| | | | Friday, January 14, 2022 | | Last week, I gave you my rankings for every position, plus the first two rounds for 2022. This week, it's time to put them in action. We did our first mock draft of the offseason yesterday, and you can find the results here. I took part, picking from the No. 11 spot, and you can find a breakdown of every pick I made further down in this newsletter. | | Of course, if you read my previous newsletters, you shouldn't be surprised that I ended up with the likes of D'Andre Swift, Leonard Fournette, and Tee Higgins on my squad. The surprises will come with who everyone else picked. And there were some real surprises. | | To get an idea of why the Fantasy Football Today crew made the decisions we did, a good place to start would be our staff rankings for the top players at each position for 2022. Jamey Eisenberg published those this week, and you can find picks for quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end from Jamey, Dave Richard, Heath Cummings, Dan Schneier, and myself there. | | You can read more about the picks I made in that mock draft and why plus Jamey's playoff rankings below, but before that, I just want to take a second to ask you to please vote for Fantasy Football Today in the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association's Best Social Media Content category. If you have two ears and a heart, then I know you love the FFT pod, and this is one small way to show it. We'd love to win this, and we need your help to do so, so if you can take 10 seconds – literally, 10 seconds! – out of your day to vote, I'd appreciate it. | | And now, on to the rest of the newsletter. | | | | First 2022 mock draft | | We have almost exactly eight months until the 2022 NFL season actually kicks off, so this is the perfect time to start doing mock drafts, right? | | The truth is, the FFT team will be doing a ton of mock drafts all offseason long. I don't want to say hundreds, because that sounds ambitious, but I can say we'll be doing them all throughout the offseason, beginning with our first Thursday. So much will change between now and August, when draft season really starts, but there are a few things I think we can count on holding steady over the next six months or so. | | I think Jonathan Taylor is going to be the consensus No. 1 pick – and that's one place you and I agree, even if I don't actually have Taylor ranked there. The next three picks will probably be, in some order, Austin Ekeler, Derrick Henry, and Christian McCaffrey – and that's the order they went in in our most recent draft. We can also expect Cooper Kupp to be one of the first two wide receivers drafted, though Davante Adams' first-round status will be tied to Aaron Rodgers decisions this offseason. | | All in all, most of the first-round picks will be running backs in 2022, and I followed that trend with D'Andre Swift as the No. 11 overall this week. That might seem too early for some, but I actually have him ranked No. 9, ahead of the likes of Najee Harris and Joe Mixon who actually went before him. You can see the full results of the draft here, but I've got a quick breakdown of all of my picks here, starting with Swift at No. 11 overall: | | | | D'Andre Swift, RB, DET – Swift might just be the top pass catcher at the position in 2022, and that matters so much for PPR – that's "point per reception," remember. Swift might catch 40 more passes than someone like Mixon, and that gives him a nice head start. Tyreek Hill, WR, KC – When everyone agrees you had a disappointing season and you still finish as the No. 8 WR at 17.6 points per game, you're pretty good. If the Chiefs can figure out how to overcome the offensive malaise that struck them around the midpoint of the season, Hill still has WR1 overall potential. Leonard Fournette, RB, TB – I don't think anyone really knows what to do with Fournette heading into this offseason. He was RB4 in points per game, but I was one of just two out of our six experts to rank him in the top 12 at the position for 2022. It will largely depend on whether he returns to Tampa, but if he does, he'll be a steal at this point in the draft. Tee Higgins, WR, CIN – Higgins is my WR10 for 2022, but nobody else has him as a top-12 option. He finished as WR14 in 2021 in points per game, but if you remember, he got off to a frustrating start with a shoulder injury and had just 194 yards while playing four of the first six games. His pace over the next 10? Try 90 catches, 1,435 yards, and six touchdowns. Ja'Marr Chase is going to be a consensus top-six WR, but I'm not convinced Higgins is much worse than him. Mike Williams, WR, LAC – I'm not thrilled with this pick, honestly, but I'm not sure A.J. Dillon or Clyde Edwards-Helaire (the next two picks) would've been any better. Williams had 76-1,146-9, and while it was weighted toward the early season, it was enough to make him WR18 in points per game. I would love to see him return to L.A. as a free agent. Josh Allen, QB, BUF – Allen is my No. 1 QB and I got him in the sixth round, so I'm obviously thrilled with that. As we get to the summer months, he'll get pushed up draft boards along with the rest of the quarterbacks, but I have no reason to think he won't be worth this pick at any point. JuJu Smith-Schuster , WR, PIT – Here's another player nobody seems to know what to do with. Smith-Schuster might return from his shoulder injury this week, and a big playoffs could really help his value. However, he's a free agent and hasn't produced much over the past two seasons. Is that because he's just not that good, or was it a product of the Steelers overall offensive woes? Smith-Schuster won't be 26 until November of next season, so I'm happy to bet on him as a WR4. Christian Kirk, WR, ARI – I'll be honest: This was just a bad pick. Kirk is probably better than the next few WR taken – Allen Robinson and Julio Jones , namely – but I probably should have taken someone like Chase Edmonds or Gabriel Davis with more upside or snagged the last TE in the tier in Rob Gronkowski. Bad picks happen, especially when you haven't had much practice with the player pool. Keep that in mind for next draft season. Chris Carson, RB, SEA – Right now, Carson is the only running back with early-down potential on the Seahawks roster under contract for 2022. I think there's a chance he never plays again with his neck injury, but by this point in the draft your chances of getting much from any pick are pretty slim. He has as much upside as anyone in this range if healthy. Van Jefferson, WR, LAR – I'm surprised Jefferson lasted this long and I'm surprised I'm the one who drafted him, given that there was a stretch where people seemed to be viewing him as a WR2. He could emerge as that kind of player if he can carve out a more consistent role, but I'm viewing him as a high-upside bench receiver. If I get him in that role, I'm happy. Gus Edwards , RB, BAL – J.K. Dobbins' return from his ACL tear will be the main storyline, but let's not forget that Edwards was being drafted in the first 100 picks last season even when Dobbins was healthy. Edwards has to prove he's healthy, obviously, but he'll be a nice handcuff, with the potential to emerge as the starter if his recovery goes better than Dobbins'. Donovan Peoples-Jones, WR, CLE – People around the Browns were talking about Peoples-Jones as a potential reason they might be OK with losing Odell Beckham this season. He didn't dominate after Beckham's release, but he was pretty good on a per-target basis despite Baker Mayfield 's issues. If Mayfield can play at a higher level in 2022, Peoples-Jones certainly has the upside to be a useful option.Tyler Higbee, TE, LAR – Higbee is who he is, and who he is is a very boring tight end. That's what you get when you wait. If he's your tight end in 2022, you'll be looking for an upgrade immediately. Curtis Samuel , WR, WAS – I loved Samuel's potential in his reunion with Ron Rivera, but he just never got healthy after dealing with offseason groin issues. If healthy, I'm going to target him in the final rounds in a lot of drafts, because there's still the potential for a hybrid RB/WR role with plenty of downfield targets, and that role makes him incredibly enticing, even if this season was a bust in that regard. | | | | Playoff challenge rankings | | Fantasy football doesn't have to stop just because the regular season is over. You can still play in postseason challenges, and if you're looking to get a few lineups in, check out SportsLine, where their model has optimal lineups for DFS slates and the whole Wild Card weekend slate of games to help you set your lineup. | | Jamey Eisenberg has also put together his rankings for playoff challenges for every position. The thing to keep in mind here, is you don't just want the players you think will be the best players this weekend – that would mean passing on Davante Adams and Derrick Henry, and that's not a smart thing to do! However, you also don't want to pick players from, say, the Steelers, who are pretty heavy underdogs on the road against the Chiefs this weekend. | | You're trying to find the right balance between players who are going to be productive and play on teams who are likely to make it multiple rounds in. Jamey's taken that all into account, so here's what he has it looking like: | | Quarterbacks | | Patrick MahomesAaron RodgersTom BradyJosh AllenDak PrescottJoe BurrowRyan TannehillMatthew Stafford Kyler MurrayJimmy GaroppoloJalen HurtsDerek Carr | | "If you like the Chiefs, Buccaneers or Bills to advance to the Super Bowl then gravitate toward Mahomes, Brady or Allen at quarterback since all of them could play four games. That gives them an edge over Rodgers, who can only play three games at most." | | Running backs | | Leonard FournetteDerrick HenryAaron JonesJoe MixonDevin SingletaryClyde Edwards-HelaireEzekiel ElliottSony Michel Elijah MitchellJames ConnerJosh JacobsNajee HarrisMiles SandersDamien HarrisA.J. DillonChase EdmondsDarrel WilliamsTony Pollard Rhamondre StevensonJordan HowardKe'Shawn VaughnBoston ScottD'Onta ForemanCam Akers | | "Running back has the most injuries to monitor when you factor in missed time recently for guys like Fournette, Henry, Edwards-Helaire, Conner, Edmonds and Sanders. Most are reportedly fine for the postseason but keep an eye on their status prior to building your team. Someone like Williams could be awesome if Edwards-Helaire isn't ready for the wild-card round against the Steelers." | | Wide receivers | | Davante AdamsCooper KuppTyreek HillMike EvansStefon DiggsJa'Marr ChaseA.J. BrownTee HigginsDeebo Samuel Amari CooperCeeDee LambDiontae JohnsonChristian KirkHunter RenfrowAllen LazardOdell BeckhamGabriel DavisCed Wilson Cole BeasleyTyler BoydJulio JonesJakobi MeyersDeVonta SmithBrandon Aiyuk | | "Adams might be the easiest player to rank based on the Packers potential to reach the Super Bowl, but Hill could play four games, so keep that in mind when deciding on the No. 1 receiver. Kupp in potentially two games or Evans in potentially three games was another tough call." | | Tight ends | | Travis KelceRob GronkowskiDalton SchultzDawson KnoxTyler HigbeeGeorge KittleZach ErtzDallas Goedert Darren WallerAntony FirkserJosiah DeguaraC.J. Uzomah | | "Kelce is reportedly fine after hurting his hip in Week 18, and I would consider drafting him or Gronkowski early given their expected production and potential for a long playoff run. Gronkowski is in a great spot with Tampa Bay down Chris Godwin (ACL) and Antonio Brown no longer with the Buccaneers." | | | | | | | | NFL Super Wild Card Weekend | | Serie A on Paramount+ | This weekend, NFL Super Wild Card Weekend on CBS features two can't-miss games! Saturday night at 8 PM ET, the Pats and Bills renew their rivalry in primetime, and Sunday the 49ers and Cowboys clash at 4:30 PM ET!
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| | Serie A Continues! Title favorites Inter Milan and Edin Dzeko visit the powerful Atalanta in Bergamo, as they look to secure 3 points on the road against Gian Piero Gasperini’s squad on Sunday!
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