2024 Off-Season Mock Drafts: Superflex Rookie Mock
I recently recapped a single-quarterback rookie mock, and this time around, we’re dipping our toes into the superflex world. In this draft, I had the eighth pick. Over the last four-ish weeks, I’ve found that the top eight in this draft are the same in every superflex draft I’ve seen. The order might shake up a bit from time to time, but the same eight names have been there every time. But many of us will only have a single pick in the top eight, or maybe none at all, so let’s see how the entirety of this superflex mock played out.
Round One
I already mentioned it, but this top eight is as solidified as it can possibly be at this point. Barring any unforeseen explosions at the combine or epic falls during the draft; I can’t imagine anything shaking it up. I talked more in-depth about this first round in a previous article where I looked at multiple early first-round results from multiple mocks – be sure to check it out.
For my purposes here, I had the eighth pick and was happy to know I would be able to snag one of the top eight players. In this case, Rome Odunze fell to me, and I couldn’t have been happier. I’m a fan of the player and believe he is the break between tiers two and three at the position. Some might think Ladd McConkey went a little early, but I’ve seen him go off the board as the WR4 in the class more than once already. Closing out the round with Brian Thomas and Jonathon Brooks seems to be par for the course, too. Blake Corum may have gone a little early, but we’ll probably keep seeing at least two running backs at the tail end of the first all draft season.
Round Two
As personal preference comes into play at the one-two turn in drafts, we’ll see some movement in every league. The Corum-McConkey-Thomas-Brooks ending to round one, and the round two start of Troy Franklin–Keon Coleman–Xavier Worthy–Xavier Legette could easily be swapped, and nobody would bat an eye. Specific to position, Corum and Brooks in round one could have been Trey Benson and Braelon Allen, and nobody is getting laughed out of the league in your group chat.
At 2.08, 20th overall, I selected Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley, who I absolutely love. Looking at DLF’s early ADP, he’s been WR13, so I’m just a hair earlier than the consensus at this point selecting him as WR10. Adonai Mitchell fell to WR11 while being WR8 so far in ADP. In the first five mocks of the year, Mitchell was a first-round pick four times, and in the single draft, he fell into the second; he was 13th overall. However, he might be one of our earliest fallers, as in the most recent five mocks, Mitchell has been selected between 15th and 19th in each. His downward trend is worth keeping an eye on going forward.
Bookending my Corley pick, we had QB5 and QB6; Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. We are talking superflex, so they do pick up some added value, but unless they get some unforeseen draft capital, I’m not wasting a pick in this range on a quarterback- I would prefer Gus Bradley’s son in the late fourth or fifth. Without the draft capital at the position, what can you honestly hope for, Aiden O’Connell or Malik Willis? No thanks, when I’ve got other position players I like in this range. I love the Ray Davis pick at 2.10, as he is quickly climbing up my early board. I can’t wait to see where he ends up in the draft. And we conclude the round with our second tight end, Texas’ Ja’Tavion Sanders. It’s still higher than I want to draft a rookie tight end, so I don’t like it, but I understand why someone else might do it.
Round Three
Getting into the second half of the mock, we find a few names that stick out as players who likely won’t be there as our actual rookie drafts commence (Or maybe I’m wrong, and we’ll have some decent values in this round all off-season).
I’m not the biggest fan of either, but Bucky Irving and MarShawn Lloyd have many fans out there. Granted, this is superflex, but I can’t see either of them remaining into the third often. Running backs always see their prices inflated once the rubber hits the road and real drafts occur. They are RB5 and RB6 in early ADP, and here they are RB6 and RB7 after getting leapfrogged by Ray Davis, so there is a chance I’m way off base, and the two-three turn is right about where they’ll be. Even though I’m not an Irving or Lloyd guy, I still can appreciate the value at this point in the draft.
The wide receiver trio of Ja’Lynn Polk, Devontez Walker, and Roman Wilson could be tremendous steals with picks 27-29. I think Wilson, in particular, gets draft capital that bumps him up a full round. Granted, this is just one mock out of many, but depending on what we see in coming superflex mocks, I might be making moves now to acquire multiple early thirds before anyone else catches on that these are the types of names still lingering on the board with 3.01-3.05 on the clock.
I love Ricky Pearsall, and it was an easy choice for me at 3.08. Seeing how several mocks have played out, it looks like I will end up with a ton of Pearsall this year, and I’m more than happy about it. Yes, please. There is another player in round four that I might have considered here, but we’ll dig into that more later.
Audric Estime, Jamari Thrash, Brendan Rice, and Jalen McMillan were solid picks in this range. On the other hand, I have no idea what to make of Will Shipley. I will have to wait to see some combine results, draft capital, and landing spot before I can commit one way or the other. I don’t like or dislike the player; I’m just unsure and, as a result, will probably end up with no shares of him when the season rolls around.
We did get our seventh quarterback though, Spencer Rattler. Following the Senior Bowl, I bumped Rattler up to QB5 in this class, and from the rumblings I’ve heard, it sounds like many in the dynasty community are moving him up their boards as well. There is no way you’ll get Rattler at 3.11 in superflex drafts anymore.
Round Four
As we close out this mock, I see a few names I would be beyond thrilled to nab this late. I’ll start right at the top with Jaylen Wright at 4.02. He was the player I considered over Pearsall at 3.08. I’m writing this on the Wednesday before the combine, so here’s a little prediction: I think Wright blows up at the combine and starts flying up draft boards. In this case, he won’t be available in the fourth anymore, probably not even in the third. So, if you’re reading this post-combine, let’s see if I’m correct in thinking he’ll be a top-six running back as of the end of March.
Thanks to a deep receiver class, we’ve got many good running back options still on the board in the fourth besides Wright. Dylan Laube is a very interesting prospect in a PPR world. I think Dillon Johnson is criminally underrated. Jase McClellan is shockingly overlooked for an Alabama back, and I think Cody Schrader is really good, too. If I had five dart-throw picks down here and were able to come out of my draft with those five running backs, I would be thrilled beyond belief- especially if I landed something like Odunze, Corley, and Pearsall in rounds 1-3. We don’t typically see this many good backs still on the board in the fourth.
I ended up going with Luke McCaffrey at 4.08. I thought he was a good enough player on film. A former quarterback, the son of a former player, and a special-teamer are all intangibles I look for when picking late. He’s got all the tools and feels safe in the range where you usually feel like nobody is safe.
The draft closed with the final quarterback, Michael Pratt. When you factor in draft capital and what other players were available at the time, I like the Pratt selection here significantly more than the Nix or Penix picks earlier, and it’s not even close in my mind.
More than anything, I’m excited to see the changes in this mock compared to next month’s mock drafts. In years past, the early movers continued that momentum throughout the duration of the process. The risers kept rising, and the fallers kept falling, so I’m looking forward to seeing if the trend continues this year. It’s great to start seeing these early mock results and start putting together a plan in your head for your upcoming drafts, imagining who might still be there when you’re on the clock and using that knowledge to maneuver around your leaguemates.
- 2024 Off-Season Mock Drafts: Rookie Fallout From an NFL Mock Draft - April 20, 2024
- 2024 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Drafts: A View from the 1.07 - April 17, 2024
- 2024 Off-Season Mock Drafts: Recent Rookie Risers and Fallers - April 13, 2024
