2014 Fantasy Football Mock Draft, 1.0: Kevin Hanson (Team 1)
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 Kevin Hanson - Team 1:
1.03 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota Vikings
With Charles and McCoy off the board, I guess I'll have to settle for Peterson. While he's unlikely to ever duplicate his historic 2012 season, Peterson has put up monster numbers despite battling injuries and facing eight- or nine-men fronts over the past couple of seasons.
And while touchdown production tends to fluctuate for running backs, Peterson has rattled off double-digit rushing scores in all seven of his NFL seasons. If there are some concerns with Peterson, it's the fact that he's now 29 years old and has racked up more than 2,000 career rush attempts.
Then again, doubt All Day at your own peril.
2.10 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): Julio Jones, WR, Atlanta Falcons
Before his foot injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season, Jones had at least six receptions and 76 yards in all of the games in which he appeared. During that stretch, he hauled in 41 catches for 580 yards and two touchdowns. Compared to 2011 (73.8 yards per game) and 2012 (74.9 YPG), Jones had made huge strides, no pun intended, in 2013 (116.0 YPG).
While a foot injury is always troubling for a receiver, especially since it was a second time, he is expected to be 100 percent when training camp rolls around.
3.03 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): C.J. Spiller, RB, Buffalo Bills
After his breakout season in 2012, Spiller was a huge disappointment in 2013. Despite getting roughly the same amount of carries (202 vs. 207), Spiller rushed for more than 300 yards less than he had in 2012 as he averaged only 4.6 yards per carry (compared to 6.0 YPC in 2012). In addition, he averaged only 5.6 yards per reception (compared to 10.7 Y/R in 2012). His 2014 numbers should fall somewhere in between those two seasons.
4.10 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): Frank Gore, RB, San Francisco 49ers
A few factors that could negatively impact Gore's fantasy value are: (1) he just turned 31 years old, (2) he has more than 2,500 career touches, (3) he averaged a career-low 4.1 YPC last year and (4) Marcus Lattimore and Carlos Hyde will be in the mix for touches.
That said, the 49ers have one of the league's best offensive lines and Gore rushed for 1,100-plus yards and eight-plus touchdowns for the third consecutive season. In addition, he has played all 48 regular-season games over the past three seasons. Before 2011, Gore had played 16 games just once in six seasons.
5.03 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): Roddy White, WR, Atlanta Falcons
Having never missed a game in his NFL career, White did not allow a high-ankle sprain suffered last preseason to keep him out of the lineup in Week 1. That said, he wasn't himself and was more of a decoy for the first half of the season. Eventually White sustained a knee injury as well and missed a few games.
While the injuries kept White from having a typical Roddy White type of season, he hit full stride by season's end. In five games in December, White finished with 43 receptions for 502 yards and two touchdowns. (That's comparable to a pace of 137.6 receptions and 1,606.4 yards.) In the last five games of the season, there were only three receivers with at least 500 yards: Josh Gordon (658), Alshon Jeffery (561) and White (502).
Even though Julio Jones is the team's No. 1 receiver now, White is only 32 years old and should have a couple more outstanding seasons in him assuming good health. Before last year, White had 1,153-plus yards in six consecutive seasons and I think 1,100-1,200 yards is a reasonable expectation in 2014.
White will be a target in all of my leagues and I'd be thrilled to get him in the fifth round.
6.10 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): Kendall Wright, WR, Tennessee Titans
Wright took a big step forward in his second season with 94 catches for 1,079 yards, both of which vastly exceeded his rookie numbers, but his low touchdown total (two) kept the joy his fantasy owners in check. Consistently solid, but not spectacular, with 13 games of 50-plus receiving yards, only two players had more such games than Wright — Antonio Brown (16) and Demaryius Thomas (14).
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7.03 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): Joique Bell, RB, Detroit Lions
The two players I debated here were Bell and Andrew Luck, who was the next pick by Dan. In both cases, they would be excellent values at this spot with ADPs (via Fantasy Football Calculator) of 59 and 52, respectively.
With several quarterbacks still available, I felt more comfortable that I'd be able to get a quarterback that I like at 8.10 than I would be able to get a running back value there. The team's new offensive coordinator has indicated that he'd like to split the workload between Bell and Reggie Bush, but that essentially happened last season. Bell gained 1,197 yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns on 219 touches last season.
8.10 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): Dennis Pitta, TE, Baltimore Ravens
The hopes of a breakout season that many had expected were dashed in July when Pitta suffered a hip injury that nearly kept him out for the entire season. Back in 2012, Pitta finished with 61/669/7 and I expect him to set career highs across the board in 2014.
9.03 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): Danny Woodhead, RB, San Diego Chargers
If Brendan did not take Kaepernick at 9.02, I would have taken him here. Instead, I will target a quarterback in Round 10.
The addition of Donald Brown, who signed a three-year free-agent deal, reduces some of Woodhead's value, but he is one of the league's best receiving backs. Woodhead had 76 receptions last season and totaled 1,035 yards from scrimmage and eight total touchdowns.
10.10 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): Jay Cutler, QB, Chicago Bears
Despite being my QB13 in my rankings, Cutler has the potential to outperform that ranking. While Cutler missed several games, the tandem of Cutler and Josh McCown combined to throw for 4,450 yards and 32 touchdowns. Only four NFL teams had more last season. Not only do the Bears have the league's best wide receiver duo in Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery, but Matt Forte is one of the league's best receivers out of the backfield.
- See Hanson's other two teams: Team 2 - Team 3
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
