Consolation Bracket Team Analysis

7. Ollie (6-8)

There’s no easy way to say it.  Ollie got hosed.  He was put in the MITE division.  A division with 4 playoff teams from 2023.  This means he had to play Adam, Mike D, and Dom all twice.  He started out 1-2 in Divisional play.  Then he got a great victory in Week 4 defeating Ian 139.10-104.18. He was 5-4 after 9 weeks.  Then he had a string of horrible luck when it comes to Points Against.

150.70

148.56

140.12

141.98

Ollie falls to 5-8.  Despite that he had a chance at making the playoffs.  He needed to beat Dom and he needed both Andy and Brad to lose in Week 14.  But Brad got lucky again.  Facing Oscar when Oscar didn’t have Ladd McConkey, Courtland Sutton, Dallas Goedert, Zach Ertz, and he lost Bucky Irving to an in-game injury.

Ollie did send his 2025 1^st to Brad in the Blockbuster deal.  Dak, JT, his 2025 1^st for Mahomes, Addison, Brad’s 2025 2^nd.  Dak was lost to IR.  Brad traded away JT.  Ollie traded away Addison.  Ollie finds himself in the consolation bracket.  He does hold his own 2^nd round pick and Brad’s 2^nd round pick.  It’s tough to be motivated to win the consolation bracket when you don’t own your own 1^st.  But in this deep RB draft class there is sure to be value to be had in Picks #13-16, which is where Ollie’s 2^nd will fall.  This class has Jeanty, Hampton, Judkins, Henderson, Singleton, Gordon, Etienne, and Scattebo.  At WR it’s not too bad either with McMillan, Burden III, Egbuka, Bond, Harris.  If Ollie wants to develop his QB room there’s Sanders, Ward, Milroe, and Gabriel.  And a few Tight Ends that could climb the draft boards depending on their landing spot.

Ollie also has Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon playing great for their age.  He’s stacked at Tight End with Kelce, Engram, and Jonnu Smith.  And his WRs improved a lot this year with Shakir, Meyers, Reed showing flashes.  Losing Johnathan Brooks is a bummer, but he can compete in the consolation bracket and make his 2^nd round pick a bit higher next year.  But make no mistake.  If I was Ollie I’d be pissed about the way my luck turned out this season.  According to Fantasy Genius a widget on the sleeper App.  Ollie had 4 unlucky losses and a net luck score of -3.  That means in four of his losses he scored in the Top 6 teams that week, but lost because of who he played against.  These 4 unlucky losses was tied with Adam for the most in the league this season.

8. Andy (6-8)

Andy finds himself in the exact same situation as last season.  Andy was 6-8 and the 8^th seed, meaning he got a bye in the consolation bracket.  In 2023 Andy had 1503.48 Points For and 1416.40 Points Against.  In 2024 Andy had 1535.82 Points For and 1574.90 Points Against.  Andy got great production out of Jahmyr Gibbs (RB#5) and Alvin Kamara (RB#3).  His QB room improved with Justin Herbert and Sam Darnold.  CeeDee Lamb regressed a tad, but still is a Top 5 Fantasy WR despite losing Dak midyear.

The big story of Andy’s season (other than the bad luck Points Against) was Marvin Harrison Jr.  While other rookies like BTJ, Nabers, and Bowers are WR1 or TE1 so far this season, Marvin is only a WR3.  There’s no doubt he’ll have a great career in the NFL, but the slow start was unfortunate for Andy’s chances to go the distance this season.  Andy also improved his TE room with the addition of Tucker Kraft.

Andy will look to add depth at RB, but also some higher floor Wide Receivers.  Many of his weeks were Boom/Bust due to his Trio of Deep Threats in Jameson Williams, Elijah Moore, and Alec Pierce.

Let’s add Jeanty or McMillian to this team next year and see what happens.

9. Ian (5-9)

The Green Bubble definitely exists, I think.  It’s not just the fact that he doesn’t participate in the group chat for this league.  It’s that he doesn’t participate much in terms of transactions either.  But he put up the 5^th highest points for and transactions don’t help with Points Against, where Ian had the 3^rd highest.  This was evident from the get-go.  He lost a nail-biter in Week 1 120.58-121.32 against Oscar.  Less than 1 point was the difference between starting 0-1 and 1-0.  Then he took care of Brad easily in Week 2 151.84-107.16.  But then he had 3 consecutive weeks where the team against him scored over 130 points.  131.56, 139.10, 130.74.  So he starts out 1-4.  He got a couple of wins to get to 3-4, but then had Mike B get 142.86, then Cuz get 140.44.  Dropping him to 3-6.  It’s hard to climb out of a hole like that and the bubble couldn’t catch a break.

With that said.  Looking at his team he’ll compete in the future.  Kyler was inconsistent, but has stayed healthy and is QB#10 on the season.  David Montgomery is RB#9 and has gotten at least 12.60 fantasy points in 12/13 games.  (mostly because of his 12 rushing touchdowns).  Kenneth Walker is super talented but just couldn’t get it going consistently and has missed 3 games so far.  Deebo has had worst fantasy year of his career other than his sophomore campaign that was lost due to injury.  Rome Odunze has started off very slow as a WR4.  Luckily his best player Justin Jefferson has done his thing and is WR#2 on the season.  Mark Andrews started off slow then came on strong for Ian.  And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Chris Godwin.  Want to talk about “What might have been?”  Godwin was averaging 19.69 points per game prior to his ankle injury that took him out for the season.

The Bubble has his own 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd next year, so look for him to compete in the consolation bracket and retool and be competitive against next season, hopefully with some better Points Against luck.

10. Dom (5-9)

Dom.  Dom, Dom, Dom, Dom, Dom… He started off the year in the offseason with banger after banger of trades. He shipped off Tyreek Hill for Breece Hall.  Traded D’Andre Swift for Kirk Cousins and a pair of picks.  Traded Jaylen Warren and a couple picks for Michael Pittman.  Traded with Adam to move up and draft Jayden Daniels.  Traded Cuz DeAndre Hopkins for a 3^rd.  Had two incredibly saavy pickups in Andre Iosivas and Jordan Mason.  He acquired Dotson and a 3^rd for Gibson and a 2^nd right before Dotson was traded from the Commanders to the Eagles.  He kept going into the season.  Trading Bateman and a 2^nd for Wicks.  Then Justin Fields for Diontae Johnson and a 3^rd.  Then trading a 3^rd and 2^nd for Watson and a 4th.  In summary, The Dom was a Diddling.  He started out 5-1.  Then it all came crashing down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulJXiB5i_q0

36 Seconds Into This Video.

He lost 3 in a row to Mike B, Dan, and Brad.  But in Week 10 when he lost to Oscar 123.08-70.88 it was the final straw.  Nothing had worked out.  Pittman injured his back and the Colts were doing QB Roulette.   Dotson busted.  Breece Hall only had 4 RB1 finishes so far.  Wilson only had 3 WR1 finishes so far.  Kyle Pitts did what he does every year and was a Bust.  James Cook was inconsistent.  Keenan Allen was inconsistent.

So after Week 10, while trades were happening prior to trade deadline weekend.  Dom made a decision.  He decided he had seen enough and that he would tank the rest of the season.  He traded Adam Breece Hall for Adams 2025 1^st, Andy’s 2025 2^nd, a 2026 5^th, and a 2027 3^rd.  Understandable.  Let’s switch from win-now to rebuild mode.

But then Dom began to bench starting players for bench players.  He started to throw his games.  He didn’t bench all his starters at first.  In Week 12 he put up 94.50 against Dickinson.  But he gave victories to Ian, Dickinson, Adam, and Ollie over the last four weeks of the regular season.  Now looking at things I think he would have gone 1-3 in that stretch anyway.  But this had big implications.

In Week 14 if he had started the following lineup:

Kirk Cousins, Zach Charbonnet, James Cook, Garret Wilson, Christian Watson, Kyle Pitts, Keenan Allen and MVS.

A probable starting lineup if he was trying.  He would have scored 104.26 to Ollie’s 96.50.  Why does that matter?  From Dom’s point of view maybe he was trying to ensure Adam didn’t get a Top 4 pick in next years draft?  But his decision had playoff implications.  If I would have lost to Oscar (I only won due to four things that went wrong for Oscar, so it was a possibility) then Ollie would have made the playoffs over Andy.  Dom’s decision to bench Zach Charbonnet and Garet Wilson would have cost Andy a playoff spot.  Now I did beat Oscar, but it still made Ollie jump Andy in the consolation bracket.  We’ll have to see how it’ll play out with the draft order next year.  In essence Dom’s decision prevented Adam from getting a Top 4 pick and ensured Brad got a Top 4 pick because Brad owns Ollie’s 1^st.  Dom chose Ollie over Andy for playoff implications and Brad over Adam for draft implications.

But this is a really shitty thing to do.  You play to win in almost every case.  If you’re Adam, why would you ever trade with Dom again?  Get someone’s first round pick, but then they tank to make your pick worst?  That’s fucked up.  And it didn’t make any sense because Dom doesn’t own any of his own picks.  It was like the season didn’t work out for him, so he wanted to burn it all down and cause as much disruption as possible out of spite.

Now I like Dom and he is an integral part of this league and part of what makes the league such a fun one to be a part of.  But this setting a lineup to lose on purpose is just bullshit.  It’s immature.  It lacks integrity.  Fantasy Football, crazy shit can happen.  You built a win-now team.  It didn’t work, you trade away Hall to hedge your bets then you keep trying to compete.  Alright soap box over.  Hopefully we can all move past this and look for a more optimistic Dom in 2025.

11. Dan (4-10)

Dan has proven to be quite the talent when it comes to weekly recaps.  Laughing loudly several times each week with his shenanigans, I hope I can do this little blurb about his team this year justice.

Dan’s 2^nd season wind up being worst than his first season.  Several factors played key reasons as to why that is.

1. Rashee Rice tears ACL in Week 4.
2. Keon Coleman starts slow, then starts to get going, then injures wrist and misses 4 weeks.
3. Rachaad White has new OC and Bucky Irving emerges. Dropping White from RB1 to RB2.
4. Sam LaPorta has a sophomore slump dropping in every statistical category from his TE1 finish in 2023.
5. Chris Olave dealt with injuries to his QB then to himself before being lost for the season in Week 9.
6. Tank Dell couldn’t regain his rookie season’s magic after breaking his leg then being shot in the offseason.
7. Inconsistent QB play. Jared Goff is QB#9, but with QB finishes as follows: 18, 25, 19, 4, 4, 10, 20, 27, 15, 1, 25, 18, 6.  Aaron Rodgers is QB#18 with only 4 QB1 finishes this year and none better than QB#10.
8. D’Andre Swift starts off slow, then smashes for a few weeks, then regresses back again.
9. Dan has 2^nd highest Points Against with 1719.02 (Average of 122.79 against him each week)

With all that being said, Dan has a lot to be optimistic about.  He sold Cedric Tillman high and bought Tee Higgins low.  He picked up Jauan Jennings who looks like a stud for the 49ers.  He picked up Noah Gray who may be organically replacing the aging Travic Kelce.  He’ll have a Top 6 pick in 2025 and 3 picks in the Top 18 picks in a deep RB class.  He’s going to come back next year with Kyren, Rashee, Tee, Olave, Rookies, and be competitive.  Don’t count out our Meme Master General.  He’s going to be back and better than ever next season.

12. Colton (2-12)

I talked about this in the offseason.  Colton’s startup draft was historically bad.  He knew he would be starting from the bottom this season as he slowly works his way back in competition.  But he made all the right moves this year.  2-12 may be a shocking record.  But he had the lowest Points For and the highest points against this season.  8 times this season a team put up at least 125 against him.  But he knew what he had to do.  Get younger, get picks, get ready.  Full rebuilds can be fun.  Let’s look at what he’ll bring to the table in 2025:

QB: Jordan Love (26), Tua Tagovailoa (26), Geno Smith (34), Will Levis (25), and JJ McCarthy (21). A plethora of veterans and young talent at the QB position.

RB: Aaron Jones (30) has been a solid RB2 this year.

WR: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (22) is WR#6! On the season.  Xavier Worthy (21), Jerry Jeudy (25)

TE: David Njoku (28) is TE#8 on the season.  Cole Kmet (25)

But more importantly than the young talent already on his team.  His picks for 2025, a very good RB class looks like this:

2025 1^st (Top 6 Pick)

Brad’s 2025 1^st (Pick 7-12)

Mike D’s 2025 1^st (Pick 7-12)

Mike B’s 2025 3^rd (Pick 31-36)

Adam’s 4^th

Brad’s 5^th

Dom’s 5^th

And In 2026 he has even more fire power:

His 2026 1^st

Brad’s 2026 1^st

His 2026 2^nd

Dom’s 2026 2^nd

His own 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th

Now we can talk about Colt taking Xavier Worthy over BTJ and Bowers, but Worthy is still fast as hell and young as hell, so we’ll see what type of career his turns into.  But JSN and Jeudy are already performing now.  I look forward to watching Colt turn this thing around in the years to come.

Well good luck everyone in the consolation bracket.  Keep fighting for those higher picks.  The 1.01 looks like Ashton Jeanty.  There’s a ton of RB talent.  McMillan, the 6’5” behemoth at WR.  QBs like Cam Ward, Jalen Milroe, Gilbert, and Sanders.  Judkins.  Henderson.  Fight until the bell and let’s see how it shakes out next year.

-Fantasy Football Brad

Congratulations to the 6 teams that made the playoffs.  To the 6 in the consolation bracket I’ll try to get a team analysis this week if I’m able to find the time.

1. Oscar (12-2)

Our defending champ has defended.  He finished with the lowest Points Against total with 1383.60 (average of 98.83)  The next closest was Mike B with only 1438.60 (average of 102.76) against him.  Oscar played to the level of his competition all season.  He wind up finishing third in Points For, so don’t just chalk his success up to luck.  He has Fantasy QB#4 Jalen Hurts.  RB#7 Josh Jacobs who averages 17.56 points per game on the season, but has averaged 24.58 since the Packers Week 10 bye week, with RB finishes of 5, 2, 5, and 4 the last four weeks.  Oscar’s bye week is crucial as he tries to repeat as champion.  He’s nursing injuries from his two stud rookies Bucky Irving and Ladd McConkey.  He’ll once again turn to his veteran wideouts in Cooper Kupp (averages 18.41/game), Mike Evans (averages 14.40/game), and new addition Courtland Sutton (averages 13.91/game).  He did lose his starting Tight End Dallas Goedert, but thanks to an earlier season saavy trade with Brad he has reliable Zach Ertz (10.01/game) as a suitable replacement and the Eagles replacement for Goedert in Grant Calcaterra who scored a touchdown in Week 14.  Oscar only needs to win two games to repeat as Champion.  It’ll all come down to the health of his rookies and whether Isaih Pacheco can carve out a larger role for himself prior to the postseason.

2. Mike B (11-3)

Our dear commissioner was hoping to avoid a repeat of last season’s first round bounce by his brother Adam and has successfully secured the bye.  Thanks in large part to #1 Fantasy QB Lamar Jackson who has scored 324.40 Fantasy Points so far this season and #1 Fantasy WR Jamarr Chase who has scored 317.40 Fantasy Points so far this season.  This incredible duo averages a combined 49.37 each week.  Giving Mike an incredibly high floor.  His lowest scoring week came in Week 3 when he scored 98.38 points.  Mike started off 5-0 before falling to Dickinson in Week 6 and then he lost to Oscar in Week 9 in that Classic Kareem Hunt OT rushing touchdown game to beat Tampa Bay.  Sometimes games and playoff seedings are settled by a coin toss.  The biggest story for Mike was some saavy trades to add better running backs to his team.  He added Tyrone Tracy from Cuz and Rico Dowdle from Dan.  Then of course he has his incredible trio of Chase, Puca, and Nico who are all healthy heading into the postseason.  He also has #3 TE Trey McBride averaging 14.78 fantasy points per game despite not catching a single touchdown so far this season, although he does have 1 rushing.  Incredibly high floor.  Points Leader.  He’s deep.  He’s ready.  Will Mike win the coveted title?

3. Adam (9-5):

Adam has been dominating this entire season.  His lowest scoring week was Week 4 where he scored 96.68.  The next lowest was Week 1 where he scored 109.68.  Just a tremendous floor.  Adam started out 0-2 with high Points Against games against Ollie (115.44) and Dom (121.94).  His team settled in around Week 5 and rattled off 3 wins in a row to move to 4-3.  He lost one to Andy when Andy exploded for 160.90 in Week 8 and then another to Cuz in a 2.82 point nail biter in Week 10 (112.0-114.62).  But then he dismantled Mike B in Week 11 (150.48-119.78) and has averaged 138.93 points per game in the final four weeks of the regular season.  Coming into the playoffs screaming hot.  Steaming hot?  Screeching hot?  Just hot.  The big story with Adam’s team is his MVP race duo of Josh Allen (QB#2, Averages: 23.74) and Saquon Barkley (RB#1, Averages: 23.08).  These two averages 46.82 per week giving him a high floor like his brother.  Adam also has a pair of high scoring RB2’s in #13 James Conner and #15 Breece Hall.  These two also pair with an incredible Foursome at WR: #3 Amon-Ra St. Brown, #5 Terry McLaurin, #15 Zay Flowers, and #16 Darnell Mooney.  Perhaps the hardest thing for Adam will be deciding which of the 7 players will sit out each week of the playoffs.  There are also rumblings about Breece Hall being shut down for the season in a lost Jets season.  But with almost all his players either making the NFL playoffs or vying for an NFL playoff spot, look for Adam to continue his hot streak on his quest for a title.

4. Mike Dickinson (9-5)

Mike Dickinson, by far the prettiest member of the league who would make the best looking woman if he were to change genders, comes into the playoffs as one of the savviest traders in the league.  He traded away Jaylen Waddle for Stefon Diggs and Ricky Pearsall in a four-way trade between Brad, Cuz, and Colt.  He preyed on a depressed 2-4 Brad who was projected to lose by obtaining Johnathan Taylor for a 1^st and 3^rd pick.  Then as a stroke of genius he traded away JK Dobbins at his maximum value getting Jordan Addison and a 3^rd right before Dobbins got hurt and Addison began to smash.  He has the 6^th highest Point For and the 3^rd lowest Points Against.  He’s suffered through lots of injuries like many of us.  Adam Thielen missed 7 games, Stefon Diggs was lost for the season, CMC missed 8 games then was lost for the season.  Ricky Pearsall was hurt then got shot after Dickinson traded for him.  CJ Stroud has regressed big time in his Sophomore season. His rookie year he was fantasy QB#11.  This year he sits at QB#19.  Luckily Dickinson traded for Brock Purdy in the offseason.  Purdy missed one game with a hurt shoulder, but was able to come back and is QB#12 on the season, averaging 18.29 points per game.  The other big storyline is De’Von Achane.  Achane is RB#6 on the season and has not missed a game all year.  One of the reasons he’s RB#6 on the year is his involvement in the passing game.  Through 14 Weeks, 13 games he has 71 targets, 63 receptions, 474 receiving yards, and 6 receiving touchdowns.  He averages 17.72 points per game and the Dolphins offense is surging at the right time as they attempt to make an unlikely playoff bid.  Despite all of this, Dickinson’s best player is Rookie Phenom Brock Bowers.  Tight End #1 who sits at 118 targets, 87 receptions (rookie te record), 933 yards, and 4 touchdowns.  He averages 15.82 points per game.  Can the rest of his team stay healthy?  Will Jordan Addison stay hot? (Two 30+ Point games in the last three weeks).  Purdy. Achane.  JT.  London (WR#8).  Bowers.  Mike can compete and gets Cuz in Round 1.

5. Cuz (8-6)

In 2023 Cuz finished 7-7 but was edged out by Points For by the Mikes who were both also 7-7.  It led to Cuz playing for a Consolation Bracket Title, but he came up short and was awarded the rights to Malik Nabers.  Fast forward to 2024.  Cuz gets the coveted 8^th win and secures the 5 seed.  No consolation bracket for him a second year in a row.  Cuz has done this despite keeping a “Build for the future” management style.  He traded Baker Mayfield to Brad for a 2025 3^rd and a 2026 2^nd.  He traded Tyrone Tracy to Mike B for a 2025 2^nd and a 2026 3^rd and Zamir White.  He also sits with his roster having FOUR empty roster spots and FIVE players on IR including Taysom Hill, Austin Ekeler, Zach Moss and Theo Johnson.  He also enters Rounds 1 with George Pickens nursing a hurt hamstring.  The young wideout has had a resurgence of his career with Russ Wilson at QB and is averaging 12.95 points per game this season.  Despite all of what I just said his starting lineup is legitimate.  He CAN compete in his playoff bracket!  #3 QB Joe Burrow has averaged 27.74 points per game over his last 5 games.  RB#12 Chuba Hubbard averages 15.4 points per game and has zero backfield competition as Miles Sanders (IR), Johnathan Brooks (IR), and Raheem Blackshear (went to ER during Eagles game for a severe chest contusion) are all dead.  Cuz will rely on Brian Robinson (averages 13.45/game, No Ekeler competition) and Jaylen Warren (averaging 11.06 in past five games).  He has a stud at Tight End in #2 George Kittle who is averaging a whopping 16.73 per game.  And his trio of Wideouts #13 Tyreek Hill, #9 Malik Nabers, and DeAndre Hopkins.  Cuz might not have the depth to go far into the playoffs, but while he can make a starting lineup he’s just as deadly as the rest of the contenders.

6. Brad (7-7)

Where to start.  Brad has now traded away the following list of players and picks over the past two seasons:

Patrick Mahomes

Johnathan Taylor

Zay Flowers

Jordan Addison

Courtland Sutton

Tee Higgins

Jerry Jeudy

Sam LaPorta

Zach Ertz

Cade Otton

2025 1^st

2025 2^nd

2025 3^rd

2025 4^th

2025 5^th

2026 1^st

2026 2^nd

Mike Dickinson’s 2025 1^st

Colton’s 2025 3rd

And he’s dropped:

Russell Wilson

Alexander Mattison

Andre Iosivas

Tucker Kraft

And yet here he is.  After starting the season 2-6 and left for dead on the side of The Witches Road in the internal depression of his mind he decided to make a change.  He wanted to be more positive.  He changed his team name to “To Infinity and Bijan!” and started to have fun tinkering with his lineups and roster rather than dreading the #2 Points Against he was having at the time.  He hedged his bets with trading away Johnathan Taylor to Dickinson.  Sitting at 2-4 with 2-5 on the horizon, Brad knew it would take a lot of luck to be able to make the playoffs.  He also saw the potential in his RB2 Chase Brown.  After trading away a decent looking Dynasty Roster the past two seasons, who the hell does Brad have competing for a title this season?

At QB he has QB#5 Baker Mayfield.  Baker hasn’t been the stud he was when Chris Godwin was in the lineup.  He just hasn’t.  But he’s had QB1 or QB2 finishes in four of the last five weeks.  At RB Brad has his Dynamic Duo of RB#4 Bijan Robinson (18.98/game average) and RB#11 Chase Brown (15.52/game average).  If you look at Chase Brown since Zach Moss was put on IR? 22.34 per game.  But was it Zach Moss?  Or was it our Commissioner in his podcast saying that Chase Brown was not in the same Tier as James Cook.  Mike said that Bijan and Brown were not on the same tier as Cook and Hall.  Well, it turns out he was right!

At WR Brad has WR#10 Brian Thomas Jr, the Ole Miss shirtless duo of AJ Brown and DK Metcalf, who both have missed multiple weeks this season AND have underperformed to their expectations.  Then there is Jaylen Waddle who just started to heat up over the past 3 weeks and Amari Cooper who Brad traded for unknowing that he had suffered a freak wrist injury that would cause him to miss multiple weeks.

He’s here.  He doesn’t have high ranked players like the rest of the bracket.  But anything can happen in fantasy.  He rides his 5-1 record over the last 6 weeks into the juggernaut Adam in Round 1.

Which of the 6 teams will win it all?  Our Commissioner?  Our Inaugural Champion?  Adam with Josh Allen and Saquon Barkley?  Mike D and Brock Bowers?  Cuz with no depth?  Or the luckiest SOB over the past 6 weeks Brad?

-Fantasy Football Brad

Well, this draft went about how I expected it to go.  4^th pick was a tough draw because the three running backs were going to go.  Plus, no running backs were going to drop to the 21^st pick in the second.  Had to make some tough choices.  But I want to give credit where credit is due.  Being sandwiched between Scotty and Joe I got sniped early and often. Kudos to both for ensuring I have another season of mediocrity in store.  Reminder that these are my opinions and I’m mostly wrong.  But last year I was pretty right:

This is what I wrote about Chase’s draft last season:

***

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

***

Here were my draft grades in order last season:

1. Moose: A
2. Chase: A
3. Jen: B+
4. Joe: B
5. Kenny: B
6. JD: B
7. Katon: B-
8. Scotty: C+
9. Tommy: C
10. Trey: C
11. Mike: D-
12. Brad: F

And how we finished:

1. Chase
2. Moose
3. Kenny
4. Joe
5. Katon
6. Scotty
7. JD
8. Mike
9. Trey
10. Brad
11. Jen
12. Tommy

It’s not 100% accurate, but it’s not bad.  On to this year!

1. Tommy.

Tommy was gifted the CMC.  Nothing to comment here.  CMC is a monster.  I’m not worried about a little calf strain either.

In the back of the 2^nd and first pick of the 3^rd he interrupted the 5 straight RB’s and took a pair of wideouts in Chris Olave and Davante Adams.  Olave finished last year as WR #19, Adams finished as WR #11.  Olave still has Carr at QB and Adams has Gardner Minshew.  Minshew isn’t going to put up Mahomes stats, but he was able to support Michael Pittman Jr last season to a Top 15 half ppr finish.

That same Michael Pittman Jr. fell to Tommy at the end of the 4^th round.  Incredible value in these three picks, giving Tommy a solid trio at WR after the CMC pick.  He then took Aaron Jones to kick off the 5^th round.  I wouldn’t have done this.  Jones has a chance to ball out and get revenge on his packers.  He was banged up last year and is going to be 30 in December.  Reports out of camp is the plan is for him to handle 15-18 touches per game, which is solid.  But will the Vikings be good with Sam Darnold at the helm?  To take him you passed on Malik Nabers, Brandon Aiyuk, DeVonta Smith and if you look RBs you took him over Zamir White, James Conner, Swift, and David Montgomery.  It could work, but that’s calling your shot type of call.

At the end of Round 6 you took Tank Dell and started the 7^th round with Johnathan Brooks.  Brooks will probably sit the first four weeks, but new Panthers head coach David Canales wants to pound the rock.  And Brooks looked special in college before getting injured.  I liked Godwin over Tank here, but I get the allure of getting one of Stroud’s weapons after he balled out last year.  Diggs addition muddies the target projections a bit.

Round 8 you took DeAndre Hopkins and in Round 9 you picked up Jordan Love.  You drafted Brock Bowers at tight end in Round 10.  Rest wasn’t worth commenting on.

Draft Grade: B.  CMC and the trio of WRs you got will make you compete.  To be special you need to nail the later rounds and navigate the middle rounds correctly.  The season might come down to whether the Aaron Jones call was the right one.  Combined with how soon Johnathan Brooks can get going.  Solid draft.

2. Mike.

It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times.  Mike’s team is scary.  If you look at his first four picks.  Then like the thrill of climbing Everest.  He had to come back down and try not to die.  Loved taking Breece Hall at 2 overall.  I had him ranked 2 overall as well.  He runs angry.  He doesn’t smile.  He balled out last year.  Giddy up.  At the end of the 2^nd you took PPR machine Alvin Kamara.  He missed 3 games to start the year last year and sat out Week 18, but finished as RB#14.  15 half ppr points per game average though.  Expanded over the whole season he would’ve finished RB #5.  In my ideal draft scenario I was picking him in the 3^rd, but this is Best Buy where RBs go at least 1 round early.

In Round 3 you took Marvin Harrison Jr.  I love the Cardinals this year.  I think they take a step forward.  Kyler is healthier.  Added weapons like MHJ.  As you can see from my Murray, McBride, and Wilson picks I’m bullish on Cardinals this season.  The first player I ever drafted in Fantasy Football in August 2001 was Marvin Harrison.  I was tempted for nostalgia’s sake to take him in the 2^nd, but I knew I had to get a RB.  MHJ should get high targets immediately and reminds me of CeeDee Lamb in terms of playing style.  His biggest comp was AJ Green, but either way he should get going early and often this season.

Loved the Anthony Richardson pick in Round 4.  I had a strategy to wait on Qbs this year since I feel like there are so many good ones, but if you are going to take one early they need to have Qb1 potential and Richardson has that.  Starting Richardson-Hall-Kamara-MHJ was great start.  Then.  It happened.  Instead of grabbing his stud WR2, Mike instead elected to go with Dalton Kincaid over Malik Nabers, Brandon Aiyuk, and DeVonta Smith.  What a shame.  Kincaid should get more targets with the loss of Stefon Diggs.  But Dawson Knox isn’t going away.  Keon Coleman and Curtis Samuel were added.  Then in Round 6 he had another opportunity to get a solid WR2.  Instead, he chose Javonte Williams.  I’m not big on Williams.  Think Jaleel McLaughlin takes a lot of work.  Rotation is gonna be a mess.  Rookie QB most likely starting.

Round 7 you took Calvin Ridley and in Round 8 you took Courtland Sutton.  So you have some wideouts, but man.  Feel like Rounds 5 and 6 took your team from favorite to win it to struggling to make the playoffs.  I could be wrong, we’ll see.  Loved the Ja’Lynn Polk pick in Round 14.

Draft Grade if I ignore Rounds 5 and 6: A.  Draft Grade when factoring in Rounds 5 and 6: C.

3. Joe.

Joe!  Bijan!  You bastard.  It was the right call.  Falcons passing attack should be improved.  Coaching should be improved.  According to Warren Sharp Falcons have the easiest schedule this season by far.  Raheem Morris has publicly said they want Bijan to have a CMC like role in the offense.  The passing game coordinator for the Rams that made Kyren Williams happen last year is the new OC.  Sky’s the limit as long as he doesn’t catch a cold or get a headache.  (missed two games last year but were active for both because Arthur Smith is an asshole).

In Round 2 you took Joe Mixon.  Mixon seems to have a lock on RB1 duties for a good-looking Texans team.  He could smash this season.  I hadn’t thought about Mixon vs. Kamara.  I think with half PPR Mixon is a good pick.  If it was full ppr I think it would sway to Kamara’s side.  I don’t hate it.  In Round 3 I wanted Kamara, LaPorta or Metcalf.  You took LaPorta one pick before me so I settled for DK.  I see no reason why LaPorta won’t replicate his TE#1 finish from a year ago.  He’s a monster.

In Round 4 you were handed a gift in the speedster Jaylen Waddle.  Your first WR taken is lightning in a bottle and can score at any moment.  Then in Round 5 you sniped me again by taking Malik Nabers.  Waddle-Nabers is a solid ass combo at WR.  You got good value in Brian Robinson in Round 6.  This also give you the coveted B. Robinson + B. Robinson combo.

In Round 7 you continued your assault on this draft by taking Chris Godwin, an incredible value.  Solid trio at WR despite waiting for them.  In Round 8 you took the ghost of Zeke Elliot.  He tried last year and has a chance to start for Dallas.  They haven’t made any other moves so right now it’s between him, Rico Dowdle, and Royce Freeman.  We’ll see if Rico pulls a Tony Pollard on Zeke or if Zeke can hang on to the top spot.  Lots of rumors about them potentially trading for a back like Miles Sanders or Khalil Herbert, so we’ll have to wait and see there.

Then in Round 9 a head scratcher.  Aaron Rodgers over Kyler Murray.  I wasn’t sure if this was a political move.  Like you were trying to combat White Dudes for Harris by taking Aaron Rodgers who was considered for RFK Jrs VP pick.  Later you did take Harrison Butker.  Low testosterone leftists aside I think Murray should have been taken over Rodgers.  Murray scrambles a bit and offense should see a leap forward.  Rodgers is coming off of that Achilles injury.  I was grateful because I took Murray with the next pick and got a little Cardinals stack.  But shit.  Joe you could’ve waited until the end of the draft for a Rodgers.  Goff and T Law went undrafted.  I have them both ranked higher than Rodgers.

Draft Grade: A-.  Rodgers pick and maybe 4^th string RB Vidal were the only terrible picks I saw.  Other than that, you should compete in Division Poker Night.

4. Brad.

I hoped someone would take a WR so I could get one of the trio of RBs, but this is Best Buy and I was prepared for exactly what happened to happen.  A week ago, I was leaning JJ.  Then the JJ McCarthy news, the Addison news, the CB news.  Seems like Vikings are cursed and if it’s a lost season they may rest of up their highest paid non-QB stud.  Lamb was WR#1 last year, but has held out all camp.  Ja’Marr Chase is fun, but he’s held in all camp.  Tyreek went for 1700 yards last year, is signed, and practicing, so it was the conservative choice.  Nothing conservative about Tyreek’s ability to impregnate women though.  Fast runner equals fast swimmers, boys.  Big play bonus potential in this league helped my decision.

In Round 2 I wanted Henry or Etienne to fall, but again, I knew this was Best Buy.  Neither happened.  I prepared for it and made peace with my decision of James Cook.  Cook was the bell cow last year when Joe Brady took over play calling for the Bills.  Only problem was Latavius Murray.  Cook would be used to get to redzone then they would take him out.  I’m banking on some of that, but maybe less now that his backups are all rookies?  Maybe?  I think Bills defense takes a big step back this year and Cook can catch more passes out of the backfield, we’ll see.

In Round 3 I really wanted Sam LaPorta.  Joe decided that wouldn’t be happening, so I fell back on DK Metcalf.  Many of my mocks had McBride falling to me in the 4^th, so I went WR.  Metcalf isn’t a sexy pick.  He’s huge.  Alpha X.  But gets doubled and hasn’t performed like a Top 10 WR in the NFL.  But he’s consistently a WR2 and with the new head coach from Washington who had a 60% pass rate, we’ll see if that translates to more volume for the 8-pack monster who uses sign language to shit talk after scoring touchdowns.

In Round 4 Trey McBride did indeed fall to me.  Liked McBride at 4.9 better than Kelce and Andrews in the 3^rd.  Of course, I could’ve had a Kelce-Waddle combo over a Metcalf-McBride combo, so it’ll be interesting for me to watch and see if I whiffed on this one.  I have Waddle in dynasty, and I didn’t want the Tyreek-Waddle combo.

In Round 5 I took a discount on Brandon Auyik.  The shit or get off the pot offseason means he’ll either stay with 49ers or head to Arthur Smith’s Steelers.  Auyik was WR#14 last year and WR#15 the year before that.  Another boring, but solid WR for fantasy purposes.  Giving Brad the Tyreek-Metcalf-Auyik trio, which is pretty good.  If he gets traded to Steelers I think he takes a hit, but I don’t think the move makes sense for the 49ers.  I predict they sign him and the drama dies in darkness.

In Round 6 I was targeting Amari Cooper but Moose made sure that didn’t happen.  I took Terry McLaurin instead.  McLaurin is another not sexy WR.  His best finish was WR#14 in 2022 and last year he was a WR3 ranked #28.  I think Jayden Daniels has a chance to electrify this offense.  In Round 7 I pulled a Brad with a pretty significant reach.  I took Jerome Ford.  The Free Agent Darling of Chase last year.  I typically bank on RBs that are coming off of devastating knee injuries to start slow and Ford is actually pretty damn good, so I was okay with him being my RB2 to start the season.  Even if Chubb comes back I don’t see Ford just going away.  I imagine there will be some sort of split that would provide him some value.  If Chubb starts the year on IR then Ford pick looks good.  If Chubb is active and starting Week 1 then this could be a huge swing and a miss.  Wide range of outcomes.

In Round 8 I loved the value in Tony Pollard.  Seems like the Titans are going to be an electrifying offense and have two pass catching backs that are going to split time evenly.  Pollard is now a full year and a half removed from his broken ankle and his main competition Tyjae Spears has no knee cartilage.  In Round 9 I took Kyler Murray for the Murray-McBride stack.  Rounds 10, 11, 12 took fliers at RB.

Draft Grade: C.  I agree with ESPN.  Last year Brad went WR-WR, then panicked and took RBs in the middle rounds where solid WRs went.  This year he did better.  Getting 1 to appease the panic demon in his brain, which led him to the Metcalf, Auyik, McLaurin depth.  But it looks like he’ll be figuring out RB again this year.  He’ll probably blame the fact that he was 4^th pick instead of taking personal ownership.  Look for Brad to be fighting for a 6^th seed late into the season.

5. Scotty

Scotty did well.  Loved Ja’Marr Chase pick.  Rachaad White at 2.8 was a bit early for me, but he had great volume last year and was RB#7.  All signs point to him repeating a high-volume role, despite a not so great efficiency last year.  In Round 3 you took Josh Jacobs.  This could be a great pick.  Historically when RBs change teams they don’t do as well. (https://www.fantasylabs.com/articles/raybon-should-you-target-or-avoid-rbs-on-new-teams/)  But Jacobs is an upgrade over Aaron Jones.  The Packers offense is young and exciting.  When it gets cold they will turn to Jacobs early and often.  Could be good, could be great.

In Round 4 you got tremendous value in Cooper Kupp.  When Kupp and Puka were both playing last year it was almost a dead even split.  Puka is banged up and went in Round 2.  In Round 5 you took young stud CJ Stroud.  An impressive rookie with 499 pass attempts last season with only 5 interceptions.  That is freaking nuts.  They add Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon to his weapons.

In Round 6 he took Najee Harris, which was a great pick for his 3^rd rb.  Harris has rushed for over 1000 yards and 7 or more touchdowns every season in his career. His passing volume has gone down as Jaylen Warren’s has gone up, but he still finished as RB#20 last year.

In Round 7 Scotty takes Diontae Johnson.  I think he’ll get a lot of catches this season.  Panthers are going to be bad.  Adam Theilen is a year older.  I like it.  Then David Njoku in Round 8.  Njoku was a monster last year.  Now the OC for the Browns is now the OC for the Patriots.  But Browns brought in Ken Dorsey from the Bills for the OC spot.  They also signed a bunch of QBs in case Watson sucks again.  They have Tyler Huntley and Jameis Winston in case Watson can’t hand-le it.  Get it?  Hollywood Brown in Round 9.  He’ll miss the beginning of the season with a shoulder ailment, but he’ll be back at some point.  He should have his best season this year with Mahomes at QB.  Then in Round 10 Scotty jacked Gus Bus from me.  That one hurt me.  A lot.  Scotty crushed this draft.

Draft Grade: A.  If Scotty hits on his White/Jacobs/Najee RB trio he’ll compete for a title.

6. JD

Dizzle lands Lamb, last year’s #1 WR who helped Chase claim his 4^th title.  Lamb is holding out for a new contract, so we’ll see if Jerry Jones and him get their shit together and work it out or not.  Love the pick and would have made the same one.  In Round 2 you got Derrick Henry.  Henry should smash for the Ravens this season.  If Gus Edwards can rush for 810 yards and 13 touchdowns then what can the King do?  If teams stack the box against them they’ll have to worry about Lamar’s legs, Zay Flowers, Mark Andrews, and Rashod Bateman.

In Round 3 you took Drake London.  London is immensely talented, but it hasn’t materialized into fantasy gold yet due to atrocious QB play.  Cousins will be the best QB he’s played with and it’s not even close.  This is a big call here by JD though.  London has finished as WR#36 and WR#39 in two NFL seasons.  He was taken before Nico Collins (WR#9 last year), DJ Moore (WR#6 last year), Deebo Samuel (WR#12 last year), Mike Evans (WR#5 last year), and Cooper Kupp who was rough last year but was smashing the years before that.  Now as I mentioned in Joe’s section the Falcons have the easiest schedule this season and other than Kyle Pitts and Darnell Mooney, London should have the lion’s share of targets.  JD plants his flag and says London WILL breakout in Year 3 and will be better than all of the wideouts I mentioned.  We’ll see.  DJ Moore has more competition for targets, but a better QB.  Nico has more competition for targets with Stefon Diggs in town.  Kupp has Puka there now.  Mike Evans should regress TD wise.  We’ll see.

In Round 4 JD took Rhamondre Stevenson.  He got paid this offseason like the now and future starter.  One must worry a little bit about Antonio Gibson’s role.  Gibson can be a decent 3^rd down back.  The other thing to worry about is the Patriots might be terrible again.  They have one of the hardest schedules in the NFL this season looking at implied win total.  The hope is volume with Rhamondre.  But with Gibson there and them most likely being behind in 4^th quarters I don’t know if I could’ve pulled the trigger over the Cooper Kupp, Jaylen Waddles, and Malik Nabers of the world that were available at the time.

JD then went Tee Higgins.  Higgins, like London, has yet to breakout.  He has finishes of WR#30, 22, 17, and last year’s WR#49.  He has all the talent, but between Burrow’s injury and his last year it hasn’t materialized yet.  His contract status is weird too.  He’ll play on the franchise tag this year as the Bengals made it obvious they want to play him one more year, try to win a title then let him walk when they sign Chase to his long term deal.  We’ll see if the potential materializes into production this season.

In Round 6 you doubled down on the Falcan’ts and took proverbial bust Kyle Pitts.  Another guy with potential who hasn’t lived up to it.  In his rookie year he had 1026 yards receiving, but only 1 touchdown.  In Years 2 and 3 combined he had 1023 yards.  In Round 7 you took Dak Prescott to get the Cowboys stack of Dak-Lamb.  Twas potent last season with Dak finishing QB#3 and Lamb finishing WR#1.

In Round 8 you took JSN.  He should carve out more targets away from Tyler Lockett this season.  Don’t think he overcomes DK, but Lockett definitely.  I liked Devin Singletary in Round 9, he balled out for the Texans at times last season and should hold on to RB#1 duties for the G Men.  Just have to hope they don’t suck.  Jaleel McLaughlin was a decent RB dart throw in Round 10.

Draft Grade: C+.  Love the Dak-Lamb stack, hoping they work out the contracts.  Henry is a great RB#1.  Need a big Falcons and Cowboys season to compete for a title this year.

7. Chase.

The reigning and four-time champion of the WORLLLDDDDDDDDDDDD…. CHASE SIMS!  Chase rejoins the Johnathan Taylor Thomas fan club this year.  JT is LOCKED IN.  Wearing those retarded looking helmets during preseason to ensure he’s healthy.  He legitimately can lead the league in rushing yards this year.  I’ve seen some experts throwing out 1800 rushing yards.  The only concern is he didn’t catch many passes.  Will just have to hope Richardson doesn’t take too many rushing TDs away from JT this year.  I understand reaching for a RB in this league though.  In Round 2 Puka Nacua fell to you.  His slide most likely due to his bursa sac knee injury.  All signs point to him being ready for Week 1, although they might be a bit cautious with his snap count.  Cooper Kupp is also back and healthy so we’ll see if Puka can repeat his rookie phenom season or if he backtracks a bit in Year 2.

In Round 3 Chase took the 34-year-old Pfizer representative dating a rich, crazy cat lady that may help usher in a new terrifying form of communism into the country… sorry what were we talking about?  Kelce right.  Chase takes Kelce who despite missing a couple games last season still finished as TE#3 extending his streak of consecutively Top 3 TE finishes to 8 seasons.  He seems locked in as the Chiefs try to do the unthinkable and win a 3^rd straight championship.

In Round 4 you had Mike Evans fall to you.  Here are all of Mike Evans fantasy finishes starting from his rookie season to now: WR#12, 23, 1, 19, 9, 12, 10, 8, 16, 5.  In Round 5 Chase takes Zamir White.  White should be the bellcow for the Raiders this season as they only brought in Alexander Mattison and drafted Dylan Laube as his competition.  Laube could carve a 3^rd down role for himself, but White should be the new Jacobs for Coach Antonio Pierce.

In Round 6 Chase took Joe Burrow.  We are all hoping Burrow is fully healthy after that weird hand grip/wrist surgery he needed.  He seems like everything is good to go, so hopefully he gets back to tearing it up on the field.  Thought it was a little early for a QB in my opinion, but Burrow is fun to root for.  Geaux Tigers!  After that Chase went Keenan Allen who I shat on last year right before he popped off for a WR#8 finish in only 13 games of action, averaging over 17 points per game.  We’ll see how Caleb distributes the ball for the Bears, but with Rome and DJ Moore locked in long term it seems Allen is just a 1-year rental.  Do you throw him the ball a bunch to use and abuse him or do you work on your rapport with your buddies that will be with you long term?

In Round 8 Chase made his choice for the Titans with Tyjae Spears.  Spears showed flashes of brilliance last year while backing up Derrick Henry.  Spears hype train was derailed a bit this offseason when the Titans signed redundant Tony Pollard to a 3 year $21.75 milly contract.  Pollard is a better catcher than runner and Spears last year caught 52/70 targets for 385 receiving yards and a tuddy.  All offseason I’ve seen it’s a 1A and 2A situation where they will be interchangeable.  But if Brian Callahan splits the work and airs it out more than previous Derrick Henry/Mike Vrabel seasons then it should be a fun show to watch.  And if one of them gets hurt, look out.

In Round 9 Chase took Nick Chubb.  We’ll see if Chubb can return to former glory after having his leg nearly break off last year in Week 2 bending like this greater than sign, but in the wrong direction >  .  He’s a grinder so I won’t bet on him not coming back, but if I’m the browns I’m not giving him 30 carries any time soon.

Rather than share the knee pictures, here is a picture from the movie “The Arrival” to demonstrate what the knee looked like:

In Round 10 Chase took Jameson Williams.  Decent WR depth piece.  Not much to say about the rest.

Draft Grade: B-.  Age is just a number, but going Kelce-Evans-Allen-Chubb makes me believe you are trying to cheat death.  But death comes to us all.  Memento Mori.  Which of the vets mentioned will fall off the cliff of fantasy production this year and suffer their doom?

8. Moose.

Welcome to Team Brads, Dads, and Chads, Moose.  Glad to have you.  In Round 1 Moose goes the Sun God, Amon-Ra St. Brown.  CMC-like energy after watching Receiver on Netflix.  Very impressed by his grind.  I would’ve gone JJ here, but Amon-Ra is less likely to be shut down for their team being dog shit like the Vikings might be.

In Round 2 another God shined down on you and dropped Jahmyr Gibbs in your lap.  I was honestly thinking about reaching for Gibbs at #4 until his hammy injury.  Although not serious, it was enough for me to go WR.  But tremendous value in the 2^nd round.  Go Lions.  In Round 3 you went Mark Andrews.  It didn’t work last year, but maybe it will this year.  Andrews missed a couple games in 2022, but was fighting injury all year and finished TE#4.  Last year was same story, missing 7 games and finishing as TE#13.  His per game fantasy point average is there.  He just needs to stay on the field.

In Round 4 you took Josh Allen.  Josh Allen’s QB finishes the past 4 seasons: Qb#1, 1, 2, 1.  That’s pretty fucking great.  In Round 5 another gift.  Devonta Smith drops in your lap.  Smith was WR#20 last year, regressing a bit from his sophomore campaign, but in comes Kellen Moore for OC.  The same Kellen Moore that led to Keenan Allen’s blow-up last year.  Will AJ Brown remain X and will they put Smith in the valuable move him all around role? It’s possible, which means Smith could smash his ADP.  In Round 6 you sniped my target in Amari Cooper.   Cooper finishes WR#18, but missed a couple games.  He also had that 15 target, 11 catch, 265 yard, 2 touchdown game against the Texans in Week 16 that shot Chase into the championship game.  Interesting that in Round 4 Moose took Josh Allen one pick before Chase and in Round 6 Moose took Cooper one pick before Chase, since they were both on Chase’s championship team last year.

Round 7 you took always underrated Raheem Mostert.  In Round 8 you took Xavier Worthy.  Round 9 Chase Brown.  I think Zach Moss is a perfect fit in that offense.  Everyone keeps saying Brown is the guy, but unless Zach Moss is dead I don’t think Brown is as big a thing as people are letting on.  We’ll see though.  In Round 10 you took Brian Thomas Jr…

***Soap Box Time. Here is an excerpt from my dynasty league draft grades from earlier this summer after I took BTJ 6^th overall:

***

While doing my film watching I saw an absolute stud.  Many people think he played second fiddle to Nabers and couldn’t do all the things that Nabers could do.  But man.  His jump balls for touchdowns, his jukes in the middle.  Dude can play.  Nabers/Thomas have a legit chance to replicate Chase/JJ.  I also saw this comparison and wet my pants:

And then of course Establish the Run didn’t help either:

Now I don’t truly think Thomas is going to be JJ.  JJ is in a tier by himself.  But I’ll take a sliver of a chance.  He takes Ridley’s WR18 role right away.  Ridley did that with a lot of close misses and with T Law banged up most of the year.  What can Thomas do with a healthy T-Law?***

***

And we are back.  Fuck you Moose for taking him I wanted him.  Moose got great value with Chuba Hubbard in Round 11 and Rashid Shaheed in Round 12.

Draft Grade: A-.  Didn’t care for Andrews pick, but this team is deep and good.  Moose was like a spider with a web in the middle rounds this year.  Catching players that shouldn’t be there by us idiots that didn’t pick them.  Are we really doing this?  Is Moose gonna compete for Title #5 for fuck’s sake?

9. Trey.

T-Money has another chance to go JJ and says no again.  Last year he had #1 pick and took Bijan.  This year he goes Barkley over JJ.  Why do you hate JJ Trey?  He likes video games.  Sets records.  Has drip.  Barkley could easily have his best season ever but will depend on Hurts and how many tuddies get stolen by the Tush Push.

In Round 2 you took De’Von Achane over Jahymr Gibbs.  You took… Achane over Gibbs.  You took a backup RB who is always hurt over Gibbs.  Mostert ran for 18 touchdowns last season.  They drafted Jaylen Wright.  In Weeks 3-5 last year Achane scored 99.8 fantasy points and was RB#1, 5, and 4 those weeks.  Then he got hurt and missed 4-5 weeks.  When he came back from Weeks 13-18 he scored 87.5 points was RB#3, 24, 29, 52, 8, 21.  Mostert resigned.  Drafted Wright.  Over Gibbs.  Now Moose has Gibbs.  Moose, who has won 4 titles.  Started AMSB-Gibbs.

In Round 3 you took Jalen Hurts due to an irrational fear of Hurts taking all of Barkley’s touchdowns.  😉  In Round 4 you took Deebo Samuel.  He was my target in Round 4, so damnit.  In Round 5 you took James Conner.  Not a sexy pick, but decent volume.  Almost like the exact opposite of De’Von Achane.

In Round 6 you took Jayden Reed.  Reed is in the slot and should be the most consistent out of the Packers wideouts, but the ball will be spread around.  You taking him in Round 6 over Amari Cooper, Terry McLaurin is a saying you know he is the Packers #1 WR.  Even though no one knows if he is the #1 WR, you know and that’s all that matters.  Unless of course you’re wrong.  Rashee Rice in Round 7 might be the steal of the draft if he avoids suspension.  Christian Kirk in Round 8.  Pretty good.  In preseason BTJ and Davis were lined up in 2 WR sets, so something to monitor.  Blake Corum in Round 9 hurt me physically.  Wanted him and I see him as the #1 handcuff this season.  I’ll talk more about Corum in Kenny’s write up since he took Kyren Williams.  Taysom Hill in Round 10 might have been sneaky good.  TE finishes last 4 years: TE#4, #13, #5, #10.

Draft Grade: D.  Achane sucks.

10. Jen.

Jen gets JJ again!  For the 3^rd year in a row Jen takes JJ to start the draft.  People are concerned with Sam Darnold at QB and injuries to Jordan Addison and TJ Hockenson to start the season.  But JJ is a monster.  His finishes have been WR#5, WR#4, WR#1 and last years WR#29.  But he missed 7 games.  He averaged 16.82 per game.  If he had played all 17 and kept up that average he would’ve finished WR#5.  So despite Cousins missing a significant portion of the season last year, JJ was still balling.

In Round 2 she went with Isiah Pacheco.  Pacheco finished as RB#16 last year.  The Chiefs defense got worse in the offseason in my opinion.  And all signs point to them passing more and having more shootouts.  Pacheco is the starting running back on a very good football team.  That’s a good asset to have.  But in my rankings I had Gibbs and Henry ahead of him.

In Round 3 Jen takes Nico Collins.  3^rd year breakout last year was great.  Finished as WR#9.  The concern for a repeat this season is the addition of Stefon Diggs in the offseason.  But Nico got a contract extension and he’s the #1.  I think Diggs provides depth and a true 2^nd wideout for 2 WR sets opposed to Tank Dell who is like a mighty mouse/speedster.

DJ Moore was a great pick in Round 4.  Continues to be underrated.  In Round 5 you stuck with the Bears going Swift.  I have concerns about Swift, but not enough to dock you for him.  Evan Engram in Round 6 was okay.  Warren in Round 7 was great.  Jayden Daniels in Round 8 was another great pick.  If Jayden can stay healthy, he has Top 5 Fantasy QB potential.  Got some rookies.  Got a decent handcuff in Gibson.

Draft Grade: B.  Solid draft Jen.  I can see you winning Division 3 and sticking it to Joe, Tommy, and JD.

11. Katon.

Katon!  AJ Brown-Garret Wilson start.  I started like this last year with my AJ Brown-Amon-Ra St. Brown start.  My team sucked.  But I whiffed on T-Law, Ridley, every running back I chose.  It was bad.  Let’s see how you fair.  AJ Brown is a beast.  Enjoy!  Wilson hasn’t lived up to his ADP, but Rodgers being healthy would go a long way.

Kenneth Walker III isn’t a bad consolation prize for RB 1 in Round 3.  In his first two NFL seasons he’s finished RB #16 and RB#19 despite missing 2 games in each season.  Maybe this year he can be healthy all year and outperform his draft position.

I was a little surprised by the Lamar Jackson pick in Round 4.  Jackson over Allen.  Bold move cotton. Jackson’s finishes over past 4 years: QB#10, 15, 14, and 4.  Allens (as mentioned previously) finishes the past 4 seasons: Qb#1, 1, 2, 1.  Does Katon know something we don’t?  Because I thought adding Derrick Henry might take away a little of Jackson’s rushing.  And Josh Allen’s Bills might have their worst defense in years with all the guys they’ve lost this offseason.  So Moose got Josh Allen.

In Round 5 you took David Montgomery, which is great value.  In Round 6 you went George Kittle.  Montgomery isn’t a sexy pick, but finished RB#13 last year despite missing 3 weeks.  He scored 13 rushing touchdowns.  Kittle was quiet last year and yet still finished as TE#5.  That gives him 3 seasons in a row finishing as a Top 5 Fantasy Tight End.  With his playing style he has played exactly 1 full NFL season in 7.  But he does tough it out and suits up for most of them.  Also, if you watched Receiver on Netflix you know he isn’t afraid to get an injection and go back out there and throw his body around to help his team win.

In Round 7 you took Austin Ekeler.  I mean, it could work?  Brian Robinson should be the starter, but I think Ekeler plays and has a role.  He’s also a very valuable handcuff if Brian Robinson gets hurt or shot…again.

Addison in Round 9 is okay.  Might get in trouble due to DUI and might have high ankle sprain.  JK Dobbins in Round 10 over Gus Edwards was interesting.  Gus Bus is #1 on that depth chart and I don’t think he is gonna lose that spot unless he gets hurt.  Dobbins is coming off of an Achilles tear which has been a sign of death for running backs.  Advancements in technologies have come along way, but Dobbins is more machine than man at this point with the screws in his knee and whatever they did to his ankle.

Draft Grade: B.  Core of Lamar Jackson-Kenneth Walker-David Montgomery-AJB-Garret Wilson-Kittle is solid as hell.  I worry about the Jackson over Allen and Dobbins over Gus Edward picks and depth.  Specifically, RB depth.

12. Kenny.

Last but not least!  Kenny going with two Top 6 RBs from a year ago in Kyren Williams and Travis Etienne Jr.  Look at you!  Kyren finished as RB#6 last year despite missing 3 weeks.  His average fantasy points per game (19.9) was #2 amongst Running Backs only behind CMC.  Now the passing game coordinator of the Rams is now the OC of the Falcons.  And the Rams did draft Blake Corum from Michigan.  Corum of course scored 27 touchdowns last year and helped end Nick Saban’s career with this run:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NBDegpbe90

And Kyren was dealing with a foot injury this offseason.  But if he can stay healthy and hold off Corum he should continue to smash.  Etienne was RB#3 last year.  His efficiency was dog shit as he only averaged 3.8 yards per carry, but he caught 58 passes on 73 targets, scored 12 total touchdowns, and played in every game.  He was my hopeful target in the 2^nd round, but I knew there was no chance in hell he would fall to me.  Kenny ensured I was correct.

In Round 3 went Stefon Diggs and then Patrick Mahomes at 4.1.  This was egregious in my opinion.  I get the RB-RB start, but Diggs was a terrible pick.  Over DJ Moore.  Over Deebo Samuel.  Over Cooper Kupp.  Over Mike Evans.  Over Jaylen Waddle.  Over Michael Pittman Jr.  Over Malik Nabers.  If Diggs finishes higher than any of those players this season (unless they get injured*) I’ll send you $5.00.  Yall heard it here folks.  It’s in writing.  $5.00 bet for Kenny where I’m guaranteeing he made a terrible pick.  Diggs will most likely be the 3^rd highest targeted player on the Texans.  The other players I mentioned will be first highest player on their teams for targets minus Waddle probably.  Now choosing Mahomes over Allen is interesting.  Mahomes doesn’t run as much unless game is on the line in the Super Bowl.  Allen runs all the time.  But Mahomes should see increased pass volume this year and has added weapons.  If there defense isn’t championship caliber I could see Mahomes breaking some passing records like yardage or touchdowns.  (Not likely, but possible).  His weapons have greatly improved.   I won’t dock you too much for Mahomes over Allen and Jackson, but I will dock you big time for the Diggs whiff.

Round 5 you chose youth with Pickens and Zay Flowers.  Right now they seem like #1 targets on their teams.  In Round 7 you took Jake Ferguson and Round 8 Zach Moss.  I liked both of these picks.  It was a little early for Ferguson, but he has Top 5 TE potential.  He showed what he could do against the Packers last year when he scored 3 times.  Of course the Packers were up by so much it didn’t matter, but Ferguson is good.  I have him in dynasty and am happy for it.  Moss was good too.  Moss averaged 11 points per game and played admirably in relief of Johnathan Taylor for the Colts.  Moss’s playing style matches the Bengals offense too.  There’s a lot of Chase Brown smoke, but I think Moss carves out a big role for himself on that Bengals offense.

Solid picks with Tyler Allgeier and Ladd McConkey.  Curtis Samuel in Round 14 was nice.

Draft Grade: C+.  Diggs picked ruined it.  Looking at your team right now on the ESPN app.  If I saw DJ Moore or Cooper Kupp where Diggs is in your lineup I’d think I was looking at a contender.  1 pick shouldn’t sink your whole season, but it might have been the worst pick of the draft.  I don’t see Diggs finishing as a Top 25 receiver this year.  I see all the guys you passed on being Top 20 receivers.  Just baffling to me.

Draft Grades In Draft Order:

1. Tommy: B
2. Mike: C
3. Joe: A-
4. Brad: C
5. Scotty: A
6. JD: C+
7. Chase: B-
8. Moose: A-
9. Trey: D
10. Jen: B
11. Katon: B
12. Kenny: C+

Draft Grades In Grade Order:

1. Scotty: A
2. Moose: A-
3. Joe: A-
4. Tommy: B
5. Katon: B
6. Jen: B
7. Chase: B-
8. JD: C+
9. Kenny: C+
10. Brad: C
11. Mike: C
12. Trey: D

For Fun here are the ESPN Draft Grades they sent out so we can compare next year:

1. Tommy: A
2. Katon: B
3. Chase: B
4. Scotty: B
5. Joe: B
6. Kenny: B
7. Moose: B
8. JD: B
9. Brad: C
10. Mike: C
11. Trey: C
12. Jen: C

That’s it folks.  Best of luck this season!

-Commish B. Razzle Dazzle aka Brad aka Bradley aka Fantasy Football Brad