A Decade Ago I Started Mocking “Devy” Drafts – Here’s How 2018 Went

Devy League:
A Fantasy League Where You Draft "Developmental/Devy" Players, i.e. players that are not yet declared for the NFL Draft

If you want to go back to beyond “a decade ago” – see here for the 2012 opening piece. Picking up the pace here as I only published the most recent one last week!

To bring everyone up to speed…

I started a Devy League mock draft series back in 2012. I didn’t know that Devy Leagues were a thing at the time (were they?). Nonetheless it was something to look forward too as I would get a head start on the future year’s draft class, and start to imagine what it would be like to draft future fantasy football stars when whey were in high school and watch them rise through the ranks.

2018 was year 7 of the experiment. So the eligible players for the 2018 draft were any player:

  1. With amateur status
  2. That was not drafted in the previous Devy mock drafts

I’ll start with the players drafted in previous seasons that were not in the NFL yet, and get into the year’s picks.

2015 Draft Holdovers

  • George Campbell, WR, Florida St.
  • Dylan Moses, ATH
    3 years on the holdover list.
  • Isaac Nauta, TE

2016 Draft Holdovers

  • Najee Harris, RB, Alabama
    Harris Bros having fun in the holdover lounge. In retrospect, the correct one was drafted in the earlier year.
  • DeAngelo Gibbs, ATH

2017 Draft Holdovers

  • Clayton Thorsen, QB, Northwestern
  • Damien Harris, RB, Alabama
    I’m imagining the Holdover Lounge being like a weird version of the green room where previously drafted players just talk smack about the new draftees. I would call it the Red Room but that’s apparently taken. The naive sports fan in me wants to think the Red Room is a baseball thing.
  • Matt Linehan, QB, Idaho
  • CJ Conrad, TE, Kentucky

2018 Draft

PlayerCareer
1. BRYCE LOVE, STANFORD, RB2019; 0 Pts
Ah yes, let’s type in table grid form. I’m going to focus on this instead of the unfortunate fact that Bryce Love never played an NFL game. That just sucks. Grids can be good.
2. AJ BROWN, MISSISSIPPI, WR2019-Present; 1311.7 Pts
He had to be the #2 pick, he was too jacked to be any later. DK Metcalf was slightly less jacked and thus below the threshold of “must pick before 28.”
3. DREW LOCK, MISSOURI, QB2019-Present; 367.3 Pts
Drew Lock hasn’t done much for me, especially once I found out he wasn’t just Andrew Luck trying to re-enter the league under a new name. Though, he did somehow remind me of the Pop-n-Lock Ness Monster, so he gets props from me for that.

If you want to know how I pulled such an obscure reference out of thin air there: I was a recurring guest host on a radio show called Cool Court in college. This was the inspiration for the name.
4. NOAH FANT, IOWA, TE2019-Present; 622.3 Pts
Was Noah Fant a good pick? I don’t think so? Which is weird, because I think a lot of people (myself included) still feel like he has talent and thus upside. When I see his name, I still feel like something might happen.
5. N’KEAL HARRY, ARIZONA ST, WR2019-Present’ 172.3 Pts
Safe to say N’Keal Harry was not a good pick. Living in New England when he was drafted means I probably remember more about Harry than I’m supposed to, which is still almost nothing.
6. RODNEY ANDERSON, OKLAHOMA, RB2019; 0.0 Pts
Injuries suck. Anderson would go on to have a knee injury 2 games into 2018 and would never plan a regular season down in the NFL after an ACL tear and failed physical.
7. JUSTIN HERBERT, OREGON, QB2020-Present; 1352.1 Pts
Unlock Matt Barkley, Jake Locker, and Matt Leinart, Justin Herbert maintained good draft stock by staying an extra year in college.

Word on the street is his hair is almost back to 1990s John Stamos level (with a headband).
8. DEEBO SAMUEL, SOUTH CAROLINA, WR2019-Present; 1064.9 Pts
Cover athlete odds if they make a new NFL Street:
Deebo Samuel -360
Tyreek Hill +1000
Lamar Jackson +2000
Jayden Daniels +2200
The Field +2800
Colin Kaepernick +5000
9. WILL GRIER, WEST VIRGINIA, QB2019-Present’ 6.3 Pts
I have this weird memory that Will Grier went by Wil (one L).
10. DAVID MONTGOMERY, IOWA ST, RB2019-Present; 1056.1 Pts
David Montgomey might be the least sexy pick of any RB in 2023. But this pick aged well. Maybe not Diane Lane-well. More like Helen Mirren-well.
11. DEVIN SINGLETARY, FLORIDA ATLANTIC, RB2019-Present; 857.5 Pts
Similar question to Fant…is he good? Was this a good pick? I’m still not sure. It feels like he’s good when you focus on the highlights.
12. ANTHONY JOHNSON, BUFFALO, WR2019-2020; 0.0 Pts
I should count CFL stats here, TBH.
13. RYAN FINLEY, NC ST, QB2019-2020; 50.9 Pts
Ryan Finley should have tried to play in the CFL, TBH.
14. CALEB WILSON, UCLA, TE2020; 0.0 Pts
Noah Fant looks amazing compared to the 2nd TE in this season’s draft.
15. JUSTIN SHORTER, PENN ST, WR2023-Present; 0.0 Pts
He FINALLY made the NFL in 2023. And he made the Bills? He did not have a SHORTER career than we expected 12 months ago.
16. MARQUISE BROWN, OKLAHOMA, WR2019-Present; 865.4 Pts
Good pick for #16, surely. He’s like Mike Wallace, just without a really good season to his name yet. He hasn’t even scored a 1,009 yard season.
17. JUSTICE HILL, OKLAHOMA ST, RB2019-Present; 215.8 Pts
The Ravens are excellent at drafting low-ceiling RBs that are too good to be practice squad guys (see Dixon, Kenneth).
18. MYLES GASKIN, WASHINGTON, RB2019-Present; 393.6 Pts
Gaskin was a cool player to see pop up as a brief RB1 for the Fins, as he was way higher in this draft than he was in the 2019 draft (7th round).
19. KADEN SMITH, STANFORD, TE2019-2021; 117.3 Pts
20. STANLEY MORGAN, JR, NEBRASKA, WR2019-Present; 8.2 Pts
21. LIL’JORDAN HUMPHREY, TEXAS, WR2019-Present; 114.7 Pts
Just going to pause here to acknowledge a great name. I need to hire an assistant named Lil’Byron.
22. JJ ARCEGA-WHITESIDE, STANFORD, WR2019-2021; 62.3 Pts
Remember to pronoince it “Arthega”. Like Kelvim Escobar (Ethcobar). For that reason alone I will remember him.
23. HARRISON BRYANT, FLORIDA ATLANTIC, TE2020-Present; 226.7 Pts
FAU briefly a hotbed with Harrison Bryant and Devin Singletary.
24. JD SPIELMAN, NEBRASKA, WRDNP; 0.0 Pts
Retired in college.
25. BENNY SNELL, JR, KENTUCKY, RB2019-Present; 169.6 Pts
Retired after he realized he couldn’t beat out Najee Harris.
26. JUSTIN FIELDS, GEORGIA, QB2021-Present; 712.0 Pts
Now we enter the ESPNU Recruit Rankings section of the draft. This was the first year with QBs at the top of the ranks since I started the project (Jeff Driskel was #10 in 2011, Matt Barkley #1 in 2009, Terrelle Pryor #4 in 2008).

This was after he changed his commitment from Penn St.

…

Sorry I was dristracted going down an Ohio St. QB transfer rabbit hole. I didn’t realize JT Barrett retired from the CFL in 2022 and became a Lions coach.
27. TREVOR LAWRENCE, CLEMSON, QB2021-Present; 841.1 Pts
Insert the #2 player on the ESPNU Top 100 in 2018, at least at the time of this draft.

Has his “Sunshine” nickname stuck? If he had been drafted by the Jets, it would absolutely have stuck.

After this season, drafting ESPNU QBs seems pretty foolproof, right?
28. ALBERT OKWUEGBUNAM, MISSOURI, TE2020-Present; 137.6 Pts
Albert O. with only the 2nd best name in this draft, after Lil’Jordan. Maybe he’ll name his son Lil’Albert Okwuegbunam and he’ll play left tackle.

That’s it for 2018!

Quick reminder that I write for FantasyPros now:

I, however, am not holding out for a new deal

Oh, and I was able to pull the evidence file that AJ Brown was clearly the pick over Metcalf. See for yourself:

See? DK was clearly undraftable. Lil’DK.

Continue with 2019 HERE.

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