Composite photo by Jack Brame
Football season is finally upon us, so we know what that means. It's time to do some mock drafts to prepare us for the drafts that really matter, and can put cash in our pockets. I wrote this column last year and it seemed to get a lot of good feedback, so why mess with a good thing?
Here's how this works. Each week I will draft a different fantasy team and I will change my draft position to highlight the types of teams one can build depending on where they are drafting. For this week's exercise, I participated in a mock draft in which I drafted with the No. 1 overall pick. Next week I'll draft in the middle of the round, and finally I will do a draft picking at No. 11 or No. 12.
I always advise people to participate in as many mocks as they can before drafting, but not everyone has the time. If that's the case for you, I'll do all the leg work participating in dozens of mock drafts, and you can sit back and learn the positives and negatives of each draft slot. These are PPR drafts, by the way. Let's get started.
With my first pick I selected Saints RB Alvin Kamara. I considered Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey here, and I would be happy with any of these 3 players. I took Kamara because he's had more than one good season unlike Barkley, and he plays on an elite offense. With Ezekiel Elliott's holdout, I'm staying away from him for the time being.
With my second pick I knew I was going to get two picks in a row, so I opted for the best WR on the board in Mike Evans and decided to take one of the elite TEs. I wanted to see how my team would look if I invested early in a TE. The 3 elite TEs (Kelce, Kittle, Ertz) will all be drafted before the 3rd round is over, and I had to take Zach Ertz with the 1st pick of the 3rd round because there's no way he would be there the next time I picked. If I had passed on TE, I would have drafted Amari Cooper, Keenan Allen, Damien Williams, or T.Y. Hilton. If Williams wasn't dealing with a hamstring injury, he would be hard to pass up. His upside is massive in the Kansas City offense.
As far as the Evans selection, I wanted to take the best WR on the board and my other options were TY Hilton, Amari Cooper, and Keenan Allen. I was tempted to take Cooper or Allen, but Evans had over 1500 yards last year and if he hits double digit TDs, I will be extremely happy with the pick. He had 8 last year and with Bruce Arians coming in, I like my chances. Arians loves to push the ball down field, and DeSean Jackson is no longer the deep threat after signing with the Eagles in the offseason.
With my fourth selection I didn't like the running backs left on the board, so I grabbed by second WR by drafting Kenny Golladay. He's a big talented dude that should put up good numbers as the Lions #1 WR with Golden Tate out of the picture. The RBs I passed on here where Kenyan Drake, Phillip Lindsay, and Tevin Coleman. Drake will likely be in a timeshare on maybe the worst offense in the league, and Lindsay has a new coaching staff that might use Royce Freeman more this year. Coleman I like, but not until the 6th round.
With my 5th pick I went WR again and landed Cooper Kupp. He'll be my flex and I'm totally cool with that. Goff looks for him in the red zone, and this offense should be dynamic again. I think he'll be okay coming off the ACL injury.
I had a long wait before my 6th pick came around and here's where I selected my #2 RB. I got Lamar Miller, and this was before the Duke Johnson trade. Miller doesn't have much upside, but he's the starter on an offense that I think will be pretty good this year. My next pick may be a bit of a reach, but I love his upside in an offense that wants to run the ball. Rashaad Penny was my selection with the 1st pick of the 7th round. I knew he wouldn't be there when I picked in the 8th round, so it was now or never. The Seahawks spent a 1st round pick on him last year, and I think he could take over the starting job at some point this season.
In the 8th round Corey Davis felt like a good gamble, let's hope he breaks out in his 3rd NFL season like many WRs do. I continued to add depth in the 9th round with Chargers RB Austin Eckler, who could be a huge value with Melvin Gordon holding out.
You can clearly tell that I was waiting as long as possible to address QB, and when you take a TE as early as I did, it's a good approach. With my next 2 picks I added more depth with veteran WR DeSean Jackson, who I'm told is showing great chemistry with Carson Wentz, and RB LeSean McCoy. I don't really like McCoy, but I'll take him all day in round 11. In rounds 12 and 13 I grabbed two QBs in Lamar Jackson and Tom Brady. I love Jackson's upside, and I have Brady if he falters.
Overall, I really like my team. I don't know if I'll continue to address TE so early, but I wanted to see how thin I would be at other positions if I drafted that way. I think I would like my team better with Keenan Allen or Amari Cooper as my #2 WR, but that's the price you pay when you take a TE early. Here's a look at my starters.
QB Lamar Jackson
WR Mike Evans
WR Kenny Galladay
RB Alvin Kamara
RB Lamar Miller
TE Zach Ertz
FLEX Cooper Kupp
My QBs aren't super sexy, but Lamar Jackson has a great chance to surprise this year with Greg Roman as the offensive coordinator. Roman was the OC in San Francisco when Kaepernick was the QB, so this guy knows how to work with a running QB. I don't love Brady this year because he doesn't have a lot of talent to work with, but in round 13 he's worth a shot.
This is my first edition of Mock my mock for 2019, and I'll be drafting at pick #6 for next week's exercise. Be sure to check out my 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. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.