Ryan Mathews' broken collarbone moved him from the first round down into the second round. Photo Credit: 4screens
[Editor’s Note: Zach Law of ZachLawOnline.com has offered to review the first two rounds of our recent Fantasy Football experts draft. If I were doing a Fantasy Writers Draft, he would be an early round pick! — DG]
If recent mock and real drafts have taught me anything, it’s that drafting anywhere from the fourth pick on is as fun as being Chad Johnson’s agent. The running backs look as healthy and promising as the quasi-cadavers you see chain-smoking at the pool in an episode of Celebrity Rehab. If there was a year to have to pay a bonus to pick in the top three, this would be the year.
David was kind enough to allow me to commentate (not a real world) on the #TwitMock experts draft, featuring some of the hardest to spell names in the industry.
Want to see the entire draft? Click on. Want my commentary? Hold on. I’ll group the first two rounds by drafter in order of draft pick.
Eric takes the easy road and goes RB/RB. He’s one of the three lucky bastards, and it’s hard to argue against Foster despite the three missed games last year. Mathews was a tough pick in the early first round and feels like a bit of a bargain at the end of the second. Most running backs miss a game or two. At least with Mathews you know it’s happening at the top. It worked for Foster last year.
Lucky bastard No. 2 takes McCoy. McCoy probably won’t score 20 touchdowns again but “only” 10 keeps him in the elite. While it’s hard to imagine Cam Newton getting 14 touchdowns again, even if his TDs are cut in half that’s a bounty that no other QB save Michael Vick could offer you. Lazy analysis, thy name is Zach.
While there’s a lot of talk about Rice’s high number of touches in the past three years, the point of an elite RB is to give him a lot of touches and I doubt that changes in 2012. Nicks is an honorary RB in that he seems to miss a few games a year. Things may switch in Jersey this fall as Cruz could see the most attention, giving Nicks more catches.
Getting the fourth pick in the draft is like watching your brother win his second Super Bowl trophy. You either take a Baldwin brother not named Alec or you go rogue and take a non-RB. Calvin Johnson could become this generation’s Jerry Rice, a wideout worthy of the top overall pick in some instances. Even in a non-PPR, Jimmy Graham is hard to pass up late in the second. Geoff got about 200 catches in his first two picks.
With a Twitter handle like Late Round QB, did you really think that he was taking Rodgers in the first round? McFadden lives in the Risk area of the Risk/Reward first-round guys. Get 12 games out of him and you’re happy. I’m still a little wary of drafting Julio Jones so high. There’s really no room for upside when you take him as the third WR.
Rodgers is the Prozac of first-round picks in a round filled with Adderall guys. Taking him gives you a peaceful, easy feeling. With everything that’s happened in RB-land lately, the guy coming off an ACL tear feels like a safe pick. Charles shouldn’t get a ton of touches, but will do plenty with them.
It’s the two-for Belichick special for Mr. Cannon. Is there any reason for the Patriots to run the ball at all this year? Throw for 7,000 yards and lose in the playoffs again. For Brady, 5k passing yards feels like the floor. It’s hard to project Graham/Gronk this year because what they did last year has never been accomplished by tight ends. WR1 numbers out of your tight end. Remember the days of Frank Wycheck?
Go for the young RB duo with upside. Murray and Richardson both have injury concerns. Murray should get 300 touches if not 350. Richardson didn’t get much of a drop in the rankings with his recent knee scope. The knee’s still attached, so he’s safe in the second round.
The RB/RB train continues. MJD is a bargain at 1.10 if he actually shows up to Jaguars camp at some point. Running backs and holdouts go together like beer and hemlock. Peterson might be part robot, so err on the side of him getting back to full operational strength by the second month of the season.
Lynch is another mystery wrapped in a bag of Skittles next to a paper bag containing a Mickey’s Tall Boy. He has a possible suspension but you early August drafters can’t afford to be cautious. It’s either reach for Cedric Benson or take Beast Mode. Brees is another guy coming off a statistical outlier season with 46 touchdowns last year. The Saints may have 99 problems, but the Brees ain’t one of them. Yeah, I’m getting tired.
Forte signed his deal. He should catch a lot of passes. He’s used to nobody blocking for him. And he’s one of those strange players who scores a lot more touchdowns in even-numbered years. It’s just good science. Do you think Larry Fitzgerald drunk-dials Peyton Manning, rambling on about the beautiful music they could have made together? It’s either him or Kurt Warner. Give this man a gold jacket after catching 80 balls with that mess at QB.
What do you think about their picks? What do you think about what I think about their picks!?!
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