Diary Of A Draftman – "Chasing The Natty" Best Ball #6
Diary Of A Draftman – "Chasing The Natty" Best Ball #6
The “Diary Of A Draftman” series provides a look into the mind of Purple Reign as he recaps mock drafts that he has participated in.
Mock drafts serve an important role in preparing for the College Fantasy Football season. Experienced fantasy players know that performing in multiple mock drafts sharpens your skills and gives you a read on how the rest of the internet views specific players. You can test out different draft strategies for when to select different positions, observe when position runs start, and test how long you can wait for specific players.
I highly recommend you read the article below as it will give you insight on the different principles discussed below.
Today the Draftman Diary has been opened to the pages covering the “Chasing The Natty” Best Ball #6 mock draft. With a 60 second time limit per draft pick the action moved very quickly. You can watch as I drafted from the 11 position on “Chasing The Natty’s” YouTube channel:
Let’s recap my selections and take note there are several “placeholder names” in the image below. The writeup for my draft picks will include the actual players drafted.
Rounds 1-2: RB Omarion Hampton (UNC) & WR Sean Atkins (SoFL)
Hampton was the only Tier 2 RB on my board and was delighted to see him slide to me with the 11th overall pick. I typically look to go RB in the first round regardless of which position I’m drafting in due to the scarcity of the position. There were plenty of Tier 2 WR options available for me to get a top player when my next pick came around. Two more RBs came off the board after my pick, leaving all my WR choices. I decided to go with Sean Atkins over Xavier Restrepo despite the fact I have a higher projection for Restrepo. I have already drafted Restrepo in many other drafts and I wanted to diversify my fantasy holdings with a player I have not yet drafted this season in Atkins.
Rounds 3-4: RB Kyle Monangai (Rut) & RB Quinshon Judkins (OSU)
Once I finish making my 2nd round pick I always load my queue with all available Tier 2 WRs, while also watching the RBs leading up to my 3rd round pick. When my pick came around there were two Tier 2 WRs left on my board. With the available RBs, there was only one Tier 3 player left and seven Tier 4 players. I drafted Monangai since he was the only Tier 3 RB left and thus had the highest scarcity. Two WRs went off the board but neither were on my Tier 2 target list. I decided to gamble and see if I could get Noah Smith or Germie Bernard in the 5th round and selected another RB in Judkins. I’m not high on the Ohio State or Texas RB situations since they could end up with split carries. While looking at the available Tier 4 RBs Judkins and Cedric Baxter had the highest ADP. In hindsight I should have drafted Abu Sama here since he also had a high ADP and a more stable carry distribution.
Rounds 5-6: WR Germie Bernard (Bama) & QB Seth Henigan (Mem)
My gamble to wait on a Tier 2 WR paid off and Bernard was able to slide down to me in the 5th round. A QB run had started at the end of the 4th round, and when I draft in the back third of the draft order I always look to draft my first QB in the 6th round. With five viable Tier 2 QB options on the board I went with Henigan due to his maturity and his fantasy stability to serve as my QB1.
Rounds 7-8: QB Shedeur Sanders (Colo) & WR Kobe Hudson (UCF)
After I select my first QB I always load my queue with all available Tier 2 QBs that are Group A/B players. I may draft a QB off that list in the 7-8 rounds depending on scarcity and how I feel about available RBs and WRs. There were still several Tier 4 RBs available and I felt like I could wait a while to go back to RB. I liked the available pool of eleven Tier 3 WRs and decided to target them soon. In the 7th round I went with Sanders since there were only three QBs available in my queue and thus had the most scarcity. I now had a solid 1-2 punch in Henigan and Sanders as my top two QBs who play in high volume passing offenses. In the 8th round I drafted Hudson due to his fantasy consistency as he would be a solid WR3 for me. I’m also high on Hudson’s upside now that he has a QB who actually has some skills at throwing the football.
Rounds 9-10: WR Chris Bell (Lou) & WR Zachariah Branch (USC)
My small pool of Tier 4 RBs had almost dried up and the next batch of players I liked could be had in the 11-12 round spots. I was now targeting that deep pool of Tier 3 WRs that I had previously identified. I normally would prefer to wait longer before drafting Group C players, but I broke from my normal discipline and drafted two of them here. Bell is someone who is going higher than his ADP was showing at the time, and Branch had an ADP listing for the 9th round. I pulled the trigger on these two sleepers here due to their recent ADP, and that they could be the WR1’s in high volume pass offenses. I had my eye on more established WR targets in Damon Ward and Demeer Blankumsee but their ADP was showing 14th and 21st rounds which is why I passed on them here. Blankumsee went in the 11th before my next draft pick.
Rounds 11-12: RB LJ Martin (BYU) & RB Terion Stewart (BGSU)
Now that I was loaded up with five WRs on my roster I knew it was time for me to go back to the RB position and build some depth. Stewart was the only Tier 4 RB still on my board and the player I knew I could wait on, going back to my analysis in the 7th round. I selected Martin first because he had a higher chance of being taken out of these two, and he was my favorite available Tier 5 RB. Both Martin and Stewart have the potential to get heavy workloads this season. The current draft guide projections have Martin receiving 200 carries and Stewart receiving 180. I also have both players reaching at least 1,100 rushing yards and at least 11 rushing touchdowns.
Rounds 13-14: TE Rivaldo Fairweather (Aub) & QB LaNorris Sellers (Scar)
I usually let other people draft the “flashy” TE options early in the draft and wait for solid players in the middle rounds. At this point in the draft 10 TEs had been selected and four of them had gone since my last draft pick. It was time to grab a reliable TE for my roster’s TE1. I like how the TEs are used in the Auburn offense and Fairweather has been a reliable fantasy asset. Selecting Sellers as my QB3 has risk. I would prefer to wait on a sleeper at QB until my QB4 roster spot. The only Tier 3 QBs left were Group C sleepers, and the Group A/B players I prefer from Tier 4 could be had later in the draft. In hindsight I could have waited on either Tier 3 sleepers and gone with another RB here. I held off on the group of Tier 5 RBs for the time since there was a large group of them and there was more scarcity with the Tier 3 QBs.
Rounds 15-16: QB Matthew Sluka (UNLV) & RB Braylon McReynolds (SoAl)
Seven QBs went off the board since my last pick and I decided to lock up the last remaining Tier 3 sleeper QB with Sluka, playing into the scarcity I mentioned in the 13-14 picks. This gave me 4 QBs and I felt safe waiting to go back to the position (I waited until the 24th round to select my next QB). I could now focus on stacking RBs, while looking for the occasional value pick at WR and TE. For my 16th round pick I was eyeing WR Chris Brazzell, but he was taken immediately after my 15th round pick. I did have my eye on four other Tier 3 WRs. Easton Messer was on that list and had an ADP in the 14th round. I should have made that value selection here. He ended up being drafted three picks after my 16th round selection. With five RBs currently on my roster I would ignore ADP and just start to grab “my guys.” McReynolds is one of “my guys” and has potential for a large workload, but there is concern with Kentrel Bullock stealing carries.
Rounds 17-18: TE Benjamin Brahmer (IaSt) & RB Roman Hemby (MD)
While only three TEs went off the board leading up to my next pick, there was only one Group A Tier 3 player left. Brahmer is another reliable TE target and plays in a passing offense that I believe is being a little underrated this season. I snatched him up and secured two good reliable TEs I could hang my hat on. This proved to be valuable as eight TEs were drafted in the next two rounds. I knew I could wait until the late rounds of the draft to go back to TE, which just left me focusing on stacking RBs and finding the occasional WR value pick. This would be my focus for the next six rounds. I had six Tier 5 RBs left on my board and I liked all of them. Hemby was the only Group A player in that bunch, with everyone else Group C sleepers. I decided to draft Hemby for his stability and focus on the sleepers later.
Rounds 19-20: WR Jordan Hudson (SMU) & RB Anthony Watkins (Tuls)
Hudson was the best available Tier 3 WR left on the board. While his ADP was in the 25th round I did not want to wait on him and just took one of “my guys.” I still had three of my Group C Tier 5 sleeper RBs available but I decided to go with more stability. Watkins is a Group B Tier 6 player and I decided to go with him and continue to wait on the Tier 5 sleepers. Tulsa is one of the offenses that I am very high on this season and I’m interested to see what Kevin Wilson can do in his second season.
Rounds 21-22: RB Floyd Chalk (SJSU) & WR Jared Brown (SCar)
I selected my second to last RB in the 21st round with another one of “my guys.” I like the upside potential with Chalk who could hit 200 carries this season. Selecting Brown here is admittedly a reach. I like the ability to stack him with LaNorris Sellers who I drafted in the 14th round. I also feel the fantasy point stack of these two adds value to having Sellers as my QB3, and helps me with justifying the reach on Brown.
Rounds 23-24: WR Will Sheppard (Colo) & QB Cooper Legas (Tuls)
Part of the reason that Sheppard slipped this far in the draft is that he is not currently in the player pool and that probably took him off the eyes of the other drafters. I had no problem swooping him up via a placeholder name as he became my second to last WR for this draft. I was now at a point where I would take my last RB and WR in the final handful of rounds in the draft and shift my focus to QBs and TEs. I like this approach after you have locked up four QBs since there are many good QBs you can grab in the last ten rounds of a draft to solidify your roster’s 6-7 QBs. The key for the last several QB selections is to shoot for upside, and possibly grab a guy that can shore up stability if you drafted sleepers early like I did. Legas looks poised to take over the Tulsa offense which as I stated earlier, I am very high on so I made an upside selection here even though Legas is not the established starter.
Rounds 25-26: TE Eli Wilson (App) & QB Parker Navarro (Ohio)
Three picks before my 25th round selection someone had taken TE Keanu Hill. I had him queued up and after his selection I wasn’t too high on many of the remaining TE options so I grabbed another reliable player in Wilson. I now had three TEs I felt comfortable with and went back to focusing on upside QBs. Navarro might become a real dark horse this season and Ohio’s offense has shown the ability to put up fantasy points in the past. He also brings a good running element into his fantasy prospects. I expect Navarro to start climbing up draft boards as the summer goes on.
Rounds 27-28: QB Graham Mertz (Fla) & RB Hunter Smith (ULMon)
Now it was time to draft one final QB and one who could provide a little more stability for my sleepers. I had two great choices in Mikey Keene and Mertz. I like both of them pretty equally and just decided to go with Mertz due to the upgrades that Florida has made in their receiving core. Choosing Mertz proved to be the right call because the day after this draft was held Fresno State head coach Jeff Tedford stepped down. Smith is a sleeper RB that I have taken in every draft I’ve been in this year. EVERY DRAFT. Big potential upside as he plays in a very run heavy, two tight end system and he can be selected in the late rounds of drafts for good value.
Rounds 29-30: TE Michael Harrison (SDSU) & WR Jaden Smith (UTEP)
I usually prefer to stick with three TEs but I decided to grab Harrison here as he has break-out potential transferring in from Colorado. He’s the type of player who could be pretty good or middle of the pack, time will tell. As for my last WR selection, I went with a “dart throw” selection. UTEP is not an easy team to project this season. This will be a bad team and should be forced to throw the ball while playing from behind for much of the season.