Too-early Second Round

a jacket. Well, that's just because we're used to being around here now. Because our our January februite brutal forty degrees is sweltering, ridiculous, downright, ball me, We're gonna We're gonna go do some nude sunbathing after this. Um it's It is an exciting time for both both Minnesotan's and for those that love fantasy football. Last week we did had a first round mock draft to see how that

was shaking out. This week decided there's still so many good players to talk to, and actually the second round far more interesting because the first rounds, I'll chalk the second round is where you get so many such a huge differential of players and guys that that have way more upside downside. I'm gonna talk about some of my picks in the second round that really, had things just been a little bit different, could have been like top

three scoring guys this year. And so just I think the second round has got way way more just real interest in it than the chalk in the first round. Yeah, these first two rounds seem way more loaded than past years. I know, it's really and even going into the third round. There are guys that you know, got dog in the second round where you're like they could have been in the second round, but there's just not enough draft picks to go around. Too many good players. I'll just I'll

tip my hand on one of them right now. We are not drafting in the first two rounds Zekiel Elliott now, right now it's in his very the very early s are the middle of the first round. We talked about it last week. You and I are off Zeke, and I know we're not marching to the same tune as most of the others. Most of the really like Zeke and they're they're they're doubling down on him coming off a bad year. We're not. But yeah, by the third round, you know, at that point that's I'm starting to be

more interested. But still we're not going to take him here. And it depends who you got on roster, of course, because the third round I had contemplated if I didn't have a running back. They never Yeah, I think that would be the scenario for me as well. But at that point I still feel now compelled to go get Pollard as well, and that blows up my eighth round pick. So I hate I hate it when I spend an early round pick that man dates a pick that's still

an important pick for me later. And he's a sexy pick for the non zikener to. That's why I gotta take him in the eighth round. You gotta reach for him. And because I'd much rather have Pollard in round eight than Zeke and round two. So somebody like me is gonna go take Pollard and eight create a problem for that for that owner. So anyway, let's let's get back to it. Now. You had the last pick of round one. You did? Oh? I did? Oh? So I can show

round Yeah, go ahead. Uh just went Derrick Henry first. Overall, I started the drafts uh. And then Christian McCaffrey to Dalvin Cook three, Davante Adams went forth, Travis Kelsey fifth, Tyreek Kill, Sieguan Barkley at number seven, Alvin Kamar at eight, Jonathan Taylor, DK Metcalf at ten, and then Nick Chubb

at eleven, and Stefon Diggs rounded out round one. I really I had really struggled on that Digs Diggs pick, Like, what the you know, there are so many good players still on the board at that point, and I really struggled. But at the end of the day, I just wanted to consistency that Stefon Diggs gives, so I went with Stefon Diggs there, and then you know, in theory, I have the rap round. I didn't try to potentially to intentionally marry up any of my second round picks to

the first round pick. But I don't even think you have to know. I mean, at this point, you've whole draft left you can you know, if you go running back, running back, or wide receiver, wide receiver or tight end, quarterback or anything you can, you always have time to

make up for you. I don't think we I didn't really do that either, so but I don't think we ended up with running back running back with the first two picks anyway, even though we weren't trying to do that, and I think none of us would want to do that going into this season, at least right now. Right there's just so many good players in all the other positions. Okay, So first pick of the second round, I went with Aaron Jones. He finished his running back five last year

despite a sizeable time share. And so get a little of this. Derrick Henry four hundred touches last year, Dalvin Cook three hundred sixty touches, and that was your highest scoring and second highest scoring running backs. Can I check a guess? Yeah? And catch catches and catches and rushes to nice job to sixty to sixty for Jones, that was it and he still finishes running back five. You know,

wherever he goes, you know, he's a free agent. He wants to get paid, and if money is going to talk, he's only gonna go to a team that pays them well. And the only teams that are gonna pay them all the teams are gonna make him a workhorse. Aaron Jones gonna land in a workhorse spot. What is you're getting there? Pittsburgh. You know, Atlanta are two primo landing spots for him. I'll give you another one, San Francisco. How about Seattle?

If they Chris Carson's a UFA, they decide that they're going to spend a running back and they like Aaron Jones a lot more than Chris Carson, Seattle gets really interesting. Would Arizona be a possibility? Probably not, right, they guy, I don't think so. So I think I think they're gonna just go with the cheap solution that's roster and Chase Edmonds, who gets to be pretty interesting if they don't resign Drake, by the way, and I'm sure we'll

talk about him as the unseasoned. As a free agency season unfolds, other possible spots for Aaron Jones that aren't is favorable the Jets Miami a lot of money, I see. I think Moss Gaskin is pretty good, but Aaron Jones

is better. So maybe in Miami as uh the defending champion in our Empire League trying to take down the whole pot, I'm pretty thin it running back and with Miles Gaskin as my basically ry one Lord David Johnson, I do not want anyone going to Miami, but I feel like they're gonna get it back, either in free agency or in the draft. So if Jones can be the fifth highest scoring fantasy back on two hundred sixty touches,

what happens to me gets three twenty? You know, Now he's a top three back and maybe the number one back in Fantasy football, depending if he falls into the right spot. So that's um, that's Aaron Jones my first pick of the second round. Who's the second pick of the second round? I went with Calvin Ridley, who will be the third wide receiver. No, I'm sorry, the fourth fifth wide receiver taken. I'm sorry Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill,

DK Met Cath Stefon digs have gone. But then I take Calvin Ridley as the fifth wide receiver off the board in the as a second pick in the second round. Finished fourth in total PPR points last year, third in points per game and uh. When Julio went down, Lee was a target hog. He could still he was still able to produce without Julio on the field, but shockingly, he was more productive with Julio on the field on

a points regame basis. It doesn't. It doesn't matter. The only thing that really matters might be Matt Ryan, who were dogging on a couple of weeks ago, rightfully so. But Calvin Ridley an absolute stuff. He finished with the most completed air yards in with one thousand. Stefan Diggs was the only of the receiver with more completed air yards. So Calvin Ridley Atlanta is always thrown, always needing to

put up points. I love Calvin Ridley this year and beyond. Yeah, um, you know there's a scenario here where Matt Ryan gets moved, but they're gonna be at the top of the draft, they'll take a good quarterback and they don't. That might be, you know, that might not be the end of the world. It would be Rull Wilson or that Prescott or DeShawn Watson who knows that the carousel is not even close

to being over recorded. No it's not. And you know those Atlanta might be a reasonable destination for some of those guys that have that can control their own destincy with their no trade clauses, like DeShawn Watson and like Russell Wilson who have no trade clauses, So maybe that makes more sense then alright, the third pick of the second round, I took cam Acres. I believe cam Akers will be soundly in the first round in most drafts.

As people start to realize what's coming here. On Thursday, Sean McVeigh called cam Acres quote and every down back and quote, a very special player. You sure looked like one. We're talking about that in a second. What's more, Rams beat writers do not expect Malcolm Brown back. They're already projecting that he will not be on the team. Now some people are gonna say, yeah, but Sean McVeigh, you know, he uses a carousel backs running back by committee. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Let's remember Todd Gurley. Todd Gurley in t seventeen and eighteen averaged eighteen carries per game. In seventeen, Gurley was Fantasy Football's top scoring running back. In eighteen, he was Fantasy Football's top scoring running back. Todd Gurley was a workhorse back for Sean McVeigh because he was good enough to earn it. Cam Acres, who Sean McVeigh just called a very special player, is good enough to earn it as well. In the final six RAMS games, Acres averaged

twenty two rushes per game for ninety four yards. He scored five times in those six games. Now, he didn't catch much, but he can catch. He's not He's just not brick handed. He's not Adrian Peterson. Now, if you extrapolate his six final games of the year to a full sixteen games, Brian Acres is looking at fifteen hundred rushing yards another couple hundred receiving yards in thirteen touchdowns. That would have made cam Acres RB three last year.

And they have Matt Stafford now, a clear upgrade at quarterback bodes well for everyone in that offense totally. He could certainly he's worthy of a first round pick, and let's probably see it move up and I think I think he'll be a first round pick before everything is said and done, Let's go to the fourth pick of the second round. Receivers are gonna continue to fall off the board in round two. Uh, but this might not be the one you're expecting. I think A. J. Brown

deserves to go with the fourth pick second round. Uh finished tenth among wide receivers in total PPR, points, fifth and points per game because he only had a hundred and six targets. Last year. That is not a lot that is like thirty most or like he's tied with people like top twenty, bottom twenty. I should say he

was fourth in yards per route run. Essentially, when given the ball, he made things happen, especially in the red zone, where with fewer targets in the red zone, he had the same amount of red zone touchdowns seven as Calvin Ridley and Keenan Allen and more red zone touchdowns and Darren Waller, Tyree Hill, DK Metcalf, Stephen Diggs and Allen Robinson who had significantly more targets in the red zone.

So A J. Brown just the beast, he's he's going into his third year leave and that he's so good the magic year for wide receivers, and uh, Corey Davis and John U. Smith, those twodents combined for twenty four red zone targets and twelve red zone touchdowns. A new offensive coordinator in Todd Downing, was a little more past friendly. And then uh, the previous o c A J. Brown. If he gets in that hundred and fifty target range wide receiver one upside without a doubt, Yeah, there's uh.

And I talked to Todd Downing today on the radio. Yes, I had as a coincidentally, and we talked about John U. Johnno as you can imagine, uh and Corey Davis, both free agents. He um, he loves both guys. You know, they never coaches never say bad things about their players, and I you know, I don't expect him to say anything that was gonna get him in trouble, but um, I'm sure he'd love to have both guys back if

he could. I'm excited for John U John Wu because as the as his former position coach now turned offensive coordinator, Todd Downing could do a lot for John, so he could stay John, and John you you could stay, hopefully, see I hope. So I'm so too. All right, let's go to and buy the A. J. Brown is great, and he's good. He's so physical he could easily be

a goal line receiving target instead. You know, of course, Derrick Henry is always going to be your number one goal line option in that offense, but I could I could see him getting a ton of goal line looks a J. Brown. A J. Brown might be my number one wide receiver in dynasty. And if you're in a startup, startup, y, yeah, I think I would still I'd still Tyreek Hill. Well, he said wide receiver, right, h Metcalf. Sorry, I heard I hired McCaffrey. Um, yeah, DK Metcalf as long as

Russell Wilson's their DK Metcalf might be next. But it's it's right there, He's right in that conversation, all right. So the fifth pick of the second round, I took Austin Ekeler. Now, this is about the same ADP that he had last year and obviously lost his season to a brutal hamstring injury that cost him half of the year.

But remember he's one season moved from fourteen hundred yards, ninety two receptions and eleven touchdowns, and last year Austin Ekeler actually improved his yards per carry by half a yard. The charges offense is gonna hit one in many ways in stride because Justin Herbert will have been on the team. He'll come in as the as the lock starter. They'll likely have an improved offensive line because it's been bad for a decade and they gotta they gotta put more

effort into that offensive line. I think they will. Their new offensive coordinator, though, is what I'm really excited about. Joe Lombardi. He spent four seasons in New Orleans, making Alvin Camara a center piece of this offense. And who's probably your closest comparable the NFL to Alvin Camara Austin. And he's built like a house too, right. I mean it's physically shorter, but more physical. And you know that's

why I still remain very high in Ekeler. I think you're gonna be You could probably get him lower than the fifth pick of the second round, but I think you'll be glad you took him. Here, let's go to the sixth pick of the second round receiver again, and uh, it's time for DeAndre Hopkins to get picked. Pretty much a first round pick last year, kind of a down year last year, was still a top ten wide receiver. There were only ten wide receivers who post five or

more wide receiver one weeks. That's the top twelve receiver. And this doesn't include Week seventeen, which you shouldn't be using if you're playing fantasy football, of course. And uh, those ten and wide receivers only, uh, Davante Adams had more wide receiver one weeks than DeAndre Hopkins, who had eight and Adams had nine, and I was kind of surprised by that. I didn't think he was that consistent. So um, Christian Kirk likely gone, not like he was much of a threat. I think he's a free agent

this year, but I don't really care. But I'm just DeAndre Hopkins is pretty sound safe war with still a ton of upside. How many people have ever regretted drafting DeAndre Hopkins and not Manning? Like nobody ever? So middle the second round makes a lot of sense, like see Kyler Murray take another step in his progression as a pro quarterback. So yeah, Hopkins uh probably be better off than last year. What would hope? We're halfway through the second round. Let's take a break. When we come back,

let's go through picks seven through twelve. I know that you're probably listening thinking where is this particular guy. Well, he could be coming up next, along with the first appearance of some rookies coming up. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul Charchie and Brian Johnson with you. We're working away through the second round of our mock draft. If you missed the first round that was last week, obviously you

can podcast that. Go get the first round. The players we took in there in the first round way more chalk. You know, Derrick Henry When and Christian McCaffrey and Dalvin Cook and you know all the you know, all the usual names. Second round is just so much more intriguing, so many more different ways to approach players. In the second round. We gave you the first six picks in the first segment. Let's talk about picks seven through twelve. I am going with Michael Thomas at pick seven. I

remember him, remember him right? This is last season's ADP. He was pick five of the first round, pick five overall. Obviously, everything pretty much went wrong for him, and from an injury standpoint last season, um came back towards the end of the year. And it goes without saying that Michael

Thomas is really, really good. He's one year removed from being by far the highest scoring fantasy receiver in the league, just one year removed, like targets a game basically guarante I think it was seventeen hundred receiving yards and yes, okay, so the quarterback though, is a lot of why he's where he is right now. Although Drew Brees has not filed his retirement papers, yet for whatever reason, he hasn't

done it yet. So, uh, let's say the worst case scenario is Taysom Hill, that they just got to go Worth, go to Worth Taysom Hill. So let's look at the four games Michael Thomas played with Taysom Hill. If that's our worst case scenario and not either right, he was dragging one leg along. His average game under Taysom Hill was eight receptions eighties six yards. Now, he didn't score because Taysom Hills just wasn't that politive a passer, but

still eight receptions for eighty six yards. Extrapolate that to six team games and Michael Thomas's Taysom Hill games would have stretched out into making him wide receiver two in receptions and wide receiver five yards and the touchdowns would come at least to some degree. So he would have been sitting on last year and when everything went wrong in Taysom Hills quarterback, he still would have been a

fantasy producer. The Saints are desirable landing spot for a lot of elite quarterbacks like Russell Williams, Wilson and Deshaun Watson. These these are landing places they'll they will go because this is a Super Bowl ready team. Shawn Watson goes. God, think of it that that's got a Bault Thomas into the first round. Yeah, he's the third wide receiver after Adams and Hill. At that point, you could you could definitely get there. I'm tall king Thomas at pick seven

of the second round. All right, it's pick eight of the second round. Who are you taking? All right, it's a rookie. Time a signed for the first rookie to get drafted. And uh, this isn't a This isn't a clear cut decision. If I thought it would be a couple of weeks ago. And that's Naji Harris. Are a couple of the running backs. Will probably talk about at least one of them and the remainder of this podcast. But I'm still gonna go with Naji Harris. Uh, six

to two thirty. Just an absolute monster. But he is. But he's not just a North South bruiser. But he can juke, he can hurdle, he can do it all like like a Marshall falk Ladanian Thomason's skill set in that regard, I think the better comparable Sae Kwon Barkley, who's like bigger back with unbelievable flexibility and balance. One Compy light two. Is Matt Forte a bigger Matt Forte in his prime. Because Naji Harris is a very good pass catcher, he is a very good past so he's

got bell cow potential written all all over him. Of course, landing spot matters. We don't know where that is until the draft occurs in a couple of months. But Pittsburgh is also in listed in him. They've visited with him, and uh, it makes sense that they're like in the mid twenties. That would be a good time to take Nagy. But uh, the most rushing touchdowns in college football as you're just rushing twenty six and thirteen games. If he gets touches a game, he'll live up to this a

DP and maybe even around one a DP. You cracked the seal at rookie running backs, and pick eight of the second round, I went with the other the you know it's there's a one A and one B in college running backs, rocky running backs. Pick nine, I took Travis E. T N from Clemson. He's the leading rusher at a CC history five thousand rushing yards. Uh, he is I think Harris. I think you took the right guy.

From a fantasy football standpoint, I think Harris is a better prospect than E. T N. But year one in year one and not knowing where they're gonna land. Um, but I love Harris is a goal line back. I think E. T N can be a goal line back, but I don't know for sure because he's got that leaner build. He's very muscular on that build, but it is a leaner build. He's so fast, he is your he is a he's in North South especially. E t

N is a freaking track star. The amazing acceleration. He's got good balance, so you know, a lot of times to find track stars that just they can't take a hit, they can't bounce off anybody, they can't navigate traffic. He can do all of that stuff. Surprising strength despite the lean build that I mentioned before. He can break some tackles and he has good hands, not great hands, good hands. I think Harris has better hands too. So I've got him next at as the ninth pick. We'll find out

where he goes and if that gets validated. I think Harris is a better chance of going in the first round than E. T N does, but E t N should go early to mid second round. I believe. Now I'm not there yet. We're not gonna He's gonna get mentioned in our round to mock here. But Javonte Williams at A North Carolina is getting some steam as the should be the RB one among rookies. But we'll see about that. Yeah, I like, I like the Harris et N one A one B. Like you said, alright, no

more rookies for me. We were at the tenth pick. I believe right for second pick and uh more, wide receiver is gonna fall off. There's about only a couple very elite ones left, and in his second year, Justin Jefferson is one of those wide receivers. I mentioned the completed air yards earlier when talking about Calvin Ridley. Justin Jefferson as a rookie was fourth in that regard, only behind Ridley, Digs and Allen Robinson. Just the absolute home

run pick by the Vikings. Probably one of my favorite clips of twenty two is Draft night. They weren't in the war room together because that was peak quarantine, of course, but when you had Zimmer and Spielman and whatever else you know, in the zoom call and when the Eagles took Jalen Reagor and their eyes and the Vikings started cheering. That was just like total fantasy football, the anti snife. I think gonna get sniped and you don't, and you're just so excited and uh, man did the Vikings have

that one figured out? Holy cow? Uh? Jeff com historic season for rookie receivers, breaking uh breaking the modern day yardage record for rookie receivers in a season, just the complete package. I don't really think I need to justify the pick anymore than that Justin Jefferson should be a luck you took him before Adam Feeling, and Feeling was more of the touchdown guy this year. But I think you're making the assumption that jeff Justin Jefferson's on a

early trajectory that makes him better than Feeling. Yeah, and feeling is really good. Yeah, alright. My final pick of the second round was Miles Sanders, and I had George Kettle here, and I had planned on taking Kittle, and then in the back of my mind and I'm like, you know what, let me just dig a little more into Sanders season and refresh my memory on Sanders season, and I ended up I ended up changing it back

to Sanders. Um, here's why he finished. He's finished so far as running back twenty and running twenty two the last two years. That puts him right about where I'm picking him here anyway. Um, but he's so many things have gone wrong for him and he's still finished his twenty and twenty two. He is at injuries, running back by committee issues, offensive line injuries and injuries to himself, and met early inconsistent quarterbacking. Many of those things should

get solved this offseason for Miles Sanders. He averaged five point three yards per carry last year running behind a battered backup late in offensive line. Now, how did he fair in Jalen Hurts games? And this was where I really got myself on board with Miles Sanders in this spot. His average game in Jalen Hurts starts was eighty rushing yards, five yards per carry, one touchdown per game, three catches,

twenty five receiving yards. Those are good numbers. If I extrapolate Sanders Jalen Hurts games to a full season, he comes out to seventeen hundred total yards in six team touchdowns. That would have put him behind only Derrick Henry and Dalvin Cook. That's just I'm like, oh man, all I

gotta do is get him to be healthy. So now, if you look forward to they have a new head coach, Nick Serrani, who came from Indianapolis where he was the offensive for Ordinary Sirani helped unlock the big season from Jonathan Taylor, and you know, downside, Saronni used a running back by committee approach and Andy that will probably be the case here. I don't think Sanders is gonna turn to a three sixty carry guy, but I could see

an uptick happening here. Jonathan Taylor did get workhorse style numbers at the end of the year, and maybe we're going to see more of that from Isles Sanders. And I was rebably nobody else on on that roster that deserves more than like three to five touches a game. Yeah, with you and they had. The hate for Sanders has gone on too long. He's a way better player than

his numbers showed. You know, at the end of the day, I might regret not going Kittle here, but I think you're the there's You're in the second to last pick in the second round. You still could get Kittles later if you don't take Darren Waller, and that that was the other thing that in my mind is I can I'm just as happy with Darren Waller Zama George Kettle.

So I'm not taking Kettle here, and I'm not so convinced I would take Kiddle over Waller right now, because when parks in with the San Francisco quarterback is gonna be if there's if there's a team that's gonna make a big move at quarterback. Still, it feels like that's the one, alright, last pick of the second round, last wee pick of the second round. I went DeAndre Swift. Of course there he could have been the first pick

of the third round. But I would still take Swift just if I wanted to rank the ADPs of these guys. Ten total touchdowns in his rookie year, despite only playing thirteen games, only touched the ball a hundred and sixty times. That's rushes end receptions. Again, Uh, you'd like he's gonna see at least a hundred more touches, one would think, you would hope. So, Uh, he's a great receiving back. He was top ten in receptions among running acts. UH. New head coach Dan Campbell looks to be a very

run friendly type of guy, who knows. I know Adrian Peterson wants to play forever, but I'm not too concerned about him. I don't like to change a quarterback for Detroit, but when DeAndre Swift average over four and a half yards per carry when he was getting the ball, he was making things happen. And I hope to god he gets two fifty touches in his second year because he will he will live up to this a DP. Yeah. Um, The Lions defense has been so bad for so long.

I worried that much of their offseason priority is going to be on the defensive side of the ball because they need help everywhere. All the playmakers too, not like Kenny Golladay was playing. But I think they well, but will they We'll find out. Franchise tag for Golliday is in play. They can afford it, so I know there is a scenario here where I where you know they keep Golliday and you know they need to get I want the off have as many good playmakers they can.

Losing Golladay would not help losing losing Barbon Jones would not help. What's the Marvin Jones stat I heard? I think it was this the only player in the NFL. This is a bar bet right here. The only player in the NFL with nine receiving touchdowns in four straight years the last four years. I believe it. I remember I pulled a somewhat obscure stat where he was on the list of just then other elite guys, like guys we've talked about in the first two rounds and this

this draft. Yeah, he's right up there. If you'd asked me cold, if I didn't know this name, the only receiver with nine or more touchdowns the last four years, I'd have been there a long time before he came up with Marvin Jones, A long time. It's a it is a tricky one, all right. There you go our first two rounds in the books, we started touching on rookies. We're gonna talk a lot more rookies as the draft gets closer and closer. We encourage you to continue listening

to Fantasy Football Weekly. We hope you love the show. We hope you'll subscribe um and like us, and if you have any commentary for the show, we're happy to chat with you via Twitter more of this, you know, more in the off season and where in season when we're running a thousand miles an hour. So if here are things that you like, you agree with, disagree with. Who did we miss? We talked about Kittle, We talked about Ezekiel Elliott. Guys we did not take through two rounds.

Darren Waller didn't go through two rounds. Um, we'd love to hear from you on those things as well. Guy named Patrick Mahomes. I had my homes, I had my homes listed you and I did the straft via via shared spreadsheet. I had his name in one of these picks ones I went, you know, I typed in Mahomes No, no, Kiddle, not wait Sanders. I think he did right. It was it was really close. He'll be going in the third round in one quarterback weeks and remember I agree with it,

but he will be. No. I kind of do agree with it. The I think people are gonna have that Super Bowl is going to hunt some people, and that's such an anomaly, such an anomaly for entered no offensive line yet don't even I don't want to remember anything about that Super Bowl. I'm not like I'm a Chiefe fan. I was. Yeah, the you that from your memory, you know, one of the big takeaways from last year. So oftentimes guys like you and me, Brian and many of our

listeners especially are offseason listeners. People that are listening to this podcasts in February. We think we're a lot smarter than the rest of the world, and we're gonna find quarterbacks late that didn't happen this year. I mean, for the most part, those late mid to late round quarterbacks didn't fare particularly well, and the big name guys did

what they were supposed to do. So it was last year at least was a good year to just take your bankable quarterback in the early mid rounds and not assume that your you know, your prize, the late round quarterback is going to end up being as good as you think. Thanks for listening. Everybody made it through half hour of the show. We appreciate that. We'll be back next week for more Fantasy Football Weekly. Fantasy Football Weekly

is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.