2018 DRAFT RECAPS - 3RD PICK - LAMONE — Protector Of The League

Number 3: SLAMMY TWATSKiNS owned by Matt Lamonakis

First Five:

Despite making the playoffs Lamone got the #3 pick in this year’s draft. He’s had some bad luck with draft picks historically so I was happy for him. Anyways he got the exact player he wanted when David Johnson fell to him at 3 overall. Johnson owners got screwed last year, so I’m predicting a monster year for him. He may not repeat his 2,000 yards, 80 catches and 20 touchdowns from 2016, but I think he can easily get 75-80% of those totals (at least 1,500 total yards, 60 catches, 16 TDs). He’ll carry Lamone’s team all year.

Keenan Allen was a nice pick for Lamone in the 2nd round. He was WR3 last year and had 102 catches, 1,300 yards and 6 TDs. I expect him to repeat those figures and possibly up the touchdown total in 2018. The third round pick was a disaster for Lamone and I thought it was a bad pick before the recent news. Lamone took Jerick McKinnon over other more promising players like Joe Mixon, Jordan Howard and LeSean McCoy which was bad. What’s worse, as we all know, is that McKinnon is out for the season. Third round pick begonneeeee.

To round out his top 5 Slammin SAMMY TWATSKiNS took Demaryius Thomas and Royce Freeman. Demaryius Thomas turned 30 at the end of last year and is coming off his worst season since 2011 (pre Peyton Manning). He had 141 targets which was good, but he only caught 58% of them which is bad. He’s actually declined 3 years in a row when you look at his stats and I’m not sure I like this pick. I think Jarvis Landry, JuJu, Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan woulda been better in this spot (all were taken in the following round).

I like the Royce Freeman pick though – by all accounts he’s looked great in the preseason and should be their starter. Devonta Booker sucks, so I don’t see why Freeman would lose work to him. The only thing that concerns me is the amount of wear on the tires. In 4 years at Oregon he had 950 carries and caught 80 passes. Not a huge concern, but something I noticed when looking at ESPN's notes.

Next Five:

Lamone drafted a pair of TEs, a QB, a RB and a receiver in the middle rounds. Delanie Walker Texas Ranger was his 6th round pick and he should be a top 10 TE this year. He finished as TE6 in 2017 and has 800 yards or more in 4 straight seasons. The downside here is that he’s currently injured, is 34 years old and was probably overdrafted. Jimmy Graham, Trey Burton, Evan Engram, and Kyle Rudolph all went a round or 2 later. I also don’t love that Lamone drafted Jack Doyle just 4 rounds after Walker. I'm not sure a 2nd TE is necessary in 10 team leagues and Doyle has to compete with Eric Ebron for targets.

Kirk Cousins in the 7th round was a decent pick – he should finish in the top 10 again and he has better weapons to utilize than he did in Washington. The major concern here is that the Vikings D is really good and he probably won’t throw as much as he did in past years. Cousins threw 540 or more passes in each of the last two seasons with Washington. Case Keenum only threw 325 passes last year for the Vikings. If Cousins loses 100-150 attempts his numbers are gonna come down. We’ll see about this one.

You’re What the French Call Pierre Garcon and Ronald McDonald Jones were the other mid-round picks. I like the Garcon pick and he should be good with Jimmy G at QB. He had 40 catches for 500 yards in 8 games with crap QBs last year and I think those numbers will improve. Ronald Jones on the other hand wasn’t as good of a pick. He’s been a complete scrub this preseason and has rushed 10 times for 4 yards. Peyton Barber – the Bucs current starter – went in the 12th round so this might have been a reach.

Last Five:

Lamone ended his draft by taking a trio of Lions along with two wide receivers. Matt Prater kicks bombs and plays indoors which is a good combo. The Lions D is very underrated and has studs like Darius SLAY and Ziggy Ansah. Believe it or not they were the #3 ranked defense in our scoring last year. Lamone also took his favorite player – Theo Riddick/Ratdick, who could prove to be a useful FLEX or bye week fill in. The Lions backfield is crowded, but his role should be secure.

I love the Jamison Crowder pick at 118 overall (12th round). He’s arguably their #1 receiver and Alex Smith should pepper him with targets. He finished as the #31 WR last year despite scoring a combined 27.2 points in the first 7 weeks of the season (including a bye). He had a very strong second half and scored 10+ points in 6 of their last 9 games.

I’m a little less sold on the Allen Hurns pick, but solely due to injury. If Hurns can get healthy he could be the top WR in Dallas. A #1 receiver in the 13th round - not too shabby. I imagine the Cowboys will be facing stacked boxes all year, so Hurns might have a lot of room to roam. There’s a “facing stacked boxes” joke in here somewhere, but I’m too lazy to find it.

Grade:

First things first - I have to give Lamone some props for the team name. SLAMMY TWATSKiNS is another hilarious name and he’s carrying the league in that regard yet again. To be honest I’m a little disappointed in the rest of yous guys – only 2 of the 10 teams have changed their names since last year. Let’s pick it up.

Anyways I give Lamone a B- for this draft. The David Johnson and Keenan Allen picks were great, but I don’t like a lot of the other picks he made. He’s already lost his 3rd round pick and if Royce Freeman doesn’t work out, his RB2 situation could get ugly. I think he reached a few times where he could have waited (Cousins, Jones, Delanie, etc), but maybe I’m wrong.

Prediction:

Lamone will finish 5-8 and miss out on the playoffs this year. Losing your 3rd round pick a day after the draft is going to be hard to overcome, so he’s gonna need to catch a few breaks here and there. 5-8 isn’t a terrible year, I just think he’ll come up 1-2 games shy of the playoffs.