You can't help but feel good about your team when you have Todd Gurley. Photo by Rams/Facebook
This week, I wanted to take everybody through a different mock draft so you can see how your team changes based on what draft selection you have. For this draft, I selected out of the No. 2 spot and I took Todd Gurley in the first round. I did this hoping that one of the elite WRs would be there when I drafted in the second round. Plus, he’s awesome and I wanted him on my team. When drafting at the beginning of the round, it can be a challenge to get a WR that you really love in the second round.
I drafted out of the #2 spot in two separate drafts last week, and I decided to use this mock as an exercise because I doubt many drafters will be able to get AJ Green with their second round pick like I did. We're going to use the draft where AJ Green was gone, and I had to select TY Hilton because that will be the case in most drafts. If I had to do it over again, I would take a different WR. Andrew Luck’s recovery is making me nervous which clearly impacts TY Hilton. Mike Evans would be the pick here if I had to do it again.
With my third pick, I was excited to get Bengals RB Joe Mixon. I think he’s going to have a breakout year, and there weren't any WRs that I wanted to take over him.
One of the big reasons I took Mixon in the 3rd was because I was pretty sure Seahawks WR Doug Baldwin would fall to me here in the 4th round. I now have two of my top 10 RBs and 2 of my top 10 WRs on my squad. Looking good so far.
In round 5, I selected JuJu Smith-Schuster and he will be a good flex with a lot of upside. I could have had any of the top QBs or Mark Ingram or Chris Hogan here, but I’m cool with JuJu. Though I am extremely high on Hogan this year.
Round 6 is where I decided to take my TE because I was terrified of what would be left if I didn’t take Evan Engram here. I’m concerned about the amount of targets he’ll get this year with a healthy Odell Beckham returning, but I’ll take my chances. I don’t feel comfortable rolling with Kyle Rudolph at TE, so Engram is the pick.
Typically, I wait a little longer for a QB, but getting Russell Wilson in the 7th round felt like good value. Plus, I can stack him with Doug Baldwin. Baldwin looks like he’ll be ready for the season opener, and is already sprinting on his sore knee, according to reports.
Now, I’m all about going for depth at RB, and WR to some extent. I grab Packers RB Jamaal Williams with my 8th round pick, and he’s set to be the starter. Not bad value.
In the 9th round I felt good about my RBs, so I decided to take an upside receiver with Panthers’ 1st round pick, DJ Moore. This dude can really run and the guys available that I could have selected were Sterling Shepard, Jamison Crowder, and Jordy Nelson. I’m fine with all of these WRs, but I like Moore’s upside for this mock.
When round 10 came around I decided to lockup the Bengals backfield and selected Giovani Bernard. Easy decision...
In round 11, I took a RB that I take in almost every draft. He’s dirt cheap and there’s a good chance he’ll begin the season as the starting RB. Lions RB LeGarrette Blount is the man I’m referring to.
Round 12 I grabbed another upside WR with Mike Williams of the LA Chargers. He could be a big TD guy, so I rolled the dice.
Browns RB Nick Chubb was my pick in the 13th round, and I grabbed Jets RB Bilal Powell with my 14th round selection. He’s set to be at least the co-starter, and that’s great value in the 14th. I then added a defense and a kicker.
This is my second edition of Mock my mock and I’ll be drafting at the bottom of a mock draft for next week’s exercise. Pick number eleven or twelve, and all my mock drafts have been on ESPN, just so you know the ADP I’m working with. Be sure to check out my new show MoneyLine with Jerry Bo on ESPN 97.5. We’re on every Sunday from 10-noon, and we’ll talk a lot of fantasy football and NFL gambling. Our goal is to get you ready for your draft, and to help with Start/Sit questions when the regular season begins. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter. If you missed last week's article drafting from the #7 spot, you can check it out here.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or nine games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after a 4-8 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez (though not Breggy Bad). A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.