GSI Mock Draft: Round Two

29. July 2009  - Published by Dan Clasgens
Comments (15)

After a solid first round things started to get interesting in Round Two of the GSI Mock Draft...

RECAPS: Round One

ROUND TWO
13. BROERING - WR L. Fitzgerald (ARI)
14. SIMON - WR R. Moss (NE)
15. DINSMORE - WR A. Johnson (HOU)
16. BRYANT - RB S. Slaton (HOU)
17. WETZEL - RB C. Portis (WAS)
18. SCHMITT - WR R. Wayne (IND)
19. SIMS - WR C. Johnson (DET)
20. MURDICO - RB B. Jacobs (NYG)
21. ANSELMO - WR A. Boldin (ARI)
22. CLASGENS - QB P. Manning (IND)
23. FISCHER - QB T. Brady (NE)
24. HUMBERT - WR G. Jennings (GB)

POSITION BREAKDOWN: WR (7), RB (3), QB (2)

MY PICK: There are three quarterbacks that I consider Tier 1 candidates - Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady. Brees (who was taken 4th overall) went in the opening round and I was a bit surprised to see Manning and Brady both fall to me with the 22nd overall pick. I was anticipating both of them going sooner and turning to my WR1 here, but I will take a franchise quarterback. Ultimately, Brady has more upside than Manning, but Peyton is the "safer" bet in my eyes. His '08 numbers were a bit disappointing for owners, but too many people disregarded his preseason knee surgery that limited him to just three TD passes in the team's first three contests. I'm not buying into the Harrison departing hurts him theory either. Harrison was a non-factor (no TD's or fewer than 50 yards) in 10 games last season and Manning still averaged 230 yards per game and threw 14 TD's in those outings.

BEST VALUE PICK: Some owners will be a bit gun shy to pull the trigger on Tom Brady, but they shouldn't be. The Patriots were confident enough in his recovery from knee surgery to send backup Matt Cassel to Kansas City. If the veteran signal caller even comes close to sniffing 2007 numbers, he will make the owners that passed him over for a wideout. Outside the top three or four receivers, the difference between No. 5 and No. 12 is marginal. The same can't be said at quarterback.

MOST LIKELY TO DISAPPOINT: Once again it's hard to nit pick some of the top 25 players taken in a fantasy draft, but if I had to pick a guy that could disappoint from this round I go with Steve Slaton. Just by looking at my Cheat Sheet you can see that I am not as high on him as Ron Bryant is as I have ranked as the No. 14 running back at this point. Slaton is solid and has the ability to score on any play. He may not carry a huge workload, but the production is there. However, I likely would have went after a receiver here.  It is a long time before Ron gets to pick again. He could have had a stud quarterback or an elite wideout and instead opted for a running back that most websites don't have in the Top 10. There will be more running backs to choose from in Round Three than there will be QB's and WR's.

FINAL TAKE: A solid round by all. As predicited the run on receivers came and came large. Expect Round Two in your league to be the same way.

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Comments

Roy Anselmo
Roy Anselmo
7/29/2009 8:35:13 AM #
This appears to be a solid round, and I don't think you can go wrong with any of the guys drafted.  In fact, I see more production in this round overall than the first round.  

Jim Humbert
Jim Humbert
7/29/2009 9:12:30 AM #
Sometimes it's annoying picking on the corners. You just sit and watch all the good talent fly by. For a moment I actually thought I had a chance at Brady or Manning. Don't expect them to last that long in most drafts this summer. Still, I'm happy with Greg Jennings. He's coming off a big year and the fact that he did better with Aaron Rodgers than with Favre is encouraging.
Chris Wetzel
Chris Wetzel
7/29/2009 10:04:17 AM #
Knowing that a WR run was in process and to go on long until my next pick in round 3, I was not looking to do what I did, which was take another RB.  The old RB/RB back-to-back in rounds 1 & 2 isn't the solid strategy it used to be, considering the increase of sharing RB roles on teams.

However, Clinton Portis was available, and I feel that he was the last RB that this would be worth doing.  He will get a larger percentage of touches than most RBs remaining, and has as solid of a track record as anyone.  Sure, age is a factor, but every player from here on out will have some question marks.  Being the man in Washington's offense that he is, I think this was a better fill for my team instead of the WR I had in mind (Calvin Johnson).

I knew that in round 3 I would need to pick a WR, and I hoped that a top one would still remain.  We'll get to that in the round 3 discussion.  Smile  I also passed on QB here because I would rather wait and get a second-tier QB in round 4 rather than lose the opportunity to shore up either my RB or WR core in round 2.

As for those who draft on the corners, my draft strategy has changed slightly.  I used to only go for the value pick or the best available pick, but when you're on the ends the best way to think of it is to choose the best player (or the best fit for your team) within the X number of picks that will happen before you pick again.  Sounds elementary, but with me picking eighth, I wanted to take the guy I would really want of the best 15 players on the board.  (My pick, seven picks after mine in this round, then another seven before it comes back to me.)  

On the ends, it's a realization that you could have 20+ players taken before you pick again.  This is where team needs (and recognizing when a run is going to happen) come into play.  Essentially, it should be the end drafters (picks 1, 2, 11 & 12) who start and end runs.  Here, the first two picks of the round started the WR run, which was wise considering the depth of talent left in the WR core at the end of round 3 would be slim.
Jeremy Fischer
Jeremy Fischer
7/29/2009 10:13:40 AM #
I'm extremely happy with Brady.  As Dan stated, some will be gunshy on him this year.  I'm not one of those.  It will take him some games to get back to the old Brady, just the way it took Palmer to get back in the flow after his knee surgery a couple of years ago (before the elbow caused him issues).

But ultimately, you can't go wrong with Brady in Round 2.  Place him with Turner in Round 1 and this team is starting to take a nice little shape.
Jimmy D
Jimmy D
7/29/2009 11:20:33 AM #
Brady was the value pick for sure. He was gonna be my pick if one of my top 3 WR Tier 1 guys was gone (as I anticipated). But Andre Johnson represented the last of my Tier 1 guys and I had to pull the trigger. It was gonna be him, Brady or Manning.
Roy Anselmo
Roy Anselmo
7/29/2009 2:47:15 PM #
WR was definitely the chic pick in Round 2.  As I normally do, I look at the schedule in the final weeks of the season.  I believe your first two picks should stay on your team all year and should also be the anchors come playoff time.  

With this in mind, I opted for Boldin the Beast.  His YAC is usually better than Fitz and he has a nose for the endzone, finishing third for WR's last year in TD's .  But, most importantly, Weeks 14, 15, 16, his slate is at San Fran, at Detroit, and at home against St. Louis.  'Nuff said.  
Jimmy D
Jimmy D
7/29/2009 3:30:42 PM #
Again, let me poke at your theory Roy. It's different and I like it, but I see flaws in it. First of all, trying (in July by the way) or even in the preseason to determine a player's schedule and favorable match up doesn't work. Case in point is Tennessee. They stunk two years ago. Going in to last year, most looked past them as an irrelevant team and they finish with the best record in the NFL and go to the AFC Championship. There are teams like this year every year. So the "favorable" schedule means almost nothing at this point and is not the way I'm going to pick.
I like Boldin. But I think, especially considering Manning, Brady and Jennings were all still there, I think Boldin might be the "worst" pick. But again, it's splitting hairs as he's solid. But with Boldin's attitude, contract status and team mates (Fitzgerald, Breaston stealing catches/touches), I think there were smarter picks.
Ron Bryant
Ron Bryant
7/29/2009 4:51:11 PM #
I was very disappointed not to get one of the top 3 WRs here, with just 3 picks left before my turn they were all still on the board. Struggled making this pick but ultimately decided to take Slaton here. He was obviously the highest ranked RB left on my board as I have him ranked 10th. It was between Slaton and Portis for me here. There are very few RBs these days who are not sharing carries and Slaton is one of them. One thing I saw that i liked is how Slaton's workload increased at the end of the season last year. Maybe Dan didn't notice this when commenting on Slaton's workload, but Steve had at least 20 carries in 5 of Houston's last 6 games and had 18 carries in the other. Even more impressive is how his YPC went up during this stretch as well. Throw in 50 receptions on the season and it's hard to find issues with his workload. You can count on 1400-1600 yds from scrimmage at least and double digit TDs.

I knew a run on WR was coming, but did not think too many of the top remaining WRs would be gone to where i could'nt still get a high quality Wr in the next round.
Bret Sims
Bret Sims
7/29/2009 6:13:12 PM #
Wetzel you have all but assured yourself of a last place finish with your first two picks. Williams can't repeat what he did last year and Portis is made of glass.  So with your first two picks you sunk yourself.
Bret Sims
Bret Sims
7/29/2009 6:36:00 PM #
Kurt Warner won't last through another 16 game season but I'm sure someone will take him earlier than they should.  Why am I bringing this up?  Because Leinnart loves Fitz but isn't pass friendly to Boldin so Anselmo is going to be hurting about half way through the season.
Chris Wetzel
Chris Wetzel
7/29/2009 10:56:54 PM #
Bret, I know you're just looking for a fight, but I'm not expecting DeAngelo Williams to do exactly what he did last year.  I feel my responses have been long enough to express that sentiment.  I don't think picking DeAngelo Williams and Clinton Portis "sinks my team."  There's a reason LT fell to you that far, my man.  No one "forgot" about him.

As for Portis, don't allow me to let facts get in the way of your buffoonery.  Last two season, 32 starts.  Sounds like he's been healthy to me.  And let's see how well Calvin Johnson does when Drew Stanton is slinging the rock for the once-again-winless Lions.
Bret Sims
Bret Sims
7/30/2009 7:00:08 AM #
Wittle Wetzel, I think you and a lot of others are going to be surprised with what LT is going to do this year.  He didn't go from being the best RB in the game to not deserving a top 5 pick as some of you want to believe.  Do the names Curtis Martin, Shaun Alexander and Tiki Barber ring a bell?  Everyone wanted to write them off after they had an injury filled season and then they came back the next year and exploded.  LT will be really good this year but that might be it.  I'd take LT over your two backs any day but at least you didn't pick Drew Brees.
Dan Clasgens
Dan Clasgens
7/30/2009 7:57:33 AM #
I am not big on the looking at schedules too much this time of the year, but Roy getting excited about Arizona's slate of games during the fantasy playoff stretch is justified. Bottom line, pick the best players. If you need a tiebreaker, schedules could be looked at as a deciding factor.
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Cell Phone Review
8/12/2009 9:57:26 AM #
great job
Cell Phone Review
Cell Phone Review
8/12/2009 10:03:56 AM #
thanks bro
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