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Mock Draft: @IDP_Dude’s Breakdown Part 1

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The IDP Dude breaks down the first nine rounds of his all IDP mock draft and digs deeper to explain his picks

As a fun exercise, I wanted to break down my latest IDP mock draft and discuss the reasoning behind each of my picks. As in any draft, it’s easy to grab some rankings and work your way down the list. For this, I wanted to dig a little deeper to explain why or perhaps why I didn’t draft a certain player. I hope you find this useful and maybe it will introduce you to a new draft philosophy that helps your roster overall.

Draft setup: 10 Teams – 2 DL, 3 LB, 2 DB, 1 Flex, 10 Bench

Round 1, Pick 9: LB – Telvin Smith, Jacksonville Jaguars

If you know me then you know I’ll go linebacker early and often. With five linebackers off the board before me, I had to grab who I believe is the most consistent and biggest producer first. Smith finished only second to Darius Leonard in 2018 and I don’t expect a ton of improvement from the Jaguars offense in 2019. I’m willing to bet he will see quite a few snaps with plenty of opportunity to rack up the tackles again this year.

https://twitter.com/FSU_Barstool/status/1061717326079377409

I didn’t go with C.J. Mosley here because I wanted to take a gamble on my next pick and selecting two linebackers on new teams to start my draft seemed a bit risky.

Round 2, Pick 12: LB – Kwon Alexander, San Francisco 49ers

This is the gamble I mentioned up above. Plenty of studs left on the board at this point but I really wanted a share of Alexander and I know he wouldn’t make it back to me so I bit the bullet and went for it. Yes, I’m a little nervous he’s coming off an ACL injury but what he can become in San Francisco is worth the risk for me.

Round 3, Pick 29: DE – Cameron Jordan, New Orleans Saints

At this point, ten rushers are off the board so I decide to go with a guy I can trust. He probably carries a consensus rank of 9 or 10 so this is exactly where I’d expect him to go unless there is a mad dash for rushers early in the draft. Give me what should be a top 10 defensive end with top 5 upside at this point any day. For the record, both Jamal Adams and Budda Baker were taken with the two picks ahead of me. I would’ve taken either of them over Jordan knowing I could grab a defensive end around the turn, possibly Jordan.

Round 4, Pick 32: DE – Frank Clark, Seattle Seahawks

Going back to what I previously mentioned, safeties Adams and Baker just came off the board. Landon Collins, Derwin James and Keanu Neal were also gone and in my opinion those five are the elite defensive backs in IDP and there is a little bit of a drop off once they’re gone. With that being said, I decided to sure up my DL starters with Clark. Coming off a top 11 campaign and reportedly playing hurt for most of the season, I love the value here. Give him the offseason to get healthy and there is no reason why Clark can’t play his way into a top 10 IDP season at defensive end.

Round 5, Pick 49: DB – Damarious Randall, Cleveland Browns

I wonder if this raises some eyebrows. I have Randall ranked around a low end DB 1 to high end DB 2. Randall was on fire to start the season and had he not missed a game and some change he could’ve posted a top 10 campaign in 2018. He didn’t look right after coming back from the injury and was often on the injury report but he gutted through it. With health no longer an issue and Jabrill Peppers gone, I expect Randall to have a nice year. Randall is also one of those do it all hybrids who saw some time at cornerback in 2018. In the rare case he’s still marked as a corner in your league and your league requires them, I’d highly suggest going after Randall as he will be holding down a safety spot in 2019.

Round 6, Pick 52: LB – Avery Williamson, New York Jets

It seems some people are scared by the arrival of Mosley in New York. The competition for tackles will certainly increase but am I scared, no. The Jets defense can produce two viable linebackers with 100+ tackles each. We don’t know which one will come out on top but if the difference is Mosley in the first round versus Williamson in the sixth round, give me Williamson every single time. As the 22nd linebacker taken off the board in this draft, I’m confident Williamson is able to finished as a top 18 linebacker and it’s that value alone that makes him worth the pick.

Round 7, Pick 69: LB – Kiko Alonso, Miami Dolphins

At this point in the draft I have my three linebackers and my two linemen. To fill out my starting roster I needed to roll with another defensive back or best player available to give me the most points in my flex. The decision was between Alonso, Tahir Whitehead and Joe Schobert. Alonso has been steady throughout his career and with no one on the roster to threaten his playing time plus the sad state of the Dolphins offense, I thought this was a great choice. If I can put together a team where Kiko is my LB 4, sign me up. He’s been a top 20, almost top 15 LB for three years in a row now and I don’t expect that to end this season.

Round 8, Pick 72: DB – Justin Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This was the first of my two sneaky picks to finish out my starting lineup. The Buccaneers secondary was a mess last season with the injuries. Evans, although he caught the injury bug again was in my opinion the best talent of all 4 safeties who saw a good amount of playing time at some point last season. It’s clear they haven’t given up on Evans but they did bring in some offseason muscle to try and build much needed depth. The Bucs ended up signing former Packers safety Kentrell Brice to a one year prove it deal. I believe Brice will push Jordan Whitehead for the starting gig next to Evans but with the state of the Bucs linebacker core I’m willing to put some eggs in Evans basket for the 2019 season.

Round 9, Pick 89: DB – Karl Joseph, Oakland Raiders

After visiting the doghouse to begin the season, Joseph actually put together a serviceable second half of the season. It appears whatever issues that existed between Joseph and the coaching staff have been buried. Joseph will be paired up with newly acquired hybrid FS Lamarcus Joyner and like Justin Evans, Joseph should benefit from a weak core of linebackers playing in front of him. I see no reason Joseph can’t finish 2019 as a mid to low end DB 2 for 2019 and I love that value with the 89th pick overall.

Now that I’ve gone through my first nine rounds let’s take a look at where my starting roster stands and see where I need to go in the back nine of the draft.

2 DL – Cameron Jordan, Frank Clark

3 LB – Telvin Smith, Kwon Alexander, Avery Williamson

2 DB – Damarious Randall, Justin Evans

1 Flex – Kiko Alonso

I like where I’m at so far. My linebacker core is awesome, my linemen are average with good upside and my defensive backs are average with a good amount of upside. Typically linebackers produce the most IDP points for you so that is where I like to focus when building my squad.

If you liked this article, be on the lookout for part two where I break down my picks from the back nine of this draft!

If you’re digging the content follow me on Twitter @IDP_Dude and the follow the show @IDPGuys. For even more in-depth IDP content, listen to the guys talk about news, analysis, and strategy on the podcast. 

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