, I thought this was an appropriate time to grab him.
Round 8: Breshad Perriman, WR BAL – Time to build that group of wide receivers and despite an early-camp leg injury, Perriman was still one of the top options left on the board for me. Who else is Joe Flacco going to throw to? Dennis Pitta? Steve Smith? Come on. Perriman has outstanding size and speed to his credit.
Round 9: John Brown, WR ARI – He started turning heads last season and this year, entering camp, he’s one of the hottest mid-round pick-ups. More often than not, when he’s picked up in a draft, there are a number of “nice pick” accolades that come your way.
Round 10: Reggie Bush, RB SF – Big Sid and his wife had something to say about this pick, but hey, I needed some RB depth and if he stays healthy and Carlos Hyde doesn’t turn out to be the beast of a bell-cow some have hyped him to be, then Bush should post some decent replacement value during the bye weeks.
Round 11: Marvin Jones, WR CIN – The hype train left the station two years ago, but now that he’s healthy, Jones could become a bigger part of the Bengals passing game. A.J. Green is still the top dog, but Jones should easily supplant Mohamed Sanu as the team’s No. 2 wideout.
Round 12: Javorius Allen, RB BAL – I’ve never been a big Justin Forsett supporter and Allen should leapfrog Lorenzo Taliaferro as the team’s short-yardage back. If Forsett gets hurt, he could be asked to take over if he has a strong camp. It’s a depth pick with the hope of some touchdown poaching.
Round 13: Colin Kaepernick, QB SF – I always like to have a decent bye week replacement at the quarterback position and Kaepernick is in a make-it-or-break-it season. Unfortunately, I wasn;t paying enough attention and did the exact same move I commented on earlier in the draft when Big Sid did it – Kaepernick has the same bye week as Ryan. If this were a real league I’d either have to trade him for some other QB or drop him immediately and see what’s left on waivers.
Round 14: Carolina Panthers, DEF – Damn you, Corey Parson! He took the Dolphins in the previous round. The Panthers do a good job on defense as well, but the Fins would have given me strong match-ups in six of the first seven weeks.
Round 15: Matt Bryant, K ATL – He’s always been so good to me and it’s a high-octane offense.
So that’s the way it went. Overall, it’s not a bad team with which to go into battle, but again, I still feel more comfortable with at least one high-end running back. But hey, that’s why we mock. We do it to test out as many different strategies as we can and see what works best for this particular season. Plenty more mocks to come in the upcoming weeks so stay tuned.
As an added tool for your prep work, I have also started compiling the ADP from these mock drafts. Below is the ADP from the first nine PPR drafts. We can call it the pre-Arian Foster injury ADP as we have now seen in this week’s drafts (ADP to be compiled and added for this coming Monday) that Foster is plummeting while Alfred Blue is jumping up the ranks. With each week, the ADP is going to show some changes, so also look for the ADP trend reports which I will be posting as well.
2015 PPR ADP
**To obtain your own sortable spreadsheet, simply email me at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com