2015 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Round 8

Scoring: This mock draft is based on standard-scoring formats and is for the 2015 season only (i.e., not keeper or dynasty leagues). Passing touchdowns are worth four points while rushing and receiving touchdowns are worth six points. In addition, one point is earned per 25 passing yards, 10 rushing or 10 receiving yards.

Mock Draft Start Date: Saturday, August 22nd
Mock Draft End Date: Tuesday, September 1st

Four of our site's contributors — Kevin Hanson, Brendan Donahue, Sean Beazley and Dan Yanotchko — will make picks for three teams of this 12-team mock. The mock will go 12 rounds with no kickers or team defenses selected.

Although this is a slow draft, we will post picks as they occur, along with comments from Kevin Hanson, as opposed to waiting for the entire mock draft to be completed.

Round: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 - Teams | Positions

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Here are Round 8 results of our 2015 Fantasy Football Mock Draft:

8.01 - Sean Beazley (Team III): Devin Funchess, WR, Carolina Panthers

With the season-ending ACL injury to Kelvin Benjamin, no player benefits more from a fantasy perspective than Funchess. That said, it's highly unlikely that Funchess follows in Benjamin's steps and exceeds 1,000 yards as a rookie, but he moves into the WR3 mix due to his expanded role.

8.02 - Brendan Donahue (Team III): Bishop Sankey, RB, Tennessee Titans

Not only was Sankey the first running back selected in the 2014 NFL Draft, but he seemed (at least on paper) to have the clearest path to a sizable workload. While it's too early to call a player entering his second season a "bust," it's more than fair to say that his rookie campaign was a disappointment. Averaging only 3.7 YPC, Sankey finished with 170 total touches and only 702 yards from scrimmage. While I expect improved numbers from him in 2015, it wouldn't surprise me if rookie David Cobb is a more productive fantasy back in 2015.

8.03 - Kevin Hanson (Team III): Devonta Freeman, RB, Atlanta Falcons

Averaging just 3.8 yards per carry as a rookie, Freeman had eight or fewer carries in all but one game, but he also finished with 30 receptions. Playing on just 21.5 percent of Atlanta's offensive snaps last season, Freeman will see a huge bump in snaps, touches and production in 2015 as he and Tevin Coleman form a committee backfield.

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8.04 - Kevin Hanson (Team II): Anquan Boldin, WR, San Francisco 49ers

Even though the 49ers have the second-fewest passing yards over the past two seasons combined, Boldin has back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons with the Niners. In addition, both of his yardage totals (1,179 and 1,062, respectively) were higher than any of his previous six seasons. Boldin is unlikely to blow up for 150 yards and two touchdowns in any given week, but he provides this team with consistent production -- 50-plus receiving yards in 12 of 16 games last season.

8.05 - Dan Yanotchko (Team III): Mike Wallace, WR, Minnesota Vikings

The Dolphins certainly had some buyer's remorse after signing Wallace to a big free-agent contract two offseasons ago and traded him to the Vikings this offseason. Wallace has three consecutive mediocre seasons of less than 1,000 yards and has averaged just 13.1, 12.7 and 12.9 Y/R over the past three seasons, respectively. Perhaps the change of scenery and Norv Turner's vertical-passing attack will help Wallace live up to his potential and exceed his draft spot. With three other receivers on his roster already, Dan won't have to rely on Wallace each week so it's worth a roll of the dice here.

8.06 - Dan Yanotchko (Team II): Tony Romo, QB, Dallas Cowboys

Over his past three seasons, Romo's pass attempts have dropped from 648 (2012) to 535 (2013) to 435 (2014). Despite the drop in volume, Romo threw 34 touchdowns, the most for him since 2007, with only nine interceptions, a four-year low. In addition, Romo led the league in Y/A (8.5), completion percentage (69.9), touchdown percentage (7.8) and passer rating (113.2) last year.

Assuming the team stays committed to the run game without DeMarco Murray, Romo's upside could be somewhat limited as I project 20-plus QBs to throw more pass attempts this year. Even with his career year in efficiency, Romo still finished just outside the top-10 fantasy quarterbacks last season.


8.07 - Sean Beazley (Team II): Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots

With the NFL upholding Brady's four-game suspension, it's still unclear how many games Brady will miss as both sides are set to meet again in court on August 31st. Brady had a slow start last season, but only Peyton Manning (31) threw more touchdowns than Brady (29) from Week 5 through the end of the season. With good health once again for Rob Gronkowski, Brady could post top-five production on a per-game basis. How many games will Sean get from Brady?

8.08 - Sean Beazley (Team I): David Cobb, RB, Tennessee Titans

As noted earlier in this round, Sankey was a disappointment for the Titans last year. Coach Ken Whisenhunt described Cobb as a potential three-down back and I'd personally prefer Cobb over Sankey.

8.09 - Brendan Donahue (Team II): Tre Mason, RB, St. Louis Rams

Brendan selected Todd Gurley (4.09) earlier than I would have, but I think it's smart to pair Gurley with Mason. Mason didn't get his first carry until Week 6 last year, but he averaged 18.11 touches per game from Week 9 on. While Gurley should emerge as the lead back for the Rams at some point this season, Mason will occupy that role initially as the team eases Gurley in. From Weeks 9 to 17, Mason had the 14th-most fantasy points among running backs.

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8.10 - Brendan Donahue (Team I): Brandon LaFell, WR, New England Patriots

According to some reports, LaFell (foot) could potentially land on the reserve/PUP list, which would cost him the first six games of the season. In his first year with the Patriots, LaFell had his best NFL season, by far, as he set career highs in receptions (74), yards (953) and touchdowns (seven). As solid as LaFell's overall numbers were, there was plenty of weekly inconsistency as he had four weekly top-12 finishes but he finished outside the top-36 eight times.

8.11 - Kevin Hanson (Team I): Roddy White, WR, Atlanta Falcons

Coming off a disappointing season, White still averaged a respectable 5.71 catches and 65.79 yards per game with seven touchdowns. Had he not missed two games, he was on a 16-game pace of 91/1,053/8. With White undergoing "minor" elbow surgery this month, turning 34 in November and Julio Jones now the clear-cut No. 1 wideout on the team, I have White projected for only 946 yards and six touchdowns. But that's good enough to place him among the top-35 fantasy wide receivers.

8.12 - Dan Yanotchko (Team I): Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions

No quarterback underachieved expectations more last season than Stafford, who finished as the QB15 in 2014. Even with the free-agent signing and breakout season from Golden Tate (99/1,331/4), Stafford threw for only 4,247 yards, a four-year low, and 22 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. With better health from Calvin Johnson, who missed a few games and was a decoy in others, Stafford should post better numbers in 2015.

> Continue to Round 9 of our Fantasy Football Mock Draft
> Go back Round 10 of our Fantasy Football Mock Draft

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