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.
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There was a conversation Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell had during training camp, the topic being all the teams that were generating the most preseason buzz in the Eastern Conference. Boston was coming off an NBA championship. New York got Karl-Anthony Towns. Philadelphia added Paul George.
The Cavs? Not a big topic in early October. And Mitchell fully understood why.
“What have we done?” Mitchell asked. “They don't talk about us. That's fine. We'll just hold ourselves to our standard.”
That approach seems to be working.
For the first time in 36 seasons — yes, even before the LeBron James eras in Cleveland — the Cavaliers are atop the NBA at the 25-game mark. They're 21-4, having come back to earth a bit following a 15-0 start but still better than anyone in the league at this point.
“We've kept our standards pretty high,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “And we keep it going.”
The Cavs are just one of the surprise stories that have emerged as the season nears the one-third-done mark. Orlando — the only team still unbeaten at home — is off to its best start in 16 years at 17-9 and having done most of that without All-Star forward Paolo Banchero. And Houston is 16-8, behind only the Cavs, Boston, Oklahoma City and Memphis so far in the race for the league's best record.
Cleveland was a playoff team a year ago, as was Orlando. And the Rockets planted seeds for improvement last year as well; an 11-game winning streak late in the season fueled a push where they finished 41-41 in a major step forward after a few years of rebuilding.
“We kind of set that foundation last year to compete with everybody,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Obviously, we had some ups and downs with winning and losing streaks at times, but to finish the season the way we did, getting to .500, 11-game winning streak and some close losses against high-level playoff teams, I think we kind of proved that to ourselves last year that that's who we're going to be.”
A sign of the respect the Rockets are getting: Oddsmakers at BetMGM Scorebook have made them a favorite in 17 of 24 games so far this season, after favoring them only 30 times in 82 games last season.
“Based on coaches, players, GMs, people that we all know what they're saying, it seems like everybody else is taking notice as well,” Udoka said.
They're taking notice of Orlando as well. The Magic lost their best player and haven't skipped a beat.
Banchero's injury after five games figured to doom Orlando for a while, and the Magic went 0-4 immediately after he tore his oblique. Entering Tuesday, they're 14-3 since — and now have to regroup yet again. Franz Wagner stepped into the best-player-on-team role when Banchero got hurt, and now Wagner is going to miss several weeks with the exact same injury.
Ask Magic coach Jamahl Mosley how the team has persevered, and he'll quickly credit everyone but himself. Around the league, it's Mosley getting a ton of the credit — and rightly so — for what Orlando is doing.
“I think that has to do a lot with Mose. ... I have known him a long time,” Phoenix guard Bradley Beal said. “A huge fan of his and what he is doing. It is a testament to him and the way they’ve built this team.”
The Magic know better than most how good Cleveland is, and vice versa. The teams went seven games in an Eastern Conference first-round series last spring, the Cavs winning the finale at home to advance to Round 2.
Atkinson was brought in by Cleveland to try and turn good into great. The job isn't anywhere near finished — nobody is raising any banners for “best record after 25 games” — but Atkinson realized fairly early that this Cavs team has serious potential.
“We’re so caught up in like the process of improve, improve, improve each game, improve each practice," Atkinson said. “That’s kind of my philosophy. But then you hit 10-0, and obviously the media starts talking and all that, and you’re like, ‘Man, this could be something special brewing here.’”