2015 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Round 5

Scoring: This mock draft is based on standard-scoring fantasy football leagues 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 yards and 10 receiving yards.

Mock Draft Start Date: Saturday, February 7th
Mock Draft End Date: Sunday, February 15th

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 10 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.

More Rounds: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Teams | Positions

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Here are Round 5 results:

5.01 - Sean Beazley (Team 1): Davante Adams, WR, Green Bay Packers

This pick hinges in large part on what happens with Randall Cobb in free agency, which begins in roughly one month (March 10th). Although the Packers would like to re-sign Cobb to a long-term deal, there is the potential that the two sides can't agree on a deal that keeps him in Green Bay. Especially if Cobb departs via free agency, Adams would take a huge step forward in 2015. Even if Cobb is back, Adams' numbers should improve (even if not as significantly) next season.

With Aaron Rodgers as quarterback, we have seen instances where three Green Bay receivers have been productive at the same time. In Week 17 and their two playoff games, the rookie was on the field for 91.2, 88.7 and 90.4 percent, respectively, of the team's snaps.

In future mocks (after the free-agency period), I would expect Adams to be drafted around this spot if Cobb isn't re-signed and a couple of rounds lower if he is re-signed.

5.02 - Brendan Donahue (Team 1): Jarvis Landry, WR, Miami Dolphins

Among rookies, only his ex-LSU teammate Odell Beckham (91) had more receptions than Landry (84) last season. Over the final nine games of the season, Landry had a minimum of five receptions each game and racked up a total of 59 catches over that span. In addition, he had at least nine targets in six of his final eight games. That said, Landry had only one game with more than 75 receiving yards last season. With this mock using standard scoring (i.e., not PPR scoring), there are several wide receivers still available that I'd take ahead of Landry, the 23rd wideout off the board in this mock, but I expect him to improve upon his 84/758/5 rookie numbers.

5.03 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): Jordan Matthews, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

Playing 65.0 percent of the team's offensive snaps as a rookie, that ratio should increase in his second season as I would expect Matthews to play ahead of Riley Cooper in two-wide receiver sets. (Cooper played in 81.7 percent of offensive snaps.) In his first season in the league, Matthews finished with 67 receptions for 872 yards and eight touchdowns, which placed him in the top five in all three categories among rookies.

5.04 - Kevin Hanson (Team 2): Peyton Manning, QB, Denver Broncos

With a slow finish to the season, Manning finished the year as the QB4 (312.68 fantasy points) behind Aaron Rodgers (354.14), Andrew Luck (350.74) and Russell Wilson (327.6). In the first 11 games of the season, Manning averaged 23.96 fantasy points per game (323.45 YPG, 34 TDs and nine INTs). In the final five games of the season, he averaged 9.83 FPPG (233.8 YPG, five TDs and six INTs) and never scored more than 13.02. Part of that decline had to do with his thigh injury, but the question remains, how big of a part? In the fifth round, I'm willing to find out.

5.05 - Dan Yanotchko (Team 1): Martavis Bryant, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

Inactive for the first six games, Bryant went on a scoring spree in his first four NFL games with a total of six touchdowns in those four games. After that point, Bryant had just 12 catches for 239 yards and two touchdowns in the final six games of the season. Although Bryant could reach double-digit scores next season and should start ahead of Markus Wheaton in two-WR sets, there will likely be plenty of week-to-week inconsistency from Bryant as well.

5.06 - Dan Yanotchko (Team 2): LeGarrette Blount, RB, New England Patriots

Although both Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen are due to become free agents, it's hard to trust Blount (or more accurately, Belichick) this early (24th running back off the board). As we've seen from Blount in the postseason, he can go from one yard on three carries (vs. BAL) to 30 carries for 148 yards and three touchdowns the next week (vs. IND). Blount's carries in his final six games through the Super Bowl were as follows: 20, eight, 10, three, 30 and 14. On a positive note, however, Dan wouldn't have to rely on Blount on a weekly basis as Matt Forte (1.06) and Arian Foster (2.07) are this team's starting running backs and Blount would be his flex option most weeks.



5.07 - Brendan Donahue (Team 2): DeSean Jackson, WR, Washington Redskins

Despite the revolving door at quarterback, Jackson was one of the few bright spots for Washington's offense in 2014. In his first season with Washington, D-Jax finished with 56 catches for 1,169 yards and six touchdowns and he led the NFL in yards per reception (20.9). It was the second time in his career that he posted a Y/R average greater than 20.0.

Even though he finished as the 16th-highest scoring fantasy wide receiver, the big drawback of owning Jackson is the boom-or-bust nature of his production. Jackson finished as top-17 fantasy wide receiver in eight of 15 games last year; in all of the seven other games, he finished as the WR53 or worse. Stated differently, Jackson had zero games within the range of WR18 and WR52 in a given week last year.

5.08 - Brendan Donahue (Team 3): Devonta Freeman, RB, Atlanta Falcons

During the draft process last year, Freeman drew some comparisons to Frank Gore. Meanwhile, new offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said that he "loved" Freeman when evaluating him last year. Averaging just 3.8 yards per carry, Freeman had eight or fewer carries in all but one game, but he also finished with 30 receptions. Freeman played on just 21.5 percent of Atlanta's offensive snaps last season, but he should see a huge bump in snaps, touches and production in 2015.

5.09 - Sean Beazley (Team 2): Ryan Mathews, RB, San Diego Chargers

Two seasons ago, the oft-injured Mathews played a full 16-game season and rushed for a career-high 1,255 yards. Playing only six games last season and gaining a yard shy of 400 yards from scrimmage, Mathews has now missed multiple games in four of his five NFL seasons. Set to become an unrestricted free agent, it's unclear where he will play in 2015 and Mathews obviously has plenty of injury risk, but he has plenty of upside here (RB26) if, a big if, he can stay healthy in 2015.

5.10 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): C.J. Spiller, RB, Buffalo Bills

Like Mathews, Spiller is set to enter free agency and one potential landing spot would be with the Jets, who are expected to cut CJNoK. Under new head coach Todd Bowles, the Jets hired Chan Gailey to be their offensive coordinator and Spiller had his best season in 2012 when Gailey was in Buffalo. Spiller described a potential reunion with Gailey as "a perfect match." Spiller may not end up with the Jets or ever rush for 1,244 yards in a season again, but he has plenty of upside here.

5.11 - Kevin Hanson (Team 3): Julius Thomas, TE, Denver Broncos

Injuries limited Thomas down the stretch as he missed three games and was ineffective and/or lightly involved in a few other. After finishing with 65 receptions for 788 yards in his breakout campaign in 2013, Thomas finished with just 43 catches for 489 yards. The good news, however, is that he finished with 12 touchdowns in both seasons. An ideal situation would lead to Thomas (and Peyton) returning to the Broncos, but it's unlikely that they will be able to afford both free-agent Thomases -- Demaryius and Julius -- and Demaryius is a bigger priority.

5.12 - Dan Yanotchko (Team 3): Michael Floyd, WR, Arizona Cardinals

Floyd opened (5/119) and closed (8/153/2) the season with a bang, but there were few bright spots in between. Floyd had zero, one or two receptions in eight games last season and finished the year with a 47/841/6 line after his breakout second season (66/1,054/5). Given the team's quarterback injuries, however, it's no surprise that we didn't see Floyd take another step forward in 2014. With less buzz entering 2015 drafts, Floyd should bounce back at a lower draft-day cost than in 2014.

> Continue to Round 6 of our way-too-early fantasy football mock draft
> Go back to Round 4 of our way-too-early fantasy football mock draft


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