John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
On Sunday night, Rant Sports held their fourth mock draft of 2013, and first with the auction format. I present to you Team 8:
$54 – RB Jamaal Charles, Kansas City Chiefs: I consider getting a top-five running back a must if it’s possible.
$30 – TE Jimmy Graham, New Orleans Saints: Whatever it was going to take, I was getting Graham or Rob Gronkowski. I definitely prefer Graham due to Gronkowski’s late start and history of injuries.
$24 – WR Vincent Jackson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Boom or bust, blah, blah, blah, I don’t care. All wide receivers have a few off days, and Jackson’s will be cutting down on his.
$23 – WR Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals: With competent quarterback play, Fitzgerald is a stud. Last season, incompetent wasn’t a strong enough word for what the wideout had to deal with.
$23 – RB DeMarco Murray, Dallas Cowboys: This was somewhat of a gamble, but one that could pay off big. Murray has stud potential if he could just stay healthy.
$22 – QB Tom Brady, New England Patriots: This was purely a value pick. I saw him going for $21 dollars and thought that was crazy and put down my bid. Gronk’s injury and Welker’s departure certainly won’t help, but he is a top-five quarterback no matter what weapons are around him.
$19 – RB David Wilson, New York Giants: Wilson is an explosive breakout candidate on a solid offense.
$15 – QB Robert Griffin III, Washington Redskins: I’m big believer in quarterback depth and decided to snatch some upside at the same time with this pick.
$8 – WR Dwayne Bowe, Kansas City Chiefs: Some GMs don’t like having a WR and RB from the same team, but I don’t mind it too much. Bowe has way too much upside for me to let him go for $7.
$7 – WR T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts: Hilton and Andrew Luck have developed a great chemistry and it is showing in their impressive preseason. I’m expecting big things from Hilton in his sophomore campaign.
$5 – WR Kenbrell Thompkins, New England Patriots: As of now, Thompkins is leading the race as Tom Brady’s No. 2 wide receiver, and it’s always nice to have a QB-WR combo.
$5 – WR Pierre Garcon, Washington Redskins: Garcon showed flashes of stud potential in his injury-riddled 2012 season. When healthy, he is the best receiving option on one of the league’s best offenses.
$5 – RB Daryl Richardson, St.Louis Rams: I’m not all that excited about this pick, but a starting running back at that price isn’t too bad. His starter status is definitely not set in stone, but he works as a decent bye-week filler.
$3 – Chicago Bears D/ST: The highest scoring defense from last season isn’t a bad pickup for $3. They probably won’t repeat as the best, but should end up around the top five.
$1 – K Randy Bullock, Houston Texans: I’ve dedicated the last three months of my life to finding the perfect kicker. In that time, I spent every waking hour doing research on kickers and traveled to as many training camps as I could to study them in person. After two months of neglecting her completely, my wife left me, but I couldn’t stop; I had to keep going. I followed through with NASA and had their greatest scientists and researchers examine all of my work, and they gave me their opinion. It’s Randy Bullock.
Conclusion: I am very pleased with my wide receivers, tight end, quarterbacks, and defense — and don’t even get me started on my kicker. I should have got another top-10 running back. I could have sacrificed Wilson, along with either Fitz or Jackson, and landed another difference-maker. Bowe or Hilton would have filled in as a WR2 just fine.
I made the classic auction mistake of being too patient. I ended up with a good starting lineup and a great bench when you definitely want it to be the other way around.
Depth Chart:
QB: Tom Brady, Robert Griffin III
RB: Jamaal Charles, DeMarco Murray, David Wilson, Daryl Richardson
WR: Vincent Jackson, Larry Fitzgerald, Dwayne Bowe, T.Y. Hilton, Pierre Garcon, Kenbrell Thompkins
TE: Jimmy Graham
D/ST: Chicago Bears
K: Randy Bullock
For more of my thoughts on fantasy football 2013, click here
Aaron Charles is a Kansas City Chiefs writer for www.rantsports.com. Follow him on twitter @aaroncharleskc or add him to your network on Google
