Fantasy Mock: Recap of Round 9

Green Bay's Clay Matthews

Athlon Sports NFL Fantasy Mock Draft — February 2011
ROUND 9
97. Chris Cooley, TE, WAS (Athlon Consensus 1)
98. Mike Williams, WR, SEA (Braden Gall, Athlon Sports)
99. Deion Branch, WR, NE (Charlie Miller, Athlon Sports)
100. Julio Jones, WR, Rookie (Corby Yarbrough, Athlon Sports)
101. Green Bay, DST (Tim Clark, Athlon Sports)
102. Donald Brown, RB, IND (Patrick Snow, Athlon Sports)
103. Fred Jackson, RB, BUF (Mitch Light, Athlon Sports)
104. Pittsburgh, DST (Nathan Rush, Athlon Sports
105. Mario Manningham, WR, NYG (Rob Doster, Athlon Sports)
106. Jay Cutler, QB, CHI (Steven Lassan, Athlon Sports)
107. Danny Amendola, WR, STL (Matt Taliaferro, Athlon Sports)
108. Braylon Edwards, WR, NYJ (Athlon Consensus 2)

R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11-15

Corby Yarbrough @AthlonCorby

You really need to know your league’s scoring for when to finally make the plunge for a defense. The plunge was made twice in this round, and if your league values defense like this Athlon league does, then there is nothing wrong with going for the upper echelons as long as you’ve got the rest of your starting skill players set. Rookie Julio Jones falls into the same category as A.J. Green from a round earlier.

Steven Lassan @AthlonSteven

After taking Tony Romo in Round 4 and his injury this year, I had to get some insurance with Jay Cutler. Although Cutler can throw interceptions and will frustrate some fantasy owners, he’s a solid QB2 and a starter in select matchups when Romo faces a tough defense.

Patrick Snow @AthlonSnowman

The first two defenses go here. Depending on your league scoring, a top defense can make a big difference. Supreme route-runner Branch could be a steal here.

Braden Gall @AthlonBraden

It might be a bit too early to start taking team defenses (special teams) for my taste, but you cannot argue with the two defenses that were selected. They did just play in the most-watched TV program in history.

Nathan Rush @AthlonRush

The Packers and Steelers defenses are the top two off the board, just one day after Super Bowl XLV. Who says it’s a “what have you done for me lately” league? Personnel and coaching combined, Green Bay and Pittsburgh are rock solid stop-units who deserved to be the first taken — and started a little mini run on D/ST.

Coming Thursday, Feb. 17: Round 10

You will notice we had two Athlon Consensus draft spots. Each month the AC will draft in different spots and represent different draft styles that are commonplace in the world of fantasy football. We set up these two Athlon Consensus drafters for multiple reasons, among those being that there is always a drafter that never deviates from their position-by-position plan and there is always the drafter that selects best player available and sorts out the rest later. These players affect the outcome of both their drafts and yours as well. So we will consistently represent them in each of our monthly mock drafts at different draft positions on the board each time.

This mock draft, the first AC (AC-1) went the traditional RB, RB early route. Meanwhile, the second AC (AC-2) selected last in the first round was slated as the drafter who always goes QB-WR in the first two rounds no matter what.

This is a 12-team, head-to-head league. All touchdowns are 6 points. 1 point for 25 yards passing, 1 point for 10 yards rushing/receiving. Receptions are .5 points. Interceptions/fumbles are minus-2 points. PATs are 1 point, field goals are 3 points (30 yards), 4 points (40 yards) and 5 points (50-plus yards). Kickoff/punt returns count 6 points both for individuals and team defenses. Team defenses are scored with 1 point for a sack, 2 points for an interception, fumble recovery, safety or blocked kick. Points allowed are 12 for a shutout, 10 for 1-6, 8 for 7-13, 6 for 14-20, 2 for 21-27 and 0 for 28-plus. Lineup is 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 flex (RB/WR), 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DST and 5 bench spots.