UTH Rookie Draft Roundtable Discussion: Round 1

Published On Wednesday, May 06, 2015 By .   

 

Time to get the UTH gang back together. I led a recent email group discussion post-NFL Draft about the state of dynasty rookie drafts for 2015. I would throw out a question or topic and UTH contributors would weigh in with responses (many great ones by the way). If you missed the 8+ hours of live NFL Draft discussion we did during the first three rounds, check them out here:

Round 1 Hangout

Rounds 2-3 Hangout

This was the first time any of us really talked outside of emails or Google chat, etc. It was a great experience, plus the content was enough to have listeners muting their TV coverage to get the dynasty slant over Kiper and crew.

On to the dialogue about the first round of rookie drafts….

Chad: How often will one of Gurley-Cooper-White slip to 1.04?

Also, it seems like White has slipped from the ‘Big 3’ status with Cooper and Gurley and now the consensus is the ‘Big 2’. Is Chicago really that bad of a landing spot? I mean, the NFL confirmed White’s status as an elite prospect, right?

Joey: 

First, talking about who will slip to 1.04, I can see White slipping there fairly often. In the draft I’m currently in, Parker went 1.01. (Went: Parker, Gurley, Cooper, White) It totally threw everyone off. There are also people who are going to draft for need by taking Winston or Gordon that early when they should be going BPA. Sometimes I feel like owners forget that we still have a few months. There is going to be training camp news and pre-season, plenty of time to trade for what they believe their team needs.
 
To me, it’s still a tier of three, a great landing spot for White. Chicago passed for 3792 yards last year according to NFL.com. That is with Marquess Wilson not playing until week 11 and Brandon Marshall only playing 13 games. Marshall still accounted for almost 1,300 yards, those have to go to someone. I don’t know how many receptions White will get but he was the seventh overall pick in the NFL draft, that has to account for something. It seems to me that he could be gold there. He had one year at West Virginia, this has a lot of owners moving him down because if someone is going to bust, it very likely could be him. Add in that DeVante Parker in Miami seems to be the safer choice to some. To me though, his ceiling is so high, it’s worth the risk.
Do you guys think Parker is the “safer” choice? I see Chad’s tiers have Cooper alone at 1, Parker alone at 3, with Gurley and White in the middle.
Patrick:
I am among those who see Cooper/Gurley as a clear top 2 in this class. That was my thinking before the draft, and unfortunately for me it seems the larger fantasy community is now reaching the same conclusion. I would guess that White falls out of the top 3 pretty regularly with one of Gordon or Parker going ahead of him.  My personal preference at 1.03 would be to trade up or back, but I would take Parker at 1.03 if forced to make the pick.  Parker was my #2 WR pre-draft and I like his landing spot.
Jordan:
I have them ranked Gurley Cooper White Melvin Parker as a top 5 with Gurley Cooper a clear tier and White Melvin Parker in tier 2. In one of the DLF Rookie mocks I’m in the guy took White 1.01 and said he believes white has Demaryius Thomas ability and upside so I think it truly is a league by league basis on who falls to 4/5.
Katie:
I don’t think that Gurley or Cooper will drop into the 1.04 very often.  So far in 2 live non devy rookie drafts it has been Gurley and then Cooper, and both are superflex, so not even Winston has supplanted the 2.  Unless it is a league with a bunch of new dynasty owners, I don’t see those guys falling.  To me they are the clear top 2 in some order.  I do see White/Gordon/Parker as the next tier but I have seen Yeldon creep ahead of Parker and think that may happen quite a bit if a guy is going by need instead of BPA.
I like White’s landing spot, for him, for his team, and for fantasy.  New coach is used to throwing the ball a lot, so I don’t see that as an issue, and Marquess is no real threat to White.  I think some have his upside as higher than Cooper which could get Coop to fall to 3rd but not 4th very often.  Yes, White is an elite prospect.

 

Published Under: 2015 Rookies, Drafts, Rookie Drafts, Strategy. Tags: , , ,

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