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:

  • 10 teams, starting 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 FLEX, 1 K, 1 DEF. 2 bench spots.
  • Snake draft format
  • Standard (non-PPR) scoring
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!