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On Saturday night, with nine other Rant Sports writers including myself participated in the site’s second Fantasy Football Mock Draft. With the draft set as a snake-style draft, I landed the no. 6 pick. With this style of draft, the no. 6 pick is a great pick because that means I would be picking in the middle of every round.
I didn’t really have a strategy going into the draft except I wanted to walk away with a really good running back or two, and I wanted one of the elite quarterbacks. Nothing too daunting right? Here’s how the draft stacked up for my team.
Round 1 (6) Jamaal Charles – Right off the bat, I had an interesting choice to make. Ray Rice was available when I took Charles, and I wasn’t 100 percent sure what to do with the pick. This was one of the few times that I almost took the entire 90 seconds to make the selection. I finally decided on Charles based on last years numbers. In the end, I’m happy with the selection and would make the same selection if I had a do-over.
Round 2 (15) Aaron Rogers – Picking Rogers gave me the elite quarterback I was wanting when I came into the draft. Arguably the best quarterback in the game today, Rogers should put up huge numbers again this year. Last season, he finished with almost 4,300 yards passing and had 39 touchdowns. Barring injury, there’s no reason to think Rogers won’t have another dominating season this year as well.
Round 3 (26) Frank Gore – The person I was hoping to grab in Round 3 was Jimmy Graham, the tight end from New Orleans. He was taken by Team 2, so I took the next person on my list — Gore. Gore is a perfect compliment to Charles at the running back position. Gore has the ability to run for big yardage and he also has the ability to catch the ball coming out of the backfield.
Round 4 (35) Andre Johnson – This was another choice that was a hard one for me. Wes Welker was just drafted, but Larry Fitzgerald, Johnson, and Victor Cruz were all available. All of these receivers would be good picks here, so I went with Johnson. If he puts up numbers in 2013 like he did last year, my team will be just fine at the receiver position.
Round 5 (46) Vernon Davis – Team 1 took Rob Gronkowski with the first pick in the round so when Davis was available at pick 46, I had to snatch him up. Davis is ranked no. 3 amongst tight ends, and his numbers will probably reflect that again this season. A critical part to the San Francisco 49ers‘ run to the Super Bowl, Davis is becoming a favorite target for quarterback Collin Kaepernick.
Round 6 (55) Torrey Smith – Needing another receiver, I decided Smith was a great choice. With the injury to Dennis Pitta and the departure of Anquan Boldin, Smith could take on a larger role and become a bigger target for Joe Flacco.
Round 7 (66) Matthew Stafford – I was hoping to get another running back in this round. I had my eyes on two in particular — Giovani Bernard and Ryan Matthews. Both of those players were taken by the two picks prior to mine. Stafford was sitting there and I figured this might be a good time to take another quarterback in case something happens to Rogers. Stafford threw for nearly 5,000 yards last season and should probably put up close to the same numbers this year.
Round 8 (76) Andre Brown – Brown is second on the New York Giants‘ depth chart and should probably see more action this year with the departure of Ahmad Bradshaw. Last year, he had eight touchdowns for the Giants. This year, look for that number to be the same, if not a little higher.
Round 9 (86) Greg Olsen – Olsen caught 69 passes for 843 yards last season. Both of these were career-highs. I wouldn’t normally advise having Olsen as a starter on his own, but pairing him up with someone like Davis should make for a great duo at the tight end position.
Round 10 (95) Mike Williams – Williams gets a lot of his fantasy points from scoring touchdowns, which is a good thing for fantasy owners. Because of this, Williams was a no-brainer for this pick.
Round 11 (106) Bryce Brown – LeSean McCoy seems to deal with injuries each year. This could open up the door for Brown to get more opportunities in the new Philadelphia Eagles‘ offense.
Round 12 (115) Denarius Moore – With quarterback Matt Flynn running the show now, Moore hopes to have a 1,000-yard season in receiving. The numbers he puts up make him an ideal receiver to fill in during bye weeks for fantasy owners. This makes him perfect for the 12th round selection.
Round 13 (126) Houston Texans D/ST – Normally I wait until the last two rounds to draft a defense, but I wanted the Texans defense so I took them with this pick. I wasn’t sure they would make it another round or two. For me, it was imperative to pick J.J. Watt and company with this pick.
Round 14 (135) Malcolm Floyd – Floyd continues to be Phillip Rivers‘ top target and should be a decent fantasy receiver this year. A nice pickup in round 14.
Round 15 (146) LaMichael James – James was more of a filler pick for my roster and he was the top running back left in the draft. I’m not sure how much time he’ll get this season but if an injury occurs to Gore, he could see some action.
Round 16 (155) Justin Tucker – Since the Ravens lost some playmakers on offense, their might be even more opportunities for Tucker to kick field goals this year. If he’s as efficient as he was in his rookie campaign, then he should put up plenty of fantasy points this season as well.
All in all, I’m not disappointed with this team. I ended up with the no. 1 QB, a top-10 RB and WR, a top-5 TE, and a very good defense and kicker. It should make for an interesting season.
Greg Higgins is a Dallas Mavericks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greghiggins457, like him on Facebook, and add him to your network on Google.
