Good morning everyone, even to my mock draft. Four of 32 is not good, but the draft itself was exciting. We just look at who went and what that does for the Pot Cakes Dynasty League. Catch up on Day 1 while you watch Day 2.
Pick 1 – Trevor Lawrence QB for the Jacksonville Jaguars
Pick 2 – Zach Wilson QB for the New York Jets
Pick 3 – Trey Lance potential starter for the San Francisco 49ers
Pick 4 – Kyle Pitts TE for the Atlanta Falcons
Pick 5 – Ja’Marr Chase WR for the Cincinnati Bengals
Pick 6 – Jaylen Waddle WR for the Miami Dolphins
Pick 10 – DeVonta Smith WR for the Philadelphia Eagles
Pick 11 – Justin Fields potential starter for the Chicago Bears
Pick 15 – Mac Jones backup for the New England Patriots
Pick 20 – Kadarius Toney WR for the New York Giants
Pick 24 – Najee Harris RB for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pick 25 – Travis Etienne RB for the Jacksonville Jaguars
Pick 27 – Rashod Bateman WR for the Baltimore Ravens
Those are the fantasy options for any rookie dynasty draft.
Let’s look at QBs. Trevor Lawrence is still likely to be a late first round pick. If you need a QB, you have a for sure starter. The interesting thing becomes who is QB 2 off the board. Trey Lance on the 49ers projects to be the best upside. He can wait a couple games to a year, and then year 2 should be great for him. Lance will likely make up some points on the ground as well. Now you have to look at Wilson, Fields, and Jones. Jones is most likely going to start year 2 of his career. He is on the Patriots who have upgraded their weapons slightly. Wilson will be the day 1 starter for the Jets. Fields can easily have an impressive rookie camp and take the starting job, but the Bears could also ease him into the starting role. If you need a guy for right now, it’s probably Wilson, if you can wait it’s probably Fields, and if you are desperate, scoop Jones and hope it works out next year. I think Lawrence late first, Lance late first to early second, Fields and Wilson are mid seconds, and Jones should fall to the third round.
Let’s look at RBs. This is fun for me, in our rookie draft Bruce has the 1.01 pick. Bruce is a fan of a certain team, as you can tell by his logo. Najee Harris went to the Pittsburg Steelers, he is not a cloud of dust RB, but he is a good ground and pound RB. The Steelers have O-Line issues. Harris could be in for a rough rookie year, it is all dependent on how the Steelers address their O-Line. Etienne is a Jaguar. The Jaguars put up a lot of rushing yards last year despite their terrible season. Etienne is paired with his college QB, and probably for a team fit was a “reach”, the Jaguars needed an RB, but the back end of the first could have been a defensive player. Jaguars still have great defensive players on the board for their second round pick so it works out. But the Jaguars making this move should lead everyone to believe Etienne is their guy. Now Robinson will still be in the mix, but you take a first round RB, he has to see the field a lot. Etienne’s breakaway speed, ability to catch the ball, and connection with his QB all somehow raise his draft stock. It is really a coin flip between these two. Harris should get the touches, but Etienne should get better quality touches. Additionally, the Jaguars trajectory is up after this season, the Steelers is down due to the O-Line and QB situation. It is a quantity vs. quality debate between these two teams. I am just glad I do not have to take the 1.01 knowing I have the option of taking my team’s RB or watch him succeed somewhere else.
Let’s look at Tight Ends. This is easy. Pitts solidifies himself as a pick 5-8. Falcons need a tight end. Pitts is one of the scariest matchups, he should play all season for the Falcons. Pitts is literally in the perfect spot. Even if the Falcons move on from Matt Ryan in a year or two, by then Pitts will be such a force anyone will be able to throw it to him.
Let’s look at Wide Receivers. Chase to Cincinnati, Waddle to Miami, Smith to Philly, Toney to the New York Giants, and Bateman to the Ravens. Honestly, Chase, Waddle, and Smith all are competing for picks 1 through 5. If one of these three falls to 6 you have a steal, and possible dilemma between WR and best TE. Cincinnati scares me because of how bad their O-Line is. Miami scares me because Fuller/Parker and Tua. Philly scares me because Philly is bad. It is tough to doubt Burrow and Chase out of the group. Chase should be the 1.01 or 1.02, followed by Smith due to him being the #1 in Philly, and then Waddle who will have the slowest start probably. Now Toney to the Giants and Bateman to the Ravens. Team alone puts Bateman in that #4 WR spot. He’s good, smooth, and the Ravens need a WR. With teams stacking the box against the Ravens run game and Lamar, Bateman does not have to be a burner, he just has to be in the right spot. He can do that. Toney is a monster. But the Giants have some guys, they want to run Saquan, and Danny Dimes is a liability for now. The best thing about the Giants is that they let Daniel Jones sling it last year, the only question is if that’s what they want to do or had to do because of the Saquan injury. Due to the uncertainty of the Giants, you might see Toney slide a little to the late first or early second round of a rookie draft. With a guy like Elijah Moore on the board still, Moore has a chance to go to a better fit and make a bigger splash early on. In a half PPR league, Moore should have more receptions than Toney who is a bit of a big hitter type WR.
Well that does it for Day 1. What a fun night. As far as the Pot Cakes Dynasty Rookie Draft goes, Bruce has most likely narrowed pick 1.01 down to four, that’s right, four players. Those players are; Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, Najee Harris, or Travis Etienne. Bruce may extend the choices to include DeVonta Smith, but only time will tell. Bruce is officially on the clock.
That does it for now, we will see you in a couple days for the Mock Pot Cakes Dynasty League Draft.
Let’s Go!
JonnyDIII
DIII Digest 