Welcome to the 2016 Fantasy Football Draft Party Podcast, brought to you weekly every Thursday with insights, thoughts, and some immature humor thrown together by Anthony Maggio, Bo Mitchell and John Tuvey. This week, the guys get you caught up on injury news, position needs, and an offensive line preview segment that disects their impact on running games, and which you should target in your 2016 fantasy football drafts.
Our first preseason mock draft is in the books! Thanks so much to Urban Growler for hosting during the monsoon of the century on Tuesday night. Before I give my thoughts on the mock, here’s a quick rundown:
| Phillip Jennings | Alex | Harley | Chris | R’obert | |
| QB | FAT Tony Romo – 10 | Andrew Luck – 4 | Russell Wilson – 5 | Aaron Rodgers – 4 | Drew Brees – 5 |
| RB | Adrian Peterson -1 | Eddie Lacy – 3 | Mark Ingram, Saints – 3 | Ezekiel Elliott -1 | Doug Martin – 3 |
| RB | Jonathan Stewart – 4 | Carlos Hyde – 5 | Jeremy Langford – 6 | Le’Veon Bell – 2 | Latavius Murray – 4 |
| WR | Mike Evans -2 | Antonio Brown -1 | Odell Beckham Jr. – 1 | Amari Cooper – 3 | Julio Jones -1 |
| WR | Brandon Marshall – 3 | Keenan Allen – 2 | Allen Robinson – 2 | Larry Fitzgerald – 5 | Dez Bryant – 2 |
| WR | Randall Cobb – 5 | Kamar Aiken – 8 | Demaryius Thomas – 4 | Marvin Jones – 8 | Kelvin Benjamin – 6 |
| TE | Greg Olsen – 6 | Coby Fleener – 6 | Delanie Walker – 9 | Jimmy Graham – 9 | Travis Kelce – 9 |
| FLEX | Emmanuel Sanders – 7 | Rasahd Jennings – 7 | Ameer Abdullah – 7 | Justin Forsett – 6 | Michael Crabtree – 7 |
| K | Graham Gano – 12 | Dan Bailey – 12 | Brandon Mcm’ANUS – 12 | Blair Walsh – 11 | Steven Hauschka – 11 |
| DEF | Seahawks – 11 | Vikings – 11 | Chiefs – 11 | Bills – 12 | Bengals – 12 |
| BEN | Matt Forte – 8 | Josh Gordon – 9 | Matt Jones – 8 | Melvin Gordon – 7 | DeAngelo Williams – 8 |
| BEN | Jordan Matthews – 9 | Chris Ivory – 10 | Sammie Coates – 10 | Philip Rivers – 10 | Sterling Shepard – 10 |
| Randy | Ryan | 2V | Bo | Magsh | |
| QB | Carson Palmer – 6 | Elisha Manning – 7 | Ben Roethlisberger – 9 | Cam Newton – 4 | Tom Brady – 6 |
| RB | Todd Gurley-1 | David Johnson -1 | Lamar Miller -1 | Thomas Rawls – 3 | LeSean McCoy – 1 |
| RB | DeVonta Freeman – 2 | C.J. Anderson – 5 | Jeremy Hill – 6 | DeMarco Murray – 5 | Jamaal Charles – 2 |
| WR | TY Hilton – 3 | Jordy Nelson – 2 | A.J. Green – 2 | DeAndre Hopkins – 2 | Alshon Jeffery – 3 |
| WR | Golden Tate – 4 | Brandin Cooks – 3 | Jarvis Landry – 3 | Tyler Lockett – 6 | Julian Edelman – 4 |
| WR | Allen Hurns – 7 | Sammy Watkins – 4 | Doug Baldwin – 4 | Stefon Diggs – 7 | John Brown – 7 |
| TE | Jordan Reed – 5 | Ladarius Green – 12 | Eric Ebron – 12 | Gronk -1 | Tyler Eifert – 10 |
| FLEX | DeSean Jackson – 10 | Dion Lewis – 6 | Eric Decker – 5 | Michael Thomas – 8 | Jeremy Maclin – 5 |
| K | Chandler C. – 11 | Mason Crosby – 11 | Stephen Gostkowski – 10 | Justin Tucker – 11 | Adam Vinatieri – 11 |
| DEF | LA Rams – 12 | Cardinals – 10 | Panthers – 11 | Texans – 12 | Broncos – 12 |
| BEN | Ryan Mathews – 8 | DeVante Parker – 8 | Giovani Bernard – 7 | Arian Foster – 9 | Michael Floyd – 8 |
| BEN | Willie Snead – 9 | Danny Woodhead – 9 | Donte Moncrief – 8 | Mohamed Sanu – 10 | Blake Bortles – 9 |
At first blush I think my favorite team among these belongs to R’obert, though I don’t mind what Randy did, either. I like my team a lot, but there’s WAY too much risk involved. I kinda got carried away and figured what the hell, it’s a mock draft, go big or go home. There’s certainly a ton of upside with this squad, but overall probably way too much risk. I could’ve mitigated it with later round picks given larger benches so I’m not necessarily throwing a team like this out—especially since it’s a 10-team league so there’d be a deep waiver wire—but given the parameters of this mock I could’ve played things a bit safer.
Philip Jennings surprised folks off the top by taking Adrian Peterson, but I like that pick. In PPR or ½-PPR leagues I’m all for taking the top 3 WRs first, but in standard leagues I think it’s smart to take advantage of the few true bell-cow RBs out there. Wide receiver is incredibly deep this year (as are QB and TE), so while everyone is loading up there I’m all for going after elite RB talent and letting everyone else roll the dice on the committees. Some will work out, some won’t. But you’ll be set at the position, and still have plenty of solid WR options available to you.
Ryan put together a nice squad as well, though with Lewis, Green, Watkins, Nelson and Parker there’s a ton of injury concern a la my team.
What I liked about R’obert’s team is the way he was able to take advantage of the market’s current position on a couple of RBs I’m extremely high on—Doug Martin and Latavius Murray. I think both are underrated in general, so getting them in the 3rd and 4th round showed that the middle-round selection of top WRs is a fine play as well if the folks up front don’t snag that top tier of WRs right away.
Alex got some great values at RB as well, and I liked the boldness of taking Coby Fleener in the 6th round as the third TE off the board. He’s certainly got top 5 TE upside, and at that later point in the draft I like being aggressive there.
My favorite pick of Harley’s was probably Sammie Coates in the 10th. I’ve got him too low on my cheat sheet. He’ll be moving up soon.
Thanks again everyone for participating, and we hope to see you out at our next events!
Thomas Rawls
ADP: 27.2
RB: 13
Thomas Rawls started the 2015 season as an undrafted free agent RB just hoping to garner a roster spot. After Marshawn Lynch got hurt and Christine Michael was jettisoned for cluelessness, Rawls found himself in possession of one of the prime bell cow RB positions in the league.
He ran with it, too, putting up huge numbers in his seven starts. He thrived until an ankle injury ended his season early.
Does he come back in 2016 to solidify his role, now that Lynch is retired? Or does the presence of several solid cohorts and the emergence in the second half of 2015 of a stronger passing game signal that Rawls’ status as an elite back was a short one?
John Vomhof Jr.: Buy (more…)
Update: 7/31 (added Bo Mitchell’s Cheat Sheet, updated John Tuvey’s)
Our 2016 fantasy football cheat sheets have arrived! We’ll be updating these throughout the preseason as news/injuries dictate, so check back often and be sure to print the latest version(s) prior to your draft.
Maggio’s cheat sheet @MPLSMaggio
Mitchell’s cheat sheet @Bo_Mitchell
Tuvey’s cheat sheet @jtuvey
You can follow us (@ZoneblitzCOM), like us on Facebook, or bookmark our Fantasy Football Resources page to stay on top of when the latest versions are released.
And as always, feel free to hit us up on Twitter with questions. Happy drafting!
Lamar Miller
ADP: 16.9
RB Rank: 7
Fantasy footballers have been waiting for Lamar Miller to get his shot as a true RB1 since he got into the league four years ago. Just once in that time has he eclipsed 200 carries – and yet his career YPC is above 4.5 and he consistently contributes when he gets the chance.
Miller has moved on from Miami, signing with Houston – likely with the promise of a more full-scale load.
So were the Dolphins keeping him on the bench for a reason? Or is Miller a workhorse in waiting heading into his fifth season with relatively low wear and tear?
Andy: Buy
Matt Forte has been a dominant fantasy force in Chicago since he exploded onto the scene in 2008 with 1,200 rushing yards and 63 receptions.
He’s also been a pretty bright spot on some pretty bad Bears teams in recent years. But that all ended in 2015.
On the field, Forte had his worst year as a pro, missing three games with injury, falling short of 900 yards rushing and ceding time to Jeremy Langford, among others.
With Chicago now solidly into a youth rebuilding mode, Forte was thanked for his time and sent packing. He landed in New York, where he hopes to rejuvenate his career for another couple years playing for the Jets.
Can he rebound and show that last season was fiction? Or was last season the beginning of a downhill slide as he heads into year number nine?
John Vomhof Jr.: Fact (more…)
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Andy P, good sleuthing. Horrible result from a horrible idea.
Guys I think we got our first clue this is going to be a small class I looked at the…
I like all the Senior Nominees but if I were to guess I'd say Sharpe,Holmgren Tyrer.
as per Tanier, he' active on social media with Hall stuff, especially with Talk of Fame and his own website…
Where you at, Robert The Greatest?