Mock draft!

By: Josh Frey-Sam

Four fellas mocking on a Friday night as fantasy draft season nears a climax — peak.

That’s how I started my weekend.

These are some of my last mock drafts of the year. The real ones begin in less than two weeks.

With pre-season games underway and injuries slowly taking over, my views are becoming clearer, and as a result, my mocks are now less about experimenting and more about locking in a game plan.

That brings me to my latest mock, where its clear that the injury bug influenced some of my biggest decisions.

I picked at the 1.05. Take a look at how my team shook out, and visit my brief explanation below.

So, obviously, I took Nico Collins with my first pick, which is probably against popular opinion.

“Can we take this seriously?” one of my friends quipped after I selected the Texans receiver.

This was between Collins and Jahmyr Gibbs, and frankly, something feels a bit more comfortable for me with Nico. He has WR1 overall upside — Gibbs certainly has RB1 overall upside — and more importantly, is healthy.

Puka Nucua would’ve normally been in the conversation here, but Matthew Stafford’s back injury is beginning to scare me away. Malike Nabers’ recurring toe injury has resurfaced, Justin Jefferson has the dreaded hamstring injury that is being monitored and Amon-Ra St.Brown doesn’t have the upside that Collins has.

So, while Collins looks like a high pick, I think he has to be in this conversation right now.

There was value with Trey McBride falling in the second round, so we decided to snag a difference maker at a onesie position.

As much as Stafford’s injury hurts the overall offence, I’m still okay taking Kyren Williams in the third. He will be a workhorse regardless; the only question will be his touchdown opportunities is Stafford has to miss time. We paired Williams with one of my My Guys, TreVeyon Henderson, in the fourth.

I saw my stack developing from a mile away at this point. I took Courtland Sutton as a high-floor WR2 and, after adding depth with Calvin Ridley, stacked him with Bo Nix, who has quickly become one of my favourite picks in drafts.

I think Nix takes another big step this year, and his rushing upside is so appealing.

I got sniped on four different occasions in the later rounds, but there are a couple of picks I wanted to highlight…

• Braelon Allen is a tremendous value in the 10th round right now. I view him in the same light as Jordan Mason and Roschon Johnson — players who will have weekly standalone value and double as one of the elite handcuffs to own.

• Not sure how long Terry McLaurin’s contract situation continues, but the longer it does, the more I like Austin Ekeler as a late-round pick. They might lean on him regardless, but especially if they are without their top receiver.

• Don’t sleep on Adonai Mitchell as a late pick. Alec Pierce has a groin injury, and Josh Downs is dealing with a hamstring issue. Mitchell has already impressed in camp, and now he’s getting even more opportunity.

All in all, I’m happy with how this draft turned out. Can’t say I feel weak at any particular position, and I think I struck a high-floor/ high-upside team.

What are the odds it works out like this when the real drafts come?

Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Josh