By Chet Gresham – @ChetGresham
Updated July 15, 2015
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This series of mock draft posts uses the FantasyPros Mock Draft Simulator and will be feature different settings and draft positions to give us a look at how they play out. For this week’s mock draft, I’ll be bringing you a 2QB league draft.
The question with 2QB leagues always boils down to, where do I draft my quarterbacks? I’ve always been a guy who even in 2QB leagues would grab a top running back and then fill in my quarterbacks in Rounds 2 to 5ish. But so far this season, if Andrew Luck or Aaron Rodgers is on the board, I am taking one of them. But after them, I find it hard to take a quarterback in the first round. I feel that tactic is still up for debate, but as long as you grab quarterbacks quickly after the first roudn, you can still be fairly solid there. But don’t wait. I’ve tried it many times, and watching those mid-tier quarterbacks fall away in the second and third rounds can be painful.
I believe the following mock draft went okay, but not great. I’ll go through and give the reasoning behind my picks and look at some picks I wish I would have made and some I’m glad I didn’t.
Settings: 12 teams, Standard Scoring — 2 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, WR/RB/TE, D/ST, 7 BN
Round 1:
1.1 Jamaal Charles, KC
1.2 Aaron Rodgers, GB
1.3 Adrian Peterson, MIN
1.4 Andrew Luck, IND
1.5 Le’Veon Bell, PIT
1.6 Eddie Lacy, GB
1.7 Russell Wilson, SEA
1.8 Antonio Brown, PIT
1.9 Marshawn Lynch, SEA
1.10 Rob Gronkowski, NE
1.11 C.J. Anderson, DEN
1.12 Dez Bryant, DAL
So here I am in the five hole. I was very much hoping that Luck or Rodgers would fall to me, but neither did. That left me with a decision between my No. 2 running back Le’Veon Bell, my No. 1 wide receiver Antonio Brown, my No. 1 tight end Rob Gronkowski or my No. 3 quarterback Drew Brees. I felt that without the anchor of a no-doubter like Luck or Rodgers that I’d rather take a risk with Bell. This team has plenty of slots for the loss of Bell due to suspension to be overcome early in the season when there aren’t as many injured players and no bye weeks. It also has a flex spot instead of a third running back spot that gives me some room to work, but, you will see later that I did make a mistake in management that I regret.
There weren’t many crazy picks in this first round. I am more scared of Russell Wilson’s rushing stats regressing than others are, but otherwise I can’t really fault any of these.
Round 2:
2.1 Julio Jones, ATL
2.2 Arian Foster, HOU
2.3 Peyton Manning, DEN
2.4 Odell Beckham, NYG
2.5 Drew Brees, NO
2.6 Ben Roethlisberger, PIT
2.7 Matt Ryan, ATL
2.8 Tony Romo, DAL
2.9 Demaryius Thomas, DEN
2.10 Cam Newton, CAR
2.11 Matt Forte, CHI
2.12 Calvin Johnson, DET
The second round is where you are hoping a top quarterback falls to you, especially if you skipped one in Round 1. Brees or Peyton Manning were who I was hoping for, but they, along with Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Ryan, went before me. When my pick came up, there was no way I could skip a quarterback again and end up with two who I could stomach as my starters. So, I chose my seventh-ranked quarterback, Tony Romo. Last season, Romo had his most efficient season ever, while playing with a balky back, but did take a back seat to the rushing offense as DeMarco Murray and the bulky offensive line took over. This season, there’s no DeMarco Murray, but there is still a dominant offensive line and a dominant receiver in Dez Bryant.
The results so far are why I like two-quarterback leagues. Quarterbacks are the most important part of a team’s offense, yet in one-quarterback leagues, you can wait and get a good one without much of a problem. No such thing here. Nine of the first 24 picks are quarterbacks, and it really throws off all of the muscle memory you have gained from mocking and drafting in your “normal” leagues.
Round 3:
3.1 LeSean McCoy, BUF
3.2 Jeremy Hill, CIN
3.3 DeMarco Murray, PHI
3.4 Jordy Nelson, GB
3.5 Ryan Tannehill, MIA
3.6 Eli Manning, NYG
3.7 A.J. Green, CIN
3.8 Alshon Jeffery, CHI
3.9 Matthew Stafford, DET
3.10 Tom Brady, NE
3.11 Mike Evans, TB
3.12 Justin Forsett, BAL
When you look at this round, my Ryan Tannehill pick looks a bit out of place, but I wasn’t going to wait on my second quarterback, especially since this isn’t a Super Flex league that allows you to start two quarterbacks, you MUST start two quarterbacks. I could have waited for Philip Rivers, Jay Cutler, Joe Flacco, etc., but I really like Tannehill this season. He’s not the next Peyton Manning, but he is in an offense that suits his abilities well, as seen by his improvement across the board in 2014. Tannehill finished the season with his highest yardage, completion percentage, touchdowns and his lowest number of interceptions and lost fumbles. That put him as the ninth-best fantasy quarterback overall, and now, he’ll have his second season under offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. Lazor had a crash course under Chip Kelly in Philadelphia and brought that fast-paced, quick-hitting offense to Miami. This allows Tannehill to use his quality short-passing accuracy, but also his legs, as he rushed for career highs in attempts and yards last season. With a couple more rushing touchdowns and just slight improvement in passing numbers, Tannehill could quickly move into the top-five quarterback talk.
My choice here came down to Tannehill versus Eli Manning. I have Tannehill ranked eighth and Eli Manning ranked ninth at the moment, but they feel pretty interchangeable for me. Tannehill’s rushing ability gives him a slight edge in possible upside, but Manning has more top weapons in the passing game. If this choice came to me 10 times, I’d probably pick Manning five times and Tannehill the other five.
Round 4:
4.1 Mark Ingram, NO
4.2 T.Y. Hilton, IND
4.3 DeAndre Hopkins, HOU
4.4 Frank Gore, IND
4.5 Randall Cobb, GB
4.6 Lamar Miller, MIA
4.7 Alfred Morris, WAS
4.8 Brandin Cooks, NO
4.9 Philip Rivers, SD
4.10 Jimmy Graham, SEA
4.11 Teddy Bridgewater, MIN
4.12 Melvin Gordon, SD
With my quarterbacks in the bag, I turned to my favorite receiver this season. Of course, I’d pick some of the top stud receivers over him, but I’m really looking forward to him stockpiling receptions this season. As a rookie, Cooks was on pace for 997 total yards, 85 receptions and 6.4 touchdowns before injuring his thumb in Week 10. Those numbers were on the rise though. Cooks had been used for the first half of the season as a glorified running back, with runs and a stunted route tree, but coach Sean Payton opened things up for Cook, and it paid dividends by getting him the ball further down field, that in turn helped back defenders off him and his 4.3-second speed. A complete year of a full and growing route tree will help Cooks and his touchdown potential, which is really the only thing keeping him out of the top-10 fantasy receivers.
Carlos Hyde, Latavius Murray and Melvin Gordon were the other players I wanted there, but I feel more confident in Cooks’ ability to break out than those three at the moment.
Round 5:
5.1 Colin Kaepernick, SF
5.2 Emmanuel Sanders, DEN
5.3 Kelvin Benjamin, CAR
5.4 Jonathan Stewart, CAR
5.5 Carlos Hyde, SF
5.6 Andre Johnson, IND
5.7 Jordan Matthews, PHI
5.8 C.J. Spiller, NO
5.9 Martavis Bryant, PIT
5.10 Latavius Murray, OAK
5.11 Joe Flacco, BAL
5.12 Sam Bradford, PHI
Thankfully, I was able to get Carlos Hyde in this round. I’m not insanely high on Hyde, but I do like his youth and strength to help bring a nice anchor to the 49ers’ running game. Yes, there are plenty of problems in San Francisco, but a quarterback who can rush the ball almost always helps the running back he is handing the ball off to.
Jordan Matthews makes for a nice safe pick here. If I’m picking slot receivers, they need to be on a team that uses them and plays an up-tempo brand of football. Both are true for Chip Kelly’s offense.
Now, we are watching as quarterbacks who are by no means locks, go off the board. I’m happy to have my mid-range quarterbacks that I like, but I’m also getting the yips as far as backup quarterbacks go. Well, maybe I didn’t have the yips yet, because I should have been looking more closely at getting a decent backup.
Continue to Rounds 6-10, or jump to Rounds 11-17. Also, check out our Fantasy Football Rankings.
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