It is officially August and the Hall of Fame game is tonight! Football is definitely in the air. Earlier this week I covered what I will be doing in the first round of drafts, now it is time to move onto the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Of course, if anyone that I wrote about in the first installment slips through the cracks like an Urban Meyer cover up, I would take a stab at those names first. I don’t know what’s going on in your draft! I’m not there. All I can do is go off of ADP and my rankings and tell you who I like and don’t like. Let’s run through some names in the teens through the 30’s, shall we?
Top o’ Round 2
One man’s suspension is another man’s opportunity to rake. With Mark Ingram’s four game suspension looming, it makes me uneasy to think of Alvin Kamara with more touches. Alvin Kamara without Mark Ingram is like peanut butter without jelly, macaroni without cheese, and intercourse without foreplHEEEY Jay! [Jay’s Note: I’ll allow it.] I’m expecting a bit of an uptick in the passing game which should mean business as usual for the always dependable Michael Thomas. Michael Thomas saw 149 targets from Drew Brees in 2017 which ranked 6th among all wide receivers. His 104 catches in 2017 also puts him up there with the elite pass catchers in the league. What hurt Thomas last season was going from catching 9 touchdowns in 2016 to just 5 in 2017. I’m gambling on Thomas seeing pay dirt a few more times this season than he did in the last.
Middle of Round 2Â
Joe Mixon didn’t have the rookie season that I wanted him to have. But, he was still able to show flashes of why Cincinnati took a chance on him. One of the battles with Mixon all season was holding off Jeremy Hill and Giovanni Bernard for snaps. According Evan Silva, Mixon was only on the field for 50% of offensive snaps in half of the games that he played last season. With Jeremy Hill now officially out of the picture, Joe Mixon should see the majority of first and second down work to start the season and if it all goes well, there is no reason that he wouldn’t be the bell cow going forward. The Bengals also brought in Cordy Glenn and drafted Billy Price to bolster their offensive line that seemed lost in the sauce last season. If the Cincinnati Bengals offense is able to improve as a whole, which it should, Mixon should also be able to collect more than four touchdowns this season.
Late Round 2/Early 3rd Round
The mid to late 20’s in ADP frankly don’t do anything for me. When we get to #32 in ADP I see a receiver that will be on the rise as August rolls along as long as Andrew Luck is gunning it with a healthy shoulder. T.Y. Hilton is a baaaad baaaad man when Andrew Luck is on the field. Hilton had at least 82 catches in three of the four seasons between 2013 and 2016 and at least 1,000 yards in all four of them. Hilton peaked in 2016 with 91 catches and fell just 52 yards short of a 1,500 yard receiving season. I expect more of a 2016-type season from Hilton this season because he doesn’t seem to be facing any competition from other teammates as far as talent goes. When Luck isn’t peppering his tight ends, you better believe he will be trying to find Hilton down the field.
Middle of the 3rd Round
Jay Ajayi – Read what I wrote here.
People are expecting regression from Adam Thielen this year, but I don’t see it. Yes, Kirk Cousins does love throwing the ball to tight ends and Stefon Diggs is still on the verge of having his breakout campaign but Adam Thielen can get open. His ability to find space is a big reason why he converted 91 of his 143 targets into almost 1,300 yards last season. Of course, it is a bummer he only found the end zone four times. The bottom line is the passing game should only improve with Kirk Cousins under center. The two most talented targets should see a lot of opportunities from their new quarterback and one of those two is Adam Thielen.
Late 3rd Round
Quarterbacks without a lot of experience tend to look for a safe go-to target. That target will be Travis Kelce for 2nd year man, Pat Mahomes. Travis Kelce had the highest usage rate of any of the Chief’s players in the passing game in 2017 (14% of total plays). Travis also had the most red zone targets out of anyone on the team by a mile. Albert Wilson was number two on the list and as you may know, he now plays for the Dolphins. Kelce is coming off of his career high in touchdowns (8) which doubled his previously highest total and he also has back to back 1,000 yard receiving seasons. Being able to get Kelce in the back end of the 3rd round is quite the bargain.
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12 team ppr
My keepers
Zeke
Diggs
Davante Adams
Would you rather have
36$ gronk and 15$ mixon
Or
46$ fournette and 5$ ertz
@Big league choo: that’s such a tough question. I like 3 if the 4 a lot this year. Literally the same amount of money too. I guess Fournette and Ertz. Love both. Thinking another huge year for Ertz, possibly bigger than Gronk.
@MB:
Ertz side seems safer….per PFF mixon Abdul gronk each have no 1 easiest schedule
Like I said, no easy answer. The one thing that i’m Most convinced of is that Gronk won’t play 16 games.
Just got an offer
Bell 22$ (24$ next year, 28, 34 and so on)for
My davante Adams, Stefon diggs, and my first round pick which could be an alshon Jeffery or Zachary Ertz
Adams is 7$(13, 21)
Diggs 13$(15,19,25)
That’s kind’ve steep in my opinion, who are you’re other WRs and RBs? That’ll give me a better idea.
@MB:
AJ green Allen Robinson, Jeffery, demaryius, josh gordon golden gate basically WRs 2s
@MB:
AJ green Allen Robinson, Jeffery, demaryius, josh gordon golden gate basically WRs 2s
It’s not a horrible idea to trade for Bell if you’re that deep at WR. Just hope that a couple break out for WR1 seasons and you have Le’Veon. I don’t mind it
@MB:
I got him to do Adams 7$ and my 10th pick for bell 22$
And he gets higher pick between us next year. Sent freeman 9$ for a 1st rounder next year. My team now
Elliott 52
Bell 22
Diggs 13
And two first rounders next year!!
That was masterfully played, my hat goes off to you!
Twelve team 0.5PPR. Keep 2:
T. Hill (5th Round)
A. Thielen (8th Round)
K. Drake (8th Round)
If I keep both 8th rounders one gets bumped to a 7th. Sorely tempted by Hill & Thielen and then just pounding RBs early on.
@Drekkan: that is one way to do it, I’m weary on Hill this year but that seems like a decent enough price. I’m not COMPLETELY sold that Drake is going to keep that job so I think that’s the right way to go.
12 team keeper keep 3 – keep player in rd they were drafted player moves up a rd for each year kept free agents kept in rd 12
Qb and q/w/r/t flex so basically a 2 qb league
Kamara 15 th rd
Mariota 7th rd
Luck 2nd rd
Evan engram 12th rd
Josh gordon 12th rd
Jay ajayi 12th rd
Devante parker 8th rd
Smith schuster 12th rd
I am thinking kamara ajayi mariota
Mariota might be a 6th rd pick as he was part of a trade and not sure how the rds will be worked out but i dont think that makes much difference
@Barker: I think that’s the right call, I’d rather keep Luck over Mariota though
just now about to have to make my first football decision of the year, haven’t caught back up on anything yet, but that’s coming right soon. 12 team 2 QB half PPR dynasty (also short IDP’s). we have a message board slow draft in which we can draft up to 3 people (we can drop as we draft). i need to drop 2 people today though. it’s 2 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 2 flex (RB/WR/TE), 1 K, 1 team D, 4 flex IDP’s (and they don’t score huge here relatively to the offensive players)
QB (have tons, always never a problem to stash)- rodgers, mahomes, rodfather, foles, lynch, brissett
RB: kamara (it was sooo nice how cheap i got him last year after i thought i missed out on all the better RB’s at the time he was pick 24), ingram, burkhead (seems to have gained value in offseason), perine/gallman (both lost value big time)
WR: (seems like these are all kept players): k.allen, theilen, m.lee, d-jax (TB in case there is a new one), jordy, edelman
TE: ertz
K: KC kicker
team D: JAX
IDPs: r.jones DB, t.smith, ogletree, burfict, trevathan
with the worst pick in all 3 rounds last year went mahomes/kamara/charles (worthless on last pick)
so i’m clearly looking to draft RB depth now with the 3rd to worst pick in all rounds. guessing my drop here is a QB and probably an IDP (during season i want probably 1 BN IDP, but they are somewhat easily findable). draftable RB outside of rookies would be blount/sims/ekeler/ware
beep boop