Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Head-to-Head Mock Draft! + Kupp Concerns - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/1

Episode Date: September 1, 2023

Final 2023 mock draft! On today’s fantasy football podcast, it’s Jason vs Mike in a 10-team mock draft! Get different draft strategies and find out when it’s OK to draft Kyle Pitts. Plus, where should Cooper Kupp be picked in fantasy football drafts after an injury setback? Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for September 1st, 2023. Get the 2023 Ultimate Draft Kit + Draft Analyzer! UltimateDraftKit.com Compete in the largest fantasy football league! Megalabowl.com Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more at scotiabank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. Once I lost so badly in my fantasy football league that I had to eat an entire can of dog food covered in wasabi. It was unpleasant. But now I've found the fantasy footballer's element draft kit. The days of dog food are gone as I dig into their breakouts, values, tiered rankings, and much more. If you want to join me in the winner's circle, where you don't have to

paint your butt cheeks like an elephant's face, head over to www.olimantdraftkit.com and prepare for your fantasy draft. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome to the podcast. Which podcast? That's the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. If you're nasty, I'm your host today. Mike the Fantasy Hitman, right? Andy is out, but that doesn't matter because I'm here with my best friend. Two best friends. Two best friends, but we're going at it today. We are. I mean, you got right to it. We're talking about being best friends. Yeah.

But we're also going to be mortal enemies. It is a mono-e-mono mock draft today. We also have some big news that... I don't want to talk about it. I really, really, really don't want to talk about it. No, I know because the implications are massive and people don't know what to do. So we will do our best to break down how we are looking at the Cooper Cup situation and how we're going to handle it.

The ultimate draft kit is still being updated. If you're doing your huge drafts this weekend, which we are, our League of Record draft is this Monday. Check that out, ultimatedraftkit.com. It will be updated through the weekend. Just making sure that we got our Cooper Cups stats as close as we can possibly get them. And this weekend also starts the drafts of the Megalobowl, the largest fantasy football tournament in the world.

I saw someone tweet out, and I thought this was actually pretty cool from just a tradition standpoint so our drafts for the Megaloball the biggest greatest tournament of fantasy football of all time those always go right up to the day before kickoff so you can have it be like the last fantasy football draft of the year you do all your home league drafts, and then your final big hurrah is the Megaloball draft. And, of course, we will have the UDK updated throughout, all the way up until kickoff. If you're doing a draft the day of kickoff,

because I know some people wait until kickoff day, and they don't want to have any injuries or surprises, that thing will be fresh for you. We are also joined by Jay Grizz, the cardboard bear extraordinaire aka jay riz oh is he jay riz yeah i know aka oh okay he's still jay grizz but his riz is off the charts as the kids would say i don't know if they would actually put it that way i don't think so mike i don't believe i'm holding on. I'm just grasping at youth. Jason, I'm doing my best.

Please follow the show on socials, on X. We are at the FF Ballers. And if you want to watch the show, youtube.com slash the fantasy footballers. I forgot our personal handles, Jason, but at X or on X at Jason FFL. The X is screwing me up. I see what's going on with Andy. It throws everything off, and it's so stupid because even if you go to X.com, it puts you over to Twitter.

It's still Twitter, but follow Jason at Jason FFL. I am at FFHitman. Andy is at Andy Holloway. Quick reminder, Monday is a holiday, so the fantasy footballers will also be holidaying as well as doing our draft. Yeah, Monday is a holiday, so the fantasy footballers will also be holidaying as well as doing our draft. Yeah, that is the holiday. We are taking Monday off not

for, what is this, Labor Day? Correct. Yeah, we're not celebrating Labor Day. We're celebrating League of Record Draft Day. Sure. Y'all can celebrate Labor Day still. Yeah, no show. Enjoy your barbecues and your pool time. Quick question of the day comes in from Jimbo in Colorado long time listener first time emailer what do y'all think about the Herbert Eckler Keenan Allen mega stack is the pie going to be big enough for them all to be studs

or be productive it is an interesting question um I like that it's framed around a mega stack, and we've been talking about the Megalobowl. Sometimes when you go that heavy on a team, it needs to be in a big tournament because probability says that it won't always work out, right? Like Keenan and Eckler. It's a big bet on one team. Right, exactly.

But if my bold prediction at the live show was 50 total touchdowns from Herber and he finishes as the quarterback one. If that's true, everybody on the Chargers is going to have a great season. When we've had the other seasons of giant 50 touchdowns. So it's a matter of if you believe. But you're making a a really heavy bet and i i know mike you've got some specifics on this stack example yeah so we pulled up some some data because it was the biggest question is eckler keenan allen uh where like can they both coexist and in 2022 they actually had a negative correlation meaning they weren't both

having great games at the exact same time which makes sense because they get their targets kind of in the same place of the field last year in games where Keenan Allen was out Austin Eckler's target share was of course raised but his target share in those games were higher than in games where Keenan was active, but Mike Williams missed. So I think the true mega stack is actually, if you want to go all in on the Chargers, it's Mike Williams and Austin Eckler because they score at different levels of the field.

So if you're going to go with a mega stack, that is how I would do it. Yeah, it doesn't mean that Keenan and Eckerd can't have good games. And I will say this, I won't believe it until we see it because of the age and the knowledge of what Keenan Allen has always been. But in camp so far, all the reports and videos that I've seen, it's a lot of Keenan Allen downfield. Seems weird.

Seems really weird to do at this age, but obviously a new offensive coordinator. Right. Expectations might shift around. Yeah, they could. It would be surprising if all of a sudden you got Quentin Johnston running the short stuff and Keenan getting downfield. And just a reminder, Keenan Allen, when he was a young man, he was a downfield – he was a winner there, like his rookie

year, and then they changed how they used him. So I guess it's possible, because I've seen the quotes too. Keenan Allen saying, hey, they're using me on the outside more. That's great. Let's see what happens. But still, I don't think that I would go in on both Keenan and Eckler, but

love getting the Justin Herbert stack. Jason, I hope you have your notes ready, because it is time for the news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. The preseason nightmares have come to fruition. Rams head coach Sean McVay said Cooper Cup suffered a setback and is considered day-to-day with the hamstring

injury. McVay saying it's tricky. We don't know if he's going to be there for week one. So here's what we know. Let's go through the timeline. You know, Cooper Cup in training camp had the what they called a minor hamstring injury.

They shut him down. It was, well, you got to keep an eye on this. Let's hear all the news. But then he did return to practice in the timeline that made sense. You got to move forward that if Cooper Cup is now back on the field and practicing, he's going to be good to go. Setback is in the back of your mind. It happened.

Now what do you do with Cooper Cup? Because the risk is massive. Re-injury for a hamstring is typically 15% to 20%. But Cooper Cup is also an older gentleman. We've already hit that. We did. He cashed in on the re-injury already. Yes, and Cooper Cup's strain was mild and

that was already a four-week injury so we're talking i mean this is all speculation because we don't have access to all the information but it would not shock me if cooper cup is out four to six games and at that point like what do you possibly do in your draft? Because if he's out, you'll be able to put him on your IR, but you are burning a really, really high draft capital pick, even if you're like, oh, I stole him in the second round. That's a really long time. And he's still at high risk for re-aggravating it

once he actually gets on the field. So how are you approaching Cooper Cup in your draft now? Yeah, when the news first came out, the heart wanted what the heart wanted. You heard mild, minor setback. He'll be fine. It's not like Cooper Cup is a model of health. Right, or a young man. Yeah.

NFL-wise. So, you know, I bumped him down a little bit when this came out. Is a model of health. Right. Or a young man. Yeah. NFL wise. So, you know, I bumped him down a little bit when this came out. I was like, oh, no, shucks. But then I started thinking clearly. Okay. I wondered. It's not. It's a first for you.

Right. Right. It was wild. I was like, what is this? Clarity of thought. Information. The sentences are full? I'm not stammering?

The truth is, with a 30-year-old player with injury history coming off of an injury at the end of last season that kind of carried through, caused a hamstring issue, is re-aggravated. We do have history of re-aggravations in the beginning of a season, and you're usually missing a month. I hate to say that, but you're usually missing a month. So I think right now, when you're leagues, he'd fall to the eight, the nine, and I'd scoop him up every time. And now I think you're looking at a second-round pick. I think that's the value. You still take him in the second because I want to play the name game with you. Yeah, let's. And we're going to stay in the same position.

I'm not going to delve into which running backs right now. But let's go through the list. so we'll go davante adams um you went right to where i don't like um i i think you got to go to davante adams okay suck the uh this is awful the second yard suit second year superstars chris alave and gar Garrett Wilson. I would take both of them over Cooper Cup easily. Man. Man, this is so, so hard. If I'm sitting there right now today and I'm drafting, I would take those guys as well.

There is a chance that Cooper Cup ends up missing three or four weeks, kind of like Keenan did at the beginning of last year, comes back, re-aggravates it again, misses more. You don't have him half the season. I am confident that when he gets back on the field, he's going to be, you know, probably the number one wide receiver. If not, he'll be top three. So there is a reward that is worth the risk.

But when you've got young superstars like Wilson and Olave, Amon Ross St. Brown, AJ Brown, I think Devonta Smith that's where I probably go Cooper Cup. Okay so in that line of so like T. Higgins is right around there as well. Right exactly with Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave they have the the potential to be – I mean, they should be the ones for their team and take that step forward that Devonta Smith and Tee Higgins, they can't really be the – they should still be good, great for fantasy, but they can't be the ones for their team. They can't be a top five wide receiver this year.

Okay, and any Rams that we are now going to boost up for that first month? Yeah. I mean, the ball's got to go somewhere. Obviously we've been talking up Van Jefferson as a really good, just super late round value. Probably your last pick in most drafts lately. He's a decent player.

He's going to be better this year, further removed from the injury. You got Puka, the rookie who I've got lots of shares of. I know Tutu atwell has gotten some yeah let's yeah i know that's i'm the same way i've seen a lot of buzz of like hey tutu's getting the market share he's been great at camp i'm like yeah but yeah you know we're not gonna we've seen it but what about what about tyler higby yeah I mean, Higby has been my number one super late round target,

especially if it's full PPR leagues, because he should have well over 100 targets this season. Bengals offensive coordinator, he noted that on Thursday he thinks that Joe Burrow is in a good place. He returned to some practice yesterday, so we're looking good for Joe Burrow but the Cooper Cup setback is just a reminder of what can go wrong with a preseason injury I also think this is something that it just makes sense it's human nature I believe that Joe Burrow will run less with this injury he's not going to you know he's going to be in there and instead of just trying to take off and get 30 yards on a broken play. More mix and dump offs than we already got. Yeah, I believe he'll be just a little bit more hesitant to test that calf.

Adam Schefter reporting that Mike Evans will stop contract extension talk with the Bucs on September 9th. Also known as they are already over. That's what it seems like. We still have a week. Yeah. I hope he gets it done. I mean, when you're with a franchise,

Mike Evans is like the quintessential Tampa Bay Buccaneer. Sure. And I really hope he gets to stay there and gets a long-term contract. That would be awesome. Just doesn't seem like it's going to happen. And if it doesn't happen, then this is probably his last season as a Buccaneer. And if it is his last season and they're not going to bring him back next year because they can't come to terms on a contract,

he's a real prime midseason tradeaway type of player. You know, get some value for him and have him go to a contender something like that you know TBD yeah that is interesting Saints more injury news head coach Dennis Allen said that rookie running back Kendra Miller yoo-hoo now he has a hamstring injury after dealing with multiple knee injuries over the offseason. What a roller coaster with this dude. Yes. We haven't gotten to the season yet. Football hasn't started.

And he's had 17 injuries and 16 recoveries so far. I mean, every time you think. I'm guessing his hamstring is fine now. That's the half full of the cup. He has recovered from all of them. He is the best recoverer. Or, hear me out, maybe he's coming back too soon. Maybe take a couple extra days this time and make sure those legs are all right.

That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. The Fantasy Footballers Mock Draft. It is mock draft time. Today's final mock draft of the preseason. We are doing a 10-team half PPR, me versus Jason. Standard, we got one quarterback, two running back, two wide receiver, one tight end, one flex, and four bench, keeping the bench a little more shallow because we're on a podcast recording it. We did our randomization of drawings.

We did it the old school way. Number out of a hat. Yeah. Haven't done that in a while. Jason got number seven. I got number four. So the draft is on. Number one, Justin Jefferson, Christian McCaffrey, Austin Eckler.

That means I am now up. I could go Bijan Robinson, but I'm just going to take Jamar Chase. I'm going to make it easy. And Team 5, the robot controlling Team 5, unaware of the Cooper Cup injury. They have not yet figured out what to do. The AI is not that fast. Hey, look, the nice thing is in your home leagues,

you're going to have people that still draft Cooper Cup where his ADP is because the truth is that what the coaches are saying is it's mild, it's nothing, it's not a big deal. And so people are going to see him at ADP and be like all right I got him do you point it out to someone after they make the draft oh absolutely after this is the human competitive element 100 if you if someone is drafting well it doesn't even matter where they grab them okay maybe it's a good value maybe they get them at the back of the second you just still you still got to bring up that injury you got to be like hey you know risky usually oh that's man okay you so you don't want a player the first month huh um unless you draft them if you draft them

at a value yeah then you talk about what a smoking value this guy's gonna be the number one soon as he's on the field um there's no way that you can go wrong. All right, so I am on the clock here, and it's really between two players. It's Bijan Robinson and Tyreek Hill. Yeah, because Kelsey went six. Yeah, Kelsey was off the board before me, and those are the two. Those positions are what I'm looking at, and that's the player at each position that is best.

Bijan, I love him. He's my MVP, but he's not to me to the player at each position that is uh best Bijan I love him he's my MVP but he's not to me to the place where Tyreek Hill is Tyreek Hill could be the wide receiver one is far more guaranteed of success and so I will start my 10 teamer with a wide receiver just quick sidebar because the this is a 10 teamer which the importance of a powerful onesie position such as Travis Kelsey it he does move up where in the first round are you comfortable taking Kelsey if you only have a 10 team league so for me it's a matter of which players are still there I would I would take Chubb, Bijon, Barkley, Hill, Chase. So he's going to be at the very end of the first.

All right, so Jason Took, Tyreek Hill. We got Saquon Barkley, Bijan Robinson, Nick Chubb to finish out the first round. The turn comes back in with Stephon Diggs, CeeDee Lamb, and Derrick Henry. Jason's back on the clock. Tyreek Hill was his first-round pick. Where are you going? So there's Tony Pollard and Josh Jacobs that I love. I went wide receiver in his first round pick where are you going so there's Tony Pollard and Josh Jacobs that I love I went wide receiver in the first round if this was my draft I would probably be

scared enough to go into the running back position but I do think there are good running backs that hit the third round in a 10 team league and AJ Brown is sitting here so I'm going to start with Tyreek Hill and AJ Brown start with the double up wide receivers as a test to see if this 10-team league at the seventh spot goes well kind of waiting on that running back. You took A.J. Brown, then went Amon Ross, St. Brown, Patrick Mahomes. Interesting pick in the middle of the second and a 10-teamer for sure. I am on the clock. I open with Jamar Chase.

It's a pretty easy pick for me to take Tony Pollard right there. Devontae Adams, Josh Allen, Garrett Wilson round out the second rounder. Josh Jacobs, Mandrews, and Jalen Waddell. So it has returned to me. My guy has returned to me, and it does make that a pretty easy situation of I love T. Higgins. I love Devontae Smith. Jason, we did our Jason we did our listener league draft recently as mentioned on this show the ultimate loser biggest loser Brian Ketron is

is my cocoa in that league can't believe it and I whispered to him because I didn't do this as my bold prediction I think there's a chance that Smith outscores AJ Brown this year so I'm really I'm just gonna whisper that I think that they're like I don't it's not outrageous to think that it's not outrageous in to think that Devonta Smith might be the number one target earner I do think though that the the type of targets that they both get there's just so many deep touchdown shots to sure yeah it will come down to touchdowns. If Smith can increase there, I'm just saying, I think there's a chance. So Chris Olave, Christian Olave, that's an easy pick for me.

T. Higgins, Najee Harris, Jason's back on the clock. He started wide receiver, wide receiver. I started wide receiver, wide receiver. Jalen Hurts being here is very tempting. He's been a second-round pick in most leagues. Obviously, this is a 10-team. I can get the stack. In a 10-team, you really need those powerful onesie positions.

I'm more inclined to take a Kelsey or to take a Mahomes, Allen, Hertz. Hertz is my guy. He was last year's my guy. I haven't really had him a lot. I've got A.J. Brown on the roster, so I'm going to do it. I'm going to say I'm going another round without a running back. Drop, Ramondre. Please drop.

I will take Jalen Hurts. Okay. You're taking the quarterback. Travis Etienne, Jonathan Taylor, and Ramondre Stevenson round out the third. We'll tell you what happened, and we'll be right back. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage.

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or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. We're back. DK Metcalf begins round four, followed by Joe Mixon and Lamar Jackson. Jason, you are back on the clock. Well, poop. I was really hoping Ramondre Stephens dropped to me, but I did not.

I had a backup plan. Okay. Joe Mixon. Joe Mixon also did not drop to me. Oh, no. But, thankfully. You had a backup to the backup? I had a backup to the backup.

And, honestly, it's a 1A, 1B situation. Andy and I have had these conversations a lot between these two players, both costing the same price, who's better, Joe Mixon or Jameer Gibbs. It's really tough because Joe Mixon is going to be the volume king, just as good if not better offense, touchdown opportunities that you don't expect Jameer Gibbs to get, but Jameer Gibbs more explosive, a PPR machine in his own right. So I will take Jameer Gibbs here as my first running back off the board.

I've got Tyree Kill, A.J. Brown, Jalen Hurts, and Jameer Gibbs. All right. The next team takes Devonta Smith. Just had that conversation. I think that is a smoking value. And then Brees Hall was selected right in front of me. Would you have taken him? Brees Hall?

Possibly. Possibly. I'm starting to get more open to the idea. I mean, the reports are the reports, but they've just, they've been very strong. Like there was one, like Brees Hall still hasn't even been knocked down by the defense. He's already hitting massive top speed

on the radar gun. So I think that there should be some optimism. Slow start still. I love him so much. But he is. He's so good. He's just so good.

That's, that's the issue. So at the running back position for me, if I want him, it would be Aaron Jones, Kenneth Walker, Damian Pierce, J.K. Dobbins. Those are kind of the top ADP guys if I'm going to play the game. And, of course, my sweet, sweet Alexander Madison is still there. At the wide receiver position, we're looking at Debo, Calvin Ridley, Keenan Allen. Oh, man. It's a tough choice here for me between Calvin Ridley and Keenan Allen.

Calvin Ridley, the two-year layoff, should be the number one immediately. And then Keenan Allen, would you call Keenan Allen the number one? How do you look at the Chargers offense? Sure. I definitely think Keenan Allen is the number one. When they were both on the field last year, Keenan Allen was outscoring them in fantasy points and targets. I mean, Keenan Allen is the absolute one for that offense.

That's not to say, just like Devonta Smith, could finish the year outscoring him. Mike Williams, you know, if he gets double-digit touchdowns, sure, he probably outproduces Keenan Allen. But I want the consistency, and I want the number one target in the offense. And then I have to also, I love Darren Waller. Trying to target him here. I think he comes back.

Oh, we didn't mention it in the news, but George Kittle is dealing with a groin injury. Did we talk about it yesterday? I can't recall. There's too many shows. Yeah, I mean, we've talked about it a lot lot he has been pretty much hampered for weeks now so I am I'm gonna let's go I'm gonna take Keenan Allen right here followed up by Debo Samuel Damian Pierce oh and then Joe Burrow goes at the end of the fourth you're hoping to stack him up with Chase I it just it was in consideration for me for my next pick. But Joe Burrow, then we start round five.

Calvin Reilly, Dee Hop, Amari Cooper, I'm back on the clock. Three wide receiver, one running back. Let's see. Let me peek in on the wide receivers. DJ Moore, Terry McLaurin, Drake London. I think it's a little bit too early for Drake London, a 10-teamer, as well as Christian Watson, who both have massive, massive upside at the running back position. We're still doing all right. Aaron Jones, Kenneth Walker, Dobbins. And because it

is a 10-teamer, I just do not want to miss out on Darren Waller. So I'm going to go ahead and take him here. I don't think he would have made it back. No, I don't think he would have either. He's kind of in that in-between range from where you were drafting to your next pick and if you want your guy you got to get your guy so ADP wise a bit of a reach but I'm very comfortable making that pick there George Kittle went to team five team five needs to keep up with the injury news that's what we are learning I mean sometimes you really rely on that one team that doesn't though like team I think I think in the algorithm team five is like like, you know 10% of the news. It's the super casual team?

Right, that's the super casual. Team 6 takes DJ Moore. Jason's back on the clock. Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown, Jalen Hurts, and Jameer Gibbs. So with Tyreek Hill and A.J. Brown in tow, I feel pretty confident. They're only Gibbs. So I'm looking at the running back position. And this is honestly pretty difficult.

There are different archetypes of four different players I like. You got Aaron Jones, right? He's perennial top 12 type of guy. I just don't believe in him that much right now. I was going to throw out the question because at least the rumor mill came out and said that the Packers were one of the surprise teams that were very in on Jonathan Taylor to the point of they were prepared to trade for him and they were prepared to give him a contract extension,

which he wants to get. Again, rumor mill. Does that factor in to how you are looking at the Green Bay Packers running back? Every team should always be looking to upgrade, but does it shake your confidence at all? Aaron Jones, he's at the age cliff as well. Yeah, it's more about the age cliff and the unknown of the offense. I don't see the huge upside anymore. I know that he's been a top 12 guy four years in a row,

but that doesn't mean he is going to be a top 12 guy this year, especially at that age. So I find myself basically being out on Aaron Jones. You've got J.K. Dobbins, a player we both like. You love him a lot. You've got the youth of Kenneth Walker. And if I'm going for explosive upside, I think he's probably the best pick available. And then you got the presumed volume of Miles Sanders and Alexander Madison.

So I am going to try to swing for the fences here. I want youthful, explosive athletes on my team. That is usually what works out the best. So I'm going to take Kenneth Walker and pair him with Jameer Gibbs, and hopefully those guys can hit. Because if those two guys are good, my team's outstanding.

We had a mini running back run. So you took Kenneth Walker, was followed up by Alexander Madison, Aaron Jones, Justin Herbert. They're in the back of the fifth. That's quite solid. Dobbins, TJ Hawkinson, and TJ McLaurin. Jason, you are back on the clock.

Did you say TJ McLaurin? Did I? You sure did. I apologize. You sure did. I'm sorry, Terry. Jason, do you regret your Jalen Hurts pick at all? Are you still feeling good about it?

No, I feel very good about the jalen hurts pick i will say that um you know i i don't regret it but if i knew for sure that right here on the clock justin fields is available then of course where i was going yeah i mean i would much rather have justin fields in the sixth and then add uh chris olave to my roster in the third as opposed to whatever wide receivers are available now which would be like Chris Godwin or probably the player that I think I'm going to take. I was actually hoping and this might surprise you because I've talked a lot of trash

about this player for a long time but it was because he was Zach Moss who's home. That's a bridge too far. Cut that out. Cut that out. Don't let him ever say something nice about Zach Moss. So, no, it was a player that a while back was a fourth-round pick.

He's been gone with an ear infection, a little boo-boo, and so he's been dropping in drafts to a place where I think he is a good value. The king of the forest. The king of the forest. T.J. Hawkinson. And now that he's got the money, the earache has gone away. Well, the earache was gone. It was the back.

Sure. It's all healed up. Nothing $64 million couldn't fix. But yeah, I was hoping he got to me in a 10-teamer to be able to have a solid volume play. Since he is gone, I do think I'm looking at either running back or wide receiver. You got Cameron on the board at running back. And at wide receiver, I'm going to take a pick on a guy that has been complete. We've talked about this the whole offseason.

What in the world is this player is he awesome like top 10 type of talent or is he just a one trick pony and the hall of famer is gone I'm going Christian Watson I'm going to take him because nice nice there are a lot of vacated targets here and I don't think we've really talked about that with regards to Christian Watson we've talked about what he did last year's stretch run of all the touchdowns but Alan Lazard is gone and and Tanyan is gone and and there are you know Cobb is gone Christian Watson is going to have way more opportunity this year than he had last year and even if he has a quarterback downgrade with his athleticism his talent mean, that's the theme of my team right now. Youthful athleticism, you know, between other than Tyree kill elderly athleticism, everyone else,

youthful athleticism. Now I, I love that pick right there. Like you're not paying a huge price. If you, if Christian Watson doesn't pan out, then you just, you'll, you'll be able to move on. And I'm going to take a similar approach. There's a lot of players that I like, specifically Tyler Lockett, but I think I can play the ADP game one more round. And is that because you know I don't pick a game before you? That is part of it. I know my league.

Well, I know the one human who's in this league right now, and I'm going to do the exact same thing about the player I talked up in my bullet predictions. I'm going to take Drake London same thing about the player I talked up in my bullet predictions I'm going to take Drake London right okay all right so after Drake uh Drake Drake London with Trevor Lawrence Jerry Judy James Connor then we got starting the seventh round Cameron Akers DeAndre Swift Dallas Goddard I am back on the clock I'm just going to peek at the running backs in case so where with this type of a build that you're in I'll just focus on your team because the player might make it to you Alvin Kamara you have to ride out the three-game suspension he will simply clog your roster for those three weeks but where

I don't know that we've talked about it in a while, but all the beat reports where this is a rejuvenated player, it looks like there was some sort of muscle asymmetry thing that they corrected, allegedly, and he looks great. He looks like an explosive younger Alvin Kamara. Is this the point where you would be willing to take the risk on him and just say I'm going to hold for three games and I can figure it out yeah the point where you take the risk on Alvin Kamara has nothing to do with what round you're in it's not like oh he's he's a good value in the seventh or the sixth or the eighth it's what other players are available are there

players that you think have the same upside? For instance, Javante Williams, does he to you have the upside of Alvin Kamara and then isn't missing three games? Well, then then you take Javante. And I do think we're really, really close to the place where Alvin Kamara is good. The only names that I question would be Javante Williams. I know you might wonder about Rashad White if you believe in the volume. I don't. David Montgomery with the touchdowns. And James Cook, to me, he's got the potential upside, that real league-winning upside. But I think Alvin Kamara is absolutely in the conversation here with all those players. Because if you say on a per-game basis who do you expect to have the most points, it's probably Alvin Kamara.

So we are in the seventh round. My team build so far is very wide receiver heavy. Jamar Chase, Chris Olave, Keenan Allen, Drake London. I only have Tony Pollard as my one running back, and I have Darren Waller. Looking at the quarterback position, I see this is make sure you're paying attention. Look at the grid. Know who has a quarterback.

Yes, eventually, especially in this, knowing what your league is, people will start taking a second quarterback. I don't think that's going to happen yet. But the majority of people have their quarterback. It looks like it's only me and Team 9 without our starters. And Watson, Dak, Tua, they're still, Geno, Daniel Jones, they're all still on the board. So I do not feel pressured at all at this point to take a quarterback

that could be a wrong assumption, and then all of a sudden the pressure is put back onto me. But I'm going to bypass that position. And even though I still only have the one running back, and I have wide receivers and this wide receiver is going to sit on my bench to start week one or maybe I play him over Drake London tie the locket I think that the that I cannot bypass what he represents to a team so I'm taking him here I am loading up on wide receivers all right right. I don't mind it at all.

And Alvin Kamara did go one spot before me, so I didn't have to make that decision. The only player that went outside of that was Chris Godwin before Alvin Kamara. So now I'm on the clock, and I'm looking at my roster. I've got Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown, Christian Watson. And then I've got Jameer Gibbs and Kenneth Walker at running back. So I could use a running back, but I am looking at the guys I want. And the player that I really, really want the most is James Cook. He's a little bit further down in ADP and there's a wide receiver that I think is a great value here. So I'm going to play

the game and I'm going to see if I can get James Cook to fall to me. And I'm going to take Mike Williams, a player that, you know, we were saying saying now I'll remind you before you click the button Jay the ADP game has not been kind to you as of lately that is true but you know what Mike whatever happens can happen in reverse don't draft scared James Cook he's coming back to me okay you took Mike Williams Dalvin James Cook goes next Dalvin went. George Pickens, Christian Kirk, Javante Williams, Deshaun Watson, and Kyle Pitts. Jason, you did it. I did it.

Congratulations. I finally won an ADP game. And everyone else loses. That is great. We were hoping he wouldn't make it. I know, I know. Although I wouldn't have been too sad because I did have another player queued up where assuming that if James Cook were to have gone the pick right before me to make me tilt the most, then the player I had queued up would have not gone the pick right

before me, which was Kyle Pitts. Ooh, let me tell everyone how you draft Kyle Pitts. Okay. Because this is, you know, it's, it's been a rough ride with him through his career so far, and you know he's going to be a talented player. He's going to be out there capable of being the number one tight end in all of football. I like that a rough ride with Kyle Pitts includes a thousand receiving yards as a rookie tight end. Yeah, and it sucked.

It really did. I know, but it's like – Because no touchdowns. But he had a thousand yards as a rookie tight end. I think he's good. He's so good. He's super good. So here's how you draft Kyle Pitts.

Okay. You try to find him at a value. He's a great value here in the eighth. But you do it – excuse me – in a mock draft. That's where you take Kyle Pitts. That's the only place.

Oh, it's great. It makes you feel like, man, I got a star on my roster. But you don't actually have to have Kyle Pitts because it's a fake team. Every time, I think we've both experienced this, or I forget if I was talking to you or if it was Andy, I've drafted Kyle Pitts in one of my leagues. I have drafted Kyle Pitts in one league. And how did you feel?

Like when I saw the name and decided I was going in, I was fully convinced. I was locked in. This is incredible. Great value. 1,000-yard receiver as a rookie. Tight ends just don't do that. Younger than Dalton Kincaid still and always.

Massive opportunity. Should be the 1B target on his team. Click. I've made a terrible mistake. It feels like you already. It's so funny in fantasy where you can support a guy, love a guy. Undo. And you think you're seeing clearly, but it's only after you make the pick that clarity comes and you go,

oh, he's not going to be good this year. It's that post-draft clarity. Yeah. Yes, exactly. We've all been there. So, yeah. So I highly recommend drafting him in all mock drafts. I'm going to take James Cook here and complete this strategy.

I can't believe he came back to you. Oh, man. Another young explosive athlete. Look at my young team ignore mike williams i i like where it's going but i mean it's a 10 team or so you tend to like your team no matter what uh hollywood brown goes isaiah pacheco is next shazam a player that i didn't like he was still sitting just with tony pollard i am and at the top of my queue, it was Rashad White, easily. But there was no way that he was going to make it back to me

with the number of picks that were involved. I had to trust my process of, no, Tyler Lockett is just too good of a player. I have to get him here. And then I'll figure out running back on the way back. And then, boom, Rashad White, the gift that has dropped into my lap, a young player. Is he a super explosive athlete? Kind of, but his opportunity is tremendous. I like Rashad White here in the eighth round. David Montgomery, Brandon Ayuk, Michael Pittman, Deontay Johnson, Mike Evans, Jackson Smith, and Jigba. I am back on the clock here.

I have my five wide receivers. I have my two running backs. Let's take a peek here at quarterback because we are getting to the point where something is going to have to give. But I also – I only have three more picks, I'm realizing, so I need to make sure I get a running back. I'm going to take Khalil Herbert right here. That's a you pick for sure.

Yeah, Antonio Gibson, a strong consideration. I love having Gibson, but I believe in Khalil Herbert so much as the locked-in starter. I'm going to take him. Jordan Addison, Gabe Davis, Gabe the Babe right before you. Jason, you're back on the clock. Jordan Addison, Gabe Davis were the two highest players I was targeting. Oh, that is the worst.

Yeah, when you're targeting one, okay. But when you've got like a handful of guys and then they all go, you're like, oh, I'm good. And then you're not. That stinks. Over, which is a pro tip, overfill your queue. You always got to go one more. Even if it's a player, you're like, I don't,

I really hope I don't have to draft this player. Put them there just so you don't tilt your face off. It's funny. I'm disappointed that Addison and Gabe Davis went, but I didn't tilt. You'll notice. And the reason why Mike, I did have three players queued up at that point. And the third player is I think the last tight end available that I believe will be pretty good this year. I think he's my tight end five on the season, and to get him here in the ninth round, usually if I don't get one of those top guys, I'm like Tyler Higbee or Gerald Everett in the last round,

and I'm just going to stream the position. But Pat Friermuth sometimes falls this far, what we've seen from the Pittsburgh Steelers. If Kenny Pickett can be a legit NFL quarterback, then the talent of the Muth, he's going to get a Muth. Yes, I believe in the Muth as well. Brandon Cooks, Antonio Gibson, Jahan Dotson. Oh, man.

Jahan Dotson and Zae Flowers at the turn. Those are some great picks that I want. That is a very good pick there, or picks, by Team 10. Zach Charbonnet, A.J. Dillon, Jason, you're back on the clock. You have two more picks. I have two more picks, and I'm going to take a guy here in the 10th round that my last – this is so weird because I have not been in on this player. Our manager is a diehard Saints fan.

We have a bet about Derek Carr versus Kirk Cousins, yada, yada, yada. He's sending me all this propaganda and inappropriate material. Derek Carr bicep pics? No, they were shorts. Oh, okay. That's good. But some of the propaganda

has led me to kind of believe that there is a chance. Oh, no. It's good propaganda. It's working. It is. In my last three real leagues, I have taken this player in the double-digit rounds. So it's like it's not a risk. And so I'm going to take him again here since it's been happening in real life.

It's Michael Thomas. I don't necessarily think Michael Thomas is going to be his former number one wide receiver self, especially with Chris Olave on the field probably being the number one wide receiver for this team. But it doesn't cost me anything to find out if Michael Thomas still has it. You know, Derek Carr has supported two wide receivers before back in the Crabtree Cooper days. And if you've got a Crabtree Cooper situation here with Chris Olave and Michael Thomas,

then Michael Thomas is a steal in the 10th round. And if he sucks, I'll just move on. It is the 10th round. It is time for me to take my quarterback. And I have a bunch of options I can go with. And it's actually an overwhelming amount of options that I have to kind of work through everything. Dak Prescott would be my highest ranked quarterback, but all the quarterbacks that I have ranked here, there's barely any separation between the two. So Dak, in consideration, but I have Tony Pollard. Do I really want to be rolling out a quarterback running back stack? Tony Pollard is a pass catcher, so it's not the worst thing in the world like having Herbert and Eckler, but I'm not sure I want to go that way. Geno Smith, I like him as a late-round option.

He would stack with Tyler Lockett. Daniel Jones, does he take another step while maintaining his rushing yardage? It's certainly possible, and it would give me the Darren Waller stack. Are you writing down who I'm drafting? I wrote down who you're drafting. Okay, because I haven't mentioned yet who I'm actually drafting. Hold on, clear this. Yep yep nope i got it you got it now yep i'm taking two yep that's ladies and gentlemen it's what i wrote to a band you did write it yes uh i i wrote

down daniel jones i thought thought you've been pro Daniel Jones. He's got the rushing floor for that dual threat upside, and you have the stack with Waller. So I thought for sure you'd go that way, but you can make bad picks. That's fine. I actually like it. And what I'm going to consider here with my last round, it might surprise you because I waited all this time for quarterback.

I took Tua, Traylon Burks, Brian Robinson, Evan Ingram, went next, David Njoku, Dak Prescott, Rashad Penny. And I just want to be sure that Tua is actually that guy. And I'm going to go with Daniel Jones as my last pick. I knew it. I'm going to find out, does as my last pick. I knew it. I'm going to find out, does Daniel Jones actually take the step? Sure. And then between those two quarterbacks,

hopefully I can make some decisions. Either one of them takes a step forward, and it's pretty unlikely that you're going to be able to trade a quarterback and a 10-teamer, but one of them makes the step forward that this is my clear number one starter. I remove the other one back to the waiver wire, or they show me that I need to go back and forth between the two of them. So I think that it's an interesting way to look at the end of your draft that I don't

normally do, but I don't know. Fell, we went with it this time. Jamal Williams, Aaron Rodgers, Jason, you're on the clock for your last pick. All right. I know my last pick, kind of. I know I'm between two players, and you and I are going to talk through this because I've been struggling with one of these guys. One of them is Devon A-Chain.

That's the one I've been struggling with. You know, if you've been listening, I've loved him since the NFL draft, his situation, this perfect system that he is a match for with his 4-3-2 speed looked awesome through camp looked great in preseason and then the problem with A-Chain has always been his size his weight that guys that big don't usually do great for fantasy because they don't get the total volume opportunities in real life on the on the field to get it done. And then the fact that he got injured in preseason says they might have to limit his touches just because of the reality of his body. But he is an awesome player.

I think he, with the Jeff Wilson injury going on IR, his opportunity is going to be there early to establish something. And if he establishes it, I think he can hold on to it until he gets injured and not relinquish it. So he's one player. And the other player is a fellow rookie, picked four picks later, both third round picks. It's Tank Bigsby, a guy that I've been talking up as I believe he will get involvement every single game.

Maybe the first two weeks as a rookie, get slower, more and more involved. But the quote was, we're going to work him in over the season. Yeah, I do think by week three, he will be having enough volume to be a relevant flex option every week. But he doesn't have the opportunity to take over.

I do think Devon A-Chain could take over and just win the job over Mostert. Tank Pigsby is not just winning the number one job over Travis Etienne. Obviously injuries in both those situations. So Mike, who do you think is a better pick at this point? Tank Pigsby or Devon A-chain? Because of the Jeff Wilson injury, I would go A-chain. Then I will go Tank Pigsby. No, I'll take A-chain.

So you close it out go A-chain. Then I will go tank pick. No, I'll take A-chain. So you close it out with A-chain. My final roster ends up being Jamar Chase, Chris Olave, Keenan Allen, Drake London, Tyler Lockett. At running back, I have Tony Pollard, Rashad White, Khalil Herbert. This team would be reliant on the waiver wire, and I have no problem heading into the waiver wire with those guys as my foundation. Darren Waller as my tight end. Tua and Daniel Jones, I want to see what's going on week one

with both of those quarterbacks. My one, if I could change one thing, it would be... To switch teams with me? No, it would definitely not be that. It was in the Khalil Herbert pick, do I take the calculated risk of drafting either Dotson or Zay Flowers there, seeing if I can get Khalil Herbert on the way back? Given that you only had two running backs on the roster, I think you've made the right decision.

That's why I went with that. But, again, don't draft scared. If I had gone with that and I ended up with Khalil and Dotson or Flowers and then just the one quarterback, I would have been happier with that. But again, don't draft scared. If I had gone with that and I ended up with Khalil and Dotson or Flowers and then just the one quarterback, I would have been happier with that. Who do you got, Jay? All right. I have up top Jalen Hurts. Wide receiver, I've got Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown, Christian Watson,

Mike Williams, and Mike Thomas. Running back, Jameer Gibbs, Kenneth Walker, James Cook, and Devon A. Chain. They're the team of young, explosive, little bitty baby boys. Sure. And then I got Pat Friermuth, the Muth getting loose on the field this season. I really like how it turned out. Yeah, that's going to do it for the mock draft. That's going to do it for all the mock drafts.

I hope that everyone has enjoyed them. Reminder, the Ultimate Draft Kit, it's still there. If you have not picked up a copy yet ultimate draft kit.com we got tiered rankings customizable cheat sheets our sleepers breakouts bus all that good stuff a bunch of research if you want to dive in before your draft and if you want to get your draft graded part of the udk plus is the draft analyzer and of course that comes with the dfs pass which is about to kick into high gear if you want to play some fan duel or some draft kings and don't forget about the

megaloball the greatest tournament of all time it will be drafting all the way up until the day before uh kickoff and i'm gonna look you've made it to the end of the friday episode right people might have turned it off already i'm gonna just let people know right now they're listening. I am in the Tuesday 10 a.m. queue. If you want a chance to be in my league, sign up for that queue and I will be

in one of those teams. Whoever wins the Megaloball will play with all of us in the Listener League next year. That's going to do it for the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. I'm Mike Wright. Jason Moore for Jay Grizz, the Rizziest of all bears, and for the Ducers, thank you for tuning in. We'll see you next week. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF Ballers.