Leo Howell, ESPN Staff
Close Daily fantasy contributor
Aug 29, 2016, 02:00 PM With the third preseason games kicking off and "draft week" underway, the ESPN Fantasy staff held its final mock draft of the season. This time, it was a 10-team PPR mock.
And once again, a player was injured following the mock draft, a reality that many drafters will experience as they head into their real drafts over the final weeks of the preseason.
This time it was Tony Romo who went down, and while Romo himself was picked as a backup QB, his injury absence will really impact star receiver Dez Bryant . Tristan H. Cockcroft took him early in the second round, and had this to say in retrospect about his selection.
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"ARGH! Burned again. Why don't I just trust my instincts when it comes to the Cowboys' passing game? I went a bit against the grain -- 'the grain' referring to my usual strategy -- in selecting Bryant 11th, and I'll admit that at the time I was torn between him and Rob Gronkowski . Given the choice, I'd pick Gronkowski now, and it's not a contest. We'll eventually get a better idea of how long Tony Romo will be sidelined with his back injury, but if it's half a season, that's damning for Bryant's value."
"After all, from 2012-15 -- the four-year span during which Bryant has warranted clear WR1 status (admittedly he has been injured for part of it, but that's his 'healthy' value) -- he averaged roughly 40 percent less fantasy value per snap played when Tony Romo wasn't on the field compared to when he was on it. Extrapolating the numbers using his per-snap rates, Bryant was roughly five fantasy points less productive per game when he was working with any other quarterback than Romo."
Romo's absence definitely hurts Bryant, and his value will likely adjust in drafts as we approach Week 1. However, he's still Dez Bryant, so don't let him fall too far just because his quarterback got hurt.
With that in mind, let's take a look at the latest and last mock. The participants for this draft, in the order in which they selected, were: KC Joyner, Matt Bowen, Kyle Soppe, AJ Mass, Matthew Berry, Jim McCormick, Keith Lipscomb, Field Yates, Leo Howell and Tristan H. Cockcroft.
Round 1 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 1 Joyner Antonio Brown , WR, PitWR 1 2 2 Bowen Julio Jones , WR, AtlWR 2 3 3 Soppe Odell Beckham Jr ., WR, NYGWR 3 4 4 Mass Todd Gurley , RB, LARB 1 5 5 Berry DeAndre Hopkins , WR, HouWR 4 6 6 McCormick A.J. Green , WR, CinWR 5 7 7 Lipscomb Le'Veon Bell , RB, PitRB 2 8 8 Yates David Johnson , RB, AriRB 3 9 9 Howell Ezekiel Elliott , RB, DalRB 4 10 10 Cockcroft Devonta Freeman , RB, AtlRB 5
Round 2 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 11 Cockcroft Dez Bryant , WR, DalWR 6 2 12 Howell Adrian Peterson , RB, MinRB 6 3 13 Yates Lamar Miller , RB, HouRB 7 4 14 Lipscomb Rob Gronkowski , TE, NETE 1 5 15 McCormick Allen Robinson , WR, JaxWR 7 6 16 Berry Mark Ingram , RB, NORB 8 7 17 Mass Jamaal Charles , RB, KCRB 9 8 18 Soppe LeSean McCoy , RB, BufRB 10 9 19 Bowen Alshon Jeffery , WR, ChiWR 8 10 20 Joyner Doug Martin , RB, TBRB 11
Round 3 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 21 Joyner Brandon Marshall , WR, NYJWR 9 2 22 Bowen Eddie Lacy , RB, GBRB 12 3 23 Soppe Jordy Nelson , WR, GBWR 10 4 24 Mass Mike Evans , WR, TBWR 11 5 25 Berry Keenan Allen , WR, SDWR 12 6 26 McCormick Brandin Cooks , WR, NOWR 13 7 27 Lipscomb Amari Cooper , WR, OakWR 14 8 28 Yates Jarvis Landry , WR, MiaWR 15 9 29 Howell Demaryius Thomas , WR, DenWR 16 10 30 Cockcroft C.J. Anderson , RB, DenRB 13
Round 4 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 31 Cockcroft T.Y. Hilton , WR, IndWR 17 2 32 Howell Julian Edelman , WR, NEWR 18 3 33 Yates Sammy Watkins , WR, BufWR 19 4 34 Lipscomb Carlos Hyde , RB, SFRB 14 5 35 McCormick Jordan Reed , TE, WshTE 2 6 36 Berry Randall Cobb , WR, GBWR 20 7 37 Mass Cam Newton , QB, CarQB 1 8 38 Soppe Golden Tate , WR, DetWR 21 9 39 Bowen Matt Forte , RB, NYJRB 15 10 40 Joyner Thomas Rawls , RB, SeaRB 16
Round 5 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 41 Joyner Greg Olsen , TE, CarTE 3 2 42 Bowen Doug Baldwin , WR, SeaWR 22 3 43 Soppe Jonathan Stewart , RB, CarRB 17 4 44 Mass Latavius Murray , RB, OakRB 18 5 45 Berry Jeremy Maclin , WR, KCWR 23 6 46 McCormick Donte Moncrief , WR, IndWR 24 7 47 Lipscomb Emmanuel Sanders , WR, DenWR 25 8 48 Yates Kelvin Benjamin , WR, CarWR 26 9 49 Howell Jeremy Hill , RB, CinRB 19 10 50 Cockcroft Eric Decker , WR, NYJWR 27
Round 6 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 51 Cockcroft Duke Johnson Jr ., RB, CleRB 20 2 52 Howell DeVante Parker , WR, MiaWR 28 3 53 Yates Danny Woodhead , RB, SDRB 21 4 54 Lipscomb John Brown , WR, AriWR 29 5 55 McCormick Ryan Mathews , RB, PhiRB 22 6 56 Berry Aaron Rodgers , QB, GBQB 2 7 57 Mass Michael Floyd , WR, AriWR 30 8 58 Soppe Jordan Matthews , WR, PhiWR 31 9 59 Bowen Larry Fitzgerald , WR, AriWR 32 10 60 Joyner Allen Hurns , WR, JaxWR 33
Round 7 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 61 Joyner Melvin Gordon , RB, SDRB 23 2 62 Bowen Frank Gore , RB, IndRB 24 3 63 Soppe Giovani Bernard , RB, CinRB 25 4 64 Mass DeMarco Murray , RB, TenRB 26 5 65 Berry Jeremy Langford , RB, ChiRB 27 6 66 McCormick Russell Wilson , QB, SeaQB 3 7 67 Lipscomb Marvin Jones , WR, DetWR 34 8 68 Yates Sterling Shepard , WR, NYGWR 35 9 69 Howell Arian Foster , RB, MiaRB 28 10 70 Cockcroft Ameer Abdullah , RB, DetRB 29
Round 8 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 71 Cockcroft Delanie Walker , TE, TenTE 4 2 72 Howell Travis Kelce , TE, KCTE 5 3 73 Yates Theo Riddick , RB, DetRB 30 4 74 Lipscomb Josh Gordon , WR, CleWR 36 5 75 McCormick Rashad Jennings , RB, NYGRB 31 6 76 Berry Coby Fleener , TE, NOTE 6 7 77 Mass Tyler Eifert , TE, CinTE 7 8 78 Soppe Andrew Luck , QB, IndQB 4 9 79 Bowen Zach Ertz , TE, PhiTE 8 10 80 Joyner Drew Brees , QB, NOQB 5
Round 9 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 81 Joyner DeSean Jackson , WR, WshWR 37 2 82 Bowen Ben Roethlisberger , QB, PitQB 6 3 83 Soppe DeAngelo Williams , RB, PitRB 32 4 84 Mass Tyler Lockett , WR, SeaWR 38 5 85 Berry Matt Jones , RB, WshRB 33 6 86 McCormick Stefon Diggs , WR, MinWR 39 7 87 Lipscomb Chris Ivory , RB, JaxRB 34 8 88 Yates Gary Barnidge , TE, CleTE 9 9 89 Howell Torrey Smith , WR, SFWR 40 10 90 Cockcroft Willie Snead , WR, NOWR 41
Round 10 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 91 Cockcroft T.J. Yeldon , RB, JaxRB 35 2 92 Howell Bilal Powell , RB, NYJRB 36 3 93 Yates Devin Funchess , WR, CarWR 42 4 94 Lipscomb Derrick Henry , RB, TenRB 37 5 95 McCormick Charles Sims , RB, TBRB 38 6 96 Berry James White , RB, NERB 39 7 97 Mass Michael Crabtree , WR, OakWR 43 8 98 Soppe Kevin White , WR, ChiWR 44 9 99 Bowen Michael Thomas , WR, NOWR 45 10 100 Joyner Tevin Coleman , RB, AtlRB 40
Round 11 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 101 Joyner Julius Thomas , TE, JaxTE 10 2 102 Bowen Jay Ajayi , RB, MiaRB 41 3 103 Soppe Sammie Coates , WR, PitWR 46 4 104 Mass Corey Coleman , WR, CleWR 47 5 105 Berry Justin Forsett , RB, BalRB 42 6 106 McCormick LeGarrette Blount , RB, NERB 43 7 107 Lipscomb Christine Michael , RB, SeaRB 44 8 108 Yates Kamar Aiken , WR, BalWR 48 9 109 Howell Vincent Jackson , WR, TBWR 49 10 110 Cockcroft Carson Palmer , QB, AriQB 7
Round 12 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 111 Cockcroft Will Fuller , WR, HouWR 50 2 112 Howell Eli Manning , QB, NYGQB 8 3 113 Yates Chris Hogan , WR, NEWR 51 4 114 Lipscomb Tom Brady , QB, NEQB 9 5 115 McCormick Tajae Sharpe , WR, TenWR 52 6 116 Berry Jamison Crowder , WR, WshWR 53 7 117 Mass Mohamed Sanu , WR, AtlWR 54 8 118 Soppe Markus Wheaton , WR, PitWR 55 9 119 Bowen Devontae Booker , RB, DenRB 45 10 120 Joyner Travis Benjamin , WR, SDWR 56
Round 13 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 121 Joyner Darren Sproles , RB, PhiRB 46 2 122 Bowen Phillip Dorsett , WR, IndWR 57 3 123 Soppe Zach Miller , TE, ChiTE 11 4 124 Mass Blake Bortles , QB, JaxQB 10 5 125 Berry Paul Perkins , RB, NYGRB 47 6 126 McCormick Antonio Gates , TE, SDTE 12 7 127 Lipscomb Philip Rivers , QB, SDQB 11 8 128 Yates Derek Carr , QB, OakQB 12 9 129 Howell Tavon Austin , WR, LAWR 58 10 130 Cockcroft Jason Witten , TE, DalTE 13
Round 14 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 131 Cockcroft Jerick McKinnon , RB, MinRB 48 2 132 Howell James Starks , RB, GBRB 49 3 133 Yates Tony Romo , QB, DalQB 13 4 134 Lipscomb Isaiah Crowell , RB, CleRB 50 5 135 McCormick Dion Lewis , RB, NERB 51 6 136 Berry DeAndre Washington , RB, OakRB 52 7 137 Mass Broncos D/ST D/ST 1 8 138 Soppe Seahawks D/ST D/ST 2 9 139 Bowen Panthers D/ST D/ST 3 10 140 Joyner Shane Vereen , RB, NYGRB 53
Round 15 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 141 Joyner Texans D/ST D/ST 4 2 142 Bowen Dorial Green-Beckham , WR, PhiWR 59 3 143 Soppe Stephen Gostkowski , K, NEK 1 4 144 Mass Andre Ellington , RB, AriRB 54 5 145 Berry Cardinals D/ST D/ST 5 6 146 McCormick Vikings D/ST D/ST 6 7 147 Lipscomb Raiders D/ST D/ST 7 8 148 Yates Jets D/ST D/ST 8 9 149 Howell Chiefs D/ST D/ST 9 10 150 Cockcroft Bengals D/ST D/ST 10
Round 16 Pick Overall By Player Pos Rank 1 151 Cockcroft Steven Hauschka , K, SeaK 2 2 152 Howell Justin Tucker , K, BalK 3 3 153 Yates Blair Walsh , K, MinK 4 4 154 Lipscomb Mason Crosby , K, GBK 5 5 155 McCormick Adam Vinatieri , K, IndK 6 6 156 Berry Graham Gano , K, CarK 7 7 157 Mass Chandler Catanzaro , K, AriK 8 8 158 Soppe Jimmy Graham , TE, SeaTE 14 9 159 Bowen Dan Bailey , K, DalK 9 10 160 Joyner Chris Boswell , K, PitK 10