NFL Week 5 FTN Staff Bets
FTN Staff
The NFL Draft is less than a week away. Here at FTN, we have been preparing in a ton of ways.
One way has been a pre-draft rookie mock to get a feel of where players are going and how they are being valued. Of course, a lot is going to change once landing spots are established, but this is still an informative exercise.
Let’s take a look at how our first draft panned out — we will do another once the NFL Draft is over to see how much things change.
This is a 1QB league, which is why the first quarterback doesn’t come off the board until the 2.02 (Malik Willis). And because this isn’t the strongest quarterback class in recent years, the position is going to be pushed down a lot more, even in superflex formats. Meanwhile, this also isn’t the greatest running back class we have seen lately, which leads to a lot of receivers coming off the board relatively early. It’ll be extremely interesting to see how different this draft looks once the NFL Draft is in the rearview mirror.
The 1.01 and 1.05
It is hard not to love what our Sam Choudhury did in this draft. Of course, having the 1.01 allows you to select Breece Hall, who is ready to dominate in the NFL. Over his last three seasons at Iowa State, Hall totaled 718 rushing attempts, while no player in all of college football has more touches over the last two seasons. He can easily become an every-down back at the next level and if he lands on a team with a clear path to touches, Hall could be a top-15 fantasy running back right away. And at the 2.01, Sam drafted Christian Watson, who has an insane amount of upside. Perhaps no player in this class helped himself more in the pre-draft process than Watson, who ran a blazing 4.36 40-yard dash at 6-foot-4, 208 pounds. He does have some things to work on, though. Watson posted a 13.3% career drop rate and tends to not always play to his size. Of course, we have seen drop issues disappear for wide receivers (Davante Adams), while we’ve also seen them not truly matter too much when it comes to fantasy football (Diontae Johnson). Watson can easily improve in that area, especially when it comes to contested catches. He did show signs, though, including a tremendous contested catch against Missouri State.
I also loved how Tyler Loechner started his draft. Being able to add Drake London fifth overall is very interesting, especially since I personally have him ranked ahead of Treylon Burks. London, despite missing eight games last season, still led college football in contested catches with 17. At 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, London has the size and talent to become an NFL offense’s No. 1 wideout. He high-points the ball extremely well and has tremendous body control. While he doesn’t have breakaway speed, London is still very strong after the catch, as his 22 missed tackles forced were the eighth-most in the nation. London could easily be selected within the first 10 picks of the NFL Draft. Meanwhile, I love Rachaad White and believe he has plenty of fantasy upside. White is an outstanding pass-catcher, catching 43 balls last year and seeing 16% of Arizona State’s targets. His 2.25 yards per route run ranked fourth in the nation but White can also handle a full workload. If he lands on the right team that gets him involved right away, he could easily be the third-best running back in this class. The only knock is that he will be 24 years old when the season starts.
Top Values
Alec Pierce, WR, Cincinnati (3.09)
Pierce is 6-foot-3 and 208 pounds with 4.4 speed. He was a tremendous deep threat during his time at Cincinnati and posted a healthy 17.1-yard aDOT this past season. He’ll need to improve on his overall route tree at the next level but there is plenty of upside here and I think he should have been selected in the middle/end of the second round.
Isaiah Spiller, RB, Texas A&M (1.08)
I think by the time the NFL Draft is over, it is possible Spiller will be selected within the first five picks of rookie drafts. He didn’t have the greatest combine but at just 21 years old, Spiller is the youngest running back in this draft class. And he still has plenty of experience after racking up nearly 550 carries over three seasons at Texas A&M. He also broke out at just 18 years old in 2019, rushing for 946 yards and 10 scores on 174 attempts. While he may not have the overall upside of Hall or Kenneth Walker, Spiller does have a good all-around skillset at the running back position.
