Four weeks into the fantasy football season, the landscape has shifted dramatically. Bye weeks are upon us, injuries are piling up, and NFL teams are adjusting their offensive strategies. To get a sense of how these changes are impacting fantasy football, we asked our analysts to participate in a mock re-draft, as if the season were starting fresh today.
The 10 participants, all seasoned veterans of the mock draft room, shared their biggest takeaways from the exercise. One common theme was the challenge of valuing players with uncertain statuses due to injuries. This uncertainty led to some surprising draft positions, including Christian McCaffrey falling to the seventh round.
Stephania Bell noted that she was in “avoid mode” when it came to ailing players, except for T.J. Hockenson, whose recovery has been positive. Field Yates, on the other hand, snagged McCaffrey in the seventh round, hoping he’ll return to form soon. Eric Karabell opted for Jordan Mason instead, citing McCaffrey’s injury history.
Liz Loza lamented the lack of upside in later rounds, while Tristan H. Cockcroft wondered if we’re too rigid in our preseason evaluations and too loose with them in-season. Mike Clay took a “post-hype” approach, targeting players like Breece Hall and Bijan Robinson who have underperformed so far.
Eric Moody identified Garrett Wilson, Trey McBride, and Josh Jacobs as potential trade targets, while Matt Bowen saw value in rookie wide receivers Ladd McConkey and Keon Coleman. Tyler Fulghum bemoaned the state of the tight end position, where even top players like Mark Andrews and Kyle Pitts are struggling.
Daniel Dopp, meanwhile, found it difficult to retrain his brain to draft in October, but still managed to assemble a solid team with CeeDee Lamb, Jonathan Taylor, and Kenneth Walker III. Overall, the mock re-draft highlighted the challenges and opportunities that come with fantasy football in October.
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