Fantasy Football Today - 2024 Rookie-Only Superflex Mock Draft 1.0 (2/27 Fantasy Football Today Dynasty)

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

Looking to dominate your fantasy league just like your redraft league? Look no further than Fantasy Football Today Dynasty hosted by our very own Heath Cummings! Download and follow Fantasy Football Today Dynasty on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you find your podcasts.  Fantasy Football Today Dynasty is available on the Audacy app and Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts! Join us for a deep dive into the future of fantasy football with our Dynasty Rookie-Only Superflex Mock Draft! Expert analysts provide valuable insights and analysis on the top prospects of the 2024 class, including stars like Caleb Williams (2:30), Jayden Daniels, Marvin Harrison Jr, Brock Bowers (13:01) as well as mid-round sleepers like Ladd McConkey (21:10), Michael Penix Jr (25:20), Xavier Legette, Spencer Rattler (40:00), and tons more! Don't miss this essential guide for dynasty league managers looking to build a winning roster for years to come! Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I am so dreading groceries this week. Why? You can skip it. Oh, what? Just like that? Just like that. How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it. Prince Fluffy's favorite treats? Skippable.

Midnight snacks? Skip. My neighbor's nightly saxophone practices? Uh, nope. You're on your own there. Could've skipped it. Should've skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries meals and more delivered right to your door on skip whether in the game or in life the right coverage can make all the difference securing canada gives you that coverage for more than 65 years

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I believe this combination of Heath, Dave, and Dan may be the most common combination for Fantasy Football Today, Dynasty. Welcome back, Dave. Thank you. It's great to be here, and I'm always happy to participate in a mock draft, and that's what we're going to do today, right? We have right now, just getting started, a super flex rookie-only mock draft. It's our first rookie-only mock draft of rookie mock season.

It certainly will not be our last. Dan, you are on the clock with the third pick overall. We'll talk about who Dave and I took at one and two. But it's been a while since I think the last time I talked to you was a mock draft with Jamie, actually. It was. It was. And it's been the fun time of the year. We're getting to the combine, which is this week.

By the weekend, we're going to have some time, some athleticism testing for basically RAS scores for across the board for all of these prospects. Well, not all of them. Marvin Harrison won't be there and a few other big names won't be. But I'm excited to just get all into this all in. And right now, this rookie mock draft that we're going on that's going on is interesting to me because it's super flex. And in a non super flex, I have a very defined strategy for this year's rookies. I really believe wholeheartedly. This is the time last year. You know, I discussed a lot on this pod Heath, how I wanted to lean into

the strength of the class. And that was with the tight ends. It landed me guys like Laporta, Musgrave, some guys I'm very excited about for next year. And this year it's wide receivers. And I love this wide receiver class. It's unlike any other I've been. And you know, I don't really value running backs in dynasty. So it's a perfect year for me because there aren't really many running backs to get too excited about. So I do want to lean heavy on receivers, but in this type of mock draft, it's super flex and you have to factor it in. So with the top three pick here, I will be taking one of the quarterbacks. I believe isn't it. It's is in the tier one here. And one of the big three, and that's Drake may actually

have Drake may over Jaden Daniels as an NFL prospect, but Jaden Daniels to me is a fantasy prospect. I might've even taken him over Caleb Williams because I love his rushing upside. So I'll go May here with the third pick overall. Dan spilling the beans on the third pick in the mock draft. Before we talk about the first and second, we are off to a fantastic start. Well, look, it's on the screen. Everyone can see it. He put it on the screen because you said it. Dave, I started the draft off with the first pick. I actually just, you know, we're doing this in a Google sheet. There's no random button here to push.

And so I just went in order of the people who said yes. You said yes second. I said yes first. Dan said yes third. I took Caleb Williams at 101. That's who everybody has at 101. Do you think that there's anything that could happen in the next two months that changes that? Or are we just certain this is the guy? And then I'm going to, a follow-up question on that is one of the, one of the

questions we got in the mailbag a couple of weeks ago, where the guy had an opportunity to trade 101 for Justin Herbert. And so would you compare Caleb Williams to Justin Herbert in terms of how you're valuing those guys? A lot of questions. I think I probably, I know we're so nervous about Justin Herbert now that Jim Harbaugh's there, will be there for the next few years. And we know that Harbaugh's track record has been to lean into the run game. The fact that he's got Greg Roman as his offensive coordinator, we talked about it

on the regular FFT podcast. And so that combined with the fact that Justin Herbert's a little bit older than Caleb Williams and Williams, certainly a rushing type of quarterback, not necessarily as bombastic as Jaden Daniels. I think that you can make the case that Caleb Williams is worth it, especially if it's in a one QB league and a super flex league, you might get a little bit nervous about going with the rookie first and foremost. I think it really depends on what other quarterbacks you have on whether you give up Justin Herbert straight up for the one Oh one.

As for what could happen in the next, what is it now? Two and a half months that could take Caleb Williams out of the one-on-one. You know, they're going to nitpick all the prospects and anything that's bad about them is going to come out. And I honestly, I don't think that there's really a big deal about Caleb Williams style or Caleb Williams fingernails or Caleb Williams and his parents.

So I don't think any of that stuff that we've already seen is going to be anything that's going to deter NFL teams from taking him. I think the one thing that could deter fantasy managers from taking him is if he ends up with a squad that trades up with Chicago and doesn't have a great receiving core, new England goes all in and they take Caleb Williams. I think fantasy managers would lean into Jaden Daniels in that case, who I have ranked out of Caleb Williams for fantasy and maybe even for the NFL too, just because of his playmaking

ability, his rushing ability is better than Caleb Williams. He had a better arm last year than Caleb Williams. I think he might be more down to earth too, and that might make him maybe just a little bit easier for coaches to deal with. So to me, when it comes down to the top quarterback in this draft it's going to be beauty is in the eye of the beholder but i think jayden daniels is worthy of being that 101 that's who i would have taken but what could happen to caleb williams something bad comes out it pushes him down teams go in a different direction whether it's my direction of jayden daniels or what sounds like is dan's direction in drake may so i think that like we see here, Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels,

Drake May, the first three picks, Dan, you mentioned it. It's a spectacular wide receiver group starting at the top. And now some people may disagree, but starting at the top with Marvin Harrison, there are people who are in super flex leagues who have two or three very good quarterbacks already. How, how many of these quarterbacks between Williams, Daniels and may, would you be willing to take Harrison over them?

If you were in that situation, if you were pretty much locked in at quarterbacks, let's say you had three of the top 22 of your top 12, you felt good about that position. How many of these guys would you take Harrison over? I think it's interesting because there's two schools of thought. Heath, the thought, one thought is how do I improve my team? The fastest.

The other thought is how do I improve my team? The fast or the best long-term because you're thinking long-term, there is a case to be made that by drafting the quarterback, you're not drafting for having him as a starter on your team or having him leapfrog another quarterback, though he may, and you give yourself that option with this scenario. But you're also drafting for just the overall value of if that quarterback develops and hits and becomes the player he is, he's going to have more super flex value than Marvin Harrison or any of these receivers. That's just how super flex works. There's a desperation for quarterbacks.

You can look around the NFL. There's not a lot of good quarterbacks same goes for fantasy there's been this year was a little bit of a rebound we had some some decent qb2 range performances throughout the year but overall the asset to me is worth way more at quarterback so i'm thinking it depends on thinking about if i'm in my win now window heath then i'm going to take him over for sure the third quarterback because specifically if that quarterback is, does end on the Patriots and that's going to be a big factor for me. And I know most people have their rookie drafts Heath after the draft.

Some people do before, but most after, and so you'll see landing spots because if the Patriots trade that pick, and let's say it's the Falcons, isn't that worth a lot more now to you, whatever quarterback that may be, than if it's the Patriots making that pick at three overall, I know it would be for me for sure. If I can get in Drake London and Kyle Pitts and B. John Robson versus whatever

the Patriots have to offer. So I think it just depends a lot on the landing spot, but I definitely be willing to consider and to strongly consider him over the third quarterback over Daniels and Williams, or if it's may drafted to, you know, the, the, the Washington commanders or something like that. That's when it starts to get a little tricky for me because I just do believe in the long-term value of quarterback asset in Superflex. It does, and we see it all the time. There are people who load up their team and startups with quarterbacks in Superflex

and then are able to trade those guys for great assets later on. Now, I don't often see those same teams competitive. It seems like the people who say, I don't care about what I need right now. I just want to have quarterbacks because they're so valuable, end up just holding those quarterbacks for other people and losing games. So there's definitely a two parts to that, Dave. Now we've gotten out of the quarterback section, Dave. Marvin Harrison goes with pick four. Malik Neighbors goes with pick five. Roma Dunzey, pick six. I've seen some argument on Twitter about Harrison versus Neighbors and how they're clearly in the top tier, and then there's another tier after

them. And then I've seen some argument that has Harrison in his own tier, and it's Neighbors versus a Dunzey, and who's number two, but those guys are clearly in the same tier. How do you view these top three wide receivers? I, in the order that they were drafted and it's Marvin Harrison first, then Malik neighbor second, and then Roma dunes a third. Uh, I haven't written up and analyzed all three of them yet. So I may take something back that I say here, but I've watched enough of Harrison to know that he can do anything that you ask him to. Just silky smooth route runner, great speed, good size. And on top of that, you know, he's got the pedigree of an NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver in his dad, Marvin Harrison. Maybe he ends up being better than his dad, Marvin Harrison. So I think that there's just, I love Malik Nabors

too. And I've seen enough of him to know like the basics of his game. I think that there's just, I love Malik neighbors too. And I've seen enough of him to know like the basics of his game. I think he's a great route runner. I like his size. I like his speed. That's what puts him ahead of a doomsday for me. But I feel like just that pedigree that Marvin Harrison has. And how many times have we seen the son of an NFL player come into the league and play great Christian McCaffrey, just an example off the top of my head. His dad, Ed McCaffrey, great wide receiver, not necessarily a Hall of Fame type guy, but Christian McCaffrey is just an unbelievable player. There's dozens of that littered throughout NFL history where a second-generation player comes in and does really well.

So I'm going to give Harrison that nod. Neighbors second, Adunze third. Let's take a short break here, Dan, and then I want to see if you can kind of tell us, like, in terms of tiers, because I agree with that order for now as well, which guy is closer to which. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations.

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Okay, Dan, we're back. So I thought Dave did a great job of breaking down these three wide receivers. Would you, do you rank them in the same order? And would you put neighbors closer to Harrison or Adunze? I do rank them in the same order? And would you put neighbors closer to Harrison or a doomsday? I do rank them in the same order. And for me, neighbors would be closer to Harrison than a doomsday, but it's not that much of a drop off for, for neighbors to a doomsday. They're just very different types of prospects neighbors to me. What he does so well is just that explosiveness in and out of his breaks. It's so natural. It's so fluid the way he can break down and get in and out. It just going to set up so many good

double moves at the second level at the next level the NFL he reminds me when I watch him like since I watch a lot of tape of a former player wore the same jersey it's very hard for me not to see what number three Odo Beckham Jr. was at LSU because it looks very similar to what neighbors does when it comes to getting in and out of the breaks on the vertical plane the double moves he sets up now the one thing I will say about neighbors that not concerns me because this happens at the NFL level too, but a lot of his production did come out of the slot and on a lot of these slot verts, these slot fades and things that nature

that do seem to have a little bit more space to work with at the college level. And that's just the nature of the game. The college game is different than the NFL game. I say this all the time when I'm talking about projection to the next level. The way they, with the rules and the hash marks, it just allows for so much space sometimes on one side of the field. And it just gives you a lot more to work with. But with that said, you can watch him get in and out of his breaks and just know he's a natural fluid athlete. It doesn't say is the classic X receiver. Like

you're going to play him on the outside all the time. He's going to be a threat in the red zone. And I think he has better speed than people realize and better breakaway ability than realizing as far as Harrison goes to me, he's the complete package. They broke it down. Well, one final thing I want to say about Harrison that just always stood out to me. I saw an interview a year ago with him and his father, and they asked, uh, they asked his father what he would take away from, from Marvin Harrison jr's game. And he's like, quite, quite frankly, just the height, because it gives him such a different

catch radius and a much better catch rate. He said, what would you add to your son's game? And he's like, I can't think of anything, but the one thing I would add is he needs to ask for the ball more, and he needs to complain about getting the ball more and getting more targets. And that just went to show me he's not going to be a Diva wide receiver at the next level. You're never going to have to worry about that. He's going to be the perfect leader in that.

I just think he's going to fit in right away. So it's the same order for me, and I think they're both in that tier. But I'll be honest with you. We'll get to some of these guys next, Heath, because we're going to talk about it. There's a lot of wide receivers after them that are really, really good, and maybe tier 1B, I'd call them. Dave, we get the first three picks are quarterbacks. Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, Drake May.

The next three picks are wide receivers. Marvin Harrison, Malik Neigh Nabors, Roma Denze. Then we finally get somebody that's not a quarterback or a wide receiver. And I think pick five, pick six, pick seven, pick eight is where you're generally going to see this, guys. It's Brock Bowers. I was going to do the Brock Lesnar voice. Brock Bowers, the absolute beast out of Georgia. You know I'm always a little bit skeptical about drafting tight ends

in the first round of rookie drafts. And if you look at the history of tight ends who have been drafted in the first round of NFL drafts, there's reason to be a bit skeptical of him living up to that hype as well. How much have you seen from Bowers? And is this the point where you're comfortable taking him or are there some other skill position players you'd rather draft first? I haven't seen enough to speak into the detail of what he can do, but he was such a differentiator in George's offense in the snippets of snaps I've seen him play. He's big, physical, he can run. You can ask him to do things that a wide receiver does and you can ask him to do things that tight ends can do. It's funny. There's this picture floating around social media of him next to Gronk. Gronk just dwarfs him. It's unbelievable. But when you watch Bowers play, you think about

some of what Gronk can do. Not necessarily as good as Gronk. There's no way I'm making that comparison. But I think that Bowers is worthy of being picked here, assuming that he does go to a team that's going to feature him the right way. I know that he's been mocked to the Chargers a bunch. I don't think I'd like that. I don't think that would be great for him. I don't think he'd get great stats there. But if you go on down the line, there are some other teams that are picking

in the top ten where if he goes, you can imagine him being a big-time impact player along the lines of Laporta and Detroit. Yeah, and I think back, like last year, it's easy to say, and Dan hit on it, feels really good about the fact that he drafted Laporta so much. Well, the guy who was being drafted in the first round was Dalton Kincaid, and he had a good second half to the season. I'm not sure that he necessarily gained all that much value, and it's going to be interesting to see where he goes next year. Dan, we look at the picks after Bowers. There's a pair of wide receivers, Troy Franklin, Xavier Worthy. I would put Franklin ahead of Bowers on my list. He's a guy I'm pretty excited about. But are these your number four

and number five wide receivers? And do you have a strong take about either one? No, these are actually not my number four or number five wide receivers. Not that I don't like them. And I think they're both similar mold type of wide receivers, and that's fine. But for me, I think there's actually

some potential X wide receivers and true number ones. That would be my four and five. And they were drafted a little bit after these two. We finished the first round up with the first running back, Braylon Allen and Brian Thomas as yet another wide receiver. So round one, Dave goes Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, Drake May, then Marvin Harrison, Malik Navers, Roma Dunzey, Brock Bowers,

Troy Franklin, Xavier Worthy, J.J. McCarthy, Braylon Allen, and Brian Thomas. There's been a lot of steam on J.J. McCarthy turning into a first-round pick in the NFL draft. Assuming that he is, then I think this is right. He probably deserves to be a first-round pick in a super flex draft. What I find more interesting, and when I put together my rankings right now, I put it together more in a position of here's where RB1 is because we have no idea who RB1 is because we won't until the draft. But I see a lot of pre-draft rankings, especially in Superflex, that don't have a running back in the top 12, which makes sense to me right now without knowing landing spots, but if Blake Corum is the first running back taken and he goes to the Chargers, or if Braylon Allen is the first running back taken

and he goes to a good situation, we're certainly going to get a running back or two in the first round of rookie drafts, right? I think so, but I think it's going to be toward the back of round one, and it's not something that we're necessarily used to but as Dan talked about this is a crop of prospects that doesn't have a breakaway running back megastar we don't have forget about a B. John Robinson or Jameer Gibbs I don't know if we've got a Najee Harris in this group and I remember when Harris came out it wasn't a sure thing that he was going to be a first round pick it was the Steelers that made it that way. So I do see a lot of running backs, but I feel like they're, again, a position that I really haven't done a lot of digging into.

I don't know how many complete running backs there are. Right. Three down guys. And so if that's the case and there really aren't any three down guys, we're looking at a bunch of guys that are going to be one A's or one B's. And that doesn't mean that they're going to be terrible for fantasy, but it might mean that they don't carry the steam with them that the elite wide, the elite running backs, rather, that we've seen before did have. Metrolinx and Crosslinks are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals, be careful along our tracks, and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. Did you know 66% of utility damage is caused by not requesting a locate?

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Dan, do you have a favorite running back other than Braylon Allen? Because I know he has to be your favorite. It's actually not Braylon Allen. That's the funny thing, too. I'm usually very high on Wisconsin players. Not all, but I'm high on most. And I think the fact that Braylon Allen is even's the funny thing too. Like I'm usually very high on Wisconsin players, not all, but I'm high on most. And I think the fact that Braylon Allen is even in discussion as RB one in this class says everything you need to know about this RB class, because it's not,

I'm trying to knock Braylon Allen. He has some interesting parts of his game. He's a patient runner. He's more paid. He has better tempo and pace than you would think for a guy, his size. And he does have the size speed, uh,

height, you know, height, speed, size combo. You kind of look for sometimes, or it used to, uh, height, you know, height, speed, size combo. You kind of look for sometimes, or it used to be more coveted when you were evaluating prospects, but to me, he's nowhere close to what I would consider an RB one type prospect and nothing like a Jonathan Taylor type prospect. So for me, it would be Jonathan Brooks. It was the,

it was the first running back you took Heath. Um, but even that requires some projection. Um, and I think the one I like the most on film is, and I never know how to pronounce his name from Notre Dame, Estime. But I don't know, like, and this goes back to what Dave said, like, I don't know how many of these are definitely three down backs. And even if they are, I don't know how many are going to be big time receivers in the past game, while also being, you know,

first and second down runners and goal line red zone guys. So to me, I don't think there's a single running back. I would take in the top 12. I think that there is a little bit of, I mean, it's so difficult because we've had this whole running back doesn't matter thing. To that extent, it also doesn't matter

if there's not quite an RB1 in this class, if somebody is going to get drafted as the RB1 in this class, like that guy is going to go get a job and touch the ball. Maybe it's only 250 times, but he's going to be 22 years old with 250 touches. And so he's going to be a top 20 dynasty running back. Even if he's not as talented, because we've got a whole crop of talented 27 and 28 and 29 and 30 year olds that are completely falling off the table in the next couple of years. True. That's a great point.

And this idea that because we don't have a true three-down back, we don't have somebody who's going to matter for fantasy, we've got like seven three-down backs left in the NFL. Like, we're going to have guys, we've got Devon Achan, and all these guys are going to be touching the ball 12 to 14 times a game, and we're going to be drafting them in round two of redraft leagues. I guess my pushback to that, Heath, I think that's a good argument. And there's a good case.

My pushback to that is in redraft, I like that argument a lot. Or in like a keeper league, a one to two year. In dynasty, I don't know how much long-term staying power these guys will have as guys that you can trust in fantasy. Especially if, you know, yes, there are going to be a ton of openings and that's a great point, but also we don't know how many of these are going to be turned into, you know, workhorse type openings, or even the next year down from a workhorse. We could be seeing a lot, a lot of teams going towards a, you know, running back by committee forward, and then it takes away their dynasty value, their long-term dynasty value of these players. So that's, I have a lot of question marks on, and if these guys have any kind of long-term dynasty value or and that's not to say like i

wouldn't take any of these guys in the first round of a super flex in a different class but in a class this loaded at wide receiver and with four potential quarterbacks that need to go off the board in the first round of super flex to me and a tight end to me it's like i don't even see any scenario personally where i'd be taking a running back round one. I think there's a lot of people that view it the same way that you do. I just think that when the running back position as a whole gets pushed down as it has, we're still starting two guys. There's still 24 guys that are going to start in every league. There's still going to be someone who's good. Now I'm going to have to make another pick. Let's talk about the start of the third round, Dave,

because we are certainly past the point to where we don't have any bones to pick with any of these guys. They've all got warts. I took Jonathan Brooks, talented running back out of Texas, who did tear his ACL last year and may not be 100%, but I think he's, from what I've seen so far, the best running back in this class. You took Keon Coleman. Dan took Adnai Mitchell, which a whole bunch, like the range of upside and floor with that pick alone,

we could spend half a podcast on. And then Ladd McConkie goes at pick number four. Any thoughts on those four guys, Dave? I saw McConkie at the Senior Bowl, fantastic route runner, a little bit underwhelming in terms of size. And when they practiced and used man coverage and pressed them, I think he had a little bit of a harder time separating in those cases, but I, he's got potential to be better than your average slot wide receiver because of his great route running. Maybe a ceiling is what Julian Edelman, West Welker, you know, those types of wide receivers that just kind of dominate in the slot.

Can he do, can he line up everywhere like Jacoby Myers? Yes, he could do that too. So kind of in that same breed, although Myers is bigger than he is. I get what he can do and what, like what his upside is in full PPR that makes them maybe a little bit more appealing than who I took, which is Keon Coleman, who I saw play as that big time perimeter rangy outside receiver. I'm not sure if that's who Dan was talking about when he mentioned the types

of wide receivers that he saw as far as his favorites in this draft, but big physical guy, athlete, former basketball player can go up there and just dominate in the red zone, pick up a bunch of big plays. I like Keon Coleman for that reason, figuring that he's got a little bit more upside than McConkie has. Dan, Dave's on the clock now, so we'll let him pick, but I do want to talk about the archetype in terms of wide receiver, because we've got some guys,

some burners who are maybe too light, which is what we used to say, but the past couple of years hasn't mattered near as much. And we've got some guys, like you seem to be drafting the tallest wide receivers you can find, and those have been the guys who have busted a lot lately. And so do you think that this class has some some more bust proof bigger guys or are you not as concerned with the trend we've seen in size over the last couple of years i think it depends on the player and you got to really take the time to watch the film

and see if they can do certain things because there's the big guys that bust that can't separate like the like the hair um i'm trying to think of forgetting his name the patriots receiver can you uh mckay yeah and then there's also the you can find gold in this range of them uh like a dk metcalf who fell on a lot of rookie mocks after that three cone drill but has that ability so if they have that ability in my opinion to get in and out of their breaks and to separate and to show a little bit more after the catch that's the ones that separate against man i should say those are the ones that stand out to me to me it's brian thomas and adonis mitchell um i don't know if i'm pronouncing adonis mitchell's name right um you i think you had adni is that how it is i i think

you know we could go with ad ad mitchell and i may be worse than you which is quite amazing but i'll go ad mitchell and we'll go with b Thomas to me. Actually, I would take Mitchell over his teammate worthy to me when I watch them. I just see so much more fantasy upside, both of them, Brian Thomas and Mitchell are just very smooth movers for guys who are six, four. And I'm just looking for those types of difference making out athletes. Now I like Keon Coleman more than the consensus. I'm with Dave on that, but I will say this, the I've watched a little bit of Coleman and the one thing he's the type that might scare me a little more, like, can he separate for man at the next level? But the other two, I don't feel that way with. So yeah, I'm taking the upside there and I know I might lose out on a little bit of a floor there. Um, but sometimes, you know, these types of receivers,

like the Franklin's and the word, these, you end up getting a Marquise Brown where it's like, it looked really good at the college level and the speed is definitely there. But at the, from a fantasy standpoint, there's the production is hard to count on dave we look at the next four picks from round two we started off round two with jonathan brooks keon coleman ad mitchell lad mcconkey blake quorum goes with the fifth pick of round two this is the guy who when i unveiled my first uh top 12 for rookie drafts, I put Blake Corum in the RB1 placeholder spot just because the shortest, easiest explanation

is the Chargers take him in round two and give him the ball 300 times next year. But whoever RB1 is will be in that spot. Corum goes there, the fifth pick. We got another quarterback, Michael Penix, goes with the sixth pick, Trey Benson, and then Jatavian Sanders, our second tight end. So two running backs, a quarterback and a tight end goes in this range. Is it, we get to mid round two

and you just start throwing darts at these running backs and hope one of them gives you production. I mean, that's kind of what I was thinking when I was up in my pick in round three is that I'm just hoping to get a running back. That's got a decent pedigree, has some good traits, and potentially could be a lead back. And that's what's nice about Corham and Benson. I think they both have the potential to be a lead back with whatever team gets them, whether they're lucky enough to be on the Chargers or anywhere else that they go. There's going to be plenty of opportunities around. I do like Corham better than Benson. I think Penix is the one who's an interesting pick because we know that if he's playing seven on seven, he's awesome. Just a

fantastic thrower, but you know about the injury history. You know that he's an older prospect. Deep ball accuracy isn't necessarily his forte, but if he lands in the right spot and he gets a chance to be the starter for a team at some point in 2024 listen this is super flex dynasty gold if he can last a long time if he can play behind a good offensive line he will be an outstanding nfl quarterback if he gets the chance what do you think about tatavian sanders dan is this a one tight end class or does sanders have some upside also this was part of when i looked into last year when I was very aggressive drafting the tight ends. It wasn't just because I thought the class was so strong last year, even going down to guys like Musgrave and Kraft.

It was that I looked ahead and early on after Bowers, I didn't see anything I totally loved. He would he I guess I'm not fully through the tight ends, but he probably won't even be my tight end to in this class. So but it's not to say he's not a good player. It's just to say that I'm not very excited about the tight ends after Bowers. So for me, I still think there's so much talent to receive position, even after this pick right now,

I'm looking at guys on the board that I wish I could have taken. So I just think I always go for BPA and super flex rookie mock drafts. I tend to not draft for position. That's just my strategy. Similar to how some NFL teams do it. So for me, it's, it's probably,

it would probably take into around four for maybe even deeper to start to end the back end of round four to maybe consider a second tight end. Okay, Dave. Let's take a look at the last three picks of round two. Last four, I guess. Will Shipley, Bucky Irving, another quarterback, Bo Nixon. This is a guy who we've seen a little bit of esteem on going earlier than people think. And then Jalen Polk. Do you think there's any hope at all that Bo Nix is going to matter in the NFL?

Of course there's hope if he goes to the right team and plays in the right type of offense where they don't ask him to play superhero. I think there's a chance. But the fact that he's got this reputation of being a short area passer, the fact that he's an older prospect, the fact that he wasn't even, I don't believe, the second best quarterback at the Senior Bowl kind of makes me nervous about Bo Nix actually being great. But here are the hurdles. Number one, he's got to be a starter for an NFL team in order for fantasy managers to be excited about him. Number two, he's got to be productive. I think he can get past the first hurdle. I think Bo Nix will eventually

have his chance, but can he be productive? Can he put up big numbers? Maybe if he's the quarterback in an offense like San Francisco's where he's just got a great supporting cast, a really good offense that he could fit into. That's the type of situation where he might be able to get you 21 fantasy points per game. Short of that, I kind of feel like this could have been a wasted pick, but it is super flex. You've got to take chances on quarterbacks. This is one of those guys you could have taken a chance on. I think I would have preferred Spencer Rattler to be perfectly honest with you, but it's a close call between those two. And they both have the same hurdles. They've got to get on the field

first and then they've got to be productive. And they're both older prospects. It feels like they've been in college football for 10 years. Okay, Dan, I'm hoping that Matt's throwing some shade at you here, but he has a fun trivia about AD Mitchell. He only has three collegiate games over 100 yards. Only five wide receivers have been drafted in the first two rounds since 2014 that have three or fewer. This is a tough trivia. I wish I. Hmm. Three receivers.

I'm trying to think of like flash in the pan. Athletic receivers who blew up the combine. Dave, before we get the answer to this question, do you think that these are going to be good NFL wide receivers or bad NFL wide receivers? I'm going to, well, hold on. They were taken in the first or second round. Uh-huh. And they had one of them is probably going to be a first round pick.

I would, I I'll guess that one of them is good and the other two are not. All right. You can go ahead and give us the answer, Matt, because we're clearly not going to get it on our own. Let's recap round two one last time just so I can have a chance to say these names wrong. But we've got Jonathan Brooks, Keon Coleman,

A.D. Mitchell, Ladd McConkie, Blake Corum, Michael Penix, Trey Benson, Jatavian Sanders, Will Shipley, Bucky Irving,

Bo Nix, Jalen Polk. Anybody know if I'm getting the J on the Jalenlen part right go ahead and tell me in the comments well this you know we're this is a process i took marshawn lloyd to start round three dave who did you take with the second pick of round three i took audrick and again i'm not sure if i'm pronouncing the last name right that's why i asked you estimate maybe i know that there's a tilde on the e um physical running back uh can break tackles seems like the type of guy that could be a lead running downs back in the nfl matt is officially going to be called adam azar for the rest of the show because he doesn't have the answers

he asked us a trivia question when he didn't have the answers, and that's a very Acer thing to do. Dan, you took Malachi Corley with your third-round pick. Is this somebody you're comfortable taking in round two? Do you feel like you've got a bargain here, or we're just throwing darts now? In a draft this loaded with wide receivers, I wouldn't take him in round two,

but I'm very excited to get a talent like this in round three of a rookie draft. In most classes, I don't think you're going to get a talent like this now it's always tough to tell when you're watching like and i've watched a little bit of corley and i've looked into him when you're watching any western kentucky film because i remember there was a receiver i'm not blanking on who i'm now blanking on a couple years ago out of western kentucky i think he went to the seahawks or the rams i think he went to the seahawks um i'm now blanking on his name uh so bad who was the receiver uh two years ago they took in the second round?

And I love this tape out of Western Kentucky. Do either of you know? It's not. It's not. Damn. Who is this? I don't know, but I do know the answer to the trivia question. Now it is George.

I got to get the receiver. The Seahawks draft. Maybe it's one of these guys. George Pickens, Van Jefferson, Kelvin Benjamin, DGB, Doreal Green Beckham, and Mecole Hardman. of these guys george pickens van jefferson kelvin benjamin dgb dory hill green beckham and me cole hardman those are your five wide receivers with three or fewer 100 yard games in college who also were drafted in round one or round two we don't know yet that ad mitchell is going to be drafted in round one or round two though although he probably will be but one more thing just on i'm watching corley he's just such a physical and explosive player and yes playing at that level it's hard to judge if how

it's going to translate to versus nfl talent and he does have some drops that you like have you concerned but i just like getting an explosive big physical receiver like corley there who has a chance to potentially be that next level play somebody who can translate to the nfl level we've got jaylen Wright going with the first, the fourth pick in the third round. I don't know if you guys have had a chance to look at him much at all. I know I was looking over the football guys, rookie draft guide, and they had Jalen right at the one,

two turns. So again, it just goes to show you what a wide range of opinions there are on this running back class. And that's partially because there's not a guy who's the clear number one, Dave, but it also seems like it's because there's like seven or eight guys who might be pretty close to the top tier.

We're talking about which position running back. Yeah. I think that's really what it comes down to. And it's, it's going to be another thing in the NFL for the draft where it's beauty is in the eye of the beholder and which running back fits the system best, which running back is, is best, which running back is best at making one cut and going and running in zone, which running backs are better at just working

behind their blockers and being powerful after contact. That's somebody like estimate. I think that it's going to come down to that. It's going to come down to fit and how these coaching staffs view these prospects and how they fit into their offenses and so it's it's not like there's one again there isn't one running back that can do everything and can fit into every offense okay you could say that about bijan i think he could have ended up saying that about gibbs but i don't think there's one guy in this draft that i've seen so far that uh that can do that just to chime in real quick the reason none of us could get that answer i was trying to figure out right it's because he did not play at western kentucky

was western michigan and it was duane eskridge but yeah the point remains i was gonna i was gonna say that but the eskridge didn't play it i know it was western michigan the point remains though when you're watching guys at that level sometimes it's tough because eskridge his film looked unbelievable at west yeah he just couldn't he couldn't turn over. I felt like he was too small. Probably didn't look too small playing against that level of competition, though. Dan, the next pick, and I

wouldn't mind spending some time on this one. Roman Wilson, another guy who it seems like there's a wide range of opinions on. I saw somebody the other day had him mocked at the end of the first round of the Chiefs. You've seen him mocked in the third round. He goes here in the third round of a rookie draft, but he does seem like a player who landing spots going to matter a lot when it comes to how he's

valued. It is. And it's funny. He has some similarities to a player who broke out at the NFL level after not really being productive at the college level, played at the same school, played really well, dominated the senior bowl. And why does it matter that he played at the same school? Well, he played at a school, Michigan, obviously, that really, in my mind at least, if you can be a dominant wide receiver from a statistical standpoint at the NFL level, you may not see that if you play at Michigan because that offense is just so run heavy. And that was Nico Collins from a couple years ago.

And Collins was amazing at the senior bowl. Now Collins is different receiver. He's a longer receiver. He has the size advantage, but Roman Wilson looked awesome at the senior bowl. So it doesn't surprise me that he's moving up the boards. I've seen some people compare him to like Jaden Reed, uh,

at a Michigan state. And I can kind of see that though. I think he's a little bit more of a, he's a little bit better of an athlete, maybe not as good a route runner, maybe not as deceptive. Um, and I'm, I'm sure a lot of why Jaden Reed works at the NFL level is because of his deception as a route runner,

which is also why I love guys like Ricky Purcell and McConkie in this class. But I'm not surprised to hear Wilson moving up the board. He was awesome at the Senior Bowl. He made multiple highlight reel catches in practice each of the first two days and then got out of town. He made his impact, his route running. I talked about McConkie's route running, and that was good. Wilson's was better.

He worked further downfield. He could definitely get away from coverage, and he was just making all kinds of highlight reel catches. So whatever you didn't see enough of from him at Michigan, you saw plenty of it in Mobile. Soft-spoken, down-to-earth, cool kid. We talked about just like the technique of getting flat when you're running a dig right, you know, when you're turning 90 degrees.

He's absolutely a junkie for football. A little lean, a little smaller than you'd like, but I think he could have, and this is going to sound so lofty, so I hesitate a little bit, and they're not the same size. He could have a puka-nakua type of effect if he gets to the right team in the right spot where he's on the field right away because his route running, the way that he can separate, and the way that he's got good enough speed to separate,

can keep him on the field getting targets, potentially from the jump. I really love the talent. Now, Dave, you mentioned the senior bowl and you mentioned earlier like the age and a couple of these guys. Felt like last year we kind of gave people a free pass on being older because they'd come through the COVID year and some of these guys did too. Some of these guys were around for two or three years before COVID. It seems like they're so old. There's a much wider range this year, though, because we got back to having some 20-year-olds in the draft class. We've got some guys that won't turn 21 until after the NFL draft. Historically speaking, you get those early,

those guys that come out early and have been elite producers. Those are the guys you want to target in rookie drafts. Are you still giving a bit of a free pass for these guys who are fourth fifth sixth year seniors or do you and one of the guy the guy you took second is one of those guys jayden daniels yeah or or do you really want to lean more towards the younger guys yeah it's going to be based on what position they play first and foremost because quarterbacks and wide receivers and tight ends too let's be fair like i feel like they've got a little bit more longevity they could play a little bit longer and I think Daniels will have more than just a couple of years unless he absolutely sucks to be in the NFL and to be a starter in the league I'm in love with the talent I think he's great

it's a little bit of a different story with the older quarterbacks who weren't taken at the top of this draft and we talked about it with Bo Nix and Spencer Radler. I think this is where Michael Penix falls in. This is where Hendon Hooker fell in last year too, because these are great talents. These guys can play, especially Penix, but if an injury holds them back or if they get drafted to a team where they're a backup to start, you know, when they become starters in the NFL, they might not be 24, 25.

In the case of Hendonon Hooker, as an example, I think he might not be 27 until the time he gets a chance. If he ever gets a chance, that makes drafting players like that a little bit risky. Same thing with the running backs. How often do you see a running back? My favorite running back at the Senior Bowl was Ray Davis from Kentucky. Awesome talent. Just awesome. He's physical. He can catch Just awesome. He's physical.

He can catch the football. He's tough. He's got some speed. Everything that you want, he'll be 25 before the end of this year, and he's about to be a rookie in the NFL. And so if he doesn't get his opportunity right away, I mean, how often do you see breakout second-year, 26-year-old running backs?

You don't see it that often. So I'm not going to give a pass to the running backs that's one of the reasons why braylon allen might be so intriguing is that when does he turn 21 i don't think he turns 21 he was like 18 january 2025 yeah he's super young so that's going to be something that is in his favor dynasty managers are going to lean into that when it comes to running backs and certainly other positions too. But I think it's going to be harder to trust those older running backs for sure. Ray Davis was just taken with the last pick of our three-round Superflex rookie-only draft.

Let's break down the second half of round three, and here is where Heath is definitely going to struggle with some names. Enjoy. Laugh along with me. Xavier Leggett goes. Then Devontae Walker. Spencer Rattler. I got that one right.

Ricky Pearsall. Ben Sinat. Sinat. Sinat. Sinat. Jalen McMillian. And Ray Davis. Almost everybody in this round.

I think I got Ray Davis wrong. Again, I'll ask you, Dan, the same question that i asked when you when you made that pick at the start of round three any any of these guys stand out of really good values any big time upside you see yeah i'll go through them real quick but xavier laguette is it laguette or david i've got it that's what i thought too x Xavier Leggett obviously stands out as big time upside. Isn't as big as people thought he might be, or as they listed him on the college site, but plays much bigger.

Spencer Rattler, Dave mentioned him seems to have matured. And as far as arm talent goes, Spencer Rattler in this class has arguably top four arm talent alone. And he could really throw that football outside of structure, inside of structure. I'm really excited about his arm talent. Ricky Pur he could really throw that football outside of structure inside of structure. I'm really excited about his arm talent. Um, Ricky Purcell to me, look, he's not flashy, but you watch him on tape and you're like, this dude gets open. And then you also watch him on

tape. You're like, Holy crap. He just made an Odell Beckham, like catch away from his frame. I think it was like, uh, October when Thomas Schaefer, the producer of the show told me about him and I started watching him and I was like, oh my God, this kid can play. Like he is reminds me of the type of player who immediately works the NFL. Now there are variations of this type of player. Obviously there's Cooper cup. That's the high end of it. And then there's also like another player who I love the kid out of UCLA,

who the Titans have. And I'm forgetting blanking on his name real quick. Dave, give me this name real quick. I'm a bad day with names. Titan slot receiver who they drafted two years ago at UCLA. Kyle Phillips. Kyle Phillips, who I also thought would be an immediate hit at the NFL. And it's taken him a little bit of time, and he may not hit.

So there's the scale of that, and I don't know where Purcell will fit on that. But I like him a lot. But those are the ones that stand out to me, those three. The first three picks, I like that. And Dave, I thought when you were talking about the age, you emphasized one part of it that's really important. And that is that how much, especially the running backs, how many years do we have before they're falling apart? But the other side of it is a guy who dominates college

football at 23 years old or 22 years old is not as impressive because he's more of a full grown man than a guy who dominates at 20. Like these guys' bodies are still changing and developing. And so if you, if you are able to do something as a 20 year old, it does project a little more upside than if you do it as a 22 or a 23 year old. Let's run through each of our three teams here and see how we feel about them. Dave, you can go first. I took Jayden Daniels at 102. Love that pick, especially in a super flex. I, I would assume that if this were a one QB mock, Marvin Harrison would have gone first and then I would have taken neighbors second. So as much as I love Jayden Daniels,

I think that neighbors, probably the pick that you'll see taken second overall in most of these rookie only drafts, you might see Brock Bowers there if somebody needs a tight end. That's just how it goes. Keon Coleman was my second round pick. Okay with that pick. Certainly physical outside type of wide receiver, big size. It's hard to find those guys. And then Audrick Estime, again, if I'm pronouncing that right. If not, someone's going to correct me. Might be Audrick himself.

Physical running back. Guy who could play as a 1A type running downs back in the NFL, potentially as soon as week one. You think, Dave, if I look at this here, it looks like Coleman went after two running backs in this draft. As of right now, I assume you prefer Coleman to all of the running backs. But once we get landing spots, you think being in that RB3 range is probably about right for him? Yeah, probably. I would imagine that the more running

backs will go ahead of him. I like taking Coleman here just because it feels safer to take a wide receiver at this juncture. Right. Okay, Dan, so break your team down next yeah so drake may uh would be my third quarterback in in fantasy so i didn't get my any of my top two here but what i like about drake may is he led college football over the last few years in big time throws so he is somebody who's willing to and looks downfield i think the one thing i loved about watching his tape is just and he's a raw prospect to some and i can understand that there are some ball placement issues there's some mechanics mechanics issues and there's some issues under pressure where he'll escape the pocket early.

These are things that are going to have to be fixed with the right coaching. But things he can't teach with Drake Mayer, the way he sees the field post-snap, his ability to process space and understand where there's going to be big play opportunities down the field. And that's why he led all college football in big-time throws. He also has a lot better athleticism and frame than people realize. So I could see him being a red zone option as a touchdown guy,

not Josh Allen, not Jalen hurts. We're not talking double digit rushing touchdowns, but something like three to five a year, three to six a year. I can see. And that just adds value to him. So I like that pick 80 Mitchell. We discussed. Yes.

Working against him is the stat that was brought up earlier though. I did see George Pickens in there and I just like to draft on potential. And i think that when you're that size and you're that smooth of a route run i wouldn't call him rat runner just that smooth getting in and out of his breaks at that size it gives you a lot of potential at the next level because that's what the nfl is looking for mismatches and they're looking for guys who can beat nfl level corners not guys who can beat college level corners and finally corley he has to be a slot for me to, to really reach a ceiling. But if he is one of those big slots, he can be like a very,

very intriguing, big slot. He has a lot of upside more so than I thought anyone left on the board. So I went for kind of two upside picks in rounds two and three, which I'm personally fine with. Cause that's what I like to swing for. And then in round one, we go with the quarterback. I really hate how on brand my draft is because it's a great great class wide receivers so i didn't get any of them uh caleb

williams was my first pick at 101 i i think he's a top 10 quarterback at the very least as soon as he moves into my dynasty rankings and he has an immense amount of upside let's just hope he ends up in the right situation. Jonathan Brooks was my second round pick. He is my favorite running back in this class. Just know that he is coming off of a torn ACL, so he might not be exactly himself. Now, it happened in November, so there's a very good chance that he's ready for the start of the season, expected to be cleared at the start of training camp. We saw two examples in the past calendar year of running backs coming off of ACLs. Javante Williams never quite looked like himself.

Brees Hall turned back into the best running back in football around week five. So Brooks could be the best running back in this class by October again. Wouldn't be that surprising. And then Marshawn Lloyd, another running back. He's got some injury concerns, some knee concerns as well. But I do think that, again, a guy, if he goes at late round two, early round three, we'll see him in round two of rookie only drafts. I like it. Could be. Dave, Dan, thank you guys for being here for our first rookie only

mock. Definitely not the last time that we'll have you guys here on Fantasy Football Today Dynasty. Thank you for everybody who followed along and participated in the chat. I normally at this point say, we'll talk to you next Tuesday. We're actually going to talk to you on Friday, though. We have Garrett Price from Dynasty Nerds coming on Friday, and we will unveil our top 12 rookie rankings.

And one shameless plug real quick before we get out of here, Heath. For those of you who are avid readers of the site, something that'll be live a little bit later today is Dave Jaden Daniels' profile. So obviously for those who know, Dave and I work on a lot of rookie profiles. We do fantasy football fits, dynasty spin,

and then scouting reports. And it's a little early right now in February. Dave's getting these done a lot earlier, and I've got to get my stuff together. I've got to get going. So we'll rerun them throughout the year. But if you're that type of person, you want that content early, go check it out.

He's already had done two profiles. So we've got Daniels, we've got Caleb Williams, and we've got Michael Penn. And we've got stuff from the Senior Bowl. So plenty to go around. Lots of prospect coverage. Stay tuned.