Fantasy Football Party Mock Draft #5

Sorry folks, I got to this as soon as I could! I’ve had four drafts, a preseason event and a podcast since Monday, this on top of my full-time gig, some animal dying in my garage (still haven’t had time to look for it) and my lawn turning into a jungle. I intend to rectify the last two things in the coming days. Anyhow, our fifth and final preseason mock draft featured a trio of former Fanballers in addition to the FF Party crew, and Bent Brewstillery proved to be an amazing host. Thanks again to Bartley, Lacey and the rest of the crew there. Enjoy all of my money as I enjoy all of your delicious beer and booze.

Mock draft, right. Stay on task, Maggio. Rudy walked into the draft right as his pick came up, and got busy owning it from there. Love the squad he put together, with the exceptions of Rishard Matthews (former Dolphin) and Snowflake (actual fake Dolphin from a movie). He didn’t really need Philip Rivers either, but the Henry and Booker picks are exactly what you do with your bench in a 10-teamer. Aim for the big upside.

Andy S had a similar go of things, as in a 10-team league it’s far more defensible to pay up for nice things—Cam Newton and Jordan Reed, in this case. Everyone will have good talent, so going elite at those positions and then shooting for the moon with a Kevin White type gets the job done.

Along those lines, Harley went Gronk early to mix things up and ultimately drafted well to use DeAngelo as a flex until Josh Gordon returns (with a one-week gap there) and Sterling Shepherd as an upside guy late. Still worry about Jeremy Langford, though, and Kamar Aiken I think lacks the upside to draft in a 10-teamer with Breshad Perriman starting to make some noise.

Jason properly paired Ajayi with Arian Foster, but the Foster/Bell RB combo comes with a lot of risk. Throw in Julian Edelman and Tyler Lockett and I’m a little nervous here. He got great value on Carson Palmer as well, though didn’t really need him in a 10-team with Rodgers already there. I think he was trying to thin the herd a little for Tuvey, though, who had yet to draft a QB at that time.

John “The Commissioner” Habermaier was pretty steady up until taking Stephen Gostkowski with Drew Brees still on the board and no QB on his roster yet. That said, Michael Thomas and Christine Michael are again the type of players you want on your bench in a 10-team league. Lots of potential upside.

Zoneblitz’s own Andy Tellijohn got solid value with Demaryius Thomas and Copy Fleener. I don’t love his bench much, and his squad is pretty NY Giants heavy. But otherwise no complaints here.

Aaron grabbed three players I’ve largely avoided in Rawls, Hyde and Hurns, but did get a good price on Gio Bernard, Dez Bryant and Alshon Jeffery. Just too much injury risk and offense questions overall with this squad for my liking in a 10-team league. I also don’t love pairing K and DEF from the same team—makes bye week a little rough.

Tuvey’s squad is solid per usual, though I don’t like Devonta Freeman as a third-rounder in a 10-team standard league. I anticipate a much smaller workload this season in a more even split with Tevin Coleman. I like the value he got out of his bench guys, though only Michael Floyd has the true big ceiling potential.

Michael Rand, meanwhile assembled a very nice team while going RB heavy, with my only complaint here relying on two guys coming off of season-ending knee injuries last year as starting receivers. Getting good value on John Brown could be the solution there, as could a breakout from Eli Rogers. Throw in McKinnon as the handcuff with benefits to Peterson and an undervalued Justin Forsett and you’d hardly know he was doing the ultimate multitasking—mock drafting at a brewstillery while also keeping his 2-year-old entertained. Bravo for BOTH Rands.

Chris Long also went running backs early and wound up with a solid squad. He sniped Brees from Tuvey, who thought he could wait with Long already having Tom Brady on his roster. Having both Jeremy Maclin and Travis Kelce might be a bit of a heavy investment in the Chiefs passing game, but besides that I’ve got little to quibble with here. Nicely done.

I’d like to thank EVERYONE who participating in our five preseason mock events, especially Harley Schultz, who made it out to four of the five to help us out. Big thanks as well to Urban Growler, Eastlake, Tin Whiskers, Northgate and Bent for working with us and hosting events for us preseason.

And thank YOU for reading and following along, and good luck this season!