Mock Draft Army Recap & Early ADP

While the fantasy baseball world stays front and center right now, those who take their fantasy football seriously are already starting their prep work. We’ve watched the NFL draft, studied players, watched OTAs and are now gearing up for training camp. The fantasy information on players and teams isn’t too abundant as it is still considered to be on the early side for football, but that won’t stop the Mock Draft Army from diligently working on helping you prep for the season and creating an ADP (Average Draft Position) that will serve you well as you formulate your draft strategy.

The calendar hasn’t even flipped to July yet and already the Mock Draft Army is nine drafts into the season. We’ve done seven PPR drafts, two standard and we’ve ranged from 10-teamers to 14-teamers with the hope of broadening the spectrum of players as much as possible. The early ADP has been compiled and we’ll take a look at it in just a moment, but first, I want to go draft by draft and share some thoughts about my teams, my choices and, of course, some of the moves both our experts and other loyal soldiers have made.

Actually, before I start with the drafts, let me take a quick moment to give a shout-out to Fantrax.com, the new platform the Army is calling home. Fantrax has been around for some time now, but they’ve revamped their look and feel and their draft software is one of the best and easiest I’ve ever used. League commissioners, take note – super easy, incredibly efficient and Tim Wagner, Fantrax’ head of Product Development has been taking suggestions from everyone in the Army to help make the draft experience even better. Plus, as an added incentive, Fantrax is offering anyone who takes part in these mocks a free upgrade to a premium league ($80 value). Just register at Fantrax.com and use the promo code “bender” to get the upgrade.

Now let’s get to the drafts…

Mock Draft Army #1

The Army kicked things off with a 12-team PPR mock that featured me and Colby Conway from Fantasy Alarm, Doug Moore from the Gridiron Experts and Rob Touzet, head of production for SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio. Because it’s still early in the year, it’s tough to judge a lot of the later round picks. The first few rounds where most just go ‘best available player,’ are pretty easy to determine, but the later rounds seem to be based in more speculation. While that may mean we see some real hit-or-miss guys, it’s certainly a nice early look at some of the late-round “sleepers” whose ADP will need to be tracked over the next two months.

As one of those industry guys who is leaning away from the old-school ‘running back first’ mentality, I was fully planning on going heavy wide receiver first, especially here in a PPR format. However, at the 12^th pick, with all of the elite wideouts off the board and Adrian Peterson staring me in the face, I had to grab him with one of my first two picks. Gotta role with the punches, right? Believe me, though, I am certainly not going to complain when AD falls to down here, especially when you see that you can grab Brandin Cooks, Mike Evans, Golden Tate and Donte Moncrief as your top four receivers in a PPR format.

The rest of my RB corps is definitely weak though and I probably should have bulked up at the position instead of taking a potential suspect Jimmy Graham and then hedging with the Dwayne Allen pick. I probably wouldn’t have done it had I not been getting so much crap from the boys in the draft room, but hey…that’s why we mock!

Favorite Pick of the Draft (that doesn’t belong to me): Ladarius Green, RD 8, PK 2 (89^th overall) – The top six tight ends were off the board and while Colby could have gone with Colby Fleener or Gary Barnidge who both went in Round 9, I love Green’s upside here as a red zone target for Big Ben.

Least Favorite Pick (again, not mine): Tom Brady, RD 3, PK 5 (29the overall) – Come on. Really? Yes I know it’s a mock but Brady, with a potential four-game suspension, this high up is not the way you want to go in your draft.

Mock Draft Army #2

This was the draft that kicked off a run of seven drafts this past week, a 12-team PPR with more Doug Moore alongside Mastersball’s Lawr Michaels, SiriusXM producer Tim Riordan and John Laub from the Football Diehards. I had the fifth pick in this one so I was ready to go heavy wide receiver from the get-go and grabbed DeAndre Hopkins in the first and T.Y. Hilton in the second. I was primed to do it again in the third round, but this draft saw more RBs coming off the board earlier so I opted to grab Eddie Lacy and see where that took me.

I found Doug Baldwin and Michael Crabtree with my next two picks and then went a little off the grid for me and took Andrew Luck in the sixth round. I’m in the camp that waits on the quarterback position, but I figured I would give it a whirl here and see if I could still improve my ground game…well, at least improve over the last draft.

Well, that didn’t really work either as I nabbed Ameer Abdullah and then a pair of hopefuls in Tevin Coleman and DeAndre Washington later on. Not exactly ideal to head into a season, but there has to be a way to build a solid ground attack and still go heavy on the wideouts early on. A work in progress and plenty of time to figure it out.

Incidentally, this was the start of my “gotta grab Sterling Shepard and Roberto Aguayo” phase which, as you’ll see, ran a little too long. Looking forward to those drafts where I specifically avoid taking guys I am high on and see exactly where they fall.

Favorite Pick: Blake Bortles, RD 9 PK 7 (103^rd overall) – Surprised Doug Moore took Philip Rivers ahead of Bortles which, to me, makes this a hell of a bargain. If the Jags can get a stable ground game going, then Bortles won’t have to worry about defenses falling back so heavily into pass protection.

Least Favorite: Jordan Reed, RD 3 PK 7 (31^st overall) – I just don’t get it. Yes, he had a fantastic season last year and was a strong red zone target for Kirk Cousins, but he’s got a major injury history and I would prefer to stock up on the running backs and wide receivers this early in the draft.

Mock Draft Army #3

Another 12-team PPR draft here with another stellar cast of characters. Lawr Michaels joined the fray again, but this time he and I were joined by Corey Parson from Scout Fantasy, Mike Blewitt from the RotoExperts and Tim Heaney from USA Today. The chat rooms have been outstanding in these drafts and this crew really helped break down a number of things for the rest of the participants. And that, just so you know, is one of the best parts of these drafts. Not only are you getting a full mock draft with competitive and knowledgeable people, but the experts have been so good about answering as many questions as possible while also doling out some of their own unprompted thoughts.

I had the 10^th pick in this draft and remained hellbent of going receiver-heavy early, but while also being mindful of how much my running back corps sucked in the first two drafts. Wouldn’t you know it, though…there he was again…Adrian Peterson. The elite wideouts were obviously scooped up, so I went back to the well again, but this time, after taking Jordy Nelson, Kelvin Benjamin and Doug Baldwin, I went right back to the RBs and found Karlos Williams as my No. 2 guy, a potential beast in a PPR format. I stayed receiver heavy with my selections of Donte Moncrief and Sterling Shepard (could Aguayo be far behind?) and was pleasantly surprised to see Chris Ivory sitting there at my eighth pick. I also made sure that I built that RB depth with picks of C.J. Prosise and Tevin Coleman later on.

This was easily my favorite team of the first three drafts and even though I’m starting to wonder if maybe Dwayne Allen isn’t setting us up for unbridled disappointment, I feel like this crew has the most balance of the three teams I’ve drafted thus far. Yes, I know…Aguayo totally makes this team a contender and I fully intend on getting suckered in this year.

Favorite Pick: DeAndre Washington, RD 10 PK 8 (116^th overall) – The stolen handcuff is a favorite move of mine. While Latavius Murray went in the fourth round, Lawr stealing Washington in the 10^th was a great move. Especially if you believe that, given Murray’s track record, Washington has a legit shot at supplanting him as the starter.

Least Favorite: Jordan Reed, RD 3 PK3 (27^th overall) – I didn’t like him at 37 which means I like him even less at 27. This is great though as Reed’s ADP will stay high and I’ll happily let others waste the pick.

Mock Draft Army #4

First standard draft of the season, which we just kept at 12 teams as well. It was a tough time for a number of experts who are obviously all working on their own draft guides and what not so it was just me and Fantasy Alarm’s Jon Impemba as the resident industry folk. My thought process heading in was obviously a little different and I made sure that I was grabbing some running backs early. Picking out of the 12^th spot again, I went WR/RB with my first two sets of picks and felt pretty good with Devonta Freeman and Carlos Hyde as my top two runners while adding A.J. Green and Sammy Watkins as my top two wideouts. Might be a little wishful thinking given Watkins’ health issues, but when he’s healthy, the guy is money ion the bank.

I bulked up on receivers after that with Michael Crabtree and my all-too-obvious Sterling Shepard, but I also complemented my RB corps with Theo Riddick and Bilal Powell. I may or may not have forgotten it was a standard league though as those two guy are much better suited for PPR play. Still, I felt ok about this group if we were going to play it out. Not my favorite group of runners, but they should be fairly effective.

I opted to wait as long as I could before taking a quarterback and while I really wouldn’t want to go into the season with Marcus Mariotta as my No. 1, I knew I was going to take the forgotten Ryan Fitzpatrick super late. I think the Jets cave and give him what he wants and once he’s in place, he’s got two of the best in Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker to help pad his stats.

The Ladarius Green pick may have been a little early for me to grab a tight end, but I felt much better about it after seeing Tavon Austin (yeah, I’m a bit of a believer) and Travis Benjamin (Philip Rivers’ newest deep threat) still available in the next two rounds. And yes, that is Roberto Aguayo you see there.

Favorite Pick: Stephen Gostkowski, RD 10 PK 9 (117^th overall) – It’s not every day I applaud a move like this, but you know what…? The guy puts up numbers like a strong WR3/low-end WR2 and could see even more work through the first four games as the offense stalls without Brady. Here’s hoping Aguayo does the same!

Least Favorite: Ryan Mathews, RD 4 PK 7 (43^rd overall) – Have I mentioned recently how much I hate this guy? He just can’t stay healthy. I’ve got a little side action with Jeff Mans who took him early in the FSTA draft, so I’m looking to win there as well as in fantasy drafts when I avoid this clown.

Mock Draft Army #5

Back to the 12-team PPR format, back to the 12^th pick and this time, Jon Impemba and I had Steve Pimental join us for the fun. I wanted to change things up, so I wasn’t looking to go heavy wideouts early. Instead, I wanted to see what would happen if I used one of my first few picks on a quarterback. I grabbed Ezekiel Elliot who fell to me and paired him up with A.J. Green. I figured on my next trip around, I would grab the best QB available. Well wouldn’t you know it…Cam Newton was still sitting there.

I grabbed Golden Tate alongside Newton and now had to look through and see whether I should attack the RB position more or if the wideouts were flying off the board and turning into a premium. When it came time for my next set of picks, I didn’t like any of the top backs available, so there I was with my all-too-familiar Michael Crabtree and Sterling Shepard double-tap. I really have to stop taking Shepard soon as his ADP could end up skewed due to my infatuation.

From there I picked up Karlos Williams and Theo Riddick, both strong PPR option and then I also added Darren Sproles. Again, just zero faith in Mathews staying healthy and while Sproles is getting older and not really capable of being an every-down player, in a PPR format and with the likelihood of a rookie QB, he should see plenty of dump-offs.

I added some late-round upside in youngsters like Laquon Treadwell and Will Fuller, but I also ended up paying down for a tight end in Eric Ebron. If he’s really coming out of the slot more this year, he could actually be a total steal.

Favorite Pick: Mohamed Sanu, RD 11 PK 11 (131^st overall) – It should be real interesting to see how things play out for Sanu now that he’s with the Falcons. They don’t have a strong tight end to steal the targets and Julio Jones should see ample double-teams this year. If Sanu can prove to be more than just a third-down possession receiver, we could see some nice production out of him; maybe even a strong red zone threat.

Least Favorite: Allen Robinson, RD 1 PK 7 (7^th overall) – It’s not that I don’t like Robinson, but after seeing him falling to the early second round through the first four drafts, I thought he was a reach here, especially with a guy like DeAndre Hopkins on the board. Not the worst pick, but just not a favorite of mine.

Mock Draft Army #6

It was time to play around with league size here so we went crazy and did just a 10-team standard draft. We went heavy with the Fantasy Alarm crew as I was joined by Colby Conway, Ron Rigney and Alex Gormley, but we also were treated to another visit from Scout Fantasy’s Corey Parson. What I liked most was that this should be good prep work for the staff league as I have never drafted with either Rigney or Gormley.

I was going to go a little heavier with the backs as I did in the last standard draft, but when I drew the first overall pick, that plan was immediately scrapped in favor of Antonio Brown, the top fantasy player in the game right now. I was then going to double tap the running backs on the way back, but when Mike Evans was there, I knew I had to grab him. I did snag Eddie Lacy and yes, I do believe in the impending rebound, but I also knew that, despite the league being incredibly shallow, I was going to struggle for a decent ground game in a standard format.

I managed to grab Latavius Murry with the intent of landing his handcuff later on, but I also found Chris Ivory in the sixth and Karlos Williams in the seventh. As the draft progressed and I saw who was available in the later rounds, it became obvious to me that DeAndre Washington could be had on the waiver wire, so instead, I grabbed C.J. Prosise and I bulked up on receivers and tight ends.

While I grabbed Aguayo yet again, I also let Sterling Shepard pass me a few times so I could see where he would go. Granted, it was a standard draft, so people were discounting and he finally landed with Colby Conway in the 10^th round. I do not see him falling that far down in a PPR format.

I’d like to do a best/worst pick here, but, in truth, it’s a 10-teamer. Unless there’s a glaring mistake made in one of the first couple of rounds, it’s tough to come up with a particular pick that is so bad that it would warrant such a commentary. Conversely, in a 10-teamer, everyone’s got a virtual all-star team, so choosing a favorite is like asking me if I’s like chocolate or more chocolate. It’s all good. If you’re playing in a league this shallow, just keep grabbing the best available player. I usually like to fill out my entire starting roster, save for the kicker and the defense, and then start adding to the bench for depth. So long as you watch your bye weeks, you should be just fine.

Mock Draft Army #7

Just following the season’s first 10-teamer, I opted to go the other way here and do the Army’s first 14-team PPR. From the industry, we had me, Rob Touzet and Doug Moore, but the group of listeners/readers were obviously experienced. I knew most through Army drafts in the baseball season and knew this was going to be competitive. I had the seventh pick, a spot I tend not to like, so now I knew my work was really cut out for me.

The plan was again to go heavy wide receivers early and see how I could build my running back corps in rounds four or five, but as usual, that had to get tossed out the window when four of the first five picks were the elite wideouts. On top of that, both Todd Gurley and Le’Veon Bell were gone, so I was left with the upside of Ezekiel Elliot, old school Adrian Peterson or A.J. Green, the best available receiver. Sure, I could go with Gronk, but with the impending suspension of Tom Brady and the fact that I just can’t get on board with a first-round tight end, I figured I’d go against my usual instincts and build around Elliot. I don’t love the pick, but if maybe this were a keeper league, I’d feel differently.

I followed that pick with a heavy dose of my usual favorites in a PPR format – Brandin Cooks, Kelvin Benjamin, Michael Crabtree and yes, of course, Sterling Shepard. I was pretty surprised that I was able to land all of them as guys who see such a heavy dose of targets usually come off the board a little faster. Again, as we move deeper into the mock season, I’ll stop taking these guys in drafts just to see if I’m not overvaluing any just based on my own opinion. We all know how easily that can happen – you dig a guy so much that you get paranoid over the prospect of losing him to someone else who feels the same way, whether anyone actually does or not. That always ends up becoming a reach pick and most of the time, people don’t even realize it. That’s another reason we mock. You try different strategies, one of which being that you avoid all your favorites just to see where they end up being drafted.

I then built up the ground game as three of my next four picks were running backs. I especially like Karlos Williams who, before he was concussed, was scoring touchdowns almost every game. The upside of C.J. Prosise and the comfort of owning Darren Sproles who is just one Ryan Mathews injury away from being a little more heavily featured, would allow me to feel comfortable walking into any season. The rest is all self-explanatory.

One thing I will add is that my streak of four-straight drafts owning Shepard and Aguayo came to an end thanks to loyal Army soldier Tim Mills. He even did it at the pick right before mine, so I’m going to have to find some way to exact revenge. Next time, Mills. Next time.

Favorite Pick: Gary Barnidge, RD 10 PK 4 (130^th overall) – Seems like Barnidge isn’t getting as much love this year as he deserves based on his performance in 2015. Maybe it’s the RG3 effect or something. But with other top tight ends off the board, Logan comes in with a nice grab here which forced me to hold off and wait on Dwayne Allen in the following round.

Least Favorite: Danny Woodhead, RD 5 PK 13 (69^th overall) – Yes, he’s a strong asset in PPR leagues, but there was plenty of more valuable talent still on the board, including running backs Karlos Williams, Theo Riddick and Chris Ivory.

Mock Draft Army #8 – After Dark Edition

Well now this was another fun one as I was asked by Lisa Ann and Pilar Lastra from Fantasy Sports After Dark to help set up a mock draft to be done live on their show Fantasy Sports After Dark which goes from 10-midnight ET on Thursday nights. We had a really nice group of folks here as Lisa Ann and Pilar were joined by me, Ray Flowers, Colby Conway, SiriusXM producer Tristan Plunkett and John Laub from the Football Diehards. For those not in the industry, it was a strong mix of guys, including Tim Mills and Jesse Raiola from the Army and reliable Sirius listeners Billy Haze, the ToddFather and Brian Hollingsworth.

With the third pick in the 12-teamer, I was finally able to go heavy wide receiver to open as there would still be an elite player available to me. In the other draft where I had the No. 1 overall pick and grabbed Antonio Brown, I wanted to do it then, but with it being a standard draft, running backs came off a little quicker than usual and I had to adjust. This time I swore that the most I would do was one RB in the first five rounds and from there, see what developed.

I absolutely love the trio of Julio Jones, Brandin Cooks and T.Y. Hilton as my top three picks, so I felt fine going with Latavius Murray in the fourth round. This time, however, I wasn’t leaving the draft without DeAndre Washington. II let him go in the 10-teamer after taking Murray, but it was not going to be here in a 12-team league. Mission accomplished in the 12^th round.

Knowing that I was going to load up on the receivers, I opted to go with Coby Fleener in the fifth round to solidify a strong tight end. Probably a reach here, but the hype machine is lighting it up like he’s the next Jimmy Graham. In retrospect, I probably should have gone with someone like Emmanuel Sanders or Donte Moncrief. I don’t hate the pick, but the Saints have been unsuccessfully trying to replace Graham since he first injured his shoulder and no one has come close.

Some real nice depth for my squad overall as I like Prosise, Riddick and Washington, but more importantly – Shepard? Check. Aguayo? Check.

Favorite Pick: It’s a toss-up here for me. On one hand I’d like to say Pilar’s three-time auto-pick of Steve Smith just based on her on-air rants or Lisa Ann’s selection of Tyler Lockett as it put John Laub on tilt for almost the full remainder of the draft. Sometimes your favorite picks aren’t necessarily the best player. It’s the ones that piss the most people off!

Least Favorite: DeAngelo Williams, RD 6 PK 6 (66^th overall) – Sixes were wild here with this pick and while I can understand the appeal of Williams with Le’Veon Bell still alluding to the fact that he’s not cutting and running the way he would like just yet, but there’s still plenty of time for him to work himself back into shape. Not to mention, Brian wasn’t even handcuffing here. He didn’t take Bell in the first round. If I was going RB, then I would have preferred Karlos Williams, Duke Johnson or even Ameer Abdullah.

Mock Draft Army #9

The Army finished off a seven-draft week with a nice Friday night 12-team PPR, joined by Doug Moore, Lawr Michaels, David Kerr and for the first time, Mike Ivanitch from Fantasy 8-Ball. We were joined by some strong Army vets as well, so while you always have to take a Friday night June mock with a grain of salt (lots of drinking and smoking usually), it was still a strong enough crew to keep it competitive.

I drew the fourth spot for the first time and while I fully expected to go heavy wide receiver to start, I wasn’t ruling out the possibility of Todd Gurley here. Fortunately, I didn’t have to make any tough decisions as Julio Jones fell to me. From there, it all fell into place with Amari Cooper and T.Y. Hilton as my next two picks. I wavered between Cooper and Evans and opted for the former with the hope that the latter may fall to me in the third. Brandin Cooks was also available so I thought at least one of them would be there for me. Of course, that did not happen as loyal Army soldier Ryan took Evans and Lawr sniped me on Cooks. Not complaining about Hilton at all. Just sayin’.

I don’t love my starting RBS in Latavius Murray and Jay Ajayi, especially after Lawr sniped me again on DeAndre Washington, but I like the depth I added behind them in Prosise, Williams and Ivory. I probably could have found better or maybe even some stronger back-up receivers, but I tried something a little different and scooped up Andrew Luck in the sixth round. I’ve been doing a lot of waiting on quarterbacks again, save for this draft and the one I took Newton, so I wanted to keep things mixed up. If Luck returns to being Luck again and Latavius Murray doesn’t eat it for me early, this squad looks pretty damn tight!

Favorite Pick: Sterling Shepard, RD 8 PK 2 (86^th overall) – Kudos to Arctic Char for saving me from myself. Again, Shepard is going to be a strong option this year with Victor Cruz still struggling to come back, no Rueben Randle and Odell Beckham Jr. seeing a number of double-teams.

Least Favorite: Lamar Miller, RD 1 PK 10 (10^th overall) – I’ve never been a big fan of Miller and had to eat a little crow last year with his performance. However, while the situation seems a little brighter in Houston, I just don’t know if he’s someone I want to trust as my first-round pick. Gronk, Dez, Allen Robinson and A.J. green are all players I would have taken ahead of Miller.

Mock Draft Army ADP