BBY Dream Team League 2023-2024 Season #15! 

Before we dive into draft grades, I’d like to take a second to look at where we’ve been.  In the 14 years of the BBY Dream Team League the Championships have been a bit top heavy, with 3 players holding 9 titles.  Mustafa “Moose” Sunka has 4 Titles.  Chase Sims has 3 Titles.  Yours Truly has 2 Titles.  Then there are five teams with 1 title.  Joe Weiser in Season #5, Scotty Gwatney in Season #6, Trey Hewitt in Season #9, Kenny Williams in Season #12, and of course our newest and reigning champion of Season #14, JD Smith!  Of course, that means there are several members that have yet to win their first title.  Mike Grote, Jen LeGlue, Katon Bethay, and Tommy Plemons are the four teams on the outside looking in.  Could this be the year?  Katon drafted at Pick #2, Jen at Pick #3, Tommy at Pick #5, and Mike at Pick #9.

Here is the Draft Position of Each Champion:

1. Brad- Pick #1
2. Moose- Pick #3
3. Brad- Pick #9
4. Chase- Pick #4
5. Joe- Pick #1
6. Scotty- Pick #4
7. Moose- Pick #12
8. Chase- Pick #1
9. Trey- Pick #4
10. Moose- Pick #11
11. Moose- Pick #11
12. Kenny- Pick #6
13. Chase- Pick #6
14. JD- Pick #3

The past is in the past.  As the great Rafiki says in Lion King, “It doesn’t matter…it’s in the past!”

Let’s move on to Season #15 and see how Brad thinks you did on your draft this season.

Annual Disclaimer: Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.  This is my opinion.  Last year JD received a draft grade of “C” and was ranked #9/12.  He finished #1, which is all that matters.  (Of course I had the other 5 playoff teams grades with B- or better with Mustafa (A), Chase (B+), Brad (B+), Tommy (B-) and Mike (B-) also making the playoffs with draft grades of 1, 3, 4, 5, 6.  So really I was very wrong about Kenny (A-) and JD (C), but most of my grades weren’t that bad.  Let’s see how I do this year!

Pick #1: Trey

Trey with the odd back-to-back years with #1 pick.  Last year it was an automatic selection, Johnathan Taylor.  Just click send.  It blew up in Trey’s face.  This year it was an automatic selection, Justin Jefferson.  Just click send.  Trey did not.  Instead he chose Bijan Robinson, rookie out of Texas and newest addition to the Atlanta Falcons.  Couple Bijan’s talent with Atlanta’s run first mentality, #2 easiest strength of schedule according to Warren Sharp, the wide-open NFC South, and their offseason additions on their defense and offensive line, I’m bullish on Bijan to waste no time in being a fantasy superstar.  CMC was going in the 3^rd round of redraft his rookie season and he didn’t disappoint.  Their previous starter Tyler Allgeier rushed admirably last season, breaking Atlanta’s rookie rushing record while ranking #2 in the NFL in EPA/attempt among all RBs with 100+ carries.  Excerpt from Warren Sharps NFL Preview book, “Arthur Smith’s scheme last year allowed his Falcons RBs to rank: #1 in rushing yards, #1 yards per carry, #1 rushing first downs, #2 in EPA/rush, #3 in success rate.”  They also drafted Matthew Bergeron in the 2^nd round who will most likely move to guard and was a much better run blocker than pass blocker at Syracuse.  They also signed a ton of defensive free agents like Jessie Bates III (Safety), David Onuemata (DL), Kaden Ellis (LB), Calais Campbell (DL), Jeff Okudah (CB), and Bud Dupree (Edge).  Arthur Smith is also sporting a mustache.  He is going to pound the rock and play defense.  Bijan can be a Top 5 fantasy running back.  If he gets 275+ touches I believe he does just that.  They will rotate a bit.  But the potential is there.  BUT to draft him you passed on Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Christin McCaffrey, Austin Ekeler, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce.  Jefferson led the NFL in both catches with 128 and receiving yards with 1,809 last season.  He was the youngest player in NFL history to lead the league in both.  He is 24.  He is an LSU guy.  And I’m bullish on the Vikings offense this season.  I love a little spice, so we’ll see how this works out for Trey.  No one will question the size of Trey’s nuts although they may question the size of his brain.

In the second round Trey took Chris Olave and DK Metcalf.  Olave is in a smash spot this season.  Favorable schedule, Derek Carr should be as good if not better than Andy Dalton.  Solid WR1.  Metcalf I believe will finish about where he did last year.  I think he’s due for some positive touchdown regression, but the addition of JSN will hurt his targets, receptions, and yardage totals.  I had Devonta Smith higher in my rankings than Metcalf.

In the 4^th and 5^th Trey went DJ Moore and Justin Fields.  Not gonna lie, makes for a pretty sick squad.  Fields is a Qb/Rb.  Bijan is a Rb/WR.  Olave-Metcalf-Moore is a solid trio of wideouts.  Fields rushed for 1143 yards and 8 touchdowns last year.   Moore took a wobbly screen pass with broken play on defense to the house in preseason and jettisoned himself up the rankings.  Prior to last season Moore was an automatic for 1100 yards receiving and I think he can get there again.  Does he bring the career high 7 touchdowns with him?  Or does that regress to his average of 4 each year?  Still good for a flex.

Trey took JK Dobbins and Dalvin Cook for his second and third running backs.  I was torn between Montgomery and Dobbins and ultimately chose Montgomery.  Dobbins lasted a full 10 picks later to Trey.  His knee looks bad.  We will see if those weird bumps have gone down or not.  I like the Ravens this season, so we’ll see what he can do.  Dalvin Cook isn’t a bad RB3.  I don’t think he goes as crazy as people think this season, but if Hall winds up with a soft tissue injury and misses some games then Dalvin could have some good startable weeks.

Loved Trey’s pick of Zay Flowers.  Jamaal Williams wasn’t bad for RB depth either.  Geno Smith provides Qb depth in the event of an injury and has the Geno/DK stack option.

Draft Grade: C.  I like Bijan a lot.  Looking forward to trying his mustard.  But this was a swing for the fence move after being burned last year.  JJ is the best WR in football.  Could’ve started JJ-Rhamondre-Olave.  Still gotten Fields-Moore.  And the rest of the group.  Is the dropoff from JJ to Metcalf worth the difference of Bijan and Rhamondre Stevenson?  Let’s check back at the end of the year.  Will it be no?  Or an emphatic yes?  I’ll give a C.

Pick #2: Katon

I’m assuming Katon was ready to draft Ja’Marr Chase after Trey took Justin Jefferson and just automatically hit select even though Trey didn’t take JJ.  Not sure why someone would take Chase over JJ.  Minnesota’s defense sucks, which means Vikings are looking to be in a large quantity of shootouts.  JJ had more targets, catches, and yards than Chase last season.  Chase did miss a few games after he injured his hip celebrating a touchdown.  Also, in the offseason it was reported that Chase has a woman stalker who is threatening him and his mother causing him to file a restraining order.  They hooked up one night and he wind up with a stage five clinger situation as a result.  Must’ve laid a hell of a pipe.  This might also explain the broken hip last year.  I digress.  In Round 2 Katon went with Patrick Mahomes.  What a solid player.  Just start him and forget about it.  I could argue about Player Value Rankings and say it was a bad pick.  I could argue that a running Qb like Hurts would have been better, but Mahomes is a stud and he is fun to root for.  He just makes plays.  In Round 3 you got your starting Rb in Joe Mixon, doubling up on the Bengals.  Mixon had a tumultuous offseason.  Court hearings and rumors swirling about him potentially being cut.  Ultimately the cut that happened was him accepting a pay cut to play with the Bengals again this season.  He is still on the roster and was cleared of any wrongdoing on the court matter.  He’s good to go.  In Round 4 you went target hog TJ Hockenson.  Like it.  Solid.  The addition of Jordan Addison might cut into his target share a bit, but again I’m bullish on this passing attack and I can see them putting on a show most weeks.  In Round 5 you took James Conner.  I had Walker and Mattison ranked higher, but I understand if you wanted to ensure volume.  It’s just volume on a bad team.  But volume is volume for a running back!  Good values in Round 6 and 7 with Terry McLaurin and Isaih Pacheco.  A #1 WR with a young stud in Sam Howell throwing him the ball.  Isaih Pacheco runs angry and I look forward to seeing what he brings to his sophomore season.  Last year I woke up at like 5:00am pacific time and couldn’t sleep.  Saw some news about Chiefs Running backs while sitting on the can.  I quickly picked up Pacheco and immediately got a text at 5:14am from Chase saying he clicked add at the exact same time.  Actually what he said was “You fucking beat me to it”.  He served me well last year and you’ll like him as a Rb Katon.  I liked your picks of Michael Pittman and Samaje Perine.  Everyone is down on Pittman this year.  They are throwing around stats about rookie Qbs not having their WR’s finish as a top 15 WR in fantasy.  It doesn’t happen.  Pretty weird.  But for a depth piece he’s a big target and let’s see if he gets a decent amount of touchdowns.  Perine I loved.  Javonte Williams knee recovery is miraculous.  Players that tear their ACL, PCL, and LCL have only an 18.5% chance of returning to their previous talent level.  Williams appears to have done it.  But Payton loves to rotate backs.  Perine will get a decent amount of work and Williams is at risk of soft tissue injuries which is common for players coming off of ACL injuries.  Most of your depth players are throw aways but I liked your Jared Goff pick in Round 15.  Dude has a chance to ball out this year.

Draft Grade: B-.  Overall it’s not a pretty team, but there is no weakness per se.  3 RB1’s, 3 WR1’s.  Not bad Katon.  Not Bad.

Pick #3: Jen

The Fantasy God’s parted the clouds and beamed sunshine down to Jen’s third overall pick.  For the second year in a row she gets Justin Jefferson.  Last year she traded JJ for Daniel Jones, Aaron Jones, and Gabe Davis.  This year I have a feeling she’ll hold on to the manimal that led the league in catches and receiving yards.  In Round 2 she went with Travis Etienne Jr.  I hated this pick.  Etienne will be fine, but passing on Olave and Devonta Smith… then choosing Etienne over Rhamondre Stevenson.  Etienne has more of a threat to lose touches to rookie Tank Bigsby than Rhamondre has to lose to Zeke Elliot.  In the 3^rd round you got Tee Higgins so that’s good.  Tee is on a contract year and would be the #1 WR on at least 10 teams in the league.  This year he has Burrow slinging to him, so look for his normal WR#2 (Top 24) finish.  In Round 4 you took Darren Waller.  Waller has been flying up draft boards.  All offseason word out of Giants camp is Jones is throwing to Waller nonstop.  A sideline reporter said they pulled Waller out of practice one day not because he was hurt but because they wanted to see Daniel Jones throw to other players.  Then in the Week 2 preseason game the starters played and Jones targeted Waller on 3 straight passes to start the drive and targeted him again a few plays later.  Daniel Bellinger vultured the touchdown, but Waller has a path to finish as TE#2 this year if he can stay healthy.  I like the bold, flag plant pick here.  In Round 5 you took Javonte Williams.  Williams would be a 2^nd round pick if he wasn’t coming off of injury.  All reports this summer have said he’s back.  He’s healthy.  He looks great.  If he starts off slow that’s okay, but he has the potential to be a steal in Round 5.  I probably would have gone Mattison or Kenneth Walker here, but I tend to play more conservative (no wonder I haven’t won since 2011).  In Round 6 you got your Qb in Deshaun Watson.  The Rub and Tug All Star should have a solid season in his first full season of being a Browns starting Qb.  We’ll see if he can reclaim his all-star status like when he was balling out for the Texans a few years ago.  In Round 7 you got a decent RB depth piece in AJ Dillon.  Jordan Love is QB in Green Bay and they may look to run the ball more.  Last season Aaron Jones stole the show, but Dillon carved out a respectable role at the end of the season once it got cold.  They went more bruiser rather than slice and dice.  The split was 56% Aaron Jones and 44% AJ Dillon.  Could it be closer to 50/50 this year?  Decent fliers and depth pieces throughout the rest of the draft.

Draft Grade: B+.  The concern is Running Backs health and volume, but most teams have that issue this year.  The JJ-Higgins-Waller combo is going to be a nice floor and the AJ Dillon + GB D/ST could be sneaky good.  Well done Jen!

Pick#4: Joe

Joe you son of a bitch.  Love you.  Christian McCaffrey was a solid selection for me last year at Pick #2.  I received some shit for it, but he went back to his solid ass balling out self.  Yes Elijah Mitchell might carve out some runs, but CMC gives you one of the best RB1’s in the game with a good floor (due to his receptions) and incredible ceiling (due to him being able to break one at any moment).  Solid selection Joe!  In Round 2 you took Jaylen Waddle.  Excellent pick again.  I don’t think people understand how good Waddle is and how great of a fit he is in Mike McDaniels offense.  Tyreek Hill being there kind of overshadows him a bit.  He was PPR WR#8 last year in his sophomore season.  He’s 24 years old.  And he had some monster plays last year.  In Round 3 you took Aaron Jones.  I agree on you taking a RB.  I disagree on the RB.  Last year I took CMC in the first and Aaron Jones in the 3^rd.  Rodgers preferred to have Jones on the field with him.  I don’t think I’ve seen many rankers have Jones over Rhamondre Stevenson.  You also took him over Mark Andrews, DeVonta Smith.  I don’t know.  I’m not sure about Aaron Jones at cost this year, but we’ll see.  If GB does run more and he maintains his 56/44 snap percentage then maybe he can repeat and have a top 10 Rb season again.  We’ll see.  In Round 4 you took Joe “Big Dick” Burrow.  Little calf strain never hurt anybody.  Burrow-CMC-Jones-Waddle.  In Round 5 you took your third RB over your second WR.  You took Alexander Mattison.  Evan Silva placed a large bet on Mattison to win the rushing title with 40:1 odds.  To quote the big dog himself, “Alexander Mattison inherits Dalvin Cook’s workhorse role after re-signing a two-year, $7 million deal, 91% of which is guaranteed.  Mattison possesses prototypical feature back size (5-foot-11/ 221) and has been treated commensurately by Vikings coaches in past opportunities to spell Cook; Mattison’s touch counts in his past five starts were 24, 32, 32, 25, and 16.  Last year, Mattison outplayed Cook on a one-to-one basis, finishing 16^th in PFF rushing grade compared to Cook’s 64^th overall placement… I’m willing to draft Mattison aggressively above his ADP this season.”  Mattison has had a small injury this offseason and Vikings have been rumored to want to sign another back for depth, but it sure looks like Mattison is in line for a Top 15 RB season.  This gives Joe a 3 headed RB monster, something only a few teams have this year in this league.  In Round 6 you took Kyle Pitts.  For me he isn’t worth it.  Once the top Tight Ends go my strategy was to wait.  The Falcons just don’t throw that much.  Ridder doesn’t look that accurate.  Pitts just isn’t worth a Round 6 pick.  In Round 7 you took Christian Kirk.  Kirk as your WR2 is worrisome.  Yes Kirk was WR #12 last year.  No Kirk will not finish as a Top 15 WR this year.  Calvin Ridley is in town.  In the preseason the Jags lined up Ridley and Zay Jones in two WR sets.  Kirk is the slot receiver.  The snap count and multitude of weapons in Jacksonville are going to hurt Kirk’s consistency and floor and make him more difficult to start.  This will also hurt his ceiling.  In Round 8 you made up for the Kirk pick with Jahan Dotson.  I was super high on Dotson and I almost ran out of time on my pick because I didn’t know whether to take Drake London or Dotson.  I was taking Gibson, so I didn’t want to double up on Commanders.  London is the #1 WR where as Dotson was a #2.  I ultimately chose London, which gave Joe a solid WR#2.  Start Dotson over Kirk this season.  You’ll thank me later.  I also loved the Treylon Burks pick in Round 9 and Elijah Mitchell pick in Round 10.  Decent picks to end the draft.

Draft Grade: B.  Solid Joe.  Didn’t care for Aaron Jones over Rhamondre.  Didn’t care for Kirk pick.  The Tight End position is going to piss you off all season.  But you should compete.

Pick #5: Tommy

I knew Tommy was picking Ekeler.  I wrote it down prior to the draft.  Ekeler took Tommy out last year in the Super Bowl and he was going to ensure it didn’t happen again.  I don’t hate it.  The entire backfield is about the same as last year and the Offense Coordinator got better.  I like Ekeler to repeat as a Top 5 RB this season.  In the 2^nd Round you took Josh Jacobs.  Jacobs isn’t happy about being franchise tagged and is threatening to sit out since a long-term deal wasn’t reached.  I don’t blame the guy, he set career highs last year in attempts (340), rushing yards (1653), receiving yards (400), average rush (4.9) and tied his high rushing touchdown number (12).  Jacobs is a victim of the running back market.  They have a short career and are highly replaceable.  Jacobs put it all out there last season.  Played hurt.  Overcame adversity and put on dazzling performances including that 33 rush, 229-yard, 2 touchdown performance against the Seahawks in November.  Once running backs get paid it’s not pretty.  (See Le’Veon Bell, Ezekiel Elliot, Todd Gurley, etc.)  We’ll see if the two sides can come to an agreement soon.  A rumor dropped yesterday saying he was going to show up to play in Week 1.  Then I saw he commented saying the comment was bullshit.  Then he deleted the comment.  In these situations I think Jacobs played the good teammate part last year playing through injury.  He does not do that this year.  If he has a slight bump or bruise he’s sitting.  This is not a great pick for Tommy in my opinion.  High risk high reward, but in the 2^nd round with so much talent available.  It’s a shame (in Gordon Ramsey’s voice).  In Round 3 he took Najee Harris.  Ensuring those in the back of the draft were pissed off at 0 running backs falling back to them.  Harris should do better this year than his bust year last year.  Last year was obvious he was going to bust and he busted.  This year the offensive line is improved and he is not dealing with a foot injury like last offseason.  His only threat is Jaylen Warren who continues to carve out a little role for himself.  But Harris finished the season strong last year with Top 18 RB finishes in PPR in each of the last 6 weeks.  In Round 4 Tommy finally took a WR.  (I had 3 at this point of the draft).  Hopkins is talented and has fingers longer than my torso, but he is 31 in a run-first offense.  When Treylon Burks comes back to full strength I don’t see Hopkins being the player he used to be for the Texans.  He has the ability to finish as a Top 24 WR, but I don’t see him cracking the Top 12 to be considered a “WR1”. In Round 5 you took Jerry Jeudy.  Jeudy is a baller and he could breakout in his first season with Sean Payton.  Jeudy has had a few injuries, but when he’s on the field he plays great.  In the final 6 weeks last season he finished as a WR 1 or 2 in 4/6 weeks.  That includes his Week 14 Wide Receiver #1 ranking when he caught 3 touchdowns against the Chiefs.  We’ll see what he can do this season and if Sean Payton can squeeze blood out of the Russel Wilson turnip or not.  In Round 6 you took big Mike Williams.  Between the three wrs you took you should have enough to compete.  In Round 7 you took Captain Kirk.  Cousins is entering his Age 35 season and is in a contract year.  They added Jordan Addison in the offseason and their defense is in shambles.  Look for Cousins to repeat his QB8 performance from last season.  You took Evan Engram for TE but also drafted Dalton Kincaid later.  Solid.

Draft Grade: C.  You went 3 rbs to start the draft then didn’t draft a single one after that.  One of those three might not play.  And if he does play he’s probably going be more cautious.  Your team is weird and I don’t like it.

Pick #6: Scotty

Good to see a real human draft Scotty’s team this year!  Scotty went Tyreek Hill in Round 1.  Love it.  Hill has verbally put it out there that he wants 2000 yards this season.  The crazy cheetah might just have the talent to do it too.  Loved this pick.  In Round 2 you went Johnathan Taylor.  Yikes.  I get wanting to draft a RB and this was a big high risk/high reward type pick.  But man.  Still having ankle issues.  Trying to get traded out of Indy because he’s still on his rookie deal.  We’ll see if he gets traded, but even then I don’t see his situation getting that much better.  Maybe he gets traded.  Maybe the ankle will finally heal.  Maybe he returns to 2021 version of himself.  That’s too many maybes for me big dog.  You should’ve just drafted Waddle since you got Tua later and just went all in on the Dolphins passing attack lol.  In Round 3 you made up for it with Rhamondre Stevenson.  You don’t see a Top 12 RB fall to the middle of Round 3 when his competition for carries has gotten worse.  Maybe Zeke takes a few goal line carries.  Okay.  Rhamondre finished with 69 receptions last season.  He was Top 12 with only 6 touchdowns.  People are stupid.  Great pick Scotty.  In Round 4 you took Alvin Kamara.  We’ll see how much he has in the tank when he comes back from suspension.  In Round 5 you took Miles Sanders.  Somehow you took 4 running backs in your first 5 rounds and you STILL might not have a RB2 for Week 1.  JT might not play.  Sanders has a hurt groin and might not play.  Kamara is suspended.  Great depth for mid and late season, but this is borderline hilarious.  Hopefully something works out for your for week 1.  In Round 6 you were handed a wonderful gift.  Christian Watson falling two rounds later in ADP for no fucking reason at all.  You LOVE to see it.  Your WR2 might finish better than all of Tommy’s WRs.  You did a decent job filling our your roster with Dallas Goedert, Marquise Brown.  Got a couple of decent Qbs to choose in Dak and Tua.  Got Rhamondre’s backup in Zeke.

Draft Grade: C+.  You got docked a letter grade for drafting JT.  You got docked another letter grade for drafting 4 Qb’s.  I know we aren’t supposed to say this word anymore, but are you retarded?

Pick #7: JD

The Champ!  All Hail King JD!  You went Saquon Barkley.  I get it.  RBs were going, you liked him more than Henry and Chubb.  I get it.  I would have gone Kelce personally, but I understand it.  In round 2 you took Davante Adams.  I got to go to a celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe last month.  Got real close to Adams.  He’s skinnier in real life, but well dressed and has a decent golf shot.  Also Darren Waller is gone.  Last year Adams proved it doesn’t matter who is QB is as he set career highs in targets and yards per catch.  Jimmy G isn’t a downgrade or an upgrade from Derek Carr.  Solid RB1 and WR1 to start the draft.  In Round 3 you took DeVonta Smith.  Shit I don’t blame you.  Guy has a 2^nd round ADP and lasts until 3.7?  All day.  You have the second best WR duo in the league.  😉.  In Round 4 you took your RB2 in Rachaad White.  Everybody was reaching for RBs at this point.  I don’t know if any of us reached on the right one.  I think the order of Pierce, White, Conner, Mattison, Walker, and Sanders is going to be Pierce, Mattison, Walker, Sanders, White, and Conner.  So I don’t agree with your reach.  He doesn’t have much backfield competition.  The offense is going to be worse than last year without Brady.  I understand the reach.  I just don’t know if it was for the right player.  In Round 5 you took Kenneth Walker.  Great pick.  I thought about him over Pierce in Round 4, so you getting him at 5.7 is an incredible value.  People were worried about his injury this preseason but he’s already back practicing.  Let him ball out.  George Kittle in Round 6 wasn’t bad.  Purdy liked him a lot.  That was evident by Kittle’s insane 7 touchdowns in the last 4 games of the regular season.  I don’t think he keeps that up, but what if he does?  In Round 9 you took your starting Qb in Daniel Jones.  He finished as Qb#10 last year and added Darren Waller and Jaylin Hyatt.  Great freaking pick.

Draft Grade: B.  Don’t care for the bench at all, but if the starters stay healthy this team can compete.

Pick #8: Chase

These assholes really let Kelce fall to pick #8 eh?  Chase scoops up the player that you can play in the tight end spot that scores at a Top 5 RB pace.  While us peasants are hoping our tight ends fall into the endzone for 6 points Chase will get an average of 16.4 per game.  GOD DAMNIT.  PLAYER VALUE RANKINGS PEOPLE!  I got to see Kelce shotgun a beer while playing golf in Lake Tahoe.  A fan was talking shit to him saying he isn’t TE one.  Kelce goes “Oh yeah, who’s number 1.  Who’s number 1?”  The fan mumbles “Kittle”.  Little Niners fan.  Kelce just nods.  “Kittle is pretty good.  Pretty good.”  Then he hit the shit out of the ball onto the par 3 green.  In Round 2 Chase goes with CeeDee Lamb.  CeeDee was WR#6 last year.  I still remember when the Falcons drafted a cornerback over him HAHAHAHA.  Falcons suck.  CeeDee’s target competition is about the same.  Dalton Schultz is gone and they added Brandin Cooks.  Look for a similar Top 8 WR finish this year.  In Round 3 Chase shocked the free world going QB rather than his first RB.  He selected Josh Allen over Jalen Hurts which I thought was interesting.  Hurts averaged more per game than Allen and would have been QB#1 if he hadn’t gotten hurt at the end of last season.  Word on the street is the Bills want Allen to pass more.  We’ll see if it actually happens.  I would have gone Hurts over Allen personally.  Or maybe Gibbs.  Or Andrews.  Probably Gibbs then Hurts for me.  In Round 4 Chase took Amari Cooper.  Solid WR2 for Chase here.  I almost took him at the turn but my gut told me to take Calvin Ridley.  I don’t know why.  Chase got his first RB in Round 5 with Captain James Cook.  Cook looks like he could be a steal in Round 5.  His competition is Damien Harris who is injured and Latavius Murray who is somehow still in the league.  Cook will have every opportunity to smash his ADP this season.  A big free agent signing would be the only thing I can see derailing the value of this pick.  Like a Hunt or Uncle Lenny who are still out there in the free agent waters.  In Round 6 he took his RB#2 in Khalil Herbert.  Herbert was better than David Montgomery last year.  I don’t know why people think Roschon or D’Onta Foreman is going to be able to beat him out.  If Herbert can continue to take the bear share of the rb load the Bears schedule at the end of the season could make this pick a league winner.  In Round 7 Chase got great value in Brandon Auyik.  WR#17 last year getting drafted after Christian Kirk and George Pickens.  In Round 8 you went Courtland Sutton.  Then you began Operation Running Back.  Going 4 straight RBs.  I remember at one point I had a couple of RBS queued up and then they were gone when it was my turn to pick.  Both went to Chase.  He fired off Zach Charbonnet (great team name opportunity), Jaylen Warren (continues to look more explosive than Najee Harris), Tank Bigsby (could carve out role from Etienne), and Tyjae “No Knees” Spears (backing up 29 year old Derrick Henry and has looked explosive this offseason).  Old Chase went zero RB and yet his RB depth looks just fine to me.

Draft Grade: A.  Chase is better at this than us.  Legit chance at Title #4.

Pick #9: Mike

As mentioned earlier Mike is one of the few that hasn’t won a title.  Will this be his year?  In Round 1 he took the BIG DOG Derrick Henry.  I was expecting a tough choice at pick #12 between Nick Chubb and Derrick Henry and neither of them fell to me.  When deciding Chubb versus Henry I thought that Chubb would have the better season, but if the Titans are in playoff contention I’d rather have Henry.  In the playoffs Henry plays the Texans twice.  The Texans where he averages 200 yards rushing against.  In the fantasy playoffs.  Bodes well for either a late playoff run or a run for more balls in the draft lottery.  In Round 2 you took Garret Wilson.  He reminds me of Julio Jones a little bit.  Wilson should have a monster season with Aaron Rodgers at the helm.  The Offensive Rookie of the Year finished as WR#19 with horrible QB play last year.  Have you seen Zach Wilson play?  I personally had Lamb and Adams higher than Wilson, but I get the allure.  In Round 3 you got an incredible gift in Jahmyr Gibbs.  RBs drafted in the first 12 picks of the NFL draft have gone on to finish with RB1 (Top 12) seasons in fantasy pretty consistently.  Montgomery might steal a little bit, but Gibbs is going to explode.  In Round 4 you took Keenan Allen.  The 31 year slot receiver who is always hurt.  Over Cooper.  And Hopkins.  And Moore.  And Jeudy.  And Mike Williams who went two rounds later.  Mike.  This is a terrible pick.  You get an incredible gift of Gibbs in the third and then you draft Keenan fucking Allen in the 4^th?  Why don’t you want to win Mike!  Why don’t you WANT IT!  From now on if you are thinking about taking someone just text me.  Let the league call collusion.  I don’t care.  I would have told you that this is a terrible pick!  In Round 5 you took Justin Herbert.  Super talented Qb.  Was hampered last year by a rib injury.  That is all healed up and enters Kellen Moore at OC and Quinten Johnston at WR.  Johnston gives them depth at WR for when Allen and/or Mike Williams inevitably get hurt.  In Round 6 you took Chris Godwin.  Over Christian Watson, Mike Williams, and Terry McLaurin.  Then in Round 7 you took Tyler Lockett.  I’m truly flabbergasted.  You later took Odell Beckham.  Nico Collins was a phenomenal pick.  But I don’t know why you took a large quantity of old oft-injured WRs.  You got no RB depth.

Draft Grade: D-.  Henry over Chubb was ok.  Wilson over Adams was ok.  Gibbs was great.  The rest.  HOT GARBAGE.  Are you suffering from low testosterone?  Like maybe you are balding or something?  I haven’t seen you in awhile and I know you hang out with a lot of women in your house.  Has the estrogen gotten to you?  I can’t understand why you would take so many balding, aged, dusty wideouts unless there is some underlining empathy you’re feeling that I don’t know about.

Pick #10: Kenny

K-Dub is back in Louisiana and looking to get back to his winning ways like when he made back-to-back Super Bowls in 2020 and 2021.  In the first round to get this party started he took Nick Chubb.  Loved the pick.  As RBs shot up into the first round Kenny locked in the best pure rusher in the league.  Kareem Hunt isn’t there to snipe plays anymore, this could be a career year for the Chubbster who has 1210 career rush attempts and has averaged over 5 yards per carry every season in his career.  He has also scored at least 8 touchdowns every year in his career.  In Round 2 he still locked in a Top WR in Stefon Diggs.  Pretty good.   29 years old coming off ppr wr finishes of #4, #7 and #3.  As Allen goes, Diggs goes.  Of course, I’ll never forgive him for the Minnesota Miracle.  Fuck that guy.  But solid selection.

In the 3^rd round temptation was too great and K-Dub locked in Jalen Hurts.  Hurts averaged about 30 points per game last year.  The fact that 9 people passed on him 3 times is a testament to how bad we all are at fantasy football.  The Hurts-Chubb-Diggs combo is a pretty damn nasty trio.  Then Kenny went Deebo Samuel.  I didn’t care for this pick too much.  Last year he was mad about his contract because of the “wide-back” position he held in 2021.  Then he got hurt.  Then they traded for Christian McCaffrey.  Auyik began to ascend.  Deebo should be healthy this year, but what is his role?  CMC took the wide-back.  Kittle was catching the redzone TDs.  Auyik was moving the sticks on 3^rd down.  What’s left for Deebo?  In Round 5 you took Mike Evans.  Evans has 9 straight seasons of 1000 yards receiving to begin his career.  I’m glad they are being so upfront about that stat.  It lets us all know that the Bucs are going to try and make it ten for Evans since there is no shot in hell this team is making the playoffs with Baker Mayfield at the helm.  Maybe they’ll rally around this stat and help Kenny out.  In Round 6 you took Cam Akers.  Man what a crazy year last year for the Rams.  Gonna trade him, no they aren’t.  Darrell Henderson starts.  Then they cut him.  Akers was coming off the torn achilles last year.  But then he finished the year strong.  The offensive line sucks.  I haven’t touched him this year.  He did finish 2022 with 3 straight 100 yard games.  So I guess that’s something to build on going into this year.  In the mid rounds you went with a few timeshare rbs in Brian Robinson, D’Andre Swift, and Jeff Wilson Jr.  Not bad not bad.  At any given time during the season these names can be called up to carry a bigger load for their teams.  Good value in Njoku and Gabe Davis late.

Draft Grade: B.  Team can compete but is a Nick Chubb injury away from being very mediocre.

Pick #11: Moose

Surprise Surprise.  Moose picks at 11 and you ten idiots allow a player to drop to him who could lead the league in targets and receptions.  Cooper Kupp was on a ludicrous pace to start the year last year before getting hurt.  The Rams were a dumpster fire, but despite it all, Kupp was balling.  In 8 games to start the year he averaged  11.6 targets, 9 receptions, 101.6 yards, and .75 touchdowns.  You all passed on that?  Kupp did suffer another injury this offseason.  With his age there is a reinjury risk.  There is also the risk that the Rams are terrible again and want to rest their starters again.  I like Kupp to have a big year this year.  After Brad snagged a pair of wideouts Moose got to take Tony Pollard.  Pollard was RB#8 in ppr last season and now Zeke is gone.  Reminder that Zeke ran 231 times for 876 yards and 12 touchdowns last year.  Mike McCarthy is also taking over play calling duties with Kellen Moore gone to LA and McCarthy has been vocal in his plans to run the ball more.  All these factors spells “smash spot” for Tony Pollard.  Only concern is the fact that he’s coming off a fractured left fibula.  These injuries can take 3-6 months to heal.  The injury occurred in January in the NFC Divisional playoff game against the 49ers.  He was also a free agent heading into the offseason, but the Cowboys invested the franchise tag cost of 1 year $10 million dollar deal to keep Pollard on and unlock some other backs in the league he accepted it and signed.

In the 3^rd round another gift!  Mark Andrews or Mandrews.  Todd Monken is going to add a lot of passing to this Baltimore attack.  Look for Lamar Jackson to return to his MVP ways this year.  Only concern for Andrews is new competition for targets and the new system.  With signing free agent Odell Beckham Jr, drafting Zay Flowers, and Rashod Bateman coming back from injury the Ravens suddenly have a lot of mouths to feed.  In the 4^th round after Bitter Brad lost out on the Jackson-Andrews stack he then doesn’t pick Jackson and gives the stack to Moose.  Moose was gifted from both ends of the draft this year.

In Rounds 5 and 6 Moose takes Breece Hall and Diontae Johnson.  Breece Hall is a solid RB#2.  Yes Dalvin Cook is in town, but Cook didn’t play that well last year.  Cook finished ranked #64 rushing grade according to PFF last season.  His shoulder is constantly hurt.  How much does he have left in the tank?  When people are asking how Moose won his 5^th title in this league they are going to look back at this Breece Hall pick and go, yeah we are super dumb.

Moose filled out his roster with Michael Thomas and Jordan Addison, Jerick McKinnon and Kenny Gainwell.  Saints D/ST.  Last year I made a lot of great decisions in the draft and I had luck fall my way.  This year Moose made a lot of great decisions and had luck fall his way.

Draft Grade: A.  Moose is going to win a 5^th title and all of us let this happen.

Pick #12: Brad

Monday morning I woke up and looked at my roster.  I sneezed. A large accumulation of phlegm entered my throat and I ran to the trashcan in the kitchen and vomited.  I am not exaggerating.  This literally happened.  I’ve been sick the past few days with fever, aches, pains, chills, and scratchy throat.  Looking back at the draft this has to be my worst drafting performance in the history of the league.  If I was hoping for a Michael Jordan flu game for the draft, this was not that.  Let’s get this over with.  At the end of Round 1 several Round 2 ADP running backs had been drafted so I elected to go WR-WR.  I prepared for this in my mocks and liked the look of big bruiser AJ Brown and target machine Amon-Ra St. Brown.  The Brown-Brown combo.  AJB caught career best 88 catches, 1496 yards, and 11 touchdowns in his first season as an Eagle.  This included WR1 (Top 12) or WR2(Top 24) finishes in 12 out of 17 weeks last year.  Amon-Ra St. Brown has averaged 9.7 targets per game in his last 22 games.  Amon-Ra does have a minor ankle injury and obviously looking back I am regretting not taking Tony Pollard who at least had time for his broken ankle to heal all offseason.

In the third round all the running backs were gone.  All of them.  Lamar Jackson and Mark Andrews were both available and a stack certainly crossed my mind.  But I knew Moose wouldn’t let me have the stack.  Sure enough he took Andrews.  Since I wasn’t getting the stack I said screw Lamar Jackson, I’m going to wait on a Qb now.  I then searched for the next closest running back which had an ADP of almost 2 rounds later.  I decided to reach and take Dameon Pierce as my RB1.  Pierce should be a workhorse and he graded very well in breaking tackles last season.  Some analysts have argued that he should be a 4^th round pick and not a 5^th/6^th round pick and I certainly hope those analysts are right.  I took Calvin Ridley.  He has been getting so much hype this offseason.  The 28-year-old who will be playing his first ball in almost two years after having an injured riddled fourth season then being suspended all last season for betting on games.  Ridley did finish as PPR WR #5 back in 2020 in his third season/breakout year.  My concern is the crowded weaponry in Jacksonville as much as the rust that may need to be shaken off.  Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, and Evan Engram all had career seasons last year for Jacksonville.  I don’t know how the target share and production is going to be sliced up this year which should have had me avoid the situation.  I was planning on taking Amari Cooper here, but my instinct told me to take Ridley.  We’ll see if my fever induced hallucinations of a draft will work or not.

In Round 5 and 6 I drafted Trevor Lawrence and David Montgomery.  Lawrence finished as QB#8 last year, but started off slow.  Doug Peterson was able to work some magic and get Lawrence’s confidence up and he performed better including 3 Top 5 Qb weeks from Weeks 12-18 post bye week.  With the AFC South being a bit of a dumpster fire and Lawrence adding Ridley, I took my Qb to complete the Lawrence-Ridley stack just in case Ridley does indeed reclaim his 2020 version.  Montgomery was a pick hoping that his streak of Top 25 rb finishes continues past the 4 seasons he had in Chicago.  Jamaal Williams is now a Saint along with his 17 touchdowns, so Brad is hoping between Amon-Ra and Montgomery he can capture a large share of those tuddies.  Brad passed on Cam Akers and Christian Watson with this pick and he deserves to lose.

In later rounds Brad took Drake London and Antonio Gibson just changing his team from bad to worse.  In the 10^th round last year he took a defense.  This year he took a second Qb in a 1 Qb league.  Anthony Richardson compared to Derrick Henry.  Richardson is taller, heavier, and faster.  I couldn’t resist.  Brad took Eagles D/ST since they will have leads most weeks increasing their chances for sacks and interceptions.  Took Brandon McManus who leaves the altitude in Denver for the swamp in Jacksonville.  I believe he’ll be playing with a chip on his shoulder.  Brad drafted a second tight end.

Draft Grade: F.  An offseason of managing dynasty teams, drafting best ball teams, combined with a fevered illness must’ve messed with our dear commissioners’ brains during this draft.  The 12^th spot had a lot of potential, but unfortunately, he didn’t rise to the occasion.  This team will not make the playoffs, nor does it seem likely to compete in the bottom bowl.  Look for the commissioner to become disengaged in this league and focus on entrepreneurial pursuits sooner rather than later into the 15^th season.  Can a commissioner come back from something like this?  Should he retire all together?

Draft Grades in Order of Picks:

Trey- C

Katon- B-

Jen- B+

Joe- B

Tommy- C

Scotty- C+

JD- B

Chase- A

Mike- D-

Kenny- B

Moose- A

Brad- F

Draft Grades in Order of Grades:

Moose- A

Chase- A

Jen- B+

Joe- B

Kenny- B

JD- B

Katon- B-

Scotty- C+

Tommy- C

Trey- C

Mike D-

Brad- F

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading and best of luck this season!

-Commish B-Razzle Dazzle, AKA Fantasy Football Brad, AKA 2023 Bad Draft Award.