Mock Draft Madness Part 2

By Jermain Baker

For this mock draft I selected the fifth position overall in a 12 team league. The 5th, 6th and 7th draft positions in fantasy football can be tough to draft from so I mock a lot from these spots to solidify my strategy. Yahoo uses a three wide receiver starting line-up configuration for all of their mock drafts but all the leagues I play in have a RB/WR flex spot instead so that's how I draft. Here we go.

Yahoo Mock Draft 12 Team League 8/4/2010

Round 1 (5) - Ray Rice - Frank Gore went 3rd and MJD 4th pushing Rice to me at five. No complaints here. I rode Rice to a championship in a PPR league last season. Note to coach Harbaugh, give Rice more love at the goal line! All I'm sayin'.

Round 2 (20) - Shonn Greene - Big WR run sees Moss, Marshall, Wayne, Andre Johnson, Calvin Johnson, and DeSean Jackson all come off the board before my pick. Although I'll pay a heavy price at the WR spot I opt for Greene who I think is an absolute lock for double digit td's this season.

Round 3 (29) - Jammal Charles - More WR's fly off the board after I take Greene in round 2. Fitzgerald, White, Colston, Austin, Jennings, Smith (Panthers), and Boldin all evaporate before my eyes. There's no elite WR left so I decide to set up a rock solid three headed monster at RB and roll the dice on WR's later.

Round 4 (44) - Steve Smith(NYG) - I finally get into the WR sweepstakes in round 4 with Smith. I like the value here 1200 yards, 107 receptions, and 7 td's last year.

Round 5 (53) - Dwayne Bowe - Bowe has a lot of talent and is the unquestioned no.1 receiver on this team if he can stay out of head coach Todd Haley's dog house. With Charlie Weis in as the new offensive coordinator this pick has a lot of upside potential.

Round 6 (68) - Eli Manning - Probably could have waited to grab Manning but with all of the top tier QB's gone I figured this was as good a spot as any. 4000 yards and 27 td's last season. I like it.

Round 7 (77) - Malcom Floyd - Perhaps a bit of a reach here. With Vincent Jackson suspended for three games and talking holdout Floyd has a chance to emerge as the no.1 in his absence.

Round 8 (92) - Dez Bryant - Trying to load up on high upside WR prospects and Bryant fits the bill. He seems a bit brittle which worries me but he has serious talent and is on an offense which should provide him with opportunities to be a factor in fantasy.

Round 9 (101) - Kevin Kolb - Kolb has the same bye week as Manning but I didn't draft to be a bye week fill in. I'm hoping he'll give me a better than solid week to week option at starting QB. I'll pluck somebody off of the waiver wire and hope the rest of my team can carry me through in week 8.

Round 10 (116) - Visanthe Shiancoe - With all the talk of Favre's retirement Shiancoe's stock will drop like a stone. He should still be a big part of this offense though. You could make a strong argument that his value will be hurt less than Rice or Harvin's. The question is how much value will there be in a Favre-less Viking passing attack. In round 10 I like the pick.

Round 11 (125) - Eddie Royal - Epic bust from last season. Man this guy burned me. With Brandon Marshall gone somebody has to catch the ball in Denver right? Will rookie WR Demaryius Thomas really be able to step in and take over as the number one? I'm betting no.

Round 12 (140) - Donald Brown - Brown should be more involved in the offense this season. A healthy Brown will get his fair share of the carries on one of the best offenses in the league.

Round 13 (149) - Donnie Avery - On paper should be the no.1 receiver on a bad offense. Was nicked up last season but managed 5 td's. If rookie QB Sam Bradford is any kind of upgrade at QB for the Rams it it should result in better numbers for Avery.

Round 14 (164) - Arizona D/ST - The Cards had decent sack totals last year. The best of what was left.

Round 15 (173) - Matt Prater - A kicker is a kicker is a kicker. He was decent last season.

This team is pretty solid I think. Depth and production at the WR position are shaky but I like the fact that I gambled on young high upside talents instead of aging injury prone vets. If my three headed monster at RB lives up to billing this team could possibly compete for a title.

DRAFT GRADE: B-

Should be back in a few days with part 3 of mock draft madness. As always feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email with your input at jermain@fantasyfootballmanifesto.com.

Until next time.