2015 Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Round 8

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 8 results:

8.01 - Dan Yanotchko (Team 3): Frank Gore, RB, San Francisco 49ers

With the exception of an 11-game season in 2010, Gore has rushed for 1,000-plus yards in eight of his past nine seasons with at least 1,100 rushing yards in four consecutive seasons. That streak is all but certainly going to end in 2015 for Gore, who will turn 32 in May. Gore is an unrestricted free agent so it's unclear where he will play in 2015, but it will almost certainly be in a secondary role wherever he eventually lands. Some speculation from Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area suggests that Washington would be a strong possibility.

8.02 - Kevin Hanson (Team 3): Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers

It was a down year for Newton, but he dealt with numerous injuries throughout the season and missed two games. That said, Newton has exceeded 3,000 passing yards and 500 rushing yards in all four of his NFL seasons. Over those four seasons, he has averaged 3,606 passing yards and 20 passing touchdowns per season as well as 643 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns per year. Although 16 quarterbacks scored more fantasy points than Newton in 2014, I expect a bounce-back season from Newton with better health in 2015. In fact, Newton's production wasn't all that bad as he finished seventh in fantasy points per game (17.78) among QBs.

8.03 - Sean Beazley (Team 3): Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers

Based on 2014 average draft position (ADP), Roethlisberger was one of the biggest values last season. Only four quarterbacks scored more fantasy points than Roethlisberger -- Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning. Big Ben threw for a career-high 4,952 yards, which tied Drew Brees last season for the league lead, and 32 touchdowns, which tied a previous career high.

8.04 - Sean Beazley (Team 2): Reggie Bush, RB, Detroit Lions

Bush had one of the worst seasons of his career. Not only did he miss five games, but he gained a total of 550 yards from scrimmage (50.0 per game), averaged only 3.9 yards per carry and scored just two touchdowns. At this point, it's unclear whether or not Bush will be back with the Lions as neither Jim Caldwell or Martin Mayhew "would commit to bringing Bush back after an injury-riddled season." If he is back, it's possible that he is third behind both Joique Bell and Theo Riddick in production.

8.05 - Brendan Donahue (Team 3): Matt Ryan, QB, Atlanta Falcons

Over his past five seasons, Ryan has finished as a top-eight fantasy quarterback in four of them. During that same span, he has never finished as a top-six fantasy quarterback. Although he's not a quarterback I typically target, he's a solid option to settle on later in drafts. Ryan has more than 4,500 passing yards in three consecutive seasons and 26-plus touchdowns in five straight.

8.06 - Brendan Donahue (Team 2): Kenny Stills, WR, New Orleans Saints

Stills set career highs with 63 receptions for a team-high 931 yards in his second season. While his overall numbers were excellent, he was even better down the stretch without Brandin Cooks, who missed the final six games of the season. With at least 67 yards in five of his final six games, Stills averaged 5.33 receptions for 83.33 yards per game (compared to 3.44/47.89 in his other nine games played). That production also coincided with Jimmy Graham's (shoulder injury and) lessened output down the stretch. Graham averaged just 49.17 YPG over his final six games.



8.07 - Dan Yanotchko (Team 2): Roddy White, WR, Atlanta Falcons

Failing to live up to my expectations, 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. Given that White turns 34 in November, I think that line would be his upside with his 80/921/7 line from last season being closer to a more reasonable expectation going into 2015.

8.08 - Dan Yanotchko (Team 1): Martellus Bennett, TE, Chicago Bears

Bennett set career highs across the board in 2014 with 90 receptions, 916 yards and six touchdowns. Finishing as a top-five scorer among tight ends, Bennett led the position in receptions and his 916 yards ranked third behind Rob Gronkowski and Greg Olsen.

8.09 - Kevin Hanson (Team 2): Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs

Despite Andy Reid doing his best to limit Kelce's production (or at least it seemed), he still managed to post a 67/862/5 stat line and finish as a top-nine fantasy tight end last season. Kelce played only 52.3 percent of the team's snaps from Weeks 1 to 10, but that percentage jumped to 86.7 percent from Weeks 11 to 17. As a bigger part of the offense over the course of a full season, Kelce has the upside to finish as a top-five (or better) fantasy tight end in 2015.

8.10 - Kevin Hanson (Team 1): Mike Wallace, WR, Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins are certainly having some buyer's remorse after signing him to a big free-agent contract two offseasons ago. In many ways, I had some buyer's remorse after making this selection as Wallace is one of the players I like the least in the NFL due to his attitude. There are few actions worse on the football field than being selfish and quitting on your teammates like he did in the season finale:



When not quitting on his teammates, 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. I'd estimate at least a 50-50 chance that Wallace plays for another team in 2015.

8.11 - Brendan Donahue (Team 1): Andre Johnson, WR, Houston Texans

After back-to-back 1,400-yard seasons, Johnson finished with 85 receptions for just 936 yards and three touchdowns in 2014. Johnson's 62.4 Y/G and 11.0 Y/R were his lowest since 2005. Johnson, who will turn 34 in July, has been passed by DeAndre Hopkins as the team's most effective receiver in real life and fantasy. As the 41st receiver off the board, however, he still has the potential to outproduce that draft position.

8.12 - Sean Beazley (Team 1): Coby Fleener, TE, Indianapolis Colts

Fleener finished with 774 yards and eight touchdowns, both of which were career highs, on 51 receptions last season. Unsurprisingly, Fleener's best games last season came in games that Allen was out. In the four games that Allen missed or left early due to injury, Fleener had 355 yards and four touchdowns. In the other 12 games, he had just 419 yards and four touchdowns. Assuming that Fleener and Allen are healthy for the entire season, I actually prefer Allen over Fleener.

> Continue to Round 9 of our way-too-early fantasy football mock draft
> Go back to Round 7 of our way-too-early fantasy football mock draft

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