Draft King NFL Mock Draft exclusive insight decades of experience insider pro football college prospects
Draft King Analysis
August 18, 2015
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com

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Early last week, after months of contemplation and many hours of work, the first Draft King 2016 mock draft went online. As with most far-too-early mocks, it is based on anticipation of things happening in seasons that haven't even begun yet.

In short, prepare to see plenty of change over the upcoming months with it. As new information is learned and storylines progress, there will be plenty of data early on from both college prospects and NFL teams that will shake up the board.

I'm not sure how long I will keep Duke Williams at #2 overall. There are rather long odds for any wide receiver going #2 overall, let alone one who is apparently having conflict of some sort with the Auburn coaching staff. But he exploded on the scene last year, improbably outshining the freakishly talented WR Sammie Coates, who is now a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Williams will have a chance early on to either prove me right -- or to prompt a quick adjustment on my end. We'll see on that soon enough. Jacksonville was burned by Justin Blackmon and I suspect the Jaguars will be especially careful with the next high-end WR prospect they target.

The first full weekend of NFL preseason football is in the books. It's important to remember to avoid over-reacting to what has transpired, either good or bad. That goes double for the rookies who are dealing with the inevitable growing pains of adjusting to an entirely different level of football.

Remember, those games are all about player evaluations, particularly for bubble guys, not winning or losing save for the need to satiate the fans who paid regular-season prices for their preseason tickets with a decisive outcome. Preseason can be a hint at problem spots and areas of concern, but that four-or-five game record disappears when the real games begin.

Earlier today I had a phone meeting with Fancred, which describes itself as the world's fastest growing sports social network. They have a project in the works that it looks like I'll be part of in connection with this site, and when I can share more on that, I will.

Before they contacted me, I already knew about Fancred via my brother, who is a Mississippi State grad with an engineering degree. Cash, the guy who started Fancred, also went to engineering school at State, which I believe is how my brother first heard about it. But they found me via my LinkedIn profile, one of those serendipitous moments that seem to happen quite often for me.

My plan for this fall is to post a weekly Friday column, and I might supplement that with what I do on Fancred. We'll see how that works out. There will be plenty to discuss no matter how things play out.


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