PLL Mock Entry Draft

The Mock Entry Draft for 2021 is upon us! Last year there were some serious impact players who came out of this group. Most notably of course is Zed Williams, who would score roughly 800 goals over the summer on his way to MVP honors. But other important contributors came from this draft as well. The Archers picked up Eli Gobrecht and Christian Mazzone who had solid seasons, Chrome defense was much improved thanks to the addition of Jesse Bernhardt. The Waterdogs added both Zach Currier and Ryland Rees, who were impact players. And that was with a player pool that is much smaller. This year, there’s a massive player pool courtesy of the PLL/MLL merger. The draft is three rounds, and because of some trades there some changes to the expected order.

Lots of ideas contribute to a decision to draft a player. Has he played for me in the past, has he played with guys on my team in the past, does he have much pro experience or not, etc. Coaches weigh all of this, along with their own evaluation methods, when making choices. I tried to account for that as best as I could in my draft, while also addressing team needs, which should be what this draft is about. There will be players who go undrafted here and immediately are added from the player pool, because they’ll definitely get a shot at a roster spot in camp.

That said, here’s my Mock Entry Draft for 2021 in the PLL.

ROUND ONE

Cannons — Lyle Thompson, A

Lol. OK really though, there are two possible outcomes at this spot. One, you draft Lyle Thompson, considered the best attackman if not best overall player on the planet. This is as easy a decision as drafting Lebron James. The other option is you trade the pick for a combination of multiple starter, possibly all star, level players and draft picks, because that’s what the price tag should be. If you have this pick, you take Lyle or you trade it to someone who will. There is no other way this should go.

Archers — Randy Staats, A/M

I’m making this pick with my heart. I consider Staats to be a perfect fit with this offense. His ability play off picks and in two man games. Trying to navigate a midfield line of Schreiber/Fields/Staats makes for one of the bigger challenges a defense will face in the sport, and that’s without even considering the monster at Archers attack. There is a need for a faceoff man, but there is a lot of capable talent available at that spot between this draft and the college draft, so I can imagine waiting on that. The other player I’d consider here is Liam Byrnes, who can fill the spot vacated by Curtis Corley, and spell Scott Ratliff as needed. We’re be on our way to a nice Atlanta Blaze reunion happening on the Archers. Staats can fit any offense because he does so many things so well, but the playstyle and unselfishness of the Archers is where he’d shine brightest.

Atlas — Dan Bucaro, A/M

When making the Atlas pick you have to also remember that they will have Michael Sowers on the roster, barring something miraculous. So this team, while it currently doesn’t necessarily have a QB at attack unless you consider Eric Law to be that, will be drafting one shortly. The Atlas also have openings on the defensive end, with Kyle Hartzell and Callum Robinson both in the player pool. Their faceoff spot remains as good as it gets with Baptiste, but a lot of offensive talent has been shipped out with Brown, Rabil, and Pannell all being traded. There’s a lot of offense out there, so let’s grab the best available that pairs with Sowers and what we have in guys like Costabile, Dennis, Crawley, and others. Bucaro is best available offensive player on the board here. When you need a goal, he’ll get you a goal. He can run out of the box if this group goes attack heavy with other picks as well. He can feed off the dodge, and can run by poles and shorties alike.

Waterdogs — Mikie Schlosser, M

Some may consider this a little early for this guy. But stay with me. Looking back at Waterdogs offensive end, they had moments without Currier in the lineup where they struggled to win a matchup and get the defense sliding. If you can’t make defenses rotate in the PLL, goals can be hard to come by. Schlosser is a powerful dodger and two-way midfielder who can run by defenders and be a major threat down the alley (even Joe Keegan likes his alley game, which tells you a lot). More than being a capable dodger, Schlosser is an excellent passer off the dodge. Waterdogs at times looked like they had no answer to the question “we need someone to draw a slide right now, who’s doing it”? Schlosser is the answer. He can draw slides, he’ll make the right pass, he’ll do what you struggled to do last summer. With Currier back in the lineup, this pair could do some special things as they did for Denver.

Chrome — Ben Randall, D

The Chrome came through expansion with their offense pretty much intact. They lost Sam Duggan, Jake Pulver, and Reece Eddy to the Cannons, so it makes sense to try and grab a defender to fill the gaps, especially with that position having less available than other spots. That said, their defensive unit is in a better place than it might appear. They get Tom Rigney after he played in the MLL last summer, Joel White rejoins the roster after missing the PLL Championship Series to form a solid LSM unit with Eli Salama, and they still have Mike Manley and Jesse Bernhardt. Like we said, this is the draft to address what you just lost in Expansion if you can, and Randall does just that. Randall is a solid addition to that group as the Chrome address the only spot on the field they really got hit hard.

Cannons — Zach Goodrich, SSDM

Goodrich stays with the Cannons, who get as good an SSDM as there is in the sport. Goodrich won the DPOY award last year for the Cannons. The list of shorties to win that award is literally just him. No other SSDM has won that award in the history of pro field lacrosse. Goodrich is the proverbial fifth pole, and can match up with anyone regardless of size, speed, or strength. Another interesting way to deploy Goodrich in settled set is by matching him up with an attackman if you like the idea of two poling the midfield. This would only happen in very specific personnel groupings, but really it illustrates just how versatile Goodrich is.

Whipsnakes — Isaiah Davis-Allen, SSDM

The Whips won the title for the second straight year and managed to protect most of the core that helped them do it. Their losses were Ty Warner (Harvard Med School), Joe Locascio and Jeremy Sieverts (retirement), and Max Tuttle (expansion). I’m of the opinion that TJ Comizio is a rising star and can step into the space vacated by Warner, and the Whips have Jake Bernhardt as well. That said, IDA is a Maryland guy so you know he will instantly fit in the locker room, and he’s a very capable SSDM that can be a threat in transition. He’s a good fit for the Whips here. Can come in, play a role well, and not rock the boat. They have another solid athlete on defense to mix in with their stable.

Chaos — Max Adler, FO

Chaos biggest need is clearly at the faceoff spot. Tommy Kelly had a brutal bubble and went unprotected. Kelly has been dominant at the faceoff spot as recently as 2018, when he led the league in faceoff percentage, but the Chaos will be in the market for someone new. Enter Max Adler, the top faceoff specialist in this draft. Adler is a nearly 60% career winner and has a track record of success against guys like Trevor Baptiste and Joe Nardella. In today’s PLL, you need to ask yourself how your specialist will handle those two matchups, and with Adler the answer is just fine. Adler is not the offensive weapon a Nardella is, but he isn’t a liability either. With his pick, the Chaos can have their one man band at the position, like the Atlas and Whipsnakes, and feel good about sending him out for every draw.

ROUND TWO

Atlas — Liam Byrnes, D/LSM

As we mentioned earlier, Atlas has some gaps on defense with the departures of Hartzell and Robinson to the player pool. Byrnes fills both spots by himself. He can play elite level LSM, or drop down low and win a matchup. With Durkin and CVR on the roster, Byrnes likely won’t often have to guard the top attackman. He’s capable of that, I just mention it to illustrate how adding a guy like Byrnes can improve your defensive assignments. Byrnes was a DPOY finalist last year and winner the year before. No way he makes it out of round two, if he even makes it that far.

Archers — Warren Jeffery, D

If it goes this way, this is the part of the draft where the Archers throw up their hands because they were ABOUT to take Liam Byrnes. With Corley gone to Cannons, the Archers need to decide if they’re good with using Jack Rapine or if they’d rather take a Warren Jeffery or Michael Rexrode. Alternatively, the Archers do have a faceoff need as we mentioned earlier. In this spot, I think the Archers go with a strong cover defender in Jeffery. Jeffery plays with a mean streak when on ball, handles two man games well, and showed a lot of ability in matchups with powerful attackman like John Grant Jr or Dylan Molloy. My only concern with Jeffery would be his off ball ability. Against teams that play more hero ball, Jeffery will be fine to win a matchup with a third attackman while McMahon and Gobrecht guard the top two. But against teams where we see a lot of assisted goals (Waterdogs, Whipsnakes come to mind), Jeffery will need to improve a bit. He’s still, for me, the best available defender in this spot. Michael Rexrode makes sense in the spot as well, but I rate Jeffery just slightly higher.

Redwoods — Alex Woodall, FO

The Woods traded for Rob Pannell and have a glut of offensive talent now, and their defense remains one of the league’s best. Where they suffered over the summer was taking faceoffs. Peyton Smith and Greg Puskuldjian both won less than 40% of their draws on PLL Island, and it’s very hard to win games when that’s the case unless you hit a ton of two pointers to maximize limited possessions, like they did. Enter Alex Woodall. Woodall has never had a sub 50% season and was just under 60% over the past summer for the MLL. He’s a physical monster at the spot at 6’1, 215, and won Rookie of the Year in 2019. Woods may take another faceoff specialist in the college draft to shore up the spot depending on what other teams do but can feel confident that they’ve improved at the position with Woodall.

Waterdogs — Ryan Lee, A

Waterdogs get a great efficient offensive weapon a bit on the late side, and someone who can do some special things in the two man game with Zach Currier. Lee scored 18 goals in just give games for the Outlaws and was in MVP conversations last summer for his efforts. In just the last two years of pro indoor and outdoor lacrosse, Lee has scored a total of 108 goals, and that’s with a drastically shortened 2020. If the Waterdogs came come away from this draft with a proven pole and offensive weapons like Lee, they’ll be much improved from where they were in year one.

Chrome — Tommy Palasek, A/M

An attackman by trade, Palasek would likely run out of the box for the Chrome. He’s an offensive dynamo who can score and feed and was a critical piece of a 2019 team for Atlanta that was an offensive powerhouse. In that season, Palasek piled up just as many points as Rob Pannell (63). Last summer he had 13 points in five games, including 8 assists. Only Brendan Sunday had more points than Palasek on the Barrage. Palasek has been a teammate of Ned Crotty in the past and putting him on a midfield line with Crotty and Ranagan means someone is winning a matchup.

Atlas — Andrew Kew, A

You need shooters, this is who you take. The Atlas had a miserable shooting season last year. And some of the traditionally solid shooters on the team (Ryan Brown, Paul Rabil, Connor Buczek) are all gone to other rosters. Kew doesn’t need to have the ball a ton, which is good on a team that will have Sowers and now Bucaro as of this draft. He can hit from range, from all angles, with multiple release points. If the task is to find the guy who can replace Ryan Brown in this draft, Kew is your best bet to do it.

Whipsnakes — Nick Manis, M

Nick Manis won’t get a lot of the fancy publicity coming in, won’t have a ton of highlights or anything like that, but among players he’s regarded as one of the better and more versatile two way middies in this entry draft. I have no doubt that his Maryland teammates are hoping Manis decides to play this summer and joins them on the Whips. He’s just the kind of player this team needs to fill the gaps left by the departures mentioned early. With IDA and Manis, the Maryland connection grows stronger, and the losses in the midfield get replaced. This is almost too perfect.

Chaos — Bryan Cole, M

Chaos lost Deemer Class to expansion, and while he wasn’t part of the bubble team that went on that ridiculous run, he’s a proven shooter out of the midfield that the Chaos should look to replace. Cole has a box background, playing with the Georgia Swarm in the NLL, which seems to be borderline mandatory lately for the Chaos offense. Cole is a 6’3, 190lb bruising midfielder who amassed 53 points for Atlanta, including 39 goals, in 2019. That same year he had 24 points in this NLL. His 2020 with the Cannons was not as strong, but he was off to a solid start with Georgia before COVID. I think the Chaos offense is a great fit for him.

ROUND THREE

Cannons — Nick Marrocco, G

Coach Quirk loves Marrocco in net and trusts him to lead a defense. A number of coaches through the years have told me when you’re building a team, you start through the middle. Strong goalie, strong faceoff man, strong X attackman. Those are must haves. After the expansion and entry drafts, Coach Quirk will have done just that with his starting goalie in Marrocco, his leader at attack in Thompson, and a crew of faceoff men to compete for as the starter. Goalie in the PLL might be the most competitive spot in the league (narrowly edging out lefty attack). It can be tough to build a team from unprotected castoffs, entry draft players, and college players that are still unknowns at the pro level. It’s important for Quirk to grab guys he’s had in his locker room before, and he knows can he trust on the field.

Archers — Kyle Pless, LSM

Pless is a perfect addition this team. An excellent ground ball and wing player, fast, smart, and dangerous in transition. A Ratliff/Pless tandem at LSM is a great compliment to the offensive personnel that’s in place on the Archers already. Both are great off wings and with the ball in their stick, and both get their fair share of caused turnovers. Pless provides the opportunity to create some instant transition offense from the LSM, which the Archers attack executes quite well.

Redwoods — Colin Heacock, A/M

The Woods lost Brent Adams to the Cannons, which seems like a need to address. However, their midfield is still actually pretty loaded with versatile middies like Jack Near, Pat Harbeson, Myles Jones, Sergio Perkovic, and Tyler Dunn, and they also got Joe Walters back after leaving him unprotected. Midfield seems pretty set for the Redwoods even with the Adams loss. Heacock is a physically gifted offensive talent, a midfielder converted from attack. He’s strong and fast enough to overpower most shortstick matchups, and if he runs with Jones/Perkovic it’s unlikely he’d see a pole very much. He doesn’t replace what Adams did on the defensive end but given the rest of the Woods personnel at midfield, I think they’ll be fine.

Waterdogs — Bryce Wasserman, A

I’m not totally sold that the Waterdogs use all three picks on the offensive end. But I think the if the MLL MVP from last season is sitting there in round three it’s worth taking him. Wasserman’s game is really from X, dodging to get his own shot. It’s what he does best, and it’s what he does most. This is a pure dodge to score player. How well Wasserman fits here depends entirely on the style of offense that the Waterdogs are looking to run. Acquiring a shooter like Ryan Brown doesn’t do as much for you if he’s paired with a shoot-first X attackman, so there’d be an adjustment made here.

Chrome — Sean Sconone, G

This is a good spot for the Chrome to add a goalie. It’s unclear how much longer they’ll have either of their currently rostered goalies around, as both Galloway and Queener are getting up there. Goalies in lacrosse tend to have long careers, but it’s probably time to start planning for who’s going to jump between the pipes next. Sconone has played two seasons in the MLL and won Goalie of the Year twice. He faced an absolutely absurd number of shots this past summer for the Hammerheads and saved 57% of them. Sconone has the ability to push Galloway for playing time right away. Another way that this could go is a surprise Ryan McNamara pick. Coach Soudan loves to pick his guys and has certain players that he wants to have on his team. McNamara fits the bill, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him taken.

Atlas — Mark Cockerton, A

Atlas need guys who can shoot and score consistently, let’s get them another one. This may seem a bit counterintuitive since Cockerton essentially plays the same spot that Kew does, but I think Cockerton or Kew can run out of the box for the Atlas. Cockerton usually shoots around 50%, and actually shot 60% with the Cannons in 2019, a season in which he had 29 goals.

Whipsnakes — Michael Rexrode, D

When you feel good just about everywhere, you can just make your strength stronger. Adding some defensive depth with Rexrode can’t hurt the Whips. He’s an option to spell Ehrhardt at LSM and can play solid defense down low when asked. Plus, it’s a Rutgers guy so Nardella won’t be the only one.

Chaos — Challen Rogers, M

Another midfielder with a strong box background, the Chaos stay on brand here. Rogers had a very strong season for the MLL last summer as a do it all midfielder for the Cannons and has had solid seasons for the Toronto Rock as well. In 2019 Rogers put up 30 points for the Cannons and 31 for the Rock.