2014 Fantasy Football Mock Draft, 1.0: Sean Beazley (Team 3)
Mock Draft Start Date: Monday, May 12th
Mock Draft End Date: Saturday, May 24th
Scoring: This mock draft is based on re-draft leagues (2014 season only). Passing touchdowns are worth four points while rushing and receiving touchdowns are worth six points. In addition, one point is earned per 25 passing yards, 10 rushing yards and 10 receiving yards.
With the 2014 NFL Draft now behind us, we have wasted no time in starting a new fantasy football mock draft.
In this mock draft, four of our site's contributors (Kevin Hanson, Brendan Donahue, Dan Yanotchko and Sean Beazley) will each draft for three teams per round and the mock will run for 10 rounds.
Mock By Contributor: Kevin Hanson | Brendan Donahue | Sean Beazley | Dan Yanotchko
Here are all the picks from Sean Beazley - Team 3:
1.09 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): Jimmy Graham, TE, New Orleans Saints
Graham became the 19th player in NFL history to catch at least 16 touchdown passes and just the second tight end to ever do so. If the first tight end to do so, Rob Gronkowski, were not returning from a torn ACL and his sixth surgery (on multiple body parts) over the past 18 months, Graham might even be the No. 2 tight end on my board.
But he's not. An offseason of uncertainty surrounding Gronk's health once again boosts Graham's value a bit further. Since his breakout season in 2011, Graham has averaged a line of 90/1,169/12 in those three seasons.
2.04 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): Arian Foster, RB, Houston Texans
Beginning with plenty of uncertainty last offseason and into training camp, Foster was a risky selection for fantasy owners, but he was getting into a groove before his season was ultimately cut short by injury. In the final three full games that he played, Foster had 82 touches (68 carries and 14 receptions) for 487 yards from scrimmage (341 rushing and 146 receiving).
From 2010-2012, he rushed for 4,264 yards, added 159 receptions for 1,438 yards and scored a total of 47 touchdowns in 45 games. During that span, no player had more YFS or touchdowns than Foster.
With better health (knock on wood) in 2014, Foster could turn out to be a bargain here even without his pre-2013 level of production. Even though he had back surgery in November, he was cleared for the team's OTAs.
3.09 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers
With depth at the position, waiting later in drafts to select a quarterback is my preferred strategy. If you're in a really deep league or a two-QB league, that changes the dynamic, but there are plenty of starter-worthy quarterbacks to be had late in drafts.
That said, Rodgers has a combined passer rating of 112.7 over the past three seasons with a 101:20 TD-to-INT ratio during that span. In addition, he has averaged 4,589.6 passing yards per 16 games in the past three years.
4.04 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): Vincent Jackson, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
In his second season with the Bucs, Jackson set a career high with 78 receptions and once again exceeded 1,200 receiving yards with seven touchdowns. While he has more than his fair of inconsistency from week to week, a 70/1,200/7 season (or better) should be a lock for Jackson.
5.09 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): Victor Cruz, WR, New York Giants
As disappointing of a season as it was for the Giants, their offense and Cruz, Cruz still managed to finish with 73 receptions for 998 yards and four touchdowns in 14 games. In fact, he averaged more yards per game in 2013 (71.3 YPG) than he did in 2012 (68.3). Of course, the big difference was touchdowns as Cruz had a total of 19 touchdowns in 2011 and 2012 combined and only four last year. Even worse, he had three of those touchdowns against the Cowboys in Week 1 and only one other touchdown (Week 4) in his final 13 games.
6.04 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): Rashad Jennings, RB, New York Giants
The Giants re-signed Peyton Hillis, drafted Boston College's Andre Williams and expect David Wilson to be medically cleared for training camp. That said, Jennings should have an opportunity to lead the Giants running backs in touches and fantasy points.
When given the opportunity that resulted from a Darren McFadden injury last year, Jennings had 127 carries for 593 yards and six touchdowns and 24 receptions for 195 yards in the final eight games of the season.
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7.09 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): Sammy Watkins, WR, Buffalo Bills
Among rookie wide receivers, Watkins is second behind only Tampa's Mike Evans in my 2014 fantasy football wide receiver rankings, but he is the third one off the board in this mock.
The most complete rookie receiver in this year's draft class, Watkins has big-time speed, great hands and is a dangerous runner in the open field. While he should lead the Bills targets and production, it's disappointing that he ends up in a cold-weather environment with a less-than-ideal quarterback situation. After all, it's already difficult for rookie receivers to make significant impacts in Year 1.
8.04 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, Oakland Raiders
Once a potential first-overall pick (and perhaps still by MJD himself) in fantasy drafts, Jones-Drew heads to the Bay Area to play professional football. Only a few years removed from a league-high 1,606 rushing yards (in 2011), MJD rushed for a career-low 3.4 yards per carry last season.
For various reasons (suspension, injury, talent, etc.), the supporting cast was lackluster in Jacksonville and that led to part of his struggles last year. Unfortunately for Jones-Drew, the supporting cast isn't much better in Oakland and he will compete with Darren McFadden for touches (when McFadden is healthy). Pocket Hercules turned 29 in March, however, and his 2,139 career touches is also beginning to take a toll.
9.09 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): Josh Gordon, WR, Cleveland Browns
This is a boom-or-bust pick for Sean and I like it. The fear (or expectation) is that Gordon will miss the entire season, but SI's Peter King speculated that Gordon could miss 8-16 games for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. Despite missing the first two games last year for a suspension, Gordon led the NFL in receiving (1,646 yards) last year. If it were certain that he'd miss only eight games, I would have taken him a couple of rounds earlier.
10.04 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): Carlos Hyde, RB, San Francisco 49ers
Hyde was my top-ranked running back heading into the draft, but his situation is less than ideal for a 2014 re-draft fantasy perspective. Not only will Frank Gore enter the season as the lead back, but they have other talented running backs on the roster. I'd prefer Jeremy Hill over Hyde for 2014 even though I prefer Hyde in dynasty formats.
- See Beazley's other two teams: Team 1 - Team 2
2014 Fantasy Football rankings from Kevin Hanson:
- 2014 Fantasy Football QB rankings
- 2014 Fantasy Football RB rankings
- 2014 Fantasy Football WR rankings
- 2014 Fantasy Football TE rankings
