Football Garbage Time 2016 NFL Preseason Fantasy Football Mock Draft – Round 2

By the Football Garbage Time Staff

As I mentioned yesterday, we’re here to help you win your fantasy football league.

But just telling you who we would pick in Round 1 and why isn’t enough.  To really help, we have to go deeper to Round 2.  And that’s exactly what we did on Twitter.

And, because we love our readers, we summarized our Round 2 picks into an article and provided you with a little insight as to why we did what we did.

Don’t agree with our picks or rationale?  Let us know!  We love feedback!

– Ha Kung Wong, Editor-in-Chief

Round 2

Pick 1 – Ezekiel Elliott – RB

John Kirkland

• Previous Pick: David Johnson – RB
• Another running back you say? Well, I think I (yes me) could get a first down running behind the Cowboy O-line (1st in 2014 and 6th in 2015). This guy is going to be a beast.

Pick 2 – Dez Bryant – WR

Joey Alibro

• Previous Pick: Todd Gurley – RB
• With a healthy Tony Romo, Dez should have a solid year production wise as the top target for the oft-injured QB.

Pick 3 – Ben Roethlisberger – QB

Ryan Whitfield

• Previous Pick: Rob Gronkowski – TE
• While you can’t bank on more 6 touchdown performances this year you can absolutely count on 4,500 yards and 35+ touchdowns over the season. One of the leagues best offenses with the games best wide receiver, Big Ben is a safe bet. Teamed up on my team with Gronkowski, I’m more than satisfied with my one-two punch.

Pick 4 – Allen Robinson – WR

Joanne Kong

• Previous Pick: Lamar Miller – RB
• The Jacksonville Jaguars might have finished 5-11 in the 2015 season, but this win/loss record doesn’t reflect the potential of the individual players.  Even with the team in shambles, Allen Robinson had 1,400 receiving years and 14 touchdowns.  With Blake Bortles only getting better, Robinson is looking to have another high scoring season.  At least, that’s what I’m banking on with Robinson as my second round pick and an anchor player for my 2016 fantasy season.

Pick 5 – AJ Green – WR

Ha Kung Wong

• Previous Pick: Adrian Peterson – RB
• After getting my starting RB, I wanted a high end WR1.  And what better option than AJ Green, particularly since there’s no one else in Cincy to target anymore after Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu left town and Tyler Eifert starting to look iffy for the start of the season.  Sure, second round pick rookie WR Tyler Boyd is a wild card and RB Giovanni Bernard is likely to pick up a few more looks in the passing game as well, but Green should be getting all he can handle.  The big questions are whether defenses will essentially double cover Green with rolled safety coverage and whether this will even matter since Green is so good in coverage.  I’m willing to bet on Green and his unbroken streak of 1,000+ receiving yard years averaging 9 TDs a year to be close to a lock, meaning I get my consistency plus serious upside.

Pick 6 – Devonta Freeman – RB

Scott King

• Previous Pick: Julio Jones – WR
• Scott’s Commentary Coming Soon!

Pick 7 – Alshon Jeffery – WR

John Kirkland

• Previous Pick: DeAndre Hopkins – WR
• Cutler has to throw to someone and Jeffery is who he trusts. Plus it looks like no long term deal is coming, so Jeffery is likely be playing in a contract year.  Cutler needs to stay healthy, but if he does, Jeffery is gonna be good.

Pick 8 – Andrew Luck – QB

Joey Alibro

• Previous Pick: Odell Beckham Jr. – WR
• Luck had a down year in 2015, but look for that to change after cashing in huge this offseason.

Pick 9 – Jordy Nelson – WR

Ryan Whitfield

• Previous Pick: Antonio Brown – WR
• How soon we forget. Jordy is a top fifteen if not top ten talent in the league. He’s on schedule with his recovery and he will be Rodgers big play threat and put up 2014-esque numbers again. Antonio Brown and Jordy Nelson on the same team? My lord.

Pick 10 – LeSean McCoy – RB

Joanne Kong

• Previous Pick: Cam Newton – QB
• In all honesty, this pick has little rhyme or reason since McCoy only rushed for 895 yards and had 3 touchdowns in 2015.  The pick should have been Brandon Marshall (WR) of the NY Jets, but with an uncertainty in the quarterback position, I passed over Marshall and decided on LeSean McCoy.  Maybe it was because I wanted to draft him last year and he was taken right from under me. Or maybe it’s because even though McCoy only had 3 touchdowns in the 2015 season, he still has a lot of productivity left if given the opportunity.  In 2012, McCoy finished the season with 842 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He returned in 2013 to bounce back to 1,607 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns.  As the number one running back in Buffalo, I’m betting that McCoy will return to his former glory…if Buffalo gives him the right protection.  And if Buffalo is looking to shop McCoy at the end of the season they will need to give McCoy every opportunity to demonstrate his value. Besides, backup RB Karlos Williams showed up to camp about 20-25 pounds overweight, so doesn’t look like he’ll be vying for touches anytime soon.

Pick 11 – Jamaal Charles – RB

Ha Kung Wong

• Previous Pick: Le’Veon Bell – RB
• Harken back to 2005 through 2010, when it was no-brainer to go RB-RB in fantasy football drafts because there were plenty of high end workhorse backs to pick from.  Fast forward to 2016 and, as I said previously, the workhorse back is a dying breed with running-back-by-committee being the in vogue option.  Some say you should pivot to high end WRs to fill the void.  But, in my opinion, this is all the more reason to grab two workhorse backs early if you can.  Jamaal Charles comes with higher than average injury risk (coming off two knee surgeries in the last four years), but he’s been a first round pick for a few years now, and nothing has changed with his skill set or the mediocre options behind him on the Chiefs RB depth chart.  He might miss some of training camp, but I suspect he’ll be full go by the regular season and should see plenty of work on the ground and through the air.  In his non-injury plagued years, he’s exceeded 1,000 rushing yards and 200 receiving yards in all but one year.  As long as he stays healthy he’s a true RB1 at a late 2nd Round pick price.

Pick 12 – Demaryius Thomas – WR

Scott King

• Previous Pick: Aaron Rodgers – QB
• He was still catching TDs with Tim Tebow behind center.  And Peyton Manning was an all time low in 2015.  Mark Sanchez or Trevor Siemian behind center in 2016?  No problem.

And don’t forget that we’ll have plenty of fantasy football coverage leading up to the start of the season, including our four round fantasy football mock draft in August!

So don’t forget to keep swinging by to check out our content, and letting us have it in the comments!