See the first post in this series for what I’m talking about here.
Well, we did it. I drafted my team and, if I do say so myself, I think I did a pretty good job! Of course, I always say so myself, because why wouldn’t I? I brought in these players, I must like them to some extent! Because they’ve yet to disappoint me.
It’s all downhill from here.
As I talked about last time, my 3 keepers are Wentz, Fournette, and Elliott. Since I had my RBs set, I didn’t have to focus on them too much in the early going. So, after the first three rounds took care of the keepers, I went to work bolstering my WR unit.
I picked 8th, in every round. I won’t list out every single pick, but I’ll at least show you the first round, to give you an idea of the players we had available:
- Le’Veon Bell
- Saquon Barkley
- Melvin Gordon
- Cam Newton
- Keenan Allen
- Davante Adams
- Matthew Stafford
So, those were the guys taken right before me. Both of the top QBs that were left out there, the top 3 RBs, and my two favorite WRs. I was bound and determined to get a receiver; the available ones were: A.J. Green, Mike Evans, Gronk (technically a TE, but still), T.Y. Hilton, and Tyreek Hill. I went with Hill. I like Mahomes a lot, I like that offense, I think Hill is a stud in the prime of his career who will be the focal point of that passing game (as opposed to the tight end-centric offense run under Alex Smith), and I just believe he has the highest upside to really blow out some games.
I should point out that all of those other receivers I listed off were taken by the time I drafted again. I still wanted to go WR – to knock that position out of the way – even though I desperately needed a second QB (and, one might argue, a FIRST QB, since who knows when Wentz will be ready). Adam Thielen was sitting there and he felt like an obvious pick, so I took him (the other WRs were Amari Cooper, Jarvis Landry, Larry Fitzgerald, and Doug Baldwin; I think I made clearly the best choice).
By my next pick, all of those receivers were gone, as well as the next two best tight ends (Kelce and Ertz), so I went into the QB well. No more QBs were taken after Cam & Stafford, so I had my pick of the shit-filled kitty litter. I went with Derek Carr, upside over recent success. I think he’ll be a transformed player under Jon Gruden and even if the Raiders are a terrible team, I think they’ll be behind in a lot of games and throwing the ball a ton. Plus, they don’t really have a defined #1 RB (a respectable committee led by Beastmode), so I think this could be great for me. The other QBs available were Ben Roethlisberger, Alex Smith, Blake “The Bort” Bortles, Dak Prescott, and Case Keenum. Ben is obviously better, but I can’t trust him to play a full season. I might regret not taking Alex Smith though.
When it came back to me, in Round 7, Demaryius Thomas was still sitting there at the top of the Yahoo rankings. I needed a flex guy, and honestly the value I was getting for Denver’s #1 receiver was too good to pass up. I might’ve gotten the steal of the draft, or he might be the bust that everyone is expecting. We’ll see, I’ll take my chances. By taking him, though, I missed out on Chris Carson, his teammate Emmanuel Sanders, Jacksonville’s defense, the Rams’ defense, Allen Robinson, and Corey Davis, among others.
In Round 8, I took the best tight end available (who was also among the best overall players available), Greg Olsen. My plan going into the draft was to wait until one of the last three rounds to take a tight end (as well as a defense and a kicker), but Olsen is elite, and the drop-off in tight ends was significant (plus, like I said, he was one of the top players remaining). I missed out on Marquise Goodwin, Mark Ingram, and Minnesota’s defense, among others.
Next, I started filling my bench, with Robert Woods leading the way. At this point, I still haven’t grabbed a third RB, and that might be my undoing if I have injuries to my top two guys. A run on RBs went right after I took Woods, with guys like Lynch, Peyton Barber, Rex Burkhead, Chris Thompson, Dion Lewis, and Carlos Hyde all going off the board.
In Round 10, I went back to QB, because it’s always smart to have a competent third (in case of injuries, BYEs, or if Derek Carr really does suck), so I bought low on Andy Dalton. In Round 10 of a 2-QB league, I think I got really good value on this one too. Plus, I think everyone is severely underrating him this year, and I like him to bounce back in a big way. I passed on Jameis Winson, because I can’t have his 3-game suspension hanging over my head if I don’t know Wentz’s status those weeks and I didn’t want to have to roster 4 QBs. I also passed on guys like Mitch Trubisky, Mayfield & Darnold, Ryan Tannehill, and Eli Manning, which I’m okay with.
Next up, Adrian Peterson was still there, so I grabbed him. I don’t know if that’s going to work out for me, but he’s a #1 RB in the 11th round, so beggars can’t be choosers. The other RBs available were all backups or in time-shares (Latavius Murray, Sony Michel, James Conner, Nick Chubb, Kerryon Johnson, and Marlon Mack, among others). If worse comes to worse and I need an RB off waivers, I’m sure I can find someone, so I’m not too worried about it. If best comes to best, then in AP I have a 1,000-yard rusher on a good offense. (I will say that I’m disappointed that Will Fuller V was taken 2 picks after this; I think he’s a stud).
In Round 12, Jordan Reed was still there, so I grabbed him. Yep, the guy who was going to wait and take whatever TE was left over in the final rounds … ended up drafting TWO of them. But, when healthy, Reed is a Top 3 TE. And now he has Alex Smith throwing to him, the ultimate in TE-friendly QBs. Plus, Greg Olsen is getting up there, so it’s nice to have some TE insurance.
In the lucky 13th round, I grabbed Kenny Stills. All the podcasts I was listening to in the week leading up to the draft cited this guy as a potential break-out player. Tannehill apparently loves him, he’s a target monster, and with Landry out of the picture, he should be the team’s #1. I am CRUSHING this draft with all the value I’m getting!
In the final two rounds, I finally had to go grab a defense and a kicker. I drafted Baltimore’s defense in the 14th, and ‘Frisco’s Robbie Gould in the 15th. Whatever.
Yahoo’s stupid grading system put me in the middle of the pack with a B grade. It hated my Derek Carr pick (about 6 rounds too early according to ADP?), but it loves my Thielen pick, as well as my RB keepers. My team is the 2nd oldest in the league, which might be troubling; then again, my tendency is to draft a lot of young guys and where has it gotten me? Nowhere near the championship trophy, that’s for damn sure.
So, we’ll see how it goes. My schedule is one of the toughest in the league, so that’s fucking great. Then again, why should I trust Yahoo’s grading?