BBY Dream Team League Draft Grades 2022

BBY Dream Team League Draft Grades 2022

  1. Trey

Trey had to make his choice of two players pretty much.  The transcendent Johnathan Taylor that had a monster year last year for Trey or the back-to-back disappointment CMC.  ESPN ADP shows Taylor as 1.4 and CMC 3.2, so Trey decides to run it back with JT.  He did a disservice to the stud RB last season, and he is hoping to make up for it.  A mere 22 picks later and Trey was on the clock again.  He was targeting Mark Andrews but had to pivot when he was snatched by Joe a few picks prior.  Trey had some Round 3 and 4 targets, but I think the Andrews pick messed him up a little.  He winds up going with Kyle Pitts and Travis Etienne.  I like both players this season, but I don’t like them at this draft position.  I think Trey reached a bit for both players.  I had Pitts last year and I think Mariota coming to town and Drake London being there to take away some pressure will help for sure.  But the draft capital given up was passing on Chubb, Tyreek Hill, AJ Brown, Tee Higgins, Zeke, etc.  I agree in the fact that neither guy was coming back to Trey, so if he is high on these two then I can understand him taking his shot.  But Etienne’s ESPN ADP was 55.  Yahoo’s ADP was 47.5.  FantasyPros ADP was 42.7, which is a little better.  Trey took him at 25.  It’s only a reach if you’re wrong Trey.  At the end of the 4th round he went Miles Sanders and then Lamar Jackson.  I like the Lamar Jackson pick, but I think Trey could’ve gone wideout here.  Miles Sanders has been a huge disappointment.  This is the last season on his rookie contract, so the motivation is there, and the Eagles have one of the best offensive lines in football right now.  Lately I feel like players on contract years haven’t played hard, rather they have sat out a lot and tried to do everything in their power to protect themselves to try and be healthy for a new contract.  Back in the day players would go nuts trying everything to earn that second contract.  Those days might be gone as the priority has shifted from prove it to secure it.  In Rounds 6 and 7 Trey goes Allen Robinson and Allen Lazard.  Respect for the Double Allen picks.  I like the Robinson pick.  Kupp will get the top corners.  Robinson should thrive in the previous Robert Woods role in the Rams offense.  Stafford will be by far the best Qb he’s ever played with.  Career year in store?  He was a huge disappoint for me last season, but again he was on the final year of his contract, so it appeared that he gave bare minimum effort.  Hard to know if it was just horrific Qb play, effort, or a bit of both.  Lazard appears to be Rodgers new #1 WR.  We’ll see if he spreads it around more now that Adams is gone, but Lazard should receive a fair share of targets.  Does he have the talent to play against top CBs though?  In Rounds 8 and 9 Trey goes back-to-back wideouts again with Tyler Lockett and Elijah Moore.  Trey loaded up on Wr in the back half of the draft, drafting a total of 8 Wrs compared to 4 Rbs.

Draft Grade: C-.  His core of Lamar Jackson, JT, and Pitts will be a good floor, but Wide Receiver room and Rb depth is bad.  Not Trey’s best performance.

  1. Brad

Coming off his impressive failure of a season at 3-11, Brad was rewarded with the 2nd overall pick in this year’s draft.  CMC was the correct choice.  In games he played and finished last season he was his normal fantasy monster-self averaging 20.1 fantasy points.  In the 2nd Round Brad was also targeting Mark Andrews, but when Joe picked him, Brad had to pivot.  His consolation prize was GB Rb Aaron Jones.  Jones was serviceable for Brad last season, but not as a Rb1.  Some analysts are very high on Jones this season, thinking the Adams target share will be divided up with the running backs seeing the biggest increase.  If that comes to fruition, then Jones floor might pick up a bit and help to eliminate many of the single digit fantasy contests he had last season (5).  In the 3rd round Brad was torn between Nick Chubb and Tee Higgins.  Knowing this league and the proclivity of Rb shortages throughout the season, Brad went conservative, hoping that he can get some decent wide receivers in the middle rounds.  This gives Brad a solid three-headed monster at Rb with CMC, Jones, and Chubb.  At the end of the 4th round Brad new he had to go wideout and had his choices of Sutton, Jeudy, Waddle or Amon-Ra.  After going Sutton banking on AFC West shootouts, Brad got Waddle in the 5th.  Jaylen Waddle finished as WR#14 with 141 targets, 104 receptions, 1015 yards and 6 touchdowns in his rookie debut.  That was against CB#1’s.  This season Tyreek Hill joins the Fins squad and will draw much attention away from Waddle, who fits perfectly into new head coach Mike McDaniel’s offense.  I loaded up on Waddle in Best Ball this offseason.  At the end of Round 6 Brad’s target was Dameon Pierce, but Moose snagged him 5 picks ahead of me.  So I went with Gabe Davis who had fallen passed his ADP and seemed like a good value at that drafting position.  If he can pick up where he left off in the playoffs then this would be a steal for Brad.  In Round 7 Brad gets his Qb in Jalen Hurts.  I wanted to secure a running Qb in this year’s draft to try and get a higher floor at the Qb position.  The addition of AJ Brown should help Hurts fantasy value.  By drafting Hurts Brad passed on Dalton Schultz, TJ Hockensen, and Dallas Goedert at tight end, a decision that might come back to bite him in the ass this season.  Once those three went Brad had to wait on TE.  So at the back of the 8th round he went oft-injured Rashad Penny.  Seahawks resigned Penny and drafted Ken Walker.  I believe Walker was drafted as a replacement for Chris Carson.  As usual look for the Seahawks to start the healthiest of their backs throughout the season.  In Round 9 Brad reached for rookie wideout George Pickens.  He has looked like a monster this preseason, so this was more of a flier/instinct type of pick.  In Round 10 Brad went Bills D/St.  There are a couple of start and forget defenses out there and the Bills are one of them.  They are favored in 15 out of 17 games.  If teams are playing from behind against the Bills it opens the possibility for more sacks and interceptions, sticky stats for fantasy defenses.  In Round 11 Brad finally drafted a tight end in Dawson Knox.  Knox was very effective in the red zone last season.  He recently lost his brother and I believe the Bills are going to rally around Knox and try to get him a touchdown in Week 1 as a sign of support and love for the tragedy his family is currently going through.

Draft Grade: B+.  Can’t get an A if you are the first team to draft a defense.  Those are the rules.

  1. JD

Dizzle goes Ekeler at 3rd overall.  I probably would have gone JJ or Kupp here, but if you are going to strategically go RB I had Ekeler as my 3rd back after JT and CMC.  Chargers defense got a lot better this offseason with the addition of Khalil Mack and they have a legit chance to make a deep playoff run.  Getting their star Rb isn’t a bad start to the draft.  In Round 2 JD got CeeDee Lamb.  Phenomenal pick.  Lamb should be busy this season with Amari Cooper now a Brown, James Washington out for the season, and Michael Gallup rehabbing an injury.  His main target competition in the offense is Dalton Schultz and rookie Jalen Tolbert.  Lamb has Top 5 wideout potential.  In the 3rd JD went Keenan Allen.  Sticking with the Chargers theme.  I didn’t like this pick as much.  I think Mike Williams quietly overtook Allen last season and seems to fit a little better in this offense.  I had Tyreek Hill, AJ Brown, Tee Higgins, and Mike Evans all ranked higher than Allen this season.  In the 4th JD went Diontae Johnson.  He read that the shoulder injury he sustained in the preseason game was minor and that he could have finished the game if it was a real game, so JD felt confident in picking him.  I’m less confident considering the Steelers offensive line looks like crap and there is a very real chance Mitch Trubisky is the starting Qb.  Johnson got a ton of targets from dead-armed Big Ben and I don’t think a younger arm will have that many short throws this season.  In Round 5 JD went with Patrick Mahomes.  I’m surprised he didn’t go Herbert to just go all in with the Chargers, but Mahomes was a good pick to diversify his team a bit.  Chiefs offensive line is looking strong and their defense isn’t.  A good sign for Mahomes potential this season.  In Round 6 JD goes Chase Edmonds as his Rb2.  I think Edmonds will start for the Dolphins and catch a lot of passes.  Decent value at this point in the draft.  In Round 7 he went Drake London, rookie for Atlanta.  I don’t really have an opinion about Drake London except that he should get a decent amount of targets.  In Round 8 JD got his tight end in Zach Ertz.  Ertz could see an uptick in targets to start the year with Hopkins suspended and Marquise Brown having a weird offseason (had a small hamstring injury to start camp and then got arrested earlier this month for ‘criminal speeding’).  My favorite late round pick for JD was Khalil Herbert in Round 12.  I could see him overtaking Montgomery as the lead back in the Bears offense this season.  He looked great last year.  And you took him one pick before me, which hurt a lot.

Draft Grade: C.  I just really didn’t like the Allen pick.  Weakness is Wr2, Flex and Tight End.

  1. Joe

Joe starts off by going with LSU legend Ja’Marr Chase at 4.  I love Burrow and Chase, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t like this pick over Kupp and other LSU-stud Justin Jefferson.  Bengals offensive line improved, but their schedule draw was brutal.  In the 2nd Round Joe goes with Mark Andrews.  Great pick.  Andrews may have already surpassed Kelce as the best route-running tight end in the league.  He surely passed Kelce last season finishing as Tight End #1.  It’s like having a Top-5 Rb in a spot where people are chasing a miracle touchdown.  Difference making pick right here.  In Round 3 he goes Cam Akers as his Rb1.  I loved Akers in the summer of 2021 before he tore his achilles.  He was able to come back from it and looks poised to start for the SB Champion Rams.  I think Henderson will get a decent amount of work and the Rams will go with the healthiest back each week.  Both Akers and Henderson had to deal with soft tissue issues this offseason, but both look on track to be ready for week 1.  In Round 4, part of the rounds that many fantasy experts have titled “The Running Back Dead Zone” Joe takes a Running Back in Clyde Edwards-Helaire.  He had a rough year last year.  Unbeknownst to many people he had gallbladder surgery in the offseason, which caused him to lose a bunch of weight.  He then had ankle, knee, and shoulder injuries throughout the season.  The Chiefs offensive line is good.  But they signed Ronald Jones via free agency and drafted Isiah Pacheco albeit with pick number 251.  We’ve passed cutdown day as I’m writing this and it looks like the Chiefs are going to roll with CEH, Jones, McKinnon and Pacheco.  We’ll see if CEH can get the lions share or if he takes more of a third down, hurry up offseason type of role.  In Round 5 Joe goes Jerry Judge Jeudy as his Wr #2.  Jeudy has a legit chance at a third-year breakout with Wilson under center and I could see him having a better season than Sutton.  I was torn on which Denver Wideout to take and wind-up going Sutton.  Will be interesting to see how Wilson slings it.  Loved Joe’s 6th round pick in Tony Pollard.  Many teams are going with RB rotations now-a-days to keep their star Rb’s fresh.  Pollard was right there with Zeke last season.  In Round 7 Joe goes Adam Thielen.  He is trending towards the end of his career but I could see another double digit touchdown season out of him before he fades into the sunset.  While everyone is focused on JJ, it could happen this season.  Good repour with Cousins.  Good red zone skills.  Not a bad Wr3.  Russ Wilson in Round 8 and Justin Tucker in Round 9.

Draft Grade: C+.  Really didn’t like Joe taking Chase over JJ and Kupp.  Running Backs are gross but could also work out in a weird way.  I could see this team competing for a playoff spot.

  1. Tommy

Shocker.  Tommy takes Tennessee Titan Derrick Henry at 5.  He’s coming off a foot injury that ended his 2021 campaign early.  He was touching the ball a ridiculous number of times before his injury.  I’m a little concerned with the state of the Titans.  Traded away AJ Brown.  I don’t think Robert Woods, Treylon Burks, and Austin Hooper are going to demand the same respect as AJB, but if Henry can pick up where he was last season this could be a great pick.  In the 2nd Round Tommy goes Leonard Fournette.  Uncle Lenny is an okay pick.  He should receive all the goal line work, could catch a lot more check downs this season.  Big concern is the offensive line for the Bucs.  Losing their center and then another center and then their left guard.  Interior pressure is Brady’s weakness.  They will need to get that shored up fast.  I probably would have gone Andrews here but can understand the rationale of going second Rb in this league.  In Round 3 Tommy gets his Wr#1 in Tyreek “The Freak” Hill.  I’ve had Tyreek a few times in this league because of the 50+ yard touchdown bonus.  We all know he can take it to the house at any time with his blazing speed.  Let’s see how Tua does with his new weapon.  In Round 4 Tommy went DK Metcalf.  There have always been talented wideouts with bad Qb’s.  Metcalf is no different.  In Round 5 Tommy gets the oft-injured Kittle.  I wrote about Kittle in the draft grades last year when Chase took him.  I described how his playing style is conducive to injuries.  He is a super-aggressive, old school football player who loves contact.  It makes him a beast when he is running with the football after catch.  But he does typically miss a good bit of time.  I like Kareem Hunt in Round 6.  Rumored to be a potential trade candidate, Hunt was trending as a Top 10 Rb before getting hurt last season.  Will be interesting to watch if he does move or if he sticks with his 1B role with Chubb in Cleveland.  Tommy goes Bateman in Round 7 and Joe Burrow in Round 8.

Draft Grade: B-.  I like Tommy’s starters.  Worried about lack of depth, but he drafted a super talented roster.

  1. Jen

Love the Justin Jefferson pick at 6.  Some analysts have put him over Cooper Kupp to finish as Wr #1 this season based on talent, scheme-fit, and schedule.  Great pick.  In Round 2 Jen goes James Conner.  I like Conner a lot.  I don’t think I would have taken him over Leonard Fournette or Aaron Jones, but he has a lot of potential.  Chase Edmonds is now a Dolphin and Conner was a touchdown machine last season with a whopping 15 tuddies.  In Round 3 Jen takes Jets rookie Breece Hall.  This was a little early in my opinion.  Hall is very talented, but it looks like he’ll split time with Michael Carter at least to start the season. Taking him over Zeke and some of the stud wideouts that were available was egregious.  In Round 4 Jen goes Terry McLaurin, which I liked a lot.  McLaurin might have his best Qb in Carson Wentz this season, which isn’t saying much.  He’s a super talented wideout that should be a great Wr2 for Jen.  In Round 5 Jen went Darren Waller the Baller.  Waller was injured last year and I thought he was injured much of this offseason too.  But I didn’t realize that Waller wasn’t practicing because his contract didn’t become fully guaranteed until Week 1.  He didn’t want to risk getting hurt prior to the season starting.  Look for him to be his normal self when coming back, he just must compete with Davante Adams and Hunter Renfrow for targets.  In Round 6 Jen goes Ken Walker at Rb.  I thought this was a miss.  He had just gone through Hernia surgery and might miss some time to start the season.  He’ll be competing with Rashad Penny to start at Rb on a potentially bad Seahawks team.  Jen drafted him over Kareem Hunt, Tony Pollard, and Chase Edmonds, all Rbs who I had ranked much higher than Ken Walker.  In Round 7 Jen takes Antonio Gipson.  Gipson has had a weird career.  Rookie year he balls out.  Sophomore year he breaks his leg but plays through it.  Now in his third year he appeared to lose his starting gig to rookie Rb. Brian Robinson, only to have Brian Robinson get shot in a robbery the day before our draft.  Robinson seems like he’ll be okay, but just super weird and I don’t know how to rank Gipson this season.  In Round 8 Jen gets Aaron Rodgers.  In Round 9 Chris Olave.

Draft Grade: D.  I don’t like being harsh on draft grades, but I felt like Jen was drafting a round-ahead on every pick after Round 1.  She has some potential with very talented Wr1 and Wr2 a bunch of young rookies, but I feel like this team could have been a lot better from this draft position.

  1. Mustafa

Well what’s up, Cooper Kupp? At 7?! How do you do?  2021 Fantasy Wr #1 had an incredible season that helped fuel Chase’s Super Bowl run.  He now finds himself in 4-time champion Moose’s squad.  In Round 2 Moose got Saquon Barkley.  I was enjoying drafting 3rd round Barkley in Best Ball this summer as he slowly climbed up draft boards.  In my other league he went 12th overall pick.  Solid Rb#1 for Moose.  Only concern is Daniel Jones.  The Giants declined his fifth-year option and he’s looked like crap this preseason.  In Round 3 Moose goes AJ Brown.  I like Brown’s fit on the Eagles.  Very talented and a bit jaded, I could see him putting some monster numbers.  Moose shocks the free world by going Qb in Round 4.  Josh Allen has MVP potential being the leader of the Super Bowl favorite Buffalo Bills.  He runs, he passes, and he is tough.  A-okay with the pick here.  In Round 5 Moose goes Michael Thomas.  Slantboy is a high risk/high reward pick.  I liked Amon-Ra over him this year, but if he can come back to his previous self, the Saints offense can be scary.  They weren’t going to wait for him though, adding rookie Chris Olave and free agent Jarvis Landry this offseason. Turning a big-time weakness from 2021 into a big-time strength in 2022.  In Round 6 Moose took my target in rookie Dameon Pierce.  Evan Silva was high on Pierce after the NFL draft believing he had the best path of any rookie running back to become an early season starter.   As fate would have it, it certainly appears Silva was correct as the Texans just released Marlon Mack and will move forward with Pierce and Rex Burkhead as their top two backs.  In Round 7 Moose goes Rhamondre Stevenson, which is a great pick.  The Patriots backfield has begun a consolidation process that has left it down to Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson and I would prefer to have Stevenson this season.  In Round 8 Moose took my target again with Dallas Geodert, getting him a solid tight end on a good Eagles team.  Then Moose got some running back depth and rookie wideouts to build his bench.

Draft Grade: A.  If I had drafted at 7 my team would have looked very similar to this team.  Only exception being Michael Thomas.  Well executed draft by the league Super Bowl victory leader.

  1. Mike

Najee Harris at 8.  I probably would have gone Dalvin Cook in this position, but I can see the allure of Harris, who is looking to have another year with a very large quantity of touches.  My biggest concern is the Steelers offensive line.  Brandon Thorn, offensive line analyst and expert, ranked the Steelers in the “Bottom Feeders” category and dead last 32/32 in his rankings for this season.  Add the fact that there could be a rookie Qb or Mitch Trubisky starting for this team and I’m out.  The day after our draft news came out that Harris was battling through a Lisfranc foot injury this offseason.  He is a stud, but I would start lessening your expectations now and hope to be pleasantly surprised if he finishes as a Top 10 back.   In Round 2 you went Javonte Williams, talented Rb for the super hyped Broncos.  I had Barkley and a few wideouts ranked higher than Williams, but I can respect you going Rb-Rb to start the draft in this league.  In Round 3 you went Tee Higgins and I loved this pick.  I almost took him 7 picks prior at pick #26.  Very talented and was right there with Ja’Marr Chase towards the end of last season.  In Round 4 you went Josh Jacobs.  I’m going to give you the exact same rant I gave my younger brother who drafted Josh Jacobs in the 4th round in my other league.  The Raiders offensive line is not great (ranked 27/32 according to Brandon Thorn).  They drafted Zamir White in Round 4 of the NFL Draft.  They have Brandon Bolden and Ameer Abdullah for 3rd down and hurry up offense snaps, which are valuable in fantasy.  Josh McDaniels is the new head coach.  They declined Jacobs 5th year option.  They could run him until his wheels fall off since they don’t have to resign him next year.  Back in the day I feel like contract year players played better as they were trying to earn it.  But recently I’ve seen players milk smaller injuries or not play as hard to protect themselves so that they can get a new contract and gain more security as I mentioned in Trey’s section.   I can stomach Jacobs as a Rb#3 but drafting him over some very talented wideouts that were available like McLaurin, Sutton, Jeudy, Metcalf, Waddle was pretty bad.  In Round 5, Mike went Darnell Mooney. He should receive the Lions share of the Bears targets this season considering he is the only wideout who’s name I know on that team.  I’m bearish on the Bears this season.  I’m BEARISH.  I loved the Chris Godwin pick in Round 6.  I think there is tremendous value there.  He is coming back from injury but miraculously might have a shot to play Week 1.  I look for him to start off slow and then pick up as the season progresses especially with Gronk gone.  I loved what you did in Rounds 7 and 8 drafting Dalton Schultz and then pairing him with Dak Prescott.  Gives you a solid Qb-Te combo.  Schultz should get a lot of targets this year.  Brandon Thorn ranked the Dallas offensive line as #6/32.  Of course, that was BEFORE their starting Left Tackle Tryon Smith tore his hamstring, which will sideline him for a couple of months at least.  Thorn reduced the Cowboys line ranking from #6 to #20.  I really liked Mike’s late round picks this season.  Skyy Moore, Nico Collins, James Cook, and Jerick McKinnon.

Draft Grade: B-  If offensive lines didn’t matter this might be an “A” team.   I’m really torn on this grade.  On one side I see Dak/Schultz stack, Najee, Tee Higgins, Godwin and I think wow Mike did a great job.  On the other I see Najee, Josh Jacobs and I’m like, man Mike really bombed this.

  1. Scotty

Man I don’t know what got into Scotty, but he crushed his draft this season.  In the first round he went Joe Mixon who I’m very high on this season after the Bengals signed Ted Karras at Center, Alex Kappa at Guard, and La’el Collins at right tackle via free agency.  They went heavy defense in the draft and you know teams will have to respect the passing game, opening up lanes for Mixon to replicate his 2021 career year.  In Round 2 Deebo Samuel was a big time reach for me.  This is when the autodraft can come back to bite you in the ass.  The ESPN autodraft went on a Wide Receiver and Qb tear for Scotty loading up with 6 wideouts and 3 quarterbacks compared to 3 running backs.  I know Scotty was beat up inside for having to miss the draft, so I’m not going to sit here and ream him for it.  Sometimes life gets in the way and he was going through a dinner involving his company being acquired by another and I completely understand.  Take care of your business man.  With that being said, this team has a sick trio of wideouts in Deebo-Evans-Moore.  Solid Rb1, Solid Qb1, Solid TE1.  And your Rb2 isn’t even that bad if he can replicate some his success from last season.  (Cordarrelle Patterson).  This may not be the team you drafted, but this is your team.  Manage the hell out of it and see what you can do with it.  This team is like life.  You can’t control the hand you got dealt, but you can control how you play the hand.

Draft Grade: N/A

  1. Chase

The Defending Super Bowl Champion drafts from the 10 spot.  Dalvin Cook drops to him like a gift from the heavens. A sure-fire Top 5 Rb this season.  In the 2nd he gets Travis Kelce.  In the post-Tyreek Hill era of the Chiefs the offense will go through Travis Kelce.  Love this pick.  I took him at the 10/11 turn in my 10-man league.  In Round 3 he went JK Dobbins over Zeke, which I thought was interesting.  I have Zeke higher than Dobbins this season.  In Round 4 he gets his Wr#1 in Michael Pittman.  Pittman should replicate his success from last year even with the Qb change from Carson Wentz to Matt Ryan.  Defenses have to respect JT and the running game, should open up Pittman to scoring opportunities.  In Round 5, Chase selected the Sun-God, Amon-Ra St. Brown.  Going to be fun to watch these two young stud wide receivers this season.  In Round 6 Chase drafts JuJu Smith-Schuster.  It’s hard to know where JuJu is these days.  He was just catching balls from an old statue with a noodle arm for the past two seasons and now he goes to Patrick Mahomes.  He’ll play from the slot, so between Kelce and JuJu Chase has the middle of the field covered.  In Rounds 7 and 8 Chase goes AJ Dillon and DeAndre Hopkins.  Hopkins is a stash and Dillon is a Flexcuff.  Top 10 potential if Jones goes down, but stand-alone value if needed in a pinch.  In Round 9 he goes Trey Lance, getting him a running Qb and in Round 10 he goes Alexander Mattison to backup Dalvin Cook.  Favorite late round picks were Darrell Henderson and Kenneth Gainwell.

Draft Grade: B+.  I think highly of this draft, but the Dobbins over Zeke pick befuddles me.

  1. Kenny

K-Dub rolled up at pick #9 when he picked at #11.  Classic.  He goes D’Andre Swift in the first.  Most analysts had him as a 2nd rounder, but if you liked him more than the other 2nd round running backs I get the rationale to pick him at #11.  In the 2nd you go Davante Adams.  I think Adams is going to be his normal self.  He might have a little more competition for targets with Waller the Baller and Renfrow there, but he is still Adams.  His connection with Derek Carr should be shown immediately since they played college ball together at Fresno State.  In the 3rd Kenny went Elijah Mitchell.  Always good to get the starting Rb for the 49ers.  Mitchell had a few different injuries last season, but when he was on the field he was a solid fantasy producer.  I would have drafted Zeke over him here though.  In Round 4 Kenny goes Mike Williams.  I love this pick.  Could easily finish as a Top 12 wideout and gives you a solid Wr duo in Adams-Williams.  In Round 5 Kenny goes Kyler Murray to get him a Top 5 Qb.  In Round 6 he goes Devin Singletary.  I can see Singletary being a fringe Top 25 Rb if he picks up where he left off last season.  Depends on how much action James Cook takes from him.  Bills are favored in 15/17 games this season, so probably not a bad thing to have their starting running back for when they are trying to run out the clock at the end of games.  In Round 7 Kenny took talent over situation with Amari Cooper.  It’s not pretty.  But Cooper is a pretty good wideout.  Yes Jacoby Brissett will be passing him the football the first 11 weeks of the season, but he could have a strong finish once Deshaun Watson comes back from suspension at the end of the year.  He is the sure fire #1 wideout on a run first team.  In Round 8 Kenny takes the other NE Rb in Damien Harris.  If Stevenson goes down this could be a huge value pick for Kenny.  Will be interesting to watch how they split the work this year.  I loved the MVS pick in Round 9.  Chiefs signed him for 3 years hoping to stretch the offense like he did in Green Bay, opening up the middle for Kelce and JuJu to work.  I don’t know how much fantasy value he’ll have this season, but if the AFC West has as many shootouts as I think they could, then having a bomb-catching guy in the flex won’t be a bad thing some weeks.  In Round 10 you drafted Mike Gesicki as your starting Tight End.  I don’t like this pick at all.  Gesicki should be the third pass catching option on the Dolphins behind Tyreek Hill and Waddle, but word from Dolphins camp has been that he hasn’t fit into Mike McDaniels offense very well.  At one point there were trade rumors involving Gesicki because of this lack of fit.  They have decided to keep him, so we’ll see how it works out.  McDaniels came from the 49ers and Gesicki is no George Kittle when it comes to physicality and blocking.

Draft Grade: A-.  Solid draft by Kenny, will compete like he has the past couple of seasons.  Can he make 3 Super Bowls in a row?

  1. Katon

Nice of Katon to take a break from opening Amazon fulfillment centers and impregnating his wife to draft in our fantasy league.  Katon starts out with Alvin Kamara and Stefon Diggs giving him a solid Rb#1 and Wr#1.  All signs point to Kamara’s suspension being next season due to delays in court dates from the incident at the Pro Bowl in Las Vegas where he beat a guy resulting in the man’s hospitalization.  In the 3rd round Katon goes David Montgomery, my least favorite pick of his and then in the 4th round he goes Zeke, which was a great pick in my opinion.  Montgomery doesn’t fit the new offense that well, the Bears offense looks rough and they’ll be playing against the Packers talent-packed defense and the competitive Viking and Lion teams this season.  At the end of Round 5 Katon got tremendous value in Brandin Cooks.  He is consistently a top 25 wideout and gets zero respect because he doesn’t go off like some of the super stars at the position.  But he is a solid producer.  You paired him with Hunter Renfrow.  He did great at the end of last season, but with Adams coming over and Darren Waller’s return I could see his volume reduce dramatically.  In Round 7 he drafted Christian Kirk.  I loved this pick.  Jacksonville believes in his abilities, and they paid him like he is Trevor Lawrence’s new Wr#1 (4 year, $72 million).  This contract reset the Wide Receiver market and set off a chain of events that led to Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, and AJ Brown all being traded.  I’m bullish on the Jaguars and I’m guessing Kirk averages double digit targets per game.  In Round 8 you took Devonta Smith, which I don’t care for.  He is a very good route runner and reminds me of Marvin Harrison at times, but Jalen Hurts is no Peyton Manning.  AJ Brown could open things up for Smith, but Hurts has to get him the ball.  I don’t know if Smith will be relevant in fantasy this season other than a bye week flier in the flex or if the team is devasted by injuries.  In Round 12 Katon took his shot and drafted Brian Robinson.  Nothing wrong with shooting the moon for running back depth.  Katon didn’t want to miss his shot.  Do you know who didn’t miss their shot either?  The robber that shot Brian Robinson multiple times mere hours before we drafted.  In all seriousness I hope Brian is okay.  Signs point to him being able to return to football at some point this season, which is great.

Draft Grade: B.  Really didn’t like the Montgomery pick but made up for it with the Zeke and Christian Kirk picks.

Draft Grades in Order:

Mustafa: A

Kenny: A-

Brad: B+

Chase: B+

Katon: B

Tommy: B-

Mike: B-

Joe: C+

JD: C

Trey: C-

Jen: D

Scotty: N/A

If Travis Etienne and Breece Hall finish as Top 10 Rb’s this season, I’ll write Trey and Jen an official apology.

Thanks for reading and good luck!

-The Commish

Mary Anne Smith League 2022 Draft Grades

Draft Grades By Bradley:

  1. Quentin

Quentin trades his entire draft to Michael Kelly for the 8th pick drafting position except for the 7thround where Quentin gets Mike’s pick for his 12th.  Insane!  Who gives up the 1st overall pick!  Quentin with the 8th pick takes Ja’Marr Chase.  I famously gave Andy a ton of crap last season for taking Chase in the 5th round.  I said it was a reach and he looked rusty during the preseason.  Little did I know.  Here he is as a first-round pick.  In the 2nd round Quentin takes Alvin Kamara.  He gets to root for LSU and the Saints this season.  Loved the AK pick.  His trial will most likely be after the season, giving Quentin first round value in the 2nd round.  In the 3rd round Quentin takes James Conner.  All signs point to Conner be a stud this season now that Chase Edmonds is playing with the fishes in Miami.  Love Quentin’s first 3 rounds.  In the 4th round he gets great value with the Mike Evans pick.  I passed on Evans due to emotional reasons not rational reasons.  I just don’t want to root for the guy.  He always fights with the Saints cornerbacks.  Great player, great value, not interested.  I’m glad Quentin remained emotionally intelligent for this pick, even if it isn’t aesthetically pleasing for me.  In Round 5 Quentin takes Elijah Mitchell.  49ers run game is always a good buy in fantasy.  The concern here is Elijah has had some injury concerns.  Quentin’s message to him this season? “Elijah, I’m looking for a mind at work.”  Q goes Justin Herbert in the 6th getting him a stud Qb.  He gets great value in the 7th and 8th with JuJu and Dalton Schultz.  The Schultz pick shored up Quentin’s team to not have any weaknesses and ensuring he is going to compete this season.  He reached on a kicker, but he wanted his guy and he got him. 

 

Draft Grade: B.  His team is solid, but I can’t give out an A when you have the coveted first overall pick and you cast it aside like yesterday’s garbage. 

   

  1. Josh

Josh had the most Josh draft I could imagine.  He started off with my Super Bowl darling Johnathan Taylor after Mike passed on him.  Josh then went Tyreek Hill in the 2nd round.  I like Tyreek the Freak, don’t get me wrong, but it was egregious to pick him before CeeDee Lamb, Aaron Jones, Deebo Samuel, Tee Higgins and even Kyle Pitts.  CeeDee is projected to go nuts this season after Amari Cooper was shipped to Cleveland.  Michael Gallup isn’t 100% yet and James Washington is out for the season (he took Cooper’s spot this offseason).  Tyreek is a unique player and his speed is ridiculous.  But from a player value stand point I didn’t like this pick.  I liked Deebo Samuel in the 3rdround.  Even if he doesn’t play wide-back as he called it, he was balling out from a WR standpoint last season.  He can take it to the house after catch and I know Shanahan will be dialing up plays to get him open in space.  Just need Trey Lance to get it there.  Next you went Cam Akers.  Cam was able to come back after tearing his achilles.  Word from Rams camp is they are going to split Cam and Henderson this season, but both are working through soft tissue injuries right now.  It may not be a matter of splitting, it might be a matter of playing the healthier of the two any given week.  Akers was high on my draft sheet last year before he got injured.  Let’s see how he looks this year, but I like him as a Rb2.  Josh goes Patrick Mahomes after a trade with Max.  Mahomes-JT-Deebo is a nice core to build this team around.  The obvious weakness of Josh’s team is Tight End where he had to snag Zach Ertz and Cole Kmet.  Ertz might not be a bad value in the 10th round.  With D-Hop out to start the season and Marquise Brown having a weird offseason (had a small hamstring injury to start camp and then got arrested earlier this month for ‘criminal speeding’).  Ertz might get an uptick in targets to start off the year.  For Cole Kmet, I imagine he too will get a lot of targets considering the Bears Wide Receiver Room is complete and utter trash. 

 

Draft Grade: C.  Tradition is tradition Josh.  JT, Tyreek and Deebo can take it to the house at any moment.  Little concerned about Rb depth. 

 

  1. Ben

Big Ben goes Derrick Henry with the 3rd pick.  Henry is a monster.  He’s coming off a foot injury that ended his 2021 campaign early.  He was touching the ball a ridiculous amount of times before his injury.  I’m a little concerned with the state of the Titans.  Traded away AJ Brown.  I don’t think Robert Woods, Treylon Burks, and Austin Hooper are going to demand the same respect as AJB.  Ben is so obsessed with Chris Herren he had to draft a player with a last name with similiar letters as him with his first pick.  In the 2nd round he went D’Andre Swift and I have no quarrels with this pick.  Swift is a very talented running back and the Lions are going to be fun to root for this year.  Then he went Nick Chubb.  That’s a nasty three headed monster at running back.  I’m sure he will receive lots of trade requests during the season and I’m sure he is going to ignore all of them.  When everyone in this league tries to hit their ball over a hill to the left, Ben hits his shot to the ditch to the right.  For the win.  Then Ben goes Mike Williams in the 4th round.  Williams has arguably passed up Keenan Allen as the number one wide receiver for the LA Chargers who are looking like a Super Bowl contender this season.  Then he went George Kittle to try and shore up a difficult tight end position that seems to fall off of a cliff after the top 2 or 3.  In Rounds 6 and 7 he tried to shore up his wide receiver room with Jerry Juedy and Darnell Mooney.  I’m bullish on the Broncos and bearish on the Bears… I’m BEARISH.  I like the Jeudy pick a lot.  Ben got his starting Qb in Round 8 with Joe “Big D” Burrow.  And in Round 13 he got Dak Prescott.  Tremendous value for Ben there.

 

Draft Grade: A.  Team is smooth as a Herbsaint Old Fashioned

 

  1. Max

We are less than 48 hours since we concluded our fantasy draft at Lots of Luck Bar in New Orleans.  I’m sitting at the Dallas airport with two hours to kill before my flight to Sacramento.  Since we drafted Max has had one running back get shot and another running back come out with foot injury concerns.  Max’s horrendous luck continues from last season.  I will do my best to grade these based on my thoughts heading into the draft and not the most recent updates which were unbeknownst to Max at the time of the draft.  In the first round he went Najee Harris.  I had Ekeler, Jefferson, and Kupp ranked higher than Najee and I read that the Steelers offensive line isn’t that great.  I personally would not have taken Najee.  But I get it.  300 touch guy with Derrick Henry off the board at 3.   I can see the allure of a running back here.  I probably would have gone Dalvin Cook over Najee too.  In the 2nd round I loved the Mark Andrews pick.  He was the real reason I won the title last year.  Max knows this and he isn’t going to make the same mistake twice.  Solid pick of Tee Higgins in the 3rd.  I don’t think I would’ve been able to pass on Javonte Williams here, but Tee is a monster.  Max went with Terry McLaurin in the 4th.  I’ll never complain about someone taking a great wideout with a bad qb that is a solid producer.  In Round 5 he traded with Josh to move up and snag Michael Thomas.  Every Saints fan is hoping Mike Thomas is healthy this season, but the Saints weren’t going to wait for him as they shored up the WR room with the additions of Chris Olave and Jarvis Landry.   In Round 6 he went Lamar Jackson to pair with Mark Andrews.  LOVE IT.  That is an awesome stack.  The 10 point touchdowns are going to be devastating for the teams you face this season.  In the next couple rounds he added Miles Sanders and Kareem Hunt.  Miles is in a contract year and the Eagles have the best offensive line according to Brandon Thorn, offensive line expert.  I like the pick.  The Eagles refuse to unleash Miles Sanders, so now that his contract is on the line, let’s see what type of effort they get out of him.  Kareem Hunt is a good value.  Last season he was a Top 10 running back until he got injured.  The Browns were beat up and couldn’t get right.  Max snagged a couple of Robinson’s in the back half of the draft in Brian and James.  Both have the potential to start for their teams to start the season. 

 

Draft Grade: B+.  Max is going to compete this season.  He just needs a couple running  backs to pan out.  Lamar Jackson-Mark Andrews stack.  Epic.

 

  1. Logan

When other people are gently massaging their draft, Logan decided to fold his four times and whoof it down.  The Mary Anne Smith League Pizza Eating Contest Champion Went Austin Ekeler over the big 3 wideouts.  I’m okay with it.  I personally would have gone JJ or Kupp in a 10 man league, but to each their own.  He was rewarded with his Rb decision in round 2 when he got Stefon Diggs to fall to him giving him a solid Rb1 and Wr1. Javonte Williams in the mid-3rd was a great pick.  Williams is very talented and defenses will have to worry about the passing attack more so than in previous years.  In Round 4 he went Josh Allen giving him the Allen-Diggs stack.  In Round 5 he went Diontae Johnson who recently landed on his shoulder and got roughed up a bit.  Tomlin came back and said he would have gone back in if it was a real game.  So not much of a concern.  The bigger concern is who will be throwing the football and the abhorrent offensive line.  Also, Big Ben targeted Johnson so much because his arm was dead.  I think Johnson’s volume goes down with a younger arm running the offense.   In Round 6 you doubled down on Bills wideouts with Gabe Davis.  If Allen misses time I guess you are just done this year.  Next two picks you started to get your 2nd and 3rd running backs in David Montgomery and Damien Harris.  Montgomery should start for the Bears, but don’t be surprised if the carries are split pretty evenly with Khalil Herbert.  Herbert has shown flashes last season and I could see him overtake Montgomery.  Damien Harris was a decent pick.  The Pats backfield is starting to take shape into a two-horse race with Harris and Stevenson.  If Stevenson misses time you have a solid Rb2.  Next two picks you went with smaller shifty wideouts in Allen Lazard and Hunter Renfrow.  We will see if Lazard can take some of the Adams vacated targets.  Will be interesting to see how the Packers do this season with a solid defense and no Adams.  Hunter Renfrow should be decent.  With defenses having to worry about Adams and Waller, Renfrow could replicate some of his last season success.  Glaring hole in this team is tight end and lack of diversity. 

 

Draft Grade: B for Bills.  Tight end is weak and if Josh Allen misses any time your team will struggle big time. 

 

  1. Andy

After 5 Running Backs come off the board first, Andy got his pick of the 3 big Wideouts.  I didn’t know if he was going to get his beloved Ja’Marr Chase back or what.  He wind up going with 2021 Fantasy Wr #1 in Cooper Kupp.  Can’t argue with that.  In the 2nd Andy went Davante Adams over Stefon Diggs, D’Andre Swift, Mark Andrews.  I think Adams is going to be his normal self.  He might have a little more competition for targets with Waller the Baller and Renfrow there, but he is still Adams.  In Round 3 Andy went Keenan Allen.  I didn’t like this pick at all.  I could stomach the Adams pick, but Allen is getting older now and Mike Williams arguably took over the #1 WR spot on the LA Chargers offense last year.  He also did this over Pitts, Conner, Zeke.  Big miss in my opinion.  In Round 4 Josh Jacobs as Andy’s RB1.  The Raiders offensive line is not great.  They drafted Zamir White in Round 4 of the NFL Draft.  They have Brandon Bolden and Ameer Abdullah for 3rd down and hurry up offense snaps, which are valuable in fantasy.  They declined Jacobs 5th year option.  They could run him until his wheels fall off since they don’t have to resign him next year.  Back in the day I feel like contract year players played better as they were trying to earn it.  But recently I’ve seen players milk smaller injuries or not play as hard to protect themselves so that they can get a new contract and gain more security.  For this to work out as a Rb1 Andy needs touchdowns.  A lot of them.  With defenses having to worry about Adams, Waller, and Renfrow running around, maybe it will open the possibility.  But this looks rough on paper.  Andy started peppering running backs after this pick.  With Breece Hall in Round 5 and JK Dobbins in Round 6.  In Round 7 he made a phenomenal pick in Jalen Hurts.  In Round 8 he got a decent value RB in Cordarrelle Patterson.  He is Atlanta’s #1 rb on the roster and if he can repeat last season could be a serviceable RB2 for Andy.  Andy got DeAndre Hopkins as a stash for when he comes back from suspension.  Then got Pat Friermuth as his TE1. 

 

Draft Grade: C-.  Andy could have started Kupp-Swift-Zeke-Williams and looked a hell of a lot better than Kupp-Adams-Allen-Jacobs.  I was wrong about Andy’s pick Ja’Marr Chase last season.  Am I wrong about Jacobs?

 

  1. Caleb

Love the Justin Jefferson pick in the 1st.  Some analysts think he could finish as this season’s top wideout looking at talent, schedule, and fit.  In the 2nd you went Leonard Fournette.  Uncle Lenny is an okay pick.  He should receive all the goal line work, could catch a lot more check downs this season.  Big concern is the offensive line for the Bucs.  Losing their center and then another center and then their left guard.  Interior pressure is Brady’s weakness.  They will need to get that shored up fast.  I personally would have gone Swift, Diggs, or Andrews here, but I know some fantasy websites have Lenny as a borderline first round pick.  We’ll see how it all shakes out.  In the 3rd Caleb trades with Stephen.  Stephen moves up to snag Kyle Pitts and Caleb gets Zeke.  Giving him a solid Rb duo.   In Round 4 he got Michael Pittman.  I enjoyed having Pittman last season.  He’s a beast.  In Round 5 he got Allen Robinson.  I like this pick.  Kupp will get the top corners.  Robinson should thrive in the previous Robert Woods role in the Rams offense.  Stafford will be by far the best Qb he’s ever played with.  Career year in store?  Caleb goes DK Metcalf, the Manimal with Geno Smith throwing to him this season.  His talent has to have some fantasy value even with the bad Qb situation, right?  In Rounds 7 and 8 Caleb shored up Rb depth with AJ Dillon and Rashad Penny.  In Round 9 he went flier Wideout depth with Toney.  And in Round 10 he got a solid starting tight end in Dallas Goedert.  He gets his starting Qb in Round 12 with 45 year old Tom Brady. 

 

Draft Grade: A.  Solid team.  Will compete.  I don’t care for Brady this season with the offensive line worries.  He is not as mobile at 45 and loses his safety net in Gronk.  But in the 12th round?  The value is there. 

 

  1. Mike

After we all participated in an epic and controversial coaster game, a pop a shot contest, a pizza-eating contest, a punt, pass, kick competition, a field goal competition, and a mini putt tournament for added entries to win the first overall pick; Mike just trades up to get it.  I know those events were fun and we all had a great time, but I love that after all that effort the coveted draft position we were all competing for is just traded away.  Mike sacrificed his 7th round pick for it.  Let’s see how it shakes out.  With the 1st overall pick Mike goes CMC.  Most analysts had JT or CMC here.  Most had JT.  But Mike got his boy.  After two years of Andy not taking care of him, Mike hopes to rekindle the old flame that had him winning titles a few years ago.  At the Round 2/3 turn Mike goes Aaron Jones and CeeDee Lamb.  These two could easily combine for over 200 targets this season.  Aaron Jones will split drives with AJ Dillon, but his potential to load up on receptions this season with the loss of Davante Adams is legitimate.  CeeDee is the star on the Dallas offense now that Cooper is a Brown and Michael Gallup is still rehabbing.  In Round 4 he goes Courtland Sutton and In Round 5 he goes Darren Waller.  I love the Sutton pick, I’m bullish on the Broncos this season.  Waller over Kittle was interesting.  Both have had recent injury concerns.  I didn’t realize that Waller wasn’t practicing because his contract didn’t become fully guaranteed until Week 1.  He didn’t want to risk getting hurt prior to the season starting.  Look for him to be his normal self when coming back, he just must compete with Davante Adams and Hunter Renfrow for targets.  In Round 6 Mike got the Sun-God, Amon-Ra St. Brown.  Stud on the Lions will be a fun WR3 for Mike this season.  In Round 8 he goes Tony Pollard and in Round 9 he goes Trey Lance, securing a running Qb for added fantasy value.  In Round 10 he gets Rhamondre Stevenson, which was just a fantastic pick.  Mike loaded up on depth in the back half of the draft.

Draft Grade: A+.  RB is studly and deep.  WR is studly and deep.  Waller was high risk/high reward.  Lance was high risk/high reward.  QB and TE can be managed via free agency in a ten-man league.     

 

  1. Stephen

After the big 3 wideouts were off the board Stephen goes Dalvin Cook.  Slam dunk Top 5 running back pick right there.  In Round 2 he goes Saquon Barkley, giving him a solid Rb duo to start his draft.  Barkley should get more catches in this offense.  My only concern is Daniel Jones not looking great this preseason and the state of the Giants wide receiver room.  In Round 3 he got aggressive and traded up to snag Kyle Pitts.  Pitts will be a target monster for Atlanta.  In Round 4 he went Travis Etienne, aiming for his own 3-headed monster like my previous Fire and Blood team that had Le’Veon, Gurley, and CMC.  In Round 5 he drafts his first Wideout in Marquise Brown.  In Round 6 he pairs him with Kyler Murray.  He then went on a Wide Receiver tear drafting Brandin Cooks, Rashod Bateman, Drake London, Treylon Burks, Johan Dotson.  Then in Round 13 he got Cook’s handcuff Alexander Mattison. 

Draft Grade: B+.  Nelson Sousa would give Stephen an A+ for this draft, but I’m not Nelson Sousa.  If he can figure out the best two wide receivers to start each week he’ll be a playoff team.  I can imagine this be frustrating throughout the season if he chooses incorrectly most weeks.  The Rb’s might not make it matter but might be hard to manage this team from a psychological standpoint with so many different wideouts on the roster (9). 

  1. Brad

            Brad with the last pick in the draft but got to take two picks back-to-back.  Not a bad spot to be in.  He goes Joe Mixon to lock up his Rb1 and Travis Kelce to get an elite Tight End.  The Bengals added Ted Karras at Center, Alex Kappa at Guard, and La’el Collins at right tackle.  Addressing the offensive line in free agency they were able to focus on defense in the draft.  According to Warren Sharp’s analysis the Bengals drew one of the harder schedules this season with only 5 teams having harder pulls.  The Bengals rushing attack has a favorable schedule to start the season and average OPRK rank for the back half of the year.  In the 3rd and 4th he goes Wideout-Wideout with the DJ-AJ combo.  DJ Moore has 3 seasons of 1100+ yards with random Quarterbacks and AJ Brown was traded to the Eagles, favorites to win the NFC East.  After the DJ-AJ combo Brad goes Jaylen Waddle and Dameon Pierce.  Jaylen Waddle finished as WR#14 with 141 targets, 104 receptions, 1015 yards and 6 touchdowns in his rookie debut.  That was against CB#1’s.  This season Tyreek Hill joins the Fins squad and will draw much attention away from Waddle, who fits perfectly into new head coach Mike McDaniel’s offense.  Dameon Pierce was a huge reach in this draft.  Being drafted ahead of AJ Dillon and David Montgomery.  Evan Silva believes Pierce is the starting running back for the Texans.  I don’t’ think Montgomery survives Khalil Herbert, who Brad snagged a few rounds later.  Brad then went Chris Godwin and Chase Edmonds getting tremendous value.  Godwin’s rehab has look miraculous this offseason and Edmonds was paid like an RB1 for Mike McDaniels, the mastermind behind the 49ers run scheme that has been very successful over the past few seasons.  In the 9th round Brad tried to aggressively trade up and nobody would take the bait.  No problem as the guy Brad wanted dropped to him at the end of the 9th round.  Christian Kirk.  Jacksonville believes in his abilities, and they paid him like he is Trevor Lawrence’s new Wr#1 (4 year, $72 million).  I’m bullish on the Jaguars and guessing Kirk averages double digit targets per game.  In the 10th round Brad shored up his Tight End depth with TJ Hockensen.  Hockensen was a monster last season before being injured.  Brad got Russel Wilson and Matt Stafford to hold down his Qb spot. 

 

Draft Grade: B.  Not a typical Brad team.  Strategy was exposed to be heavy on two things: talent and targets.  We’ll see if the defending Super Bowl champ puts another solid season together or we’ll see if his smaller pass-catching backs are his downfall.        

 

Draft Grades in Order:

  1. Mike: A+
  2. Caleb: A
  3. Ben: A
  4. Stephen: B+
  5. Max: B+
  6. Quentin: B
  7. Logan: B
  8. Brad: B
  9. Josh: C
  10. Andy: C-

 

Bullish on Hogans and Kelly’s this season.  Thanks for reading and good luck!