Fantasy Football Mock Draft Per Day (August 9th): 10 teams, 2-QB PPR league, No. 10 pick

Back on May 27th, we began our 2014 fantasy football mock draft per day series using our site’s mock draft simulator (powered by FantasyPros).

As we continue through the offseason, I will continue to complete a mock draft every day as I vary the scoring format, league size, draft slot, etc. and today’s mock is a 10-team, 2-QB league using point-per-reception (PPR) scoring and I have the No. 10 pick.

Here are my picks in today’s mock draft:

1.10 – Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions
2.01 – DeMarco Murray, RB, Dallas Cowboys
3.10 – Rob Gronkowski, TE, New England Patriots
4.01 – Colin Kaepernick, QB, San Francisco 49ers
5.10 – Roddy White, WR, Atlanta Falcons
6.01 – Victor Cruz, WR, New York Giants
7.10 – Toby Gerhart, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
8.01 – Pierre Thomas, RB, New Orleans Saints
9.10 – Mike Wallace, WR, Miami Dolphins
10.01 – Marques Colston, WR, New Orleans Saints
11.10 – Jeremy Hill, RB, Cincinnati Bengals
12.01 – Sam Bradford, QB, St. Louis Rams
13.10 – Brandin Cooks, WR, New Orleans Saints
14.01 – Rueben Randle, WR, New York Giants
15.10 – Kansas City Chiefs D/ST
16.01 – Phil Dawson, K, San Francisco 49ers

Some notes about my team (view full mock here):

• QBs: Although the DraftWizard’s Draft Analyzer tool was not nearly as pleased with this team as I was, I have many players that have appeared on my list of undervalued players including Kaepernick. One of handful of passers with a 5,000-yard season under his belt, Stafford has perhaps his best chance this season to duplicate that feat. At a minimum, he has his best supporting cast of weapons. Meanwhile, Kaepernick is one of the league’s most athletic quarterbacks, but a heathier and deeper wide receiver corps gives him top-five upside. Both Stafford and Kaepernick are ranked inside my top seven fantasy QBs for 2014. Assuming he can stay healthy, Bradford provides a bye-week replacement for both.

• RBs: Playing in 14 games, Murray had a career-best season with 1,121 rushing yards, 53 receptions for 350 yards and 10 total touchdowns. With questionable play-calling by the Cowboys last year, I’d expect the team to be a little more committed to the ground game this year as their defense is atrocious. More than likely, I would have taken Gerhart at the Round 5/6 turn, but the simulator’s “pick predictor” had Gerhart at 13% (of being selected before pick 7.10 so I took the gamble). Gerhart is one of my favorite fantasy values in 2014 and I wouldn’t have chanced it in a real league. He’s a tremendous value as the 70th overall pick even in a 2-QB league. (He’s my 24th-ranked player overall in PPR formats.) Like Gerhart, I’m higher than most on Thomas, who lead all RBs with 77 receptions last season. With Darren Sproles gone, I think he catches as many passes this year as well. (Agree or disagree, vote in our poll on PT’s 2014 catch total.) Perhaps better in standard-scoring formats, Hill should get a high volume of work behind Giovani Bernard, the team’s lead back.
• WRs: White and Cruz are poised for bounce-back seasons. White had 43/502/2 in five games in December (only two WRs had more yards, only one WR had more catches). Cruz should see his targets and receptions increase as the team transitions to an offense that should Eli Manning‘s completion percentage spike. The Dolphins will make a more concerted effort to get Wallace the ball and Colston is a nice value as my WR4. Cooks and Randle are top-35 receivers with WR2 upside.
• TEs: Even though he has had more surgeries than I can count on one hand over the past two seasons including having his ACL repaired in January, Gronk appears likely to be active for the season opener. No tight end has a higher ceiling as Gronk has scored 43 TDs in 50 career games. Although he played only seven games (and durability remains a concern), Gronk led all tight ends last year with a career-high 84.6 yards per game in the seven games he played.

Mock Draft Simulator: Complete your own mock drafts on our site for free.

Our 2014 fantasy football rankings:

• 2014 fantasy football quarterback rankings
• 2014 fantasy football running back rankings
• 2014 fantasy football wide receiver rankings
• 2014 fantasy football tight end rankings
• 2014 fantasy football cheat sheet

Tomorrow’s mock draft will be a 16-team league using standard scoring with the No. 9 overall pick. Follow me on Twitter (@EDSFootball) to keep track of our updates.