RADIO
This will be Part Three to conclude our series on dynasty rookie drafts when picking from different draft slots. In Part One, we examined strategies when drafting from an early slot while Part Two focused on the middle draft slots. We'll now finish with the teams that likely finished ahead in standings last year and earned a low draft slot.
Rather than simply putting out a mock and rationalizing the picks one round at a time, I'll examine each team based on how each team attacked the draft. In a dynasty league, not every team is after the same thing.
Check the full draft board on Sleeper right here.
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Rookie Mock Draft (Slots 9-12)
| Dynasty Rookie Mock | |||
| 1.9–Christian Watson | 1.10–Jameson Williams | 1.11–George Pickens | 1.12–James Cook |
| 2.9–Dameon Pierce | 2.10–Trey McBride | 2.11–Zamir White | 2.12–Justyn Ross |
| 3.9–Hassan Haskins | 3.10–Danny Gray | 3.11–Tyler Badie | 3.12–Cade Otton |
| 4.9–Jerome Ford | 4.10–Abram Smith | 4.11–Matt Corral | 4.12–Bo Melton |
| 5.9–Samori Toure | 5.10–Isiah Pacheco | 5.11–Jeremy Ruckert | 5.12–Kevin Harris |
Slot 9 Strategy - Swinging For the Fences
There's nothing safe about this squad. The excitement generated on draft day when the Packers took a receiver early (OK, it wasn't the first round but close enough) and the Texans grabbed a running back has now settled down to the realization that these picks are chock full of risk in fantasy. My thoughts on the two are made clear in the fact that both land in my Rookies to Avoid in Dynasty Drafts piece.
Watson is the prototypical combine warrior. His 99th percentile Speed Score is the type of result that makes evaluators all starry-eyed when they dream up their ideal physical specimen for a wide receiver. The one thing that the combine doesn't measure with quantitative accuracy is a receiver's hands. That has been a question for Watson throughout college as he dropped 16 out of 120 catchable passes. He didn't impress in that regard during rookie mini-camp early in the summer either. Now, he sits on PUP with a knee injury rather than building a rapport with Aaron Rodgers. Maybe down the road, Watson will turn into the big-play threat that the Pack envisioned when selecting him, but this is a huge question mark for the time being.
Dameon Pierce seems to have landed in a great spot in Houston. They have only Marlon Mack and Rex Burkhead competing for backfield touches. But Pierce still has to win the job. He's got a great shot since he excels at pass protection and showed soft hands when given the chance to be a receiver out of the backfield. The risk is that Houston simply isn't good enough to make any RB fantasy-relevant.
Hassan Haskins is no Derrick Henry but he could have the chance to replace him. That is, if Henry gets injured again like last season. If not, Haskins will see very little of the football field as a rookie.
Jerome Ford had a tremendous 2021 as Cincinnati's lead rusher. He joins a Browns team with an excellent offensive line and a new franchise quarterback, at least at some point. Now he just has to leapfrog Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, and D'Ernest Johnson on the depth chart. Injuries do happen but it's hard to imagine Ford even getting the opportunity to make an impact until 2023.
Slot 10 Strategy - Playing the Long Game
Jameson Williams might have been the first receiver off the board and a top-five pick if not for his ACL injury in the National Championship game. He isn't practicing yet, his status for Week 1 is uncertain, and it's possible he isn't cleared in time and is forced to miss the first six weeks. In time, Williams could be the next Ja'Marr Chase. That's not hyperbole either. Williams runs a 4.3 and averaged almost 20 yards per reception at Alabama. Williams isn't the best pick for early drafters needing an immediate impact player, but at 10th overall, he could be a huge steal.
He's no Kyle Pitts but Trey McBride was the consensus TE1 in this year's draft class. A College Dominator in the 99th percentile and Speed Score in the 86th percentile cemented that. It's hard to say whether he'll be a dominant NFL tight end, though. He will have to bide time behind Zach Ertz, which makes his landing spot extremely frustrating.
Nobody is talking much about SMU product Danny Gray. In reality, he doesn't have far to go in order to be a big-play threat in San Fran. Assuming Deebo Samuel stays healthy and Brandon Aiyuk stays out of the doghouse, only former seventh-rounder Jauan Jennings remains above Gray on the WR depth chart. Gray will be a boom-or-bust receiver who lives off the deep ball. There's always a place for that on fantasy rosters. The upside is tantalizing if he can connect with Trey Lance early in the season.
#49ers Trey Lance stays behind to work on deep ball connection with rookie Danny Gray pic.twitter.com/SfRuf2kXmO
— ??????????? (@TheSFNiners) July 28, 2022
Slot 11 Strategy - SEC Dominance
This dynasty owner might be a 'Bama fan or maybe he/she just believes that the best players come from the best college programs. There's no shortage of choices when it comes to THE power conference but Team 11 starts their draft with a player from the champion Georgia Bulldogs, George Pickens. Injuries cut his college career short but he was an elite prospect who broke out at age 18 and has all the tools to be a future WR1.
Zamir White doesn't have huge college numbers but part of that stems from the fact he shared the field with James Cook. Like Pickens, this is another former five-star prospect who has championship experience and off-the-chart physical skills.
The leading rusher in the SEC wasn't on Georgia or Alabama but a Missouri team that finished 6-7. That would be Tyler Badie, who ran for 1,604 yards and had another 303 through the air. His biggest asset as a pro might be his receiving chops.
Tyler Badie saw the most screen targets of any RB in 22 class last year at 27, he converted these into:
23 Rec. (1st)
162 YDs (2nd)
2 TDs(2nd)
2.49 Y/RR (3rd)He also led the SEC in rushing with 1604 yards#FantasyFootball#FanstayFF pic.twitter.com/Vv9kk2gIQ7
— Jeremy (@PopesFFH) July 16, 2022
It wasn't accomplished for a team with an elite offense but it came against big-name opponents. He put up meager numbers against Texas A&M (22 carries, 68 yards) and Georgia (nine carries, 41 yards) but his team was way outmatched and couldn't fully commit to the run. To end his NCAA career, he put up 209, 146, and 219 rushing yards against South Carolina, Florida, and Arkansas in the final three games.
Matt Corral had a chance to take his talents from Ole Miss to Carolina in an effort to win the starting QB job. It looks like the Baker Mayfield trade squashed that notion, at least for the time being.
Slot 12 Strategy - Filling Voids
Is James Cook filling the role that Zack Moss failed at or taking over for Devin Singletary as the lead back? Who knows right now but it's clear the Bills drafted him for a reason and that's to catch passes out of the backfield first and foremost. Debate how many touches he'll get or how much the team does or doesn't like Singletary all you want - Cook is in a great spot and is absolutely worth the wager of a first-round pick in dynasty leagues.
Keep in mind that this draft was conducted a couple of weeks ago before training camps began. It was back when Justyn Ross was growing in hype as a potential impact rookie for the Chiefs. Alas, a foot injury will keep him sidelined for the entirety of 2022 as he's already been put on IR. The irony is that the neck/spinal cord issues that drew so much concern that he went undrafted by NFL teams are not the cause yet he still turned out to be an injury-related bust.
Cade Otton could have been the next Gronk, or at least he had a chance to be a target for Tom Brady now that Rob Gronkowski is definitely, absolutely, not kidding about retirement. Then the Bucs signed Kyle Rudolph. Good thing this is dynasty and we can wait out his one-year deal while Otton grows and learns. Assuming Brady himself comes back for another round in 2023, Otton could be a great developmental pick here. Regardless of who is quarterbacking in Tampa next year, Otton still looks like a smart pick because he can take over the starting job.
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