Author: bradleybertoniere

Dynamo Dynasty League 2024 Rookie Draft Grades

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Great draft this past weekend league.  I appreciate everyone being ready to roll come draft time.  Here are my grades.  As always I stipulate these are my opinions.  I probably missed stuff about your beloved draft picks.  I hope I don’t ruin the honeymoon/delusions of grandeur phase of your picks.  Just some of my thoughts.  Enjoy!

  1. Andy

1.1: Marvin Harrison Jr.

2.1: Xavier Legette

3.1: Will Shipley

5.1: Erick All

   Andy started his draft with the first wide receiver taken in the NFL draft. Then he took the last wide receiver taken in the NFL’s first round.  Andy found the golden ticket last season when he won the consolation bracket.  His prize?  Marvin Harrison Jr.  He gets the best WR prospect we’ve seen in a long time.  Harrison has everything a team wants in an alpha wide out.  Going to the Cardinals who were in desperate need of an alpha was chef’s kiss.  Andy picked him in mere seconds after the draft began.  MHJ or Maserati Marv had a prospect score of 99.3 according to Late Round QB Draft Prospect (LRQB) Guide.  He was consensus #1 player in this year’s rookie draft and Establish the Run has him as the #3 overall Dynasty player behind only Justin Jefferson and Jamarr Chase.     

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   In the 2nd round Andy went with Xavier Legette.  I can’t understand a word he says, but I love that he can stay in Carolina where others might understand him.  Legette earned a prospect score of 86.2, but was deemed “High Risk” by LRQB.  His top comps were Jonathan Mingo and Hakeem Butler.  He’s teammates with Mingo and will compete for targets with Diontae Johnson and aging Adam Theilen.  Legette ran the 40 in 4.39 seconds at 221 pounds.  Panthers are rebuilding, Andy is hoping the draft capital used on Legette gets him some early production while they play from behind in games.  

   In the third Andy went with Will Shipley.  Shipley had a 67.8 prospect score according to LRQB and has comps to Tevin Coleman who was relevant for a few seasons for the Falcons.  The Eagles signed Saquon Barkley for two years guaranteed as they rebuilt their running back room.  Last season’s D’Andre Swift, Rashad Penny, and Boston Scott are all gone.  So Shipley’s only competition for backup/handcuff duties is Kenny Gainwell. 

   Andy didn’t have a 4th round pick as he shipped it to Brad to move up in the startup draft.  He did this to select Chase Brown, who he then dropped, who Brad then picked up.  Brad used it to take Javon Baker so if he hits Brad will never let Andy live this move down.  But at 5.1 he took Erick All.  A dart throw Tight End prospect on the Bengals.  He’ll play behind Mike Gesicki as he rehabs his injury from last season. 

Draft Grade: B+.  You got the best player in the draft and two first round wideouts.  That’s a solid draft.  Shipley and All are more dart throws than depth pieces but overall pretty good.

  1. Cuz

1.2 Malik Nabers

2.6 Drake Maye

2.11 MarShawn Lloyd

4.2 Tyrone Tracy

4.6 Brenden Rice

4.8 Theo Johnson

4.11 Spencer Rattler

5.2 Dylan Laube

   Cuz was wheeling and DEALING this draft.  He acquired quite a few picks as well as Cade Otton before and during the draft.  Overall he got a haul.  He started off with Malik Nabers, LRQB’s top prospect grade in the class at 99.5.  He’s on the Giants.  That sucks.  Daniel Jones or Drew Lock will be his QB.  That sucks.  Nabers…does not suck.  He’s going to demand a lot of targets.  If they can get him the ball, look out.  He’s a baller. 

   In the 2nd Cuz moved back four picks to acquire Cade Otton and took Drake Maye.  Maye is the talented Qb from North Carolina who has drawn some Josh Allen comps with his running ability.  He is more of a project on a rebuilding Patriots team, so I expect Jacoby Brissett to start the year as the starter and for Maye to learn behind him.  But Cuz suffered through Burrow’s injury last season and wanted to get some depth at the position.  He also took Marshawn Lloyd at 2.11.  He should be the top backup to new starter Josh Jacobs on an exciting, young Green Bay Packers team.  Lloyd had a respectable 74.6 prospect score and has a comp of Robert Turbin.  Let’s be real, he’s a handcuff, but the 2024 rookie draft was slim pickings at RB.  But he looks like a grown ass man who you don’t want to fuck with:

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   Cuz didn’t have a 3rd round pick, but had four 4th round picks.  I thought he did a great job in getting a QB, RB, WR, and TE.  Like a little mini roster all from the 4th round.  It’s cute.  Tracy should backup Devin Singletary.  His prospect score is 51.7, but one of his top comps was Tony Pollard.  He has the pass catching chops due to him being a wide receiver his first four years in college.  I say first four years, because he was in college for 6.  It makes sense his initials are TT because he’s been in college as long as Van Wilder who loved dem titties.  He could overcome Singletary, so he’ll be interesting to watch during the summer.  But he’s 24.5 years old.  For perspective, D’Andre Swift is 25.5 and has played 4 NFL seasons already.  Cuz also got son of a hall of famer Brenden Rice in a wide open receiver room for the new Harbaugh-led Chargers.  He also got Giants tight end 6’6″ 240lbs Theo Johnson.  We don’t know if Waller retires or not this offseason, but Giants were going to wait around and get caught unprepared.  The Rattlesnake was a great selection for another QB prospect to sit on or trade away to a desperate Saints fan. (Update before publication, Cuz dropped Spencer Rattler, shame).  

   In the 5th Cuz stole my 5th round darling in Dylan Laube.  Laube has a prospect score of 63.9 and was considered “Low Risk” due to his incredible pass catching ability.  One of his top comparable was James White.  Zamir White is a bruiser, so Laube could carve a role for himself on third downs.  An analyst I follow named Pat Thorman was high on Laube.  After watching his film he said he had a little Joseph Addai or Matt Forte to his game.  

Draft Grade: A.  Just solid.  Quantity doesn’t mean quality, but Cuz did a quality job in his selections.  

  1. Ian

1.3 Rome Odunze

1.8 Caleb Williams

3.7 Isaac Guerendo

3.10 Devontez Walker

4.3 Michael Penix 

5.3 Isaiah Davis

   Personally I think Ian crushed it.  Starting off with Odunze and Williams.  Getting that stack was a scenario I had in one of my mock drafts and it’s just brilliant.  They seem like best friends or perhaps… Step Brothers?

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All it cost was Tony Pollard’s backup in Tennessee and 2.3.  Not too bad.  

   In the 3rd round you selected Isaac Guerendo.  He was a priority add for me in all my dynasty leagues, but I only secured him in 1.  A 9.98 RAS is not something you ignore.  Being on the incredible run-minded coach in Kyle Shanahan is not something you ignore.  His prospect score was a 66.4 with his top comp being Isaiah Pacheco.  He will be the #2 back behind Christian McCaffrey.  I’m planting the flag and saying I GUARANTEE it.  If CMC goes down this season, Ian will be hard to beat.  

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   He also snagged Devontez Walker for the Ravens.  I didn’t like Walker too much.  His top comp is Jalen Tolbert who burned me in a different dynasty league.  Ravens have vacated targets with Odell and Duverney gone, but I don’t think he beats out Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, or Nelson Agholor.  Mark Andrews is still there.  Not a bad dart throw, but I wouldn’t expect much.

   Michael Penix at 4.3.  Didn’t know if this was a joke or not.  Penix is Ian’s 6th rostered QB and won’t be relevant unless Kirk Cousins goes down.  Meaning he’s a QB handcuff that you’d have to sit on for a few years before you can do anything with.  I assume this was to mess with Dom who has Cousins. (Update prior to publication Ian dropped Gardner Minshew and Daniel Jones, so he only has 4 QBs now)

   In the 5th he snagged Isaiah Davis for the Jets.  Jets also drafted Braelon Allen and have Breece Hall, so I’m going to list Davis as a Taxi dart throw/drop candidate.

Draft Grade: B+.  I LOVED the first three picks, but didn’t care for his last three picks. 

  1. Dan

1.4 Keon Coleman!

3.4 Malachi Corley

4.4 Jalen McMillan

5.4 Bub Means

   You can tell Dan’s draft strategy was Wide Receiver.  He shipped his 2.4 pick to Brad in the mega blockbuster from last season which landed him Zay Flowers, Kirk Cousins, and Sam LaPorta.  Of course he used Flowers in the deal to acquire Tank Dell and used Cousins in the deal to get D’Andre Swift.  He knew he had to make 1.4 count.  After unsuccessfully shopping 1.4 he decided to just get his guy.  Most draft pundits had Xavier Worthy and Brian Thomas ranked higher than Coleman.  But I understand the rational.  The best landing spot was the Bills due to Josh Allen and the vacated targets left from Diggs and Gabe Davis leaving (241 targets).  Opportunity is there.  No question.  His prospect score according to LRQB was an 86.4.  His top three comparable players were Breshad Perriman, Kevin White, and Courtland Sutton.  The Bills just kept signing dusty wideouts like Curtis Samuel, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Mack Hollins.  Coleman should be the top receiver in targets but I don’t know if it’ll be plug and play for Diggs like Dan is expecting.  I’ll talk more about Xavier Worthy and Brian Thomas in my next two draft grades, but needless to say I had them ranked higher than Coleman.  Dan knows it.  But he got his guy and I respect that.  Some sick highlights:

   In the 3rd he took Malachi Corley.  This is an interesting pick.  As many of you know I use Establish the Run draft guides and Late Round QB prospect guides.  I’ve been pretty blunt about that.  They disagreed on Corley.  ETR had Corley as the 9th best wideout in this class over Ricky Pearsall, Xavier Legette, and Ja’Lynn Polk.  I’m talking their 13th best player in this rookie class.  LRQB was not impressed.  His prospect score was a 71.8 and was deemed “High Risk”.  The prospect guide is so low because he didn’t breakout in college.  Barely any production.  Most of his targets came from screen passes (44.3%).  What ETR is seeing is a Deebo Samuel comparable.  They think he can be a supercharged Randall Cobb for Aaron Rodgers.  All that to say.  He could be great or he could be terrible.  But it helps that his main target competition is Allen Lazard and Mike Williams behind the obvious Garret Wilson and Breece Hall.

   4.4 Jalen McMillan.  I’ll be completely honest.  I didn’t know who this was.  Completely off my radar, so I had to do research just to write about him here.  3rd rounder who played for the Huskies alongside Rome Odunze and Ja’Lynn Polk.  His prospect score was a 74.6, which should have had him higher than the 4th round in our rookie draft.  Tampa Bay has Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.  McMillan should compete for the third spot.    What caught my eye was his comps.  Kenny Stills and… Amon-Ra St. Brown!!!  I felt like a jackass for not knowing who he was.  Great dart throw.

   5.4 Bub Means.  This wins for best name that you’ve picked.  But the Saints WR room is wide open after Chris Olave.  I do think Shaheed is the true #2, but Mike Thomas is gone and anything can happen.  (Update: Dan already dropped him)

Draft Grade: C+  Coleman reach might bite him in the ass, but between Corley and McMillan Dan might make out like a bandit here.  

5. Colton

1.5 Xavier Worthy

2.5 JJ McCarthy

3.5 Luke McCaffrey

4.5 Braelon Allen

5.5 Cade Stover

   Colt went with the balanced build getting at least one from every position.  He started off going Xavier Worthy over Brian Thomas and Brock Bowers.  I had a really tough time ranking those three but when everything was said and done I finished my rankings with BTJ, Bowers, then Worthy.  I was prepared to take Worthy if the other two were gone, but he wasn’t my preference.  The exact moment when I changed my rankings was when I had an epiphany.  Worthy weighed in at 165 lbs.  I weigh 165 lbs.  Worthy weighs the same as me.  I would be murdered instantly in the NFL.  Dead.  That scared the shit out of me.  But like I said I still would have drafted him if he fell to me.  Why?  Guy can ball.  Like I mentioned in my mock drafts he plays fast and he was always open.  Reid will scheme for him.  Reid comped him to DeSean Jackson.  That’s high praise considering Jackson had over 11,000 yards in his career.  The NFL has changed with smaller, faster wideouts being able to ball out.  Excited to see what he does. 

   Here are all Xavier Worthy’s catches in 2023.  Pay attention to his separation on even the basic routes:

   Colt went JJ McCarthy over Drake Maye which was interesting.  I think McCarthy has the better chance to start this year, but don’t be surprised if he has to sit behind Sam Darnold.  I get it.  Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ Hockenson.  It feels like we could play quarterback and be successful with those guys.  But Darnold has some experience now and beat out Trey Lance to win the backup job for the Niners last offseason.  It’s interesting to me that you had to pick between Worthy/Thomas and Maye/McCarthy.  I preferred Thomas and Maye, you preferred Worthy and McCarthy.  I’m interested to see how it works out.

   3.5 Luke McCaffrey.  CMC’s brother!  He should be the #3 wideout on the Commanders behind Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson.  But now that Heisman winner Jayden Daniels is in town look out.  His prospect score is a 69.5.  He played Quarterback for most of his college career before eventually switching to wideout at Rice.  Not a bad dart throw to see what happens.  We know he comes from a great football family. 

   4.5 Braelon Allen.  Allen was quick to declare for the NFL draft.  I remember I was pining for him when I saw his age!  Only 20!  But then things went downhill.  He didn’t do any of the tests.  Typically that happens when someone knows the results will only hurt them.  He’s slow.  But big.  It worked at Wisconsin.  But now he’s behind Breece Hall and they drafted another rookie RB.  It’s a shame.  Age helps his prospect score of a 72.3, but his top comp was Royce Freeman.  Another comp was James Conner though.  So not a bad taxi stash.   

   Cade Stover was a good dart throw tight end pick.  Prospect score was a 51.7, but he’s on the Texans who have Stroud.

Draft Grade: C.  There’s potential here, it’s just five players who I probably wouldn’t have taken if I was drafting in your shoes from those positions.  

  1. Brad  (It’s me!)

1.6 Brian Thomas Jr

2.2 Blake Corum

2.4 Ricky Pearsall

4.1 Javon Baker

5.6 Jacob Cowing

   Almost the perfect draft for me.  I was so fucking stoked that I landed this group of players.  Will it all work out?  Probably not, but it’s rare to set your rankings, prefer certain people and then get the guys you prefer to get.  That’s half the battle.  The next half is actually being right.  At 1.06 Brad went LSU stud Brian Thomas Jr. over Brock Bowers, Caleb Williams, and Johnathan Brooks.  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:

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

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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?

   At 2.2 Brad got his target. Blake Corum.  His prospect score is 79.1.  He is behind Kyren Williams.  He was a third round pick.  He isn’t that fast.  Why Corum?  I share my predraft notes with you here:

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He also helped end Saban’s Bama tenure, something this group especially should be thankful for:

   At 2.4 Brad had a rough time choosing between Ricky Pearsall and AD Mitchell.  The difference maker was draft capital and prospect score.  Pearsall came out as 89.7 compared to Mitchell’s 84.0.  If Auyik or Deebo get traded or hurt Pearsall has a clear path to targets on a very good Niners team. 

   Brad didn’t have a 3rd round pick since he sent 3.6 and Elijah Mitchell to Dickinson for Courtland Sutton last year.   But at 4.1 he had Javon Baker fall in his lap.  Baker was originally recruited at Alabama but as a freshman he couldn’t get past Devonta Smith, John Metchie, and Jameson Williams.  His prospect score is a 67.6, but in a wide open Patriots receiver room anything can happen.  Hype video Amon-Ra style raised his value a bit.  (He went 2.12 in another dynasty rookie draft I did a couple weeks ago)

   At 5.6 Brad went another WR in 5’8” Jacob Cowing.  One of his top comps was Tank Dell, so it’s a dart throw while monitoring the 49ers receiver situation. 

Draft Grade: B-  In my honeymoon/delusional phase I see this as an A+.  Most others probably see it as a C-.  Figured I’d split the difference.  BTJ should be a good NFL starter but there are a lot of mouths in Jacksonville (Christian Kirk, Gabe Davis, Evan Engram, Travis Etienne).  Corum is a handcuff unless we hear otherwise.  Brad now has 5 of those. 

7. Adam  

1.11 Trey Benson

2.7 Bo Nix

5.7 Rasheen Ali

   Adam is tied with his brother with the least amount of picks in this years draft with 3. But I have to take it with a grain of salt because he traded back in the 1st and acquired a second 1st rounder next year.  That value will be baked into these grades.  At 1.11 he gets James Conner’s heir and handcuff.  Benson wind up with an 84.1 prospect score and a top comp of Kenyan Drake.  Drake had double digit touchdowns for the Cardinals a few years back.  There’s a chance Conner plays out his contract this year and Adam needs to wait a year, but we’ll see how it works out.  Regardless he at least has Conner and now has his backup. 

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   At 2.7 Adam takes Bo Nix after McCarthy and Maye were off the board. Nix went to the Broncos at pick #12.  Payton is supposedly really high on him.  He’s accurate and was more slice and dice than big play guy.  Russel Wilson sucked at intermediate throws and that’s Bo Nix’s strength, so this could be an over correction on Payton’s part.  They also drafted his college teammate Troy Franklin which should help him transition to the NFL.  Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims, and Troy Franklin isn’t the worst receiver room.   

   At 5.7 he went with dart throw Rasheen Ali.  Henry is the bellcow for the Ravens, but Gus Bus and Dobbins are gone.  Keaton Mitchell is coming back from injury.  His main competition for backup duties is Justice Hill.  62.5 prospect score, worth a dart throw to see what he does in OTAs. 

Draft Grade: C.  The 2025 1st round pick is nice. If Dom’s team gets injured and Adam gets a Top 6 selection next year then this grade will be higher.  On the flip side if Dom does well and Adam does bad this year then there could be very little difference in the pick swap.  If Dom wins it all and Adam wins the consolation bracket it’s a difference of pick #12 and pick #13.  One spot.  Time will tell the value there.  The 2024 rookie class was supposedly stacked at wideout and weak at RB.  Adam left the draft with two RBs and a QB.  This was a D or F grade for me, but until I know the 2025 picks value I have to boost it up a notch.  Short and sweet.  

8. Mike B 

2.3 Ben Sinnott

2.8 Adonai Mitchell

3.3 Jaylen Wright

   I guess the Bellocq bros are bearish on the 2024 draft class.  Cuz had 3 more picks then them combined.  I have to factor in Mike’s acquisition of knee-less Tajae Spears since he traded 1.8 for Spears and 2.3.  At 2.3 he went with Ben Sinnott.  Sinnot has a prospect score of  83.9 according to LRQB.  The 6’4” 245 pound K State product went 53 overall to the Washington Commanders.  He provides an instant red zone target for Jayden Daniels.  Last year at K State he caught 82 passes and 10 touchdowns.  His only competition is aging Zach Ertz.   Establish the Run has him ranked as Dynasty’s 11th best tight end.

Here’s a flavor of what Mike’s getting:

   Later in the 2nd after a run of QBs AD Mitchell fell into Mikes lap.  His top comp was Alec Pierce who he has a chance to replace.  His prospect score was an 84 as he played second fiddle to Xavier Worthy at Texas.  He’ll compete for targets with Michael Pittman and Josh Downs for Anthony Richardson.  He has a lot of potential.  Establish the Run had him as the 8th best player in this draft class.  Not 8th best wideout, 8th best player.  We’ll see if he’s the Boom they are predicting.

   At 3.3 Mike traded up to snag Jaylen Wright.  His prospect score was a 70.7 but he’s fast and he’s on the Dolphins.  His top comps were Anthony McFarland, Ty Chandler and Demarco Murray.  He’ll be part of the three headed monster in Miami with Mostert and Achane who have injured riddled histories.  

Draft Grade: B.  He basically got 3 2nd round graded players and Tajae Spears to backup his Tony Pollard.  Of course if he had stayed put he could have had Brock Bowers.  It’s easy to look back and judge.  But you win some and you lose some and despite the way the Titans GM and Pollard’s agent fucked Mike over, he’ll still be competitive.  

9. Mike Dickinson 

1.9 Brock Bowers!

2.9 Roman Wilson

3.6 Ja’Tavion Sanders

4.9 Frank Gore Jr.

5.9 Joe Milton

   At 1.9 miraculously Brock Mfing Bowers falls to Dickinson.  Easily the best value pick of the first round.  99.3 Prospect Score equal to Marvin Harrison Jr.  Two time Mackey award winner. Two time national champion.  Dom and Ian traded up and took QBs.  Dan, Colt, and Brad all passed on Bowers for WRs.  He fell right into Mike D’s lap.  Last year he was plagued by the tight end position.  No more. 

7 people passed on Bowers.  One person passed on him twice.  Those 7 people might regret it:

   At 2.9 Mike took Michigan stud Roman Wilson.  His prospect score is 75.7 and his top comps were Randall Cobb and John Metchie.  Perceived as a slot specialist.  But landing on the Steelers who shipped out Diontae Johnson means he has a chance to get playing time right away.  Albeit on Arthur Smiths offense with Russell Wilson at QB.  God, I just threw up while writing that sentence. 

   At 3.6 I thought Mike D would take Isaac G, but like an idiot he instead took Ja’Tavion Sanders.  Panthers are rebuilding and Sanders had a prospect score of 67.8.  He got some hype this offseason with insane athleticism.  6’4” 243 lbs and was the 1st pick of the 4th round.  My only issue is Panthers offensive line stinks.  Typically tight ends in those situations need to stay in and block more than run routes.  Plus with the Bowers pick this one seemed irrelevant.  With all that being said I will point out that Dickinson was ranked dead last in the league 12/12 in terms of tight end dynasty value according to KeepTradeCut heading into the draft.  Now he is ranked 2/12 behind only Adam with his Kincaid and Hockenson duo.  That’s an impressive jump.   

   At 4.9 Mike D took Frank Gore Jr.  Love the name hate that the Bills also drafted Ray Davis.   Now it’s a camp battle to see who backs up James Cook.

   At 5.9 Dickinson took Joe Milton.  When the NFLPA rookie uniform video dropped my jaw dropped when I saw number 19 for the patriots.  I immediately looked up to see if it was a wide receiver like Polk that I had overlooked or something like that.  Nope it was 6’6” Joe Milton.  Who’s to say Maye is gonna win the starting job?  Just look at this unit in the front row:

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Draft Grade: A.  Turning a weakness into a strength in one rookie draft is money and a great way to stay competitive.  

10. Ollie 

1.10 Johnathan Brooks

2.10 Troy Franklin

4.10 Malik Washington

 5.8 Jordan Travis

 5.10 Jaheim Bell

   The rich get richer.  Ollie who has Johnathan Taylor, Travis Etienne, Derrick Henry, and Joe Mixon drafts a running back in the first round.  Johnathan Brooks was a stud at Texas until injuring his knee.  The draft capital used on him (46th overall pick) helped his prospect score (93.8). His top comps according to LRQB was Sony Michel.  ETR comped him to Javonte Williams, Mark Ingram, and Rashard Mendenhall amongst others:

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   Here’s what we know.  Panthers invested high capital on him.  The Panthers are bad.  The new head coach wants to run.  Brooks needs to heal from his injury.  This rb draft class sucked.  Ollie has RBs already.  This gives him ammunition to trade a couple players for a dynasty stud though.  I would recommend he reach out to Colton.

   In the 2nd he went Troy Franklin.  I liked Franklin when I was watching his film.  Good route runner.  Ate in the Ducks offense because of the slice and dice short throws from Bo Nix who he joins in Denver.  His prospect score was a 77.7 and his top comps were Jameson Williams and Jalin Hyatt.  Translation? He’s fast, but skinny.  He’ll be competing with Courtland Sutton and Marvin Mims for Broncos targets.  The connection with Nix should help there though. 

   In the 4th he took a flier on Malik Washington who was drafted by the Dolphins.    This is a great pick.  His prospect score is low, only 51.5.  His top comp is Devin Duverny who was more of a special teamer, but he has a legit chance to start in the slot for Miami.  Tyreek and Waddle are the alphas but they don’t exactly stay healthy all the time.  Good 4th round flier. 

   In the fifth he took Jordan Travis and tight end Jaheim Bell.  Loved these fliers.  Rodgers doesn’t have long left in his nfl career.  Travis would’ve been a much higher pick if he didn’t have his leg look like it broke off his body.  I don’t know much about Bell other than he had a higher prospect score than Ja’Tavion Sanders (68.6 vs. 67.8) and got drafted by the Patriots.  All that stands in his way is Hunter Henry?

Draft Grade: C+.  It’s a solid draft.  But taking Brooks when you’re already so stacked at running back is just greedy.  I’ll like this draft haul a lot better if you ship one of your RBs and one of your mid wideouts for an alpha.  Offer Derrick Henry and Diontae Johnson to Colton for AJ Brown and see what happens.  

11. Dom 

1.7 Jayden Daniels 

3.2 Jermaine Burton

3.9 Ray Davis

3.11 Kimani Vidal

 4.7 Louis Rees-Zammit

   Dom was Diddling like a mad man this draft.  He traded up with Adam sacrificing his 2025 1st to snag that kid Jayden.  It was the right move.  His QB situation was Justin Fields and Geno Smith.  Fields was shipped out from Chicago to Pittsburgh where he’s competing with Russ Wilson.  Sam Howell was traded to the Seahawks who have a whole new coaching staff, meaning the job isn’t safe for Geno either.  Dom addressed it by trading for Kirk Cousins, shipping D’Andre Swift to Dan.  But he needed a young signal caller and this was a great draft to do it.  Jayden won the Heisman and it was well deserved.  We all remember watching incredible play after incredible play last season.  He’s incredible.  6’4” 210 lbs. lightning speed. 40 touchdowns through the air, another 10 on the ground.    Nearly 4000 yards in the air, over 1100 yards rushing.  He goes from the bayou to the swamp.  Now he is a Commander.  It’s worth noting that Sam Howell was getting destroyed last season.  There are some obvious offensive line issues.  His weapons are great though.  Everyone talks about Caleb Williams weapons but people haven’t been hyping up Daniels.  Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Luke McCaffrey, Ben Sinnott, Austin Ekeler, and Brian Robinson.   If the offensive line can protect him I believe he’ll be a stud right away.  Some might dock Dom for going Daniels over Williams but they are both great prospects. 

Here’s 24 straight minutes of Jayden highlights to inject in your veins:

   At 3.2 Dom chooses Jermaine Burton.  A 76.9 prospect score but juicy with potential.  One of his top comps is Robert Woods.  There were character concerns and that’s why he dropped to the third round, but he found himself in the Bengals offense that just lost Tyler Boyd and who’s number two wideout Tee Higgins is currently franchise tagged.  You could easily plug and play Boyd’s production into the your Burton estimates for this season but if Higgins gets traded that could shoot up quick.  I think Higgins reports when necessary and plays on the tag, but he could still miss games when things are sore or tight because without a long term deal why risk it? That is opportunity for Burton.

   At 3.9 Dom went with Ray’Mahn Davis.  Bills drafted him and Frank Gore Jr to backup James Cook.  Dom has Cook so getting his potential handcuff was smart.  I wouldn’t expect much from Davis as a pro.  He’s 24.5 and has a prospect score of 69.8.  Could he become relevant with a Cook injury? Absolutely.

   At 3.11 he took Kimani Vidal.  Love this dart throw.  He was a workhorse at Troy and he lands on the Harbruagh Chargers.  Greg Roman brought in Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins who know his system to lead the backfield, but don’t be surprised when Vidal takes over.  Good depth piece and good potential pick here.

   4.7 Dom took someone that I had to google in Rees-Zammit.  Rugby player that Chiefs signed will probably be dropped before the season starts. 

Draft Grade: B.  Solid B.  Daniel’s over Williams was a plant your flag type of call.  The potential is there for his third round picks.  Fixing QB was the mission and he succeeded.  

12. Oscar  

1.12 Ladd McConkey

2.12 Ja’Lynn Polk

3.8 Bucky Irving

3.12 Jared Wiley

4.12 Audric Estime

5.11 Jase McClellan

5.12 Ryan Flournoy 

   When you’re the champ you pick last.  I spoke with Oscar a couple weeks prior to the draft to get a better understanding of what he was thinking.  His message was clear.  Vacated targets.  It makes sense he goes with McConkey in the 1st and Polk in the 2nd.   Let’s start with McConkey.  Keenan Allen had 150 targets in 13 games.  He’s gone.  Ekeler had 74 targets in 14 games.  He’s gone.  Gerald Everett had 70 targets in 15 games.  He’s gone.  Mike Williams had 26 targets in 3 games.  He’s gone.   320 targets.  Gone.  Insert Ladd McConkey.  The two time national champion from Georgia posts a respectable 87.5 prospect score according to LRQB.  He blew people away with his footwork during the combine and it earned him the 34th pick in the NFL draft. 

   The new regime in Los Angeles is making it well known their intentions.  They are going to run the ball.  McConkey will be the slice and dice, move the sticks guy.  Valuable in PPR formats.  He’s a little on the smaller size, 5’11” 209 but not too bad.  I like the pick. 

   In the 2nd Ja’Lynn Polk fell to you.  I thought this was a huge steal.  Polk has a prospect score of 86.5 almost as high as McConkey.   The Patriots wide receiver room is wide open.  Polk played alongside Rome Odunze and still balled out.  Great value and I like what Oscar did to get some younger wideouts for his aging core. 

   In the third Oscar had his picks from the Brad Betrayal that took place before the league even began.  Famously trading back in the first of the startup handing Mike Jamar Chase and Dickinson CMC but earning Oscar 2 additional 3rds and Jalen Hurts.  It worked out for Oscar as he is the inaugural champion but the other two are cursed by the fantasy Gods for all eternity.  Oscar traded away one of them for a 2025 3rd, which is smart.  Roster sizes are limited and now he has 2 3rds in 2024 and 2025.   Spread the wealth.  In this draft he took Bucky Irving.  Low prospect score with a 51.0.  One of his comps was Tyjae Spears, which is pretty good.  Good receiver.  Don’t know if he’s an upgrade of Chase Edmonds who is backing up Rachaad White in Tampa and that’s saying something.  He then took Jared Wiley.  Another player I needed to google.  He’s a dart throw tight end that could eventually replace Kelce.  Is he worth a roster spot for a few years while you find out?  I thought taking him over Javon Baker and Dyan Laube was egregious. 

   In the 4th you took Audric Estime.  Decent pick.  Javonte Williams is on the last year of his rookie deal and hasn’t looked the same after the devastating knee injury.  Perine could get cut to save money.  The running back room might be more wide open then people think.  Plus Estime is a bruiser.  A Mark Ingram type.  We know Sean Payton loves to thunder and lightning people with his running backs.  Estime’s top comparable was Alfred Morris.  

   Oscar had the last two picks in the draft and took Jase McClellan and Ryan *checks notes* Flournoy.  McClellan is on the Falcons and comps to DeeJay Dallas type.  Prospect score for a 5th round pick isn’t too bad with a 58.2.  Obviously Bijan is the truth, but he’ll compete with Tyler Allgeier for primary backup duties.  I have no fucking idea who Ryan Flournoy is.  

Draft Grade: B.  Loved the first two picks.  Liked Estime pick.  The rest are garbage.   

Thanks for reading league!  

Assistant to the Commissioner,

Fantasy Football Brad

Dynamo Dynasty Mock Draft #1 (Pre NFL Draft)

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  1. Andy- Marvin Harrison Jr., Wide Receiver, Ohio State, 6’4″ 205 lbs, Age: 21.7

As close to a slam dunk prospect as you can imagine.   Andy won the lottery last year by winning the consolation bracket thanks to CeeDee Lambs explosion to end the 2023 season.   CeeDee Lamb is skipping voluntary OTAs wanting a new contract so Andy gets someone who is comped between AJ Green and CeeDee Lamb.  Only way Andy doesn’t go Harrison is if Nabers goes to Chargers and Andy might get the Herbert-Nabers stack.  Son of a hall of famer is so confident in his abilities he didn’t waste time training to run a 40 yard dash or running around cones.  He’s been working on his route running and preparing for his first NFL season.

2. Cuz- Malik Nabers, Wide Receiver, LSU, 6’0″ 200 lbs, Age: 20.7

Many argue Nabers was robbed for the 2023 Biletnikoff as he had the better statistical season than Harrison.  (89, 1569, 14) vs (67, 1211, 14).  I’m sure people rationalized it by saying LSU had more offensive opportunities because our defense was Swiss cheese.  Nabers has been comped to Jamarr Chase.    But it’s going to be fun to watch which of these two wideouts wind up the better pro.  Slam dunk pick.  Cuz was offered a franchise altering trade offer from Fantasy Football Brad including multiple 1sts for this spot to which Cuz denied.  And I don’t blame him.

3. Ian- Brock Bowers, Tight End, Georgia, 6’4″ 240 lbs, Age: 21.4

If Ian actually exists he has two first round picks in a deep wide receiver class.  That makes me lean Bowers here.  The two time Mackey award winner is a hybrid between George Kittle, Rob Gronkowski, and Travis Kelce.  Meaning he’s just Brock Bowers.  The concern would be if he winds up with the injury history of a Kittle or Gronk as he played through an ankle injury in his last college season.  He also didn’t do athletic testing which historically has been a key predictor of tight end NFL success.  I think the film speaks for itself.

4. Dan- Rome Odunze, Wide Receiver, Washington, 6’3″ 216 lbs, Age: 21.9

In conversations with Dan this pick could go way differently depending on how the first three shake out.  He’ll have his choice to a player that is comped with Mike Evans, Larry Fitz, and Davante Adams or the pick of Top QB or LSUs Brian Thomas.   I’ll go conservative here and say he takes best wideout available in Odunze.  A lot of mocks have him going to Chicago at 9 which would severely limit his rookie season production potential seeing as the Bears added Keenan Allen to a receiver group led by DJ Moore.  Dan is a bit of a wildcard at pick #4 so I wouldn’t be surprised if he shakes up the draft here, but for now I’m going to say he drafts based on talent and takes Odunze who can seemingly do it all.

5. Colton- Brian Thomas Jr., Wide Receiver, LSU, 6’3″ 205 lbs, Age: 21.5

Colton couldn’t have had worse luck last season.  Every running back busted.   Players got hurt.  Young potential studs busted. It was borderline a nightmare.  The bright spots were Jordan Love, AJ Brown, and David Njoku.  Now that a lot of his running backs have switched teams it allows him to continue to build the team by drafting best player available.  I think Thomas is the 4th best wideout in this draft class.  It’s hard to comp Thomas.  There haven’t been many with his athletic testing and production COMBINED with playing second fiddle to a stud like Nabers on LSUs potent offense.  It was glorious watching him catch long balls for touchdowns last season.  (17).  Some were beautiful catches too.  His stock could shoot up or down depending on landing spot but you can’t argue against the talent.

6. Brad- Caleb Williams, Quarterback, USC, 6’1″ 216 lbs, Age: 21.4

You have got to be kidding me?  Is this asshole really going to roll with Mahomes-Richardson-Williams on a dynasty roster for a 1 QB league?  Look.  I draft best player available.  Period.  Williams can fall into success with Allen, Moore, and potentially another stud wide receiver weapon added via the draft.  There was scarcity at QB last season.  Scarcity means leverage.  Brad is #1 in QB category according to KTC and this would ensure that won’t be changing for the next decade.

7. Adam– Adonai Mitchell, Wide Receiver, Texas, 6’2″ 205 lbs, Age: 21.5

This is a tough choice but looking at Adam’s roster and how he traded away Tank Dell last season I could see him taking the bigger td threat versus Worthy.  Adam has Josh Allen and Amon-Ra St Brown.  Adam Schefter reported in a podcast with Establish the Run cofounder Adam Levitan that scouts and mock drafters are too low on AD Mitchell and he thinks he goes in the middle of the first round.   So basically an Adam spoke to an Adam about an Adonai that gets picked by an Adam.  Say that five times fast.

8. Ian (via Mike B)– Jayden Daniels, Quarterback, LSU, 6’4″ 181 lbs, Age: 23.4

Ian traded away Tajae Spears and Pick 2.03 to move up.  I think he takes that kid Jayden.  The Heisman winner falling to 8th pick would be a gift from the Fantasy Gods for Ian.  With Murray out for most of the year last year Ian had Daniel Jones who busted then he scooped up Gardner Minshew and Bryce Young.  But he doesn’t want to keep playing that game.  Drafting Jayden would allow him to drop or trade away Daniel Jones, Gardner Minshew, and Bryce Young to acquire more draft capital or roster space to take some fliers later in the draft.  If he comes away with a Daniels-Bowers stack to partner with his JJ-Adams-Deebo trio at wide receiver he’d be a contender category FOR SURE.  He also has 2 picks in the third to try and take swings at potential stars.

9. Mike D– Xavier Worthy, Wide Receiver, Texas, 6’1″ 165 lbs, Age: 21.0

Achane.  Waddle.  Why not add another speedster?  If Dickinson has a type it’s SPEED.  Scouts are worried that Worthy is too small at 165 lbs and that he is John Ross 2.0.  That’s a lazy comparison.  Worthy did set the record for the 40 yard dash with a 4.21.  But if you watch his film.  He played fast.  There’s a reason he caught 20 more balls than AD Mitchell last season.  Every curl route he was wide open.  Corners couldn’t hang with his speed.  And his production profile was much better than John Ross or previous undersized speedsters who failed.  Plus the NFL is different now.  Devonta Smith (170), Jordan Addison (175), and Tank Dell (165) have proven it could work if schemed correctly.  Depending on landing spot Worthy has a wide range of Dynamo rookie draft outcomes.

10. Ollie- Troy Franklin, Wide Receiver, Oregon, 6’3″ 187 lbs, Age: 21.2

Franklin is tough to comp like Thomas.  There’s a flavor of Jameson Williams, but what we do know is he is fast.  Oregons offense didn’t throw it deep, like at all.  Bo Nix threw it short, a ton.  But Franklin did a great job getting separation and was a reliable target for Nix.  He has the height 6’3” and the college production profile.  He’s just a little skinny like the wideouts mentioned in previous pick (175).  But a lot of mocks have him going to Chiefs or Bills at the end of Round 1, but there are teams drafting QBs at the beginning of Round 1 that might take him at the beginning of Round 2 and that could be a good situation for him.  Ollie could be tempted to take the top RB of the class but let’s be real.  Ollie needs wideouts not more RBs.

11. Dom- Ladd McConkey, Wide Receiver, Georgia, 6’0″ 185 lbs, Age: 22.5

Another tough choice for me, so I know it will be for Dom.  He could elect Brooks who is comped as a potential Jamaal Charles.  But Brooks tore an ACL in November and will have a slow start.  Dom is in win-now mode having shipped Tyreek away for Breece Hall and then Warren away for Pittman.  He is getting a bit younger but the competitor in Dom takes over.  I think he denies delayed gratification and goes with the craziest footwork wide receiver in the draft.  McConkey didn’t produce much, but he is a phenom in the middle of the field.  Depending on landing spot he could be a Top 5 wideout in this draft class.  And let’s be real.  Dom is driven by envy of Mike B.  Knowing Mike B landed Puka a late round flier turned Top 10 dynasty asset we all know Dom wants to beat Mike by getting someone with Cooper Kupp level footwork.

12. Oscar- Jonathan Brooks, Running Back, Texas, 6’0″ 207 lbs, Age: 20.8

The champion built his roster on young/in their prime RBs and older wideouts.  Why stop now?  Because he has Jacobs-Pacheco-Mostert-Najee-Ford he can A-fford to wait on Brooks and draft based on potential.  Brooks will be slow to start but will probably get going around the time Chubb comes back and starts taking away Fords playing time.  This just feels like an Oscar type move.  He could elect to go wide out, but what’s better the 9th best wide out or the #1 best running back prospect?

Thanks for reading guys.  I know these are mostly wrong, but why not have a little fun in our offseason?!

-Fantasy Football Brad

BBY Dream Team Season 15 Playoff Round 1 Preview

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Quick Notes:

Congratulations to Chase on winning Points Leader with 1706.9 points!

Kenny won Super Bowl 12 and lost in Super Bowl 13

Chase won Super Bowls 4, 8, and 13 and lost in Super Bowl 10.

Katon has never won a Super Bowl, but lost in Season 8 against Chase.

Scotty won Super Bowl 6 and lost in Super Bowl 2.

Mustafa won Super Bowls 2, 7, 10, and 11.

Joe won Super Bowl 5.

Out of the 6 playoff teams to make it this year 5 are prior Champions including the winners of

Super Bowl 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13.  A TON of Fantasy Playoff Experience in this year’s bracket!

Round 1 Preview

  1. Kenny! (12-2) BYE
  2. Chase (10-4) BYE

6. Joe (8-6) vs. 3. Katon (7-7)

These two teams met in Week 9 with Joe getting the victory 121.5 to 108.8.  Joe being led by the incomparable Christian McCaffrey, the #1 Fantasy Football RB by Far.  He averages 5.4 more points per game then the #2 RB, who Joe ALSO has in Raheem Mostert.  Joe’s weakness has been Wide Receiver.  And it doesn’t help that he lost Christian Kirk to a torn nut sack a couple weeks ago.  Also at QB he’s starting Baker Mayfield @ Green Bay.  Last time CMC played Arizona he dropped 48.2 fantasy points against them.  Kyler Murray is back and the San Fran defense is banged up and might be without their top two safeties.  Shootout potential could elevate CMC to a similar performance.  Katon is hoping Ja’Marr Chase can continue to ride Jake Browning’s hot streak.  Chase is WR#5 on the season despite having a hobbled and then later lost Joe Burrow.  A surprise gem has been Michael Pittman’s consistency.  He now has 6 straight games of at least 8 catches putting him at WR#11 on the season.  He also has #2 Tight End TJ Hockenson.  Vikings announced this week that Nick Mullens will be starting for the Vikings.  When Nick Mullens was the starting Quarterback of the 49ers in 2018 George Kittle broke the single season receiving yards record for a Tight End.  Despite the juggernaut that is Joe’s two running backs, Katon’s pass catchers make this a closer game than some might realize.  I would be remiss to not mention Patrick Mahomes’s recent struggles.  It doesn’t help that he will playing @ New England who has shut down Fantasy Quarterbacks for the most part over the past 4 weeks.  5.5 vs. Indy, 10.2 vs. NYG, 7.9 vs. LAC, and 20.6 vs. Pittsburgh and Mitchell Trubisky.  Something to note on that last one.  Trubisky ran for 30 yards and a rushing td and got a 2 point conversion.  I would lessen expectations on the defending Super Bowl Champion QB.  As of this writing ESPN has both teams projected exactly 115.9.  Who will win and move on to face #2 Chase?!??!

  1. Mustafa (9-5) vs. 4. Scotty (10-4)

Super Bowl 2 rematch in Season 15.  Love it.  The 4-Time Champion Mustafa has his double Rams stack ready to deploy against a Washington secondary that’s starting scrubs.  #10 WR and Rookie Phenom Puka Nacua is HIM.  Averaging 15.3 fantasy points per game with a juicy matchup.  Cow-a-bung-a.  Oh in case Stafford decides to throw it around Moose also has Cooper Kupp who is averaging 11.6 points per game.  Moose’s kryptonite might be whether or not Kyren Williams steals all the tuddies this week.  He’ll also feature #5 Qb Lamar Jackson on Sunday Night Football @ Jacksonville in a big AFC showdown.  #9 RB Breece Hall @ Miami.  In Week 12’s matchup with the fins he didn’t score, but managed 8.4 fantasy points on the back of 7 receptions.  #13 RB Tony Pollard is @ Buffalo who has been middle of the pack against fantasy RBS so far this season.  A big story to watch will be whether Moose has his other rookie phenom De’Von Achane.  He’s on the injury report with a toe injury and is Questionable as of this writing.  But what an explosive back.  If Achane can’t go look for Moose to deploy Achane Lite in Keaton Mitchell.  Similar builds and speed but plays on the Ravens.  Moose also has Kyle “He’s a Bust while he is in Atlanta” Pitts who caught a random touchdown last week against Tampa Bay’s porous defense.  Carolina does a decent job stopping opposing Tight Ends including stopping Kyle Pitts in Week 1 with only 2 receptions for 44 yards.  Also, the Panthers defense has been getting healthier, so lessen expectations for the bust.  On Scotty’s side all eyes are on Tyreek Hill.  The #1 Fantasy WR on pace for over 2000 yards receiving and averaging 23.7 points per game was hobbled last week against the Titans.  Against the Jets in Week 12 he did his normal thing with 23.9 fantasy points.  Let’s be honest.  If Scotty doesn’t have Tyreek then Scotty is not going to win.  I can empathize with you Scotty.  Last year I lost Jalen Hurts who was averaging 30 points per game at the time and had to lock in Brock Purdy (not this year’s version).  IF Scotty has Tyreek then he’ll hope Tua will find him early and often.  Scotty also has the resurgent Zeke Elliot against Kansas City and #11 RB Alvin Kamara against the giants.  Kamara is averaging 17 points per game and has 63 receptions so far this season.  Scotty has a lot of injuries to monitor with Hill, Brown, and Watson all questionable.  He has some pieces on the bench, but won’t have JT or Rhamondre this week.  He may deploy Ty Chandler if Alexander Mattison is ruled out due to an ankle injury, which would be an exciting start.  In Week 11 Scotty won a low scoring game 98.1 to 95.3.  Does Tyreek play?  Does Scotty get revenge for Super Bowl 2?  Does Moose have Achane or Achane Lite?  Who will move on to face the juggernaut 12-2 Kenny Williams?!?!?!?

Bottom Bowl:

  1. Mike (6-8) vs. 7 JD (7-7)

Winner moves on to Game 1 of Round 2 and is guaranteed at least 3 balls in next years draft lottery.  Loser moves to Game 2 of Round 2 and has the widest range of outcomes 1-6 balls.

  1. Trey (5-9) vs. 9. Tommy (5-9)

Winner moves on to Game 1 of Round 2 and is guaranteed at least 3 balls in next years draft lottery.  Loser moves to Game 3 of Round 2 and is eliminated from a chance to get 5 or 6 balls.

  1. Jen (2-12) vs. 11. Brad (3-11)

Winner moves on to Game 2 of Round 2 and has the widest range of outcomes 1-6 balls.  Loser moves to Game 3 of Round 2 and is eliminated from a chance to get 5 or 6 balls.

Best of Luck Everybody!

-Commish

Dynamo Dynasty League: Season 1 Final Push

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I wanted to look back at my Dynamo Dynasty League Startup Draft Grades and compare to where everyone is heading into the final 3 divisional games before playoffs and consolation bracket starts. 

Look back at grades and whether I saw teams as Win Now, Win Later, Balanced, or Win Never:

Draft Grades In Order (Highest to Lowest)

  1. Mike B: A- (Balanced)
  2. Adam: B+ (Balanced)
  3. Colton: B+ (Balanced)
  4. Ian: B- (Win Now)
  5. Brad: C+ (Win Later)
  6. Daniel: C+ (Win Now)
  7. Oscar: C+ (Win Now)
  8. Ollie: C (Win Now)
  9. Cuz: C- (Win Never)
  10. Andy: C- (Win Never)
  11. Dom: D (Win Never)
  12. Mike D: D (Win Never)

From <https://fantasyfootballbrad.com/2023/07/12/dynamo-dynasty-league-startup-draft-grades/>

 

Of course here are the standings after Week 11 before the last 3 regular season/divisional games:

  1. Dom 8-3, 1291.16 PF
  2. Ollie 8-3, 1278.56 PF
  3. Adam 7-4, 1332.50 PF
  4. Andy 6-5, 1204.68 PF
  5. Cuz 6-5, 1184.48 PF
  6. Oscar 5-6, 1254.86 PF
  7. Mike D 5-6, 1254.32 PF
  8. Mike B 5-6, 1191.18 PF
  9. Ian 5-6, 1136.10 PF
  10. Brad 4-7, 1179.04
  11. Colton 4-7, 1054.02 PF
  12. Dan 3-8, 1088.38

Now let’s talk about the teams prospects and where I was wrong and where I was right.

1. Dom. 

Dom was initially labeled “Win Never” and yet finds himself in 1st place with a playoff spot all but locked up due to his high Points For.  Despite Garret Wilson losing Aaron Rodgers early in the season Dom has been playing great led by #1 Fantasy Wide Receiver Tyreek Hill.  He also has James Cook, D’Andre Swift, and Jaylen Warren who are all Top 20 Running Backs.  Of course early in the season he traded Kyren Williams to Dan for Keenan Allen.  Allen is WR#2 in PPR on the season and Kyren got injured the week after the trade and went to IR.  Dom lost Justin Fields for four games but was able to make it work and finds himself with a chance to compete.  Dom was labeled as “Win Never”.  With aging assets at Wide Receiver (Keenan Allen is 31 and has a weird ass shoulder thing, Tyreek is 29, Boyd is 29, Hopkins is 31) this status can hold true still.  IF he doesn’t win it this year, it might not be pretty for the next couple of years.  He is younger at RB with his trio of studs being all 24-25 years old.  Warren is the 25 year old, but has the least amount of baggage. 

Status?  If he wins, he is Win Now, if he loses he stays in the Win Never column due to his aging assets.

PS: Dom is now on Fantasy Football Brad’s “Do Not Trade With” List. Dom and Brad were in negotiations late into the night on 11/20/2023 and Dom allowed a clerical error to cancel a trade that would help both teams. Due to this Brad is vowing to NEVER trade with Dom.  If there is a creative multiple team trade proposed and Dom is involved it will NOT be accepted.  Dom could offer me all his 1sts for peanuts and the answer is still NO.  Lifetime Ban.  Good luck on waiting for Arthur Smith to dial up plays for Kyle Pitts.  Hope that works out for ya.   

 

2. Ollie.

Ollie was labeled Win Now and it has held up.   Led by his insane Running Back Monopoly of #15 Derrick Henry, #9 Joe Mixon, #3 Travis Etienne Jr, and Johnathan Taylor who is averaging 13.33 ppr points per game Ollie sits at 8-3 and in 2nd place with 3 regular season weeks to go.  Despite his shallow Wide Receiver assets he’s had a sudden explosion from his Qb #1 Dak Prescott who now sits at Qb #6 on the season with Qb finishes of Qb1, Qb3, Qb2, Qb1, and Qb17 in his last five starts.  With rumors swirling of Travis Kelce’s impending retirement, aging running backs in Henry (29) and Mixon (27), Ollie remains in the Win Now category. 

Status?  Win Now still. 

 

3. Adam.

Adam was listed as balanced post startup draft and he has remained so.  Currently in 3rd place but leading the league in points scored, Adam sets up to be a consistent playoff team in the league over the next several seasons.  #1 Qb Josh Allen, young studs, #15 Brandon Auyik, #6 Amon-Ra St. Brown, #1 TE TJ Hockenson, and last night he obtained Zay Flowers in a package deal with Dan sending out stud rookie Tank Dell.  Adam’s weakness is Running Back with aging assets like Conner (28) and Dalvin Cook (28), he’ll need to get younger to be able to compete for multiple seasons. 

Status? Still balanced, but RB leans him closer to Win Now mode. 

 

4. Andy.

Defense wins championships I guess.  Andy was listed as a “Win Never” but here he sits as the 4 seed.  A big reason why is his young core that he established in Herbert-Gibbs-CeeDee have exploded over the past few weeks.  Justin Herbert is Qb #2, Gibbs is now RB #7, and CeeDee is WR #3.  Even aging asset Alvin Kamara is RB #8 on the season despite missing the first 3 weeks due to suspension.  In those 7 weeks he has 50 catches!  Andy has struggled to find consistent scoring from his WR2 Calvin Ridley and his flex positions, but his core has him competing this year. 

Status?  Still win-never, not deep enough to compete this season, not enough to rebuild in next season either. 

 

5. Cuz.

Cuz was originally labeled as Win Never.  He currently sits at 6-5 and on the fringe of making the playoffs.  The problem is he lost Joe Burrow.  Surprisingly he did not trade for a Quarterback before the trade deadline to try and make a run at this thing.  So one of two things will happen.  Either Cuz makes the playoffs and gets knocked out early or he misses the playoffs and has to try and retool next year.  His team is a bit of a mixed bag with young RBs in #4 Brian Robinson and #11 Breece Hall and a couple young wideouts in George Pickens and Romeo Doubs and #14 Michael Pittman, but his big assets are getting older with #4 WR Stefon Diggs being 29 and #3 TE George Kittle bing 30.  They could have a couple of years left, so Cuz could find himself around the same place next year.  But does he have enough?  Can he go the distance this year without Burrow?  Can he go the distance next year after adding a few younger assets? 

Status?  Closer to balanced then win-never due Brian Robinson and Michael Pittmans’ emergence. 

 

6. Oscar.

Oscar was Win-Now and this remains for me.  He has his franchise Qb in #3 Jalen Hurts and a interesting group of Running Backs: #5 Josh Jacobs(25), #24 Isaih Pacheco (24), #2 Raheem Mostert (31), #29 Najee Harris (25), and #21 Jerome Ford (24).  He has been getting great production from Mike Evans who sits at WR#11 in his age 30 season.  Amari Cooper is 29, but sits at WR#23.  Cooper takes a hit rest of the season due to Deshaun Watson going out due to karma and injury.  Maybe if he jerked off himself he’d have the shoulder dexterity needed to stay healthy and play the rest of the season.  Cooper Kupp has been on and off the injury report at age 30.  Same with Odell Beckham who is 31.  One nice surprise has been Colts rookie WR Josh Downs.  With Oscar’s middle aged running backs and aging wide receivers he remains in Win Now mode.  If he doesn’t win this year look for him to unload some aging assets to get younger and construct a minor rebuild to try and stay competitive.

Status? Win Now still.

 

7. Mike Dickinson.

Mike was listed as Win Never but he sits in a good position to either make the playoffs or get a first round bye in the consolation bracket.  The main reason is #1 RB Christian McCaffrey.  While Brad elected to go with 21 year Bijan, Dickinson traded up for CMC and it was been beautiful for him.  He has also had two huge breakout seasons by rookies QB#8 CJ Stroud and #28 Devon Achane who is averaging 20.64 ppr points per game.  Dickinson has also relied on aging veterans that have come on strong in 2023 including 33 year old WR#10 Adam Thielen and 28 year old Kareem Hunt who is averaging 9.66 ppr points per game.  Trevor Lawrence has played like shit, Trey Lance is still a backup, and Drake London still plays for an Arthur Smith team.  Does he have enough to make the playoffs this season?  Does he have enough to retool and rebuild next season?  His winning window is CMC.  How long does he have left?

Status? Despite his record he remains in the Win Never category.  For now.

 

8. Mike Bellocq.

Our fearless commissioner loves to wheel and deal and finds himself looking up towards the last three weeks of the season.  Mike was listed as Balanced and he remains there.  He has the depth to make a run at this thing either in the playoffs or the consolation bracket.  Lamar Jackson is Qb#5 and he seems to know exactly when to plug in Qb#9 Brock Purdy (which is insanely lucky) as evident of last week here he Started Purdy (26.72) over Jackson (23.96) and won by 0.92 points.  He has 26 year old Tony Pollard and 25 year old Rhamondre Stevenson as his top two running backs and a plethora of wide receiver talent.  Him trading for Trey McBride was bad news for the rest of the league.  Mike has a chance to win now and should compete for the next several seasons. 

Status? Balanced.  Will compete now and for next several seasons.

 

9. Ian.

Ian was listed as Win Now, but he has to be concerned sitting as the 9th seed with 3 weeks to go.  His season has been a bit all over the place.  He loses Justin Jefferson to an IR stint due to hamstring injury.  It has been lingering.  His Qb situation was a mess for a while, but he finally has Kyler Murray back and Josh Dobbs backing him up for depth.  30 year old Davante Adams has been up and down and got his coach fired.  28 year old Mark Andrews was just lost for the season.  26 year old David Montgomery has missed time due to injuries and may now be supplanted by Gibbs.  And now Kenneth Walker is injured.  I’m sorry Ian.  With JJ still out, Andrews out, Walker looking to miss a couple weeks… it’s not looking good brother. I see Ian missing the playoffs and if he can’t get healthy, possibly having a short exit in the consolation bracket as well.  

Status?  Injures and circumstance has moved Ian from Win Now into Win Never mode.

 

10. Brad.

Brad was listed as Win Later.  The only one who got this title suspiciously.  His prediction appears to be coming true despite fireworks mid-season when he traded for Patrick Mahomes.  Brad is set at Qb now and in the future with 28 year old Patrick Mahomes and 21 year old Anthony Richardson.  At Running Back he has 21 year old Bijan Robinson and then a hodge podge of terrible.  He’ll ride the hot hand of Alexander Mattison/Ty Chandler and look to waiver wire ROS.  Look for him to add RB in the offseason.  At Wide Receiver he has a young stud in 21 year old WR#13 Jordan Addison.  But he is surely disappointed in Tee Higgins disastrous 2023.  First Burrow was immobile and injured.  Then Tee Higgins was injured.  Then they played in two healthy games together and now Burrow injures his wrist and is out the rest of the season.  We’ll see in the offseason where the 24 year old stud winds up.  25 year old DK Metcalf has also disappointed, but boasts a favorable schedule rest of the season and could make up for the slow start if he’s able to bring Brad a Top 4 pick in next year’s rookie draft.  At Tight End he is deep and young despite trading away Sam LaPorta in the Mahomes deal.  24 year old #10 TE Jake Ferguson benefiting from Dak Prescott’s hot run, 24 year old #18 TE Cade Otton who plays almost every snap for the Bucs, and rookie freak 23 year old #21 TE Luke Musgrave who has shown flashes in his rookie campaign.  Brad also has aging Darren Waller. 

One more thing to mention is Brad has Dan’s 2nd round pick meaning he’ll have 3 picks in the Top 16 picks in the 2024 rookie draft.  (pending Brad and Dan in fact missing the playoffs). 

Status? Win Later still.  It as an appropriate title and look for Brad to compete beginning in 2024.

 

11. Colton.

What happened?  Colton was balanced meaning he could compete this year but also could compete in years to come.  So what happened to this season?  Busts and Injuries.  Ekeler missed 3 weeks early in the season.  Aaron Jones has missed 3 games and was just injured again.  Zay Jones has missed 6 games.  Dameon Pierce has missed 3 weeks and has been supplanted by Devin Singletary’s emergence.  Treylon Burks has missed five games.  Christian Watson busted.  Skyy Moore busted.  JSN has had a typical rookie WR season, but is suffering by some slight performance regression by Geno Smith.  Colt does have #10 Qb Tua Tagovailoa (25) playing at a high level this season.  #5 WR AJ Brown (26) has been balling out.  And the Gus Bus has been keeping Colton in games as he is currently #10 RB and has scored 10 rushing touchdowns including 9 in the past 5 games?!?  Colton has aging RB’s in Jones, Ekeler, and Edwards.  All his young wideouts look bad right now. 

Status?  Win Later.  An argument can be made that Colton is a Win Never, but I believe his season has been extremely unlucky.  If his aging assets can hold for another season or two he might be able to compete and make the playoffs next season if his luck changes a bit.

 

12. Dan.

Post draft Dan was labeled as Win Now.  Then he started to lose.  Realizing this he began his rebuild early.  Sending away 28 year old Patrick Mahomes, 31 year old Darren Waller, and oft injured Jerry Jeudy, and his 2024 2nd for young studs Zay Flowers and Sam LaPorta.  He got Kirk Cousins and Kenneth Gainwell as well, but Cousins was lost for the season with an achilles injury and Gainwell is merely a high value handcuff.  Dan later shipped out aging wideout Tyler Lockett and 26 year old Tony Pollard to get slightly younger Rachad White.  But he also included Trey McBride, which I think is going to hurt him in the long run.  On trade deadline night he traded away James Conner and the young stud Zay Flowers for a different young stud in Tank Dell.  Looking at Dan now his build will be around Rachaad White (24), Kyren Williams (23), Chris Olave (23), Tank Dell (24), Sam LaPorta (22).  He’ll hope to get Nick Chubb back sometime next season and still has his 1st round pick which is looking like a Top 6 pick where he could potentially draft his QB of the future. 

Status?  Win Later.  At times his trades appear like he is losing and giving up too many assets.  But his young core is impressive.  Despite losing his 2nd pick in 2024 he does have the pieces to potentially compete in Year 3. 

 

I hope you enjoyed the write up and best of luck to all of you the rest of the inaugural season!  

-Fantasy Football Brad

BBY Dream Team League Season 15 Week 5 Recap & Week 6 Preview

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Week 5 Recap:

Katon (4-1) 124.1 vs. Brad (2-3) 119.2

Brad loses in a nail biter.  Katon had solid performances except from his Cardinals as James Conner got hurt and only got 4.6 and Matt Prater only scored 1 fantasy point.  He was carried by Ja’Marr Chase’s 49.7 points.  Went HAM on Brad.   For Brad the big story was Anthony Richardson getting hurt… again.  This time a bad shoulder injury that will include an IR stint and possibly be season ending.  The other big story for Brad is he wasn’t out of this going into Sunday Night Football with his tight end Jake Ferguson playing and only being down 9.2 points.  But the Niners decided to make an example out of the Cowgirls and well here we are.

Scotty (4-1) 119.8 vs. Mike (1-4) 110.8

Scotty bounces back from his Week 4 loss to Brad with a victory over Mike.  Tyreek Hill got back to his normal self, scoring 33.1 points.  Tua added 19.8 and Alvin Kamara got 17.2.  Scotty also had big performances out of Steelers D/ST (19) and his kicker Butker (10).  For Mike he got a huge 37.5 from Zach Moss despite JT being back in the lineup.  Gutsy call and it paid off, but no one else on his team stepped up.  He wind up with 5 players in single digits and the loss.  He should be getting reinforcements back next week since he had 4 starters on a bye and 1 missing due to injury.  Admirable effort to almost overcome those adversities.

Joe (3-2) 128.1 vs. Chase (3-2) 88.0

Sam LaPorta > Travis Kelce?!!?  LaPorta got 18.2 from 2 touchdowns with Amon-Ra out of the game for the Lions.  Kelce hurt his ankle and missed part of the game, but came back in and scored a touchdown.  But as of this writing Sam LaPorta is the #1 Fantasy TE, not Kelce.  (Yes I know Kelce missed Week 1).  Joe got his best performance of the season out of Joe Burrow with 26.3.  Ja’Marr Chase said he’s always fucking open and Burrow heard him loud and clear.  Joe got only 12.8 from CMC, but almost everyone got double digits except for his kicker.  Just a solid week.  For Chase Josh Allen went off in London to the tune of 30.6 points.  But Khalil Herbert got hurt on TNF and everyone else kind of shit the bed.  7/9 players scored less then 8 points.  Ouch.

Jen (0-5) 113.1 vs. Trey (1-4) 154.1

Something had to give.  Both teams entered week 5 0-4.  Someone had to win.  Jen put up a good fight with Brock Purdy getting 26 and Travis Etienne Jr. going off in London to the tune of 37.4 points.  But her beloved JJ got injured and is now on IR.  Terribly luck for Jen who has had injuries to Deshaun Watson, Javonte Williams, Tee Higgins, and now Jefferson.  0-5 is a tough hole to climb out of, but anything can happen.  For Trey the big story was his Fields-DJ Moore stack on TNF.  They finally arrived to the tune of 84.9 points.  With DK Metcalf on bye Trey turned to Zay Flowers who put up a solid 9.8 and his Niners defense shut down the Cowboys with 17 fantasy points.  Sneaky start Jaleel McLaughlin put up 16.4 points.  The new Darren Sproles for Sean Payton?

JD (2-3) 88.8 vs. Kenny (4-1) 116.1

K-Dub gets the Dub against the defending champ.  JD is still without Saquon Barkley and had his other two running backs out on bye.  So he filled in with Free Agent Darling Kyren Williams and backup Devin Singletary.  Singletary goose egged and Williams had his lowest scoring game of the season.  You should have known better than to start K. Williams against K. Williams.  Adams also didn’t do much on MNF for you.  Going into MNF JD was down by 33.8, which is within Adams’ range, but it wasn’t meant to be.  It wind up being a defensive battle.  Pickens and Kittle both balled out with 26.6 and 26.2 points respectively.  But these two accounted for 59% of JD’s total point output.  Kenny had big games from Jalen Hurts (30.2), Stefon Diggs (23.1), and Gabe Davis (22).  Davis has scored a touchdown in 4 consecutive weeks and is now WR#13 on the season so far.

Moose (5-0) 149.1 vs. Tommy (1-4) 111.1

Remember when I lost to Moose by 0.3?  Pepperidge Farms remembers.  Moose moves to 5-0 despite shit games from Lamar Jackson (9.9) and Tony Pollard (6.4).  He was carried by Breece Hall’s big day where he rushed 22 times for 177 yards and a touchdown for 31.9 fantasy points.  Also rookie phenom De’Von Achane got 26.0.  Puka kept Puka’ing with Kupps return and they both got solid outputs.  He also added 24 from Saints D/ST who beat up the Pats.  Of course Moose did wind up losing Achane to a knee injury in this one, but with the news of JJ’s departure he could easily plug in Jordan Addison who should see an increased target load.  Tommy’s team did pretty good with 111.1, but no one went off.  His top scorer was DeAndre Hopkins who had his best game of the season, scoring 21 points, but Moose had three players who scored more.  Tommy can’t wait to have Austin Ekeler back next week to see if he can turn this thing around.

Week 6 Preview:

Brad (2-3) vs. Joe (3-2)

These teams are very evenly matched entering this Week 6 matchup.  Brad scored a total of 572 points.  Joe scored a total of 569.7 points.  With Anthony Richardson heading to IR Brad turns back to his Week 1 starter Trevor Lawrence.  Lawrence is Qb#16 on the year and has done alright, scoring more points in each of the past 4 weeks.  He gets an Indy defense that can be passed on.  For Joe he has Joe Burrow who looks like his old self.  We’ll see if he gets Tee Higgins back this week or if the team plays it safe since their bye week is next week and let the fractured rib get a couple extra weeks to heal before putting him back out there.  Seattle is #22 OPRK against opposing fantasy quarterbacks, but they looked great against the Giants prior to their Week 5 bye.  At RB Brad has #23 Dameon Pierce with a tough matchup against the Saints and #7 David Montgomery against a middle of the pack Tampa Bay Bucs.  Montgomery has scored a td in every game he’s played so far this year and has 6 total on the season despite only playing in 4 games.  He seemingly took over that Jamaal Williams role like Brad was hoping and praying for when he drafted him.  For Joe he has “He Who Remains” #1 RB CMC.  One of the few non-injured first round picks still around.  He does get a really tough Browns defense, but the way the Niners are playing it doesn’t really matter.  Browns might not have their starting Qb again and might have to turn to PJ Walker, which can be deflating for the defense.  Joe also gets Alexander Mattison vs. the Bears #30 OPRK.  With JJ’s injury look for the Vikings to try and Establish the Run and start with Mattison.  Cam Akers has been creeping though and 29% snap share last week against KC.  Joe will also feature a third RB in Raheem Must-Start.  With Achane’s injury #3 Mostert is set up for success, but Jeff Wilson might be returning from IR to steal the fun.  They have a CAKE matchup against the Panthers defense who have been decimated by injury and currently sit at #31 OPRK.  At WR (Brad’s strength) Brad has #7 AJ Brown versus Sauce Gardner and the Jets, #10 Adam Thielen against Miami, and #19 Amon-Ra St. Brown vs. Tampa Bay.  Brad’s hoping to have Amon-Ra back at least otherwise he’ll have to turn to #16 Calvin Ridley against Indy who he scored a touchdown against back in Week 1.  For Joe he has Jaylen Waddle against Carolina and #22 Christian Kirk vs. Indy.  A weakness for Joe but Kirk has been coming on strong and Waddle is due for a blow up game.  Brad’s peripherals are nothing special with Ferguson against LA Chargers, Philly D/ST against Zach Wilson’s Jets, and McManus in the Indy game.  Joe has #1 TE LaPorta against Tampa Bay, Cincy D/ST against Seattle, and Justin Tucker @ Tennessee.  Should be a great Super Bowl 5 rematch.

Jen (0-5) vs. Kenny (4-1)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  Look it doesn’t look good for Jen.  But she has #7 Qb Brock Purdy vs. Cleveland, #5 RB Travis Etienne versus Indy.  That’s what we know.  We’ll have to monitor to see if she has Javonte Williams on TNF (he practiced fully today and all indication he’s good to go), Tee Higgins (like I said in recap they may elect to sit him since next week is bye week just to not risk him getting more hurt.  But he’s a free agent after this year, so they could say eff it, play hurt, I don’t know we’ll see), Darren Waller (popped a NP today due to groin, but I think its more maintenance related), and Roschon Johnson (is in the concussion protocol, but has a chance to be cleared prior to Sunday’s game).  For Kenny he has #2 Jalen Hurts against the NY Jets.  He also has #9 RB D’Andre Swift in that same game.  Jets are better defending the pass then the run, but we’ll see.  #13 RB Brian Robinson JR is @ Atlanta who have shut down enemy backs (#3 OPRK).  #2 WR Stefon Diggs gets the NY Giants on Sunday Night Football.  How many prime time games do we have to endure watching the Giants get blown out by teams?  Jesus!  #17 Deebo Samuel is the in the Cleveland game.  #15 Mike Evans gets Detroit.  Cowboys D/ST gets LA Chargers coming off of a bye week.  If Jen wins this one it would be a huge upset.  Anything can happen.

Scotty (4-1) vs. Trey (1-4)   

1 Loss versus 1 Win.  Both are at pretty much full strength.  Scotty has his Dolphins stack of #3 QB Tua and #1 WR Tyreek in juicy ass matchups against the Carolina Panthers.  They better get their combined 50 points in the first half otherwise they aint getting it.  Scotty will also have his patience duo of Alvin Kamara and Johnathan Taylor both in this matchup.  JT gets a tough Jacksonville assignment, but tougher still is whether or not he can win a snap share over Zach Moss who has been playing out of his mind.  AK has a juicy matchup against the Texans.  For Trey he has his own stack of #5 Justin Fields and #3 WR DJ Moore.  He also gets DK Metcalf back from his bye week.  #8 RB Bijan Robinson gets Washington Commanders defense that just got shredded by the Bears.  At RB2 Trey has Jaleel McLaughlin in right now but with Javonte Williams back it’ll be tough to determine how many opportunities he gets, but he’s certainly been maximizing the opportunities he’s received so far.  His other option will be to pivot to another rooke in Emari Demercado.  With James Conner on IR it’ll be a fight between Keontay Ingram and Demercado.  Ingram has been injured, so his status will have to be monitored.  Unfortunately for Trey McLaughlin plays on TNF, so he’ll need to decide before then.  Scotty has #18 WR Marquise Brown vs. LA Rams and Rhamondre Stevenson vs. Las Vegas.  AJ Dillon was able to run okay against the Raiders, but the Pats offense has been atrocious.  Where is the Rhamonster from last year?  Will he make a cameo this week?  As of this writing Scotty doesn’t have a D/ST so we’ll have to see who he goes with since #4 Steelers are on a bye.  Good looking matchup.

Moose (5-0) vs. JD (2-3)

Can the Super Bowl champ do what no one else has been able to do so far this season?  Can JD beat Moose?  Moose has #10 Qb Lamar Jackson coming off of a rough game against Tennessee’s pass funnel defense.  The thing about Jackson’s “bad game” last week is the Wideouts had a ton of drops.  He actually looked pretty good.  I think he bounces back with a 20 point game this week.  At RB Moose has #12 Tony Pollard on MNF against LA Chargers.  Dallas is hoping their second prime time game on the West Coast in a row goes differently then their first one when they were beat down by the Niners in San Fran.  He also has #16 Breece Hall against the #1 OPRK Philly Run D.  Jalen Carter has been a monster in the middle and the Jets’ just lost a star lineman to IR.  But Hall has the explosive firepower to rip one at any moment.  With Achane going to IR, he’s a must start.  At Wide Out Moose has #5 WR Puka Nacua and his 1st round pick Cooper Kupp going up against a Cardinals secondary that just gave up 15 receptions on 19 targets for 192 yards and 3 touchdowns to Ja’Marr Chase last week.  So look for them to split that and get 20-25 each?  Moose also gets Jordan Addison in an increased role.  #3 Saints D/ST get Houston and #7 Kicker Jake Moody gets Cleveland.  Did I even mention Mark Andrews? #4 Tight End against Tennessee?  For Dizzle he is hoping, praying, wishing that Barkley is back, but with him playing SNF he’ll need to know ahead of time otherwise he has to deploy his other trio of Top 10/25 running backs.  He has #10 Kenneth Walker @ Cincy, #6 Kyren Williams vs. Arizona’s #29 OPRK run d, and #25 Rachaad White against Detroit’s solid run defense.  At Wideout he’ll have #11 Davante Adams against New England and #25 Devonta Smith vs. Jets.  I feel like the Jets matchup is a great opportunity for Smith to breakout.  He’s been quiet the past few weeks and is due.  AJ Brown might be dealing with Sauce, so look for Smith to get an uptick in targets.  JD also has #6 George Kittle, #2 Bills D/ST against the Giants in a smash spot, and #6 Kicker Tyler Bass in the same SNF game.  Can JD do it?  Will it be the Defending Champ or the “Future Defending Champs”?

Katon (4-1) vs. Tommy (1-4)

The Battle of the two men who could crush me with one hand!  #9 Qb Patrick Mahomes will get things started against Denver on Thursday Night Football.  Joining him will be Katon’s #11 RB Isaih Pacheco.  He runs angry and Denver has been getting demolished from the running game.  Start Pacheco, McKinnon, Clyde, if they active La’Michael Perine start him too.  Katon also has #19 RB Joe Mixon who did a great job watching Ja’Marr Chase score touchdowns last week.  Speaking of Ja’Marr Chase, Katon also has the #6 WR going up against Seattle and their 30th OPRK against fantasy wide receivers.  I will say the secondary looked great against a Giants team without an offensive line or a notable wide receiver.  Katon also has Michael Pittman against Jacksonville and as of right now Jakobi Meyers in a revenge game against New England.  Of course New England didn’t resign him they gave the exact same contract to JuJu Smith-Schuster.  I’m sure Meyers isn’t motivated to beat his former team.  Or his Quarterback who is also a former patriot.  I’m sure these two aren’t going to draw up something special.  Look for #5 TE TJ Hockenson to get an uptick in targets with JJ on IR.  So does Tommy have a chance?  YES! Why?  He gets the prodigal son back!  Happy Austin Ekeler week Tommy!  Ekeler has said on his podcast there is a 99% chance he is playing on Monday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys.  Tommy also has #4 Qb Kirk Cousins against a porous Chicago defense.  Losing JJ hurts, but Cousins can make the throws.  It’s up to Osborn, Addison, and Hockenson to make the plays.  OF course Tommy is hoping Hockenson isn’t the one catching passes this weekend.  Tommy also has #15 Josh Jacobs against New England.  Jerry Jeudy in that TNF game against KC.  DeAndre Hopkins gets Baltimore in London.  Don’t sleep on Dolphins D/ST against rookie Bryce Young and the Panthers.  Especially if they get Jaelan Phillips back, the star pass rusher who has missed time due to an Oblique injury.  Katon is heavily favored.  What does Tommy need to win?  He needs Cousins to go off in a shootout but to direct most of his targets to Addison, Osborn, and his running backs.  He needs Ekeler to play great on his first game back.  Then he just needs to pray that Katon’s team doesn’t pop off.  Good luck!

Mike (1-4) vs. Chase (3-2)

This matchup is all about PRIME TIME.  We have BIG players playing on Sunday Night Football for Chase and BIG players playing on Monday Night Football for Mike.  We won’t crown a winner until the fat lady sings.  We even have a player on TNF for Chase and a player in the London game bright and early on Sunday.  Let’s dive in.  Mike has #5 Justin Herbert on MNF against Dallas.  Brock Purdy did pretty well against them.  Herbert did break his finger on his non-throwing hand.  He’ll also be targeting #8 WR Keenan Allen in that MNF game.  Mike will have #4 Zach Moss against Jacksonville but with the news of JT getting more carries Mike will have to limit his expectations.  With that being said… Moss has been balling.  I don’t know how they bench this guy.  He just tore up the Titans defense who were pretty good against the run.  Mike also has #13 Derrick Henry against Baltimore in that London game.  He has Garrett Wilson against Philly.  #9 WR Nico Collins gets New Orleans and possibly some Marshon Lattimore coverage.  Mike also Zach Ertz against the Rams which is a pretty good matchup.  Lions D/ST is ranked 13th and play Baker Mayfield.  Mike is deep at WR, but he has the wrong Lions Running Back 😉.  Chase’s turn!  #1 Qb Josh Allen faces Giants on SNF along with #17 RB James Cook.  Word on the street is Travis Kelce is a “GO” tomorrow night against Denver.  Look for him to be his normal self.  With Herbert’s injury Chase will be rely on Jerome Ford to lead his RB2 spot against a tough San Fran defense.  This feels like a trap game for the Niners.  Going to the Midwest after embarrassing the cowboys on national television.  Emotions running high.  Then they get into a mud fight/drag out defensive battle against the Browns.  Deshaun Watson isn’t looking good to play so PJ Walker might be in at Qb.  Which also impacts Chase’s Amari Cooper.  Niners should be fine.  Speaking of Niners Chase has #14 WR Brandon Aiyuk.  He should be ranked higher as he missed a week, but he’s averaging 16.6 points per game and he looks good doing it.  Kittle caught all the tds last week but that won’t happen every week.  So there you have it.  Mike.  Chase.  Two men enter, one man gets the win.  And for Mike’s case, he needs to start getting some if he wants a chance to make the playoffs.

Thanks for reading and good luck!

Commish

BBY Dream Team League Season 15: Week 3 Recap & Week 4 Preview

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Week 3 Recap:

Division 1:

JD (2-1) 173.4 vs. Jen (0-3) 96.6

JD went batshit insane this week, blowing out Jen by 76.8 points.  He got 23.3 from Brock Purdy, 29.1 from Kenneth Walker, 38.7 from Davante Adams, and a crazy 33 from Bills D/ST.  Jen had good games from Watson (21), Travie Etienne (15.8) and a big one from her JJ (29.4), but she had 4 players score 4 or less points and 6 in single digits.  Not enough to hang with JD’s teams explosion.

Mike (1-2) 120.2 vs. Katon (3-0) 129.6

Game of the Week!  Rivalry Week!  Mike was top heavy with a large percentage of his scoring coming from his top 2 players.  Katon was evenly distributed with more of a solid game all around with the exception of his kicker.  Mike had Justin Herbert to Keenan Allen connection with their combined 75.6 points which is just ridiculous.  Keenan Allen had 18 receptions for over 200 yards receiving and threw a freaking touchdown.  Mike started Derrick Henry and Gibbs and they combined for 10.7 while Zach Moss went off on his bench.  Nico Collins after starting off hot, cooled down in Week 3.  For Katon his top scorers were Patrick Mahomes with 25.6 and Ja’Marr Chase with 23.1.  Better luck next time Mike.

Division 2:

Scotty (3-0) 133.9 vs. Kenny (2-1) 110.4

Both teams entered Week 3 undefeated and looking to stay that way.  Alas, one team had to lose.  This time it was Kenny.  Scotty was carried by his Tua to Tyreek stack which combined for 62.4 points.  Kenny stayed competitive with solid outings from Hurts (19.8), Deebo (25.1), Diggs (18.1) and Swift (17.3), but ultimately his downfall was his peripherals.  Scotty’s TE, D/ST, and Kicker combined for 30.6 versus Kenny’s 8.6.  This was a 22 point difference in a game that was decided by 22.7 points.

Tommy (0-3) 123.3 vs. Joe (1-2) 143.0

Something had to give!  Both teams entered Week 3 defeated and in the dreaded 0-2 hole.  Neither wanted to start 0-3.  Tommy had great games from Kirk Cousins with 28.6, Mike Wiliams for 24.6, and Evan McPherson on Monday Night dropped 18 points on Joe.  Joe was carried by CMC’s solid 20.4, Mattison’s 15, and above all… Raheem MUST-START and his 41.7 fantasy points.  Joe also got Sam LaPorta’s breakout game of 18.4 points and sealed the deal on Monday Night Football with Bengals D/ST shutting down the Rams and scoring 15 points.  Tommy’s Super Bowl hangover continues and so does his injury luck.  He lost Mike Williams for the season due to a torn ACL.  With Ekeler hurt, Jacobs and Najee underperforming, Tommy might try a desperation trade or start spending heavy in free agency to acquire some starters because it aint looking good.

Division 3:

Moose (3-0) 99.3 vs. Brad (1-2) 99.0

Heading into Monday Night Football Moose was up 89.6 to Brad’s 65.4.  Moose had Puka Nacua left and Brad had AJ Brown and Eagles D/ST.  The game started out with a bit of optimism for Brad as AJ Brown wore bright yellow cleats that will surely get him fined and he hauled in two big plays in the first drive.  Brown would finish with 20.6 points despite dropping a would be touchdown.  Puka was tame for Moose and sat at only 5.5 fantasy points late into the 4th quarter.  On the Rams last drive they threw a long pass to Puka and he gained 37 yards.  Brad was up by 3.9 at the time.  This catch at the very end of the game was the difference between Moose moving to 3-0 and Brad moving to 1-2 versus both teams being 2-1.  Sometimes in life you lose at the last minute in devastating fashion.  You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and question why you play fantasy fucking football because it’s stupid and I hate it!     Calvin Ridley keeps dropping balls and Moose left De’Von Achane’s 56.3 on the bench.  If Brad had started Jerick McKinnon over Tyler Allgeier he would have won.  I’ll be patiently waiting for the stat correction to drop on this one.  (spoiler alert it wont, this is the denial stage of grief).

Trey (0-3) 86.3 vs. Chase (2-1) 130.9

Chase did indeed spend all his money on a Ford.  Jerome Ford did decent against a tough Tennessee run defense getting 18.1 points most of which came from two touchdowns (12).  Everybody else for Chase was just solid.  No one exploded and no one did terrible.  Just a solid 130 points performance.  This included a touchdown catch for Travis Kelce, which apparently wasn’t the biggest catch for him this week.  Taylor Swift was in attendance and rooted hard for Kelce mouthing “Lets Fucking Go!” after he scored the touchdown.  Are they for real or are they trolling the world?  Kelce jerseys were up 400% in sales and Swift would get breakup song ammunition.  Seems like a business deal to me.  For Trey he continued to miss JK Dobbins and Jamaal Williams.  He replaced them with Kendre Miller but the Saints couldn’t really get anything going on offense against the Packers.  Fields and DJ Moore have been a huge disappointment.  Olave and Metcalf both got respectable 17 point weeks, but the 22.1 combined points from Fields and DJ Moore just isn’t enough.

Week 4 Preview:

Scotty (3-0) vs. Brad (1-2)

Brad is facing the Tua-Tyreek stack in both his 23-year-old league and this league, so you can go ahead and slam those over props as I’m sure they’ll continue their records paces against me.  I used up all my karma points in the offseason when I wrote that fake book, autographed it, and sent copies to all my league mates because I’ve won back-to-back titles.  Scotty also conveniently gets back Alvin Kamara this week against me as I’m sure he’ll be very motivated to hit the ground running after his 3 game suspension.  20th ranked Miles Sanders gets Minnesota’s run defense.  Scotty could also be getting Christian Watson back on Thursday Night Football against Detroit.  If not, Scotty can turn to Marquise Brown who has looked pretty good for the Cardinals that just upset the Cowgirls.  Brad is also terrified at Steeler’s D/ST going up against the Texans.  The Texans starting offensive line has 4 members on IR and the left tackle has missed games as well.  It’s a shit show.  This could be a bloodbath for Brad.  Speaking of injuries that’s what Brad is looking at.  He’s hoping to have David Montgomery back from injury for TNF against the Packers, but we’ll see if his thigh bruise cooperates or not.  Brad is also monitoring Anthony Richardson and his concussion.  If he can’t go or is a Game Time decision Brad might elect to go with Trevor Lawrence in London against Atlanta.  Brad has Dameon Pierce against a Steelers team that has given up a lot of rushing yards, but again he doesn’t have a line to run behind.  If Brad is going to pull this upset he needs Calvin Ridley and AJ Brown to not drop passes.  I don’t think Scotty finishes the season undefeated, but I do think he finishes this week undefeated.

Trey (0-3) vs. Tommy (0-3)

Something has to give!  The good news is that one of these teams are going to get their first win of the season.  The bad news is that one of them is going to drop to 0-4 and most likely already be out of playoff contention.  Not statistically, but probabilistically.  Who is it going to be?  Trey has 3 Wide Receivers that are Top 14 and that doesn’t include DK Metcalf (22) DJ Moore (36) or the impressive Zay Flowers who is averaging 6+ targets and 10.3 fantasy points per game.  But who to start?  At Running Back he has Bijan looking amazing, but has yet to get a rushing touchdown.  He’s still a Top 10 RB, but he was drafted #1 overall.  He needs the tuddies.  AT RB2 Trey has Kendre Miller, Dalvin Cook, or someone else out there.  If I was Trey I would be burning my phones looking for someone that needs a wide receiver or flex player and is willing to deal a RB.  With Kamara coming back and Zach Wilson’s ineptitude it would behoove Trey to find a new RB2.  He has Justin Fields going up against a Denver defense that was embarrassed by the Dolphins.  Does Fields take advantage or does Denver take out their revenge on a struggling offense?  For Tommy.  He’s got #2 Qb Kirk Cousins @ Carolina.  This game could be up in pace.  Look for him to continue his high bolume passing attack  At RB Tommy still doesn’t have Ekeler so he must turn to Josh Jacobs @ LA Chargers and Najee Harris @ Houston.  Texans have given up a rushing touchdown to opposing backs each week this season including 3 in Week 1 against Baltimore.  Maybe Trent Richardson 2.0 can fall into the endzone for Tommy this week.  At WR its rough.  He has Jerry Jeudy vs. Chicago, DeAndre Hopkins vs. Cincy and DJ Chark vs. Minnesota.  He could go dumpster diving into the free agent pool or he can try to trade.  I don’t know who he would trade though.  I don’t know who is going to win, but I want you both to know.  We are all thinking about you.  Good luck!

Chase (2-1) vs. Katon (3-0)

Great Week 4 matchup here.  Both teams last week were solid.  Got solid production on their way for solid wins.  Does it happen again?  Chase has #13 Qb Josh Allen vs. Miami.  Miami has been en Fuego and they get them in Buffalo.  Allen was solid as hell against the Dolphins in all three matchups last year.  Scoring games of 26.7, 35.86, and 24.08.  Seems like a slam dunk for 20+ points this week.  Chase also has #13 RB James Cook in that same matchup.  He has #11 Jerome Ford who impressed me last week against a tough Tennessee run defense.  He didn’t rush for shit, but he fought hard and scored 2 touchdowns.  Gutsy.  Chase has #21 WR CeeDee Lamb against New England and #17 WR Amari Cooper against Baltimore.  It’ll be interesting to see who Chase starts in the flex as he has a few different options that are intriguing.  For Katon he has #4 Patrick Mahomes vs. a tough Jet’s defense.  Because the Jets offense is so bad Mahomes will have plenty of scoring opportunities.  Katon just needs to hope he throws it to his backs and receivers and not to Travis Kelce who Chase has.  Hopefully he isn’t hitting Taylor like a wrecking ball or whatever pop reference would be appropriate to add into the write up right here.   #15 RB Joe Mixon gets that tough Tennessee rush defense.  This is a Ja’Marr Chase week.  Speaking of which, Katon has Chase.  He also has #18 WR Michael Pittman and #23 Isaih Pacheco.  #1 TE TJ Hockenson gets Carolina which could be a shootout.  The records and matchup set this up to be an early season classic.

Jen (0-3) vs. Moose (3-0)

Despite the record disparity these two teams are more evenly matched than meets the eye.  Moose has scored 30.1 more points this season than Jen.  But he has had 98.1 less points scored against him.  In fact, as of this writing, Jen is currently favored to win.  Let’s dive in.  Jen has #14 Qb Deshaun Watson coming off his best game of the season so far.  He gets Baltimore, which can be tough, but their secondary has been hurt to start the year.  She also has #14 RB Travis Etienne vs. Atlanta, #26 RB Roschon Johnson vs. a Denver defense that was just embarrassed by the Mostert/Achane combo.  She has #3 WR Justin Jefferson going up against a Carolina defense that has a ton of injuries.  Tee Higgins gets pass funnel Tennessee in a boom set up game for him.  Darren Waller will be deployed on Monday Night Football as Jen tries to take this one home.  With Jen having Packers D/ST she’ll have someone playing on TNF, London 830am game on Sunday, and MNF.  Pretty nice weekend.  For Moose he has #7 Lamar Jackson against a really tough Cleveland defense.  They’ve been playing lights out.  But Lamar seems to be getting more comfortable into the new system.  Moose will deploy his newly minted Top 5 RB Duo of Tony Pollard vs. New England and rookie phenom De’Von Achane @ Buffalo.  Look for Achane to come back to Earth in a big way much like I came down from the first time I ever went into a bar.  I was 18 and we lied saying it was my birthday despite it being St. Patty’s day and they made me the honorary judge of the bikini contest and things got wild.  At WR Moose has #6 Puka “Beat Brad by 0.3 in the closing moments in Week 3” Nacua with a decent matchup against Indy.  He also has #23 Jordan Addison in the up temp game against a banged up Carolina defense that could see a lot of points.  Cleveland shuts down tight ends, but can they shut down Andrews?  Breece Hall gets KC’s defense that has done well at stopping the run since Week 1.  Saints D/ST and Jake Moody combo has been a silent cheat code for Moose.  Combined they have been averaging 25.3 points per game.

JD (2-1) vs. Joe (1-2)

JD is playing the streaming Quarterback game and has dropped Brock Purdy for Jimmy Garoppolo.  Garoppolo is in the concussion protocol but has a juicy matchup against the LA Chargers if he’s able to clear.  If he can’t JD can pivot to Danny Dimes who gets Seattle on Monday Night Football.  JD has #4 RB Kenneth Walker in that same MNF game.  He will hope to have Saquon Barkley back, but with him playing Monday Night and coming off of injury JD can afford to wait a week and see what happens.  He also has #6 RB Kyren Williams against Indy and for shits and giggles has Rachaad White against New Orleans if he gets in a bind.  (If Trey is reading this then JD would be a team I’d be reaching out to inquire about RB availability.  White and Kyren Williams volume has been insane and when Barkley comes back he won’t need all 4).  JD also has #4 Davante Adams in that Chargers matchup to complete the stack and #13 DeVonta Smith against Washington.  He has #19 George Pickens vs. Houston’s Stingley-less secondary.  Joe says this year will be better.  I don’t know if that’s true, but this week must feel better after getting his first win of the season last week.  He will try to make it two in a row.  First step is to see if Aaron Jones can go against Detroit on TNF.  If he can then Joe has a tough decision to make between #22 Alexander Mattison, #1 Raheem Mostert, or Jones in an important divisional game.  (Trey if you are reading this then Joe would be a team I’d be reaching out to inquire about RB availability.)  Joe will have one legged pocket passer Burrow against Tennessee who happens to suck against the pass (lucky you).  Joe will also hope that Jaylen Waddle can clear the protocol in time for the big divisional matchup against the Bills.  #2 Sam LaPorta continues to impress and will look to continue his awesome rookie season against the Packers on TNF.

Mike (1-2) vs. Kenny (2-1)

Mike has a little squad now.  The #1 Qb Justin Herbert to #2 WR Keenan Allen combo has proved all the haters wrong.  (To be clear.  I hated the Allen pick and loved the Herbert pick, so I’m only half wrong).  Derrick Henry has been hampered by an injury and hasn’t seemed right.  Spears has been taking a lot of snaps.  Is Father Time finally catching up to the Big Dog?  Mike also has Jahmyr Gibbs against Green Bay and #12 RB Zach Moss vs. LA Rams.  Mike’s suffering from the Garret Wilson demise, but is competing each week.  For Kenny he’s coming off is first loss and looks to bounce back here.  Having 3 Top 8 Wide Receivers gives him the chance to do just that.  He has #9 Jalen Hurts vs. Washington.  #10 RB D’Andre Swift who started singing songs from the hit musical Hamilton when Kenny Gainwell went down in Week 2.  “I am not going to miss my shot!”  He gets Washington as well.  AT RB#2 he has #7 RB Brian Robinson against that tough Philly defense.  Kenny has #8 Stefon Diggs against Miami and #7 Deebo Samuel against Arizona.  Don’t forget about #5 WR Mike Evans in the coveted Lattimore matchup.  The touchdown or throwing a punch bets are getting slammed right now.  Dallas D/ST is ranked #2 despite only scoring 2 points last week.  We’ll see if the loss of start cornerback Travon Diggs will continue to hurt this team or if it was just a fluke.  On deck is the Patriots and Zeke Elliots revenge game.

Thanks for reading and good luck everyone!

Commish B-Razzle Dazzle

BBY Dream Team League Season 15 Week 1 Recap & Week 2 Preview

bradleybertoniere Fantasy Football, NFL , , ,

Week 1 Recap:

Division 1:

JD (0-1) 73.9 vs. Katon (1-0) 80.8

A low scoring affair.  JD went into Monday Night Football down 26.9 with Bills D/ST and Tyler Bass.  They combined for 20, leading to our Super Bowl Champion falling short.  The rest of his starters all scored 14.2 or less including 6/9 players scoring in single digits.  Katon’s team didn’t do much, but his 19.5 from Patrick Mahomes on TNF was the highest scorer in this matchup.  He was able to overcome his D/ST Baltimore scoring 12 points as his second highest scorer.  Both teams had a fluke week as they move on to their second division game in Week 2.

Mike (1-0) 101.6 vs. Jen (0-1) 91.2

Mike was down by 1.5 points with Garret Wilson left to play on Monday Night Football.  Wilson got 11.9 most of which came from an incredible touchdown catch.  Of course that touchdown was thrown by Zach Wilson and not Aaron Rodgers who left the game with a season ending Achilles injury just 4 snaps into his season. The big story for Mike’s team was his kicker Jake Elliott who went 4/4 on field goals and scored a whopping 17 points.  Most of the match was evened up but his peripherals outscored Jen’s 35.8 to 24.3.  For Jen she started out rough on TNF with Skyy Moore only getting 0.4 points.  Also Tee Higgins was a huge disappointment as he had an impressive 8 targets and 0 catches.  There will be better days ahead for Tee Higgins.

Division 2:

Tommy (0-1) 89.0 vs. Scotty (1-0) 92.1

An incredibly close game to start the year as Tommy suffers the dreaded Super Bowl hangover.  His first round pick Austin Ekeler picked up right where he left off with a solid 27.4 points rushing for over 100 yards and a score.  Kirk Cousins tried to keep him in the game with 19.3, but he had 3 turnovers.  Tommy had 6 starters in single digits including 3 players that scored less than 5 points.  Scotty’s team didn’t do much better.  His Qb Dak Prescott got 6.2 points.  He had 5 players score in single digits and 2 players score 0.  One of the 0’s was from Christian Watson who was ruled out before kickoff.  This gave Scotty enough time to swap out his lineup and worries me about Scotty’s overall engagement.  Are we losing Scotty everybody?  How in the hell did Scotty win you might ask?  TYREEK HILL.  Tyreek accounted for an incredible 47.8% of Scotty’s entire team point total this week.  That’s what happens when you catch 11 balls on 15 targets for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Crazy to think that Tommy almost pulled this one out.

Joe (0-1) 100.7 vs. Kenny (1-0) 126.1

Joe had a mixed bag in Week 1.  On one hand he had his 3 running backs combine for 67 points.  On the other Joe Burrow scored 3.1 and his two starting wideouts combined for 11.2.  There are sure to be better days ahead for Joe (both Burrow and Weiser), but don’t be surprised if he tries to trade a running back out to upgrade at wide receiver.  For Kenny he had a balanced game with one big exception.  Hurts got 12.5, Nick Chubb got a respectable 17.7.  Mike Evans looked good with 6 catches for 66 yards and a touchdown against Minnesota.  But really the story was all about Sunday Night Football and Dallas D/ST.  My goodness.  37 points!  10 points for shutout, 8 points for blocked fg for touchdown, 6 points for turnovers, 7 points for sacks, and another 6 points for the pick six.  Heading into Monday Night Football Kenny was up 1.2 and had Stefon Diggs left to play.  Didn’t even need his 24.2 to beat Joe, but it was nice and jettisoned Kenny to #1 in Points For after 1 week.

Division 3:

Trey (0-1) 102.5 vs. Brad (1-0) 110.3

#1 overall pick versus the last pick in the draft and Brad sneaks out a victory.  The biggest story line for Brad was Trevor Lawrence and Calvin Ridley’s connection.  Lawrence threw for 241 yards 2 passing tds and an interception.  Of those Calvin Ridley caught 8 passes on 11 targets for 101 yards and a touchdown.  Getting the coveted 3 points 100-yard bonus.  As expected Brad got a paltry 5.7 from his RB1 and David Montgomery got him a respectful 13.4 on Thursday Night Football.  Brad’s “Brown-Brown” combo combined for 27.5 as both got into double digits.  For Trey it was a weird week.  Justin Fields and DJ Moore got blown out by the Packers.  Bijan Robinson scored his first touchdown of his young career, but Tyler Algeier stole the show.  Trey also lost JK Dobbins to a torn achilles.  Justice Hill took over for Dobbins when he was out and scored two touchdowns meaning it was Dobbins injury that most likely sealed Trey’s fate in Week 1 and handed Brad an early season victory.

Chase (0-1) 77.4 vs. Moose (1-0) 92.6

Love when these two get together.  Moose held the lead heading into Monday Night Football.  He was up 92.6 to Chase’s 60.1.  This means Moose’s 32.5 point lead versus Chase’s Josh Allen and James Cook on the Bills.  ESPN predicted Chase at 93.5 and gave him a 53% chance of victory.  Of course Monday Night Football didn’t go as planned with Josh Allen having four turnovers and James Cook failing to find the end zone as they both combined for a total of 17.3 points.  Moose’s team was carried by Tony Pollard’s 2 touchdown day, Jake Moody’s impressive 14.0 points and Jordan Addison’s first career touchdown catch.  Moose had 4 players score 6.5 or less including Lamar Jackson, which is rough.  Chase had underwhelming days from most of his starters with Herbert rushing for only 27 yards, Cooper only receiving 37 yards, Sutton with only 32 yards receiving, but he did score a touchdown.  CeeDee caught a ball late in the game in garbage time and wind up with 4 catches and 77 yards.  Brandon Aiyuk went off on Chase’s bench with 8 catches, 129 yards, and 2 touchdowns.  I’m betting we’ll see him more in the starting lineup sooner rather than later.

Week 2 Preview:

Division 1:

JD (0-1) vs. Mike (1-0)

Dizzle heads to Mike Grote to try and get his first victory of the season.  At Qb he’ll hope that Daniel Jones does a bit more than he did against the Cowboys (4.3 fantasy points).  He should since the Cardinals are one of the worst teams in the NFL.  For Mike he’ll have Justin Herbert @ Tennessee.  Tennessee’s secondary is atrocious, and I like Herbert to repeat with another 20 point outing.  At Running Back JD has Barkley @ Arizona who gave up 75 yards rushing on the ground and a receiving touchdown against the Commanders last week.  JD also has Rachad White vs. Chicago.  Aaron Jones ran all over Chicago prior to pulling his hammy.  A good sign for White on the surprising 1-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  For Mike he’ll have Derrick Henry vs. LA Chargers and Jahmyr Gibbs vs. Seattle.  Henry didn’t do much against the Saints run defense, but an alarming stat was how much Tajae Spears played.  Henry played 48% of the snaps while Spears played on 54% of snaps.  Gibbs also didn’t play as much as David Montgomery.  Gibbs played on 27% of snaps compared to Monty’s 79% snap rate.  Remember what I always say, for wide receivers bet on talent, for running backs bet on opportunity.  Now we all know that Gibbs snap count will increase as the season goes on.  Gibbs was obviously a monster in the limited snaps he played.  Looked bigger, stronger, faster and he kept hitting the spin move.  If Mike is gonna hang with JD he needs his backs to play more.  For Wide Receivers JD has Davante Adams vs. Buffalo and DeVonta Smith vs. Minnesota.  We might get a TNF shootout with two high potent offenses going at it.  Smith will be fine.  Adams will go against Buffalo who did a pretty good job shutting down the Jets passing attack, but with Zach Wilson at Qb it’s tough to know whether Buffalo’s secondary is going to be really good or if it was just Wilson.  Jacobi Meyers kind of stole the show in Week 1 and looked like Jimmy G’s go-to receiver.  Adams should be fine.  Mike has Garrett Wilson @ Dallas and Keenan Allen @ Tennessee.  Zach Wilson going up against Dallas D/ST.  I would lessen your Garrett Wilson expectations, but he’s so talented you also have to start him.  Tough.  Keenan Allen could feast on the Titans.  At Flex JD has Kenneth Walker III @ Detroit.  Detroit was decent against the run and Seattle lost both of their starting left tackles to injury in Week 1.  They just signed 41-year-old Jason Peters, which is not a good sign.  Mike will have Chris Godwin vs. Chicago.  Godwin had 5 catches for 51 yards on 6 targets in Week 1, which is about what I would expect. For Peripherals JD has Kittle vs. LA Rams, Bills D/ST vs. Las Vegas, and Tyler Bass vs. LV.  Kittle averaged 31.5 yards receiving against the Rams last year making him a more td dependent option this week.  Bills should be fine.  For Mike he has Pat Freiermuth vs. Cleveland, Commanders D/ST vs. Denver, and Jake Elliot against Minnesota on Thursday Night Football.  Freiermuth only had one catch last week, but it went for a tuddy.  He’ll be limited in practice this week but is expected to play.

Jen (0-1) vs. Katon (1-0)

Jen vs. Katon will get started on Thursday Night Football with Katon’s TJ Hockenson and Jen’s Justin Jefferson and finish up on Monday Night Football with Jen’s Deshaun Watson.  At Qb we have Jen’s Watson going up against a Pittsburgh defense that underwhelmed in Week 1.  Christian McCaffrey ran all over them and Brock Purdy threw a couple of touchdowns to Brandon Aiyuk.  I think Watson will be fine.  For Katon he’ll have Patrick Mahomes vs. Jacksonville.  This looks like it could be a high scoring and fun game.  Mahomes is hoping to have Kelce back and hoping his wide receivers don’t repeat that terrible performance from week 1.  At Running Back Jen has Travis Etienne Jr. vs. the Chiefs and either Javonte Williams vs. Washington or AJ Dillon vs. Atlanta.  Etienne should do fine against a Chiefs defense who gave up 74 yards rushing to David Montgomery in week 1.  Chiefs do get Chris Jones back who ended his holdout and rejoined the squad.  Katon will roll with Joe Mixon vs. Baltimore and James Conner vs. the Giants.  Mixon can’t do much worse then last week, but Baltimore did a good job stopping the Texans rush attack in Week 1.  Conner faces the Giants team that gave up a pair of touchdowns to Tony Pollard.  At Wide Receiver we have Jen’s Justin Jefferson vs. it doesn’t matter.  No it’s Philly who low key got torched by the Patriots terrible wide receivers.  JJ should be fine.  Tee Higgins should bounce back from a historically bad Week 1.  8 targets and 0 catches is insane.  Last year against Baltimore Higgins wasn’t great, but they have some injuries to their secondary that are worth monitoring.  Regardless, everyone is starting Tee Higgins.  Katon has Ja’Marr Chase against Baltimore and Terry McLaurin vs. Denver.  Katon famously picked Chase over JJ in the draft and now here we are in Week 2 and we get to see if he’ll regret it or not.  At flex it’s looking like Jen will have Skyy Moore, or Javonte/AJ Dillon, or Romeo Doubs perhaps.  We’ll see as it looks like she has a few options.  Katon has Samaje Perine or Pacheco.  At Tight End Jen should have Darren Waller in her lineup vs. Arizona.  Katon will rock with TJ Hockenson against Philly.  Hunter Henry caught a touchdown against Philly in Week 1.  Jen has Packers D/ST against Atlanta and Katon has Raven’s D/ST vs. Cincy.  Should be a great matchup and best of luck to both of you!

Division 2:

Tommy (0-1) vs. Kenny (1-0)

Tommy has to be scared shitless for this matchup.  Two very big things to watch in this one.  One is Austin Ekeler’s ankle.  The other is Kenny’s Dallas D/ST against Zach Wilson.  They could repeat their 30+ point performance from Week 1.  Some good news for Tommy is his Kirk Cousins will play a banged up Eagles secondary who might be without James Bradberry and their starting safety.  More bad news is he is going up against Jalen Hurts like he didn’t in the Final Four matchup last year you lucky bitch.  Hurts plays Minnesota on TNF.  At RB Tommy will either have Ekeler, Jacobs and Najee or just Jacobs against Buffalo and Najee against Cleveland on Monday Night Football.  For Kenny he has Nick Chubb on MNF and Brian Robinson Jr. against Denver.  AT WR Tommy has DeAndre Hopkins against a Chargers secondary that gave up 200+ receiving yards to Tyreek Hill in Week 1.  And Mike Williams @ Tennessee.  Mike Williams left the game in Week 1 for a head injury but wind up returning and catching a couple more passes.  Might be something to monitor as the week progresses.  K-Dub has Stefon Diggs against the Raiders and Deebo Samuel @ LA Rams.  In my draft grades I said I was worried about Deebo’s role and Week 1 proved me right.  But he’s a bet on talent play that can take it to the house on a single slant route.  We’ll see if it happens this week.  Peripherals are advantage Kenny because Dallas D/ST might outscore all of Tommy’s Evan Engram, Vikings D/ST, and Evan McPherson.

Joe (0-1) vs. Scotty (1-0)

Joe vs. Scotty.  Looks like this party is going to get started on Thursday Night Football with Joe having Alexander Mattison and Scotty having Dallas Goedert.  Joe will have Joe Burrow finishing things off on Monday Night Football.  Scotty will have Tua going up against New England.  At RB Joe has Run CMC against LA Rams and he’s hoping to have Aaron Jones depending on the severity of his hamstring injury.  Scotty has Rhamondre Stevenson against Miami and Miles Sanders against the Who Dats on Monday Night Football.  At WR we have the battle of the Dolphins with Joe’s Jaylen Waddle and Scotty’s Tyreek Hill.  Both Wide Receiver 2’s kind of suck in Joe’s Christian Kirk and Scotty’s Marquise Brown.  At Flex Joe will either have Aaron Jones or maybe Raheem Mostert, Jahan Dotson, or Treylon Burks.  Peripherals I give the advantage to Scotty with Steelers D/ST against Celveland and Harrison Butker against Jacksonville.  Joe has Justin Tucker against the Bengals D/ST and Kyle Pitts who doesn’t get any targets.

Division 3:

Brad (1-0) vs. Chase (0-1)

Great matchup on paper!  Chase has Josh Allen looking to rebound against the Raiders.  Brad has Trevor Lawrence in a potential shootout with Kansas City.  KC is hoping to have Kelce back and will get Chris Jones back on defense, which could impact Lawrence’s production.  KC isn’t the only one hoping to have Kelce back as Chase would love to deploy the stud against Brad’s Chig Okonkwo.  At RB Chase has James Cook in the Las Vegas game and Khalil Herbert going up against Tampa Bay.  Herbert is looking dicey after only one week of play as Roschon Johnson looked good in limited action, albeit at the end of the game when the Packers were already up big.  Khalil should be fine, but Tampa Bay did a decent job stopping Alexander Mattison the Vikings rush attack in Week 1.  For Brad he has two plodders in Dameon Pierce against Indy and David Montgomery vs. Seattle.  Both have favorable matchups in games they should win.  No clear advantage.  At wide receiver Chase has Amari Cooper @ Pittsburgh.  Last week Brandon Aiyuk carved up the Steelers defense and Cooper will hope to replicate on Monday Night Football.  Last season against Pittsburgh Cooper had one boom game and one bust game.  The boom was in Week 3 where he went 7 receptions on 11 targets for 101 yards and a touchdown.  The bust came in Week 18 when it didn’t really matter.  He caught 2 balls for 51 yards.  Chase has Brandon Aiyuk fresh off the two touchdown game going up against the LA Rams.  Metcalf got an early touchdown against this secondary buy Aaron Donald took over and Seattle couldn’t get much going.  Chase will also deploy CeeDee Lamb against the Jets.  Stefon Diggs was able to carve them up on Monday Night Football, so look for Lamb to have a decent outing.  For Brad he too will deploy trips wide receivers.  He has Amon-Ra St. Brown against Seattle who made Puca Nacua look like Cooper Kupp with 10 catches on 15 targets for 119 yards.  Brad has AJ Brown against the Vikings on Thursday Night Football.  And Calvin Ridley against the Chiefs for the T-Law/Ridley stack.  Peripherals show a clear advantage Chase with Travis Kelce against the Jags, Browns D/ST against Pittsburgh now without Diontae Johnson, and Jason Myers in a dome against Detroit.  Brad has Chig Okonkwo vs. LA Chargers, Eagles D/ST against a Minnesota team that turned it over 3 times against the Bucs in week 1, and Brandon McManus against KC.  Should be a great game.

Trey (0-1) vs. Moose (1-0)

T- Money is hoping to bounce back from the Week 1 defeat, but must face the juggernaut 4-time champion Moose to do it.  Moose has been decimated by injuries to his 1st round, 3rd round, and 6th round draft picks.  He’ll be without Cooper Kupp and Diontae Johnson at least in this game, with the possibility of missing out on Mark Andrews and Kenny Gainwell as well.  Trey will deploy Justin Fields against a Tampa Bay team that caused Minnesota to turn the ball over frequently.  Fields didn’t look great in Week 1 and only scored a respectable 14.5 points after scoring a late touchdown in garbage time.  Moose will have Lamar Jackson who also had a dud in Week 1.  He posted on social media that they had rust.  He travels to Cincy to go up against division foe Joe Burrow.  At RB Trey will have Bijan Robinson against Green Bay and Jamaal Williams @ Carolina, both favorable matchups.  Moose will have Tony Pollard against the Zach Wilson led Jets and Breece Hall against the juggernaut Dallas team.  At Wide Receiver Trey will have Chris Olave vs. Carolina, DK Metcalf @ Detroit, and DJ Moore @ Tampa Bay.  Moose will go double rookies Jordan Addison in the TNF matchup against the Eagles secondary that made Kendrick Bourne look like Davante Adams and Puka Nacua who did his best Cooper Kupp impression in Week 1.  In the Flex we’ll have to see who Moose goes with if Kenny Gainwell is out due to his rib injury.  Most likely Joshua Kelley (depending on Ekeler’s status), Michael Thomas, Elijah Moore or Zay Jones.  Peripherals look even with Trey having Juwan Johnson @ Carolina, 49ers D/ST against the Rams, and Younghoe Koo against Green Bay.  Moose will feature Mark Andrews (if he plays) or Luke Musgrave against Atlanta.  Saints D/ST against Carolina and Jake Moody @ LA Rams.  Still a lot in the air for injuries this week, but it should be a big time Week 2 matchup.

Thanks for reading and best of luck this week!

Maryanne Smith League Season 23 Draft Grades

bradleybertoniere Draft Guide, Fantasy Football, NFL, Quarterbacks, Rankings, Sophomores, Wide Receivers , ,

Annual Disclaimer: Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.  This is my opinion.  Last Year These were the Draft Grades:

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

And these were the Final Standings:

  1. Brad
  2. Logan
  3. Andy
  4. Mike
  5. Stephen
  6. Ben
  7. Josh
  8. Caleb
  9. Quentin
  10. Max

So the playoff teams were ranked #1, #7, #8, and #10.  At least I called Mike having a good team last year.  Let’s see how I do this year!

  1. Stephen.

Stephen gets the #1 Pick and goes with the smash Justin Jefferson pick.  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.  18 picks later Stephen was up again at the 2/3 turn.  He went with Jaylen Waddle (WR#7 last year) and Chris Olave (WR#25 last year).  Olave is looking to make a sophomore jump in Year 2.  WR’s typically perform 101.4% in their second season comparing ppr points by the number of years in the NFL to players career baseline averages.  Waddle is the perfect fit in Mike McDaniels offense and I see no reason for him to not repeat his big play 2022 season.  This gives Stephen the best trio of Wide Receivers in the league by far.  In Round 4/5 turn Stephen went with two Vikings in TJ Hockenson and Alexander Mattison.  Hockenson finished as the #2 Tight End last year and I look for him to pick up where he left off last season (at least while Jordan Addison gets acclimated into the NFL).  Expect a little pep in his step after signing a 4 year, $66,000,000 contract making him the highest paid tight end in the league.  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 16th in PFF rushing grade compared to Cook’s 64th 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.  In Round 6/7 Stephen was looking for depth pieces at RB and went with JK Dobbins and James Cook.  Great selections.  Dobbins knee looks disgusting but he’s playing and this is redraft, so I don’t have a problem with seeing what he can do in Todd Monken’s offense.  James Cook should take the lions share of the running back work for Buffalo now that Devin Singletary is a Texan, but look for Damien Harris and/or Latavius Murray to be an annoyance, stealing some goal line work (if Josh Allen doesn’t steal it that is).  I might have gone White over Cook, but that’s more conservative and with your zero running back approach to the first 4 rounds the swing for the fences appeal of Cook makes sense.  He’s certainly on a better offense.  In Rounds 8 and 9 you went David Montgomery and Gabe Davis.  Good depth pieces as Montgomery could be the Jamaal Williams of the Lions offense this season.   In Round 10 you went with Anthony Richardson and Courtland Sutton.  Sutton has Top 25 WR potential this year with the injuries to Jeudy and Sean Payton running the show.  Of course he is still at the mercy of Russel Wilson, so it’s good that he’s a depth piece and won’t be relied on.  As far as Richardson goes I predict he will finish the year as a Top 12 Fantasy Qb.  Like I said in the draft comparing Anthony Richardson to Derrick Henry.  Richardson is taller, heavier, and faster.  His head coach was Jalen Hurts’ head coach.  They are designing the offense around him.  In the preseason game against the Eagles he ran for 38 yards in the first half.  He had another run called back for holding.  His completion percentage was rough, but they drove down the field and scored on 3 possessions (17 points).  If you can look past completion percentage and look at fantasy stats then Richardson is going to be a great fantasy Qb in Year 1.  In Round 12 and 13 you and Michael had a weird moment where he made your pick for you?  He was like Rashod Bateman is available.  Are you taking him Stephen?  Stephen was hesitant and then said “yeah”.  Don’t know what that was all about.  I know Stephen Danley’s team name was famously “Your Sister’s Keeper” so his Michael trying to be named “My Brother’s Keeper”.  Super Weird.  Stephen also took Danny Dimes and Geno Smith.  He could have 3 Top 15 Qbs.  Good for depth, tough to choose a starter.

Draft Grade: A.  Stephen’s team is going to get so many freaking targets it’s going to be insane.  Drafting 1st is a huge advantage and Stephen took advantage of the advantage.  Advantageous.  Stephen’s team is a contender.

  1. Caleb.

Caleb goes Christian McCaffrey.  Run CMC looked great for the Niners.  He took over Deebo Samuel’s previous role as the Wide-Back.  I’m sure they will try to keep him fresh and sprinkle in an annoying amount of Elijah Mitchell, but I’m okay with the pick.  Looking at the Round 2/3 Running Backs I don’t blame you.  I still would have gone Ja’Marr Chase, but to each their own.  In the 2nd you had Jalen Hurts drop to you.  Hurts averaged almost 30 points per game last year.  He only finished as Fantasy Qb#3 because he got injured and missed Weeks 16 and 17.  To the detriment of Andy last year.  In the 3rd you stacked Hurts with Devonta Smith.  Smith has drawn Marvin Harrison comparisons and should continue to be 1B to AJ Brown’s 1A roll.  This stack could win you some weeks.  In Round 4 you went Kenneth Walker III.  Walker is Evan Silva’s RB#11 and he has him ranked higher than Gibbs, Jones, Etienne, and Mixon, so you might’ve sneaked in a Top 10 RB as your RB2.  Concern is the high draft capital used on Zach Charbonnet, but I see Walker as the true starter and Charbonnet as just a backup for now.  In Round 5 you went with Breece Hall.  This was a little early for me as I see him being in a time share with Dalvin Cook for most of the season, but he has late season breakout potential (and if you read my Mattison portion of Stephen’s grade you’ll see that Dalvin isn’t the Dalvin that he used to be).  Sometimes players coming back from ACL tears can have some soft tissue issues like hamstring pulls and things like that, so that’s the concern, but as a high risk/high reward RB3 I’m okay with it.  I probably would have gone conservative and gone with Dameon Pierce to secure the volume.  In Round 6 and 7 you drafted your WR2 and WR3 and both of these picks were horrendous and disgusting.  You have 30-year-old Tyler Lockett on a team that just drafted arguably the best wide receiver in the 2023 draft class JSN.  WR’s entering their 9th season typically have a drop off statistically and do not hit their baseline average performance.  You went with Chris Godwin who gets a significant downgrade at Qb going from Brady to Baker.  The offensive line is atrocious, and you know what Brady was good at?  Quick release.  You know what Baker is bad at?  Quick release.  In Round 8 you went with Michael Pittman Jr.  He’s going to have some good weeks and could be Anthony Richardson’s #1 WR, but it’s going to be a frustrating ride.  When will Richardson’s accuracy be on and when will it be off?  Good luck.  In Round 9 you went with Isiah Pacheco.  Love the depth piece.  He could start for you some weeks in the flex and be a good running back to plug in if you have injuries.  Gibson, Toney, Chig, and Achane.  Gibson is a solid depth running back.  Toney is a gadget player.  He looked cool in the playoffs.  They drew up a lot of creative stuff for him.  If his injury history and off field issues can subside for a couple of freaking weeks we might be able to see what he can do because they’ve treated him like their #1 Wide Receiver all offseason.

Draft Grade: C+.  You are in the “Could potentially compete” category.  Your Wide Receivers are rough.  You would have been better off going with Chase-Smith and having your RB’s be Walker-Hall/Pacheco/Gibson instead of Smith-Lockett.  What a shame (in Gordon Ramsey’s voice)

  1. Quentin.

Congrats again on your new addition Q!  You read the book!  Get the Top Tight End!  Travis Kelce.  He’s entering his age 34 season, but with his playing style he has a chance to extend his career beyond normal expectations.  He catches, runs smooth, and gets down gently.  He reminds me of Marvin Harrison sometimes the way he gets down to avoid injury.  I wouldn’t have taken him over Ja’Marr Chase, but this gives you a guy scoring Top 5 RB numbers while half of the league is going to be praying for 6-10 points from their Tight End spot.  It’s a huge advantage.  Also, at a celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe last month I saw him shotgun a beer and talk smack with a Niners fan about whether he’s the top tight end or not.  It was awesome.   In Round 2 you had 2022 WR#3 Davante Adams fall into your lap.  Adams proved last year Qb doesn’t matter as much.  He had 180 targets last year.  Jimmy G is comparable to Derek Carr in my opinion.  Also, I watched him play golf at the same celebrity golf tournament and he has a decent swing.  In Round 3 you went Patrick Mahomes who (you guessed it) I saw at that celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe.  This gives you a solid trio in Mahomes-Kelce-Adams.  Solid Qb1, WR1, and TE1.  Great start.  In Round 4 you took Keenan Allen.  I hated this pick.  He wasn’t at the golf tournament.  Just kidding just kidding that’s not why I hate it.  Allen wasn’t the best WR for the Chargers the last two seasons.  That was Mike Williams.  Allen is constantly hurt and they drafted Quentin Johnston for a reason.  You needed a RB1 and instead you chose a questionable WR2.  I like the Chargers this year, so maybe if he can stay healthy he can do something, but I feel like this was the pick that is going to bury you this season.  You could’ve taken Alexander Mattison and had a solid RB1.  Ouch.  In Round 5 you took Amari Cooper.  Cooper will be a better WR2 than Allen.  Cooper finished as the WR#10 last year and there is no reason to doubt he won’t repeat that success now that he’s had more time with Watson at Qb.  In Round 6 you took Cam Akers as your RB1.  What a crazy year last year for the Rams.  They were going to trade Akers, then no they weren’t.  Darrell Henderson starts.  Then they cut Henderson.  Akers was coming off the torn Achilles in 2021.  Which is normally a death sentence for running backs (see James Robinson, Marlon Mack, etc).  The offensive line sucks.  I haven’t touched Akers this season.  Only bright spot is he did finish 2022 with 3 straight 100 yard games.  I guess that’s some form of hope to build on this year.  In Round 7 you took your RB2 in James Conner.  I saw a meme online that said Conner is expected to score 100% of the rushing touchdowns for the Cardinals this season.  That’s right, all four of them.  Conner is a decent volume player.  Keontay Ingram isn’t going to outplay him.  But this team could be historically bad.  I would have gone Rachaad White over him.  Who is also a volume play, but on a slightly better team.  Slightly.  In Round 8 you took Raheem Mostert.  This was a good pick.  This gives you an actual running back to start in Week 1.  In Rounds 9 and 10 you took Michael Thomas and Skyy Moore.  Couple of sleeper wide receivers to give you some depth behind your starting trio.  I liked the Elijah Mitchell and Kenneth Gainwell picks.  Mitchell is a handcuff for CMC in Kyle Shanahan’s offense and Gainwell is rumored to be the 3rd down and two-minute offense back for the Eagles.  These are lucrative roles.  A little bit better if we were full ppr, but I like the flier when you consider the injury histories of D’Andre Swift and Rashaad Penny.

Draft Grade: D+.  I loved your trio to start.  Mahomes-Kelce is going to be fun for you to watch.  Especially when they score a touchdown and you get the coveted 10 point swing against your opponent.  But your WR2 and running backs are atrocious.  I don’t see you being a contender this season unless you manage the heck out of this roster.  Trade, free agents, waivers.  Make it work.

  1. Andy.

Ja’Marr Chase really fell to you at 4?!?  What a gift from the heavens.   Burrow to Chase should continue to be awesome.  Chase finished as WR#12 last year, but that was due to him missing a few games after he allegedly injured his hip celebrating a touchdown.  In the offseason it was reported that Chase has a woman stalker who is threatening him and his mother leading him to file a restraining order.  They hooked up one night and he wind up with a stage five clinger situation as a result.  This might explain the broken hip last year.  I digress.  He provides a great floor and robust ceiling each week for Andy in the WR1 position.  In Round 2 Andy goes with Garret Wilson over Davante Adams.  All my rankings had Adams over Wilson this season.  I understand the allure of Rodgers and the Jets.  Adams plays on the Raiders and have one of the hardest schedules this year.  Wilson reminds me of a young Julio Jones.  I still would have picked Adams here.  This was a bold move, so we’ll see if it pays off for Andy or if it bites him in the butt.  In Round 3 he went rookie running back Jaymr Gibbs.  I read somewhere that rookie running backs drafted in the Top 12 picks of the NFL draft have gone on to finish as RB1’s (Top 12) in their rookie seasons.  Andy is banking on that with the Gibbs pick for his RB1.  We’ll have to see how the Lions split the work with David Montgomery.  Khalil Herbert was able to rip the starting job away from Montgomery in Chicago last season.  So he’s lost work to a more talented back before.  Does it happen again?  In Round 4 Andy got his RB2 in Aaron Jones.  Jones finished as RB#9 last year with a 56% workload compared to AJ Dillon’s 44%.  He was Aaron Rodgers favorite.  He is getting up there in age for a RB, but look for the Packers to rely on the run while they work in Jordan Love into his new role as the franchise Qb.  I liked what I saw in his limited preseason action.  In Round 5 Andy went with Joe Burrow!  A top 5 Fantasy Qb and the stack with Chase.  Nice!  Love the 10 point plays anytime they connect for a touchdown.  In Round 6 Andy went with Diontae Johnson.  Johnson gets a lot of targets, catches, and yards, but never touchdowns.  I do think the Steelers are set up to do better this year.  Little bit better offensive line.  Little bit better schedule.  Solid WR3.  In Round 7 you took Dalvin Cook.  Meh.  He wasn’t very good last year.  Breece Hall will cap his potential.  If Hall misses time he’ll be a good starter for you.  But I see him as most handcuff and less of a flex then most people.  In Round 8 you took Javonte Williams.  Williams is coming off of that devastating knee injury.  18.5% of players that have this type of knee injury return to their previous skill level.  All reports have been positive and make it seem like Williams could increase that percentage.  But look for him to start slow as they ease him back in.  In Round 9 you took Marquise Brown.  He was balling to start the year last year, but then the Cardinals fell apart.  We’ll see if Kyler plays this year or not.  That will be the key for Brown.  In Round 10 you took Jamaal Williams.  Great pick.  Gives you a RB2/Flex to start the year.  In Round 11 you took Jaxon Smith-Njigba.  Top rated rookie in the 2023 class gets a pass happy Seahawks team.  Don’t sleep on JSN now.  In Round 12 you took your first tight end in Cole Kmet.  He just isn’t good.  I don’t get it.  He finished TE#7 last year but only because he fell into the endzone a couple times at the end of the season.  Liked the Sam LaPorta pick though.  He should start and play right away for the Lions and replace TJ Hockenson role.

Draft Grade: B+.  Tight End is rough, but solid core and depth.  Andy is a contender.

  1. Ben.

Austin Ekeler.  #1 Fantasy RB last year.  Helped Logan make it to the Super Bowl.  He is capped a little bit in the lack of rushing volume, but his efficiency is just crazy.  There were 8 games last year where he had 12 or less carries.  But he scored 18 touchdowns and caught 107 passes on 127 targets.  I like Ekeler to repeat as a Top 5 RB even with some touchdown regression.  In Round 2 you went with CeeDee Lamb.  I’m okay with this pick.  Lamb is a beast.  Finished as WR#6 last year.  Brandin Cooks on the outside should help him find room in the middle.  Dalton Schultz is gone.  I see him repeating his Top 10 WR success from a year ago.  In Round 3 you took Josh Allen.  This bummed me out. I wanted Allen for the Allen-Diggs stack.  Plus I yelled “Farm Strong!” at Allen at the celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe and he turned around and laughed.  Solid trio to start in Allen-Ekeler-Lamb.  In Round 4 you took Najee Harris.  Harris is thunder to Jaylen Warren’s lightning.  Warren could Tony Pollard Najee’s ass, but I don’t think it happens this season.  The offensive line is better and the schedule is better, so I think Najee is an okay RB2.  Will depend on his touchdown total on whether he was the better pick over Aaron Jones, Kenneth Walker, and Alexander Mattison.  I would’ve taken those three over him personally.  Round 5 you took DeAndre Hopkins.  We’ll see how much he has left in the tank.  Between Hopkins, Burks, and Chig Onkonwo the Titans have some very athletic pass catchers.  Let’s see if Ryan Tannehill’s ankle is finally healed and if he can get his playmakers the ball.  It’s an interesting pick and not one I would’ve made.  In Round 6 you took Miles Sanders.  Sanders was RB #13 last year for the Eagles and he won a lucrative contract to join Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.  The Panthers ran pretty good some weeks when Steve Wilks had taken over as the interim head coach so I like Sanders this year.  I’m a little worried about the groin issue that has kept him out of most of the offseason program, but if he’s cleared he could repeat his Top 15 success.  I liked him over Akers, Dobbins, and Cook, so good job.  In Round 7 you took injured Terry McLaurin.  Washington looked good and I’m bullish on Sam Howell this season (as evident of me taking a backup Qb in a 10 man league).  But McLaurin has turf toe.  These injuries can linger.  He avoided IR, so we’ll see if it’s a 1 week or multiple week injury.  In Round 8 you took Jeudy.  Almost like you have a hurt wide receiver fetish or something.  Three straight picks of players with injuries.  Old Fashions, Chris Herron Documentaries, and players injured in the preseason.  We’re finally learning more about the mysterious Ben Hogan as time goes on.  In Round 9 he took D’Andre Swift ensuring his IR spots will be full this season.  In Round 10 he took Evan Engram.  He took a pair of Browns in Rounds 11 and 12 with Elijah Moore and David Njoku.  Those were good value picks.

Draft Grade: D.  Allen-Ekeler-Lamb is phenomenal.  Great start.  Then you tanked.  Straight to the bottom.  I have you in the Bottom and not contending for a title this season.

  1. Josh.

Oh boy.  Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.  I hope your wedding goes smoother than this fantasy draft did for you because… whew!  Just kidding (or am I?).  In Round 1 you took Tyreek Hill.  I love it!  Great pick Josh!  He has been vocal about his goal of getting 2000 yards receiving this season.  Hill is just crazy enough to do it too.  When he says that.  I believe him.  Loved this pick.  Stop the count!  Grade his draft now!  A!  Great job Josh!  If only these drafts were one round, am I right?  In Round 2 you took Josh Jacobs.  Jacobs isn’t happy about being franchise tagged and was 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.)  Jacobs did end his holdout and report and they worked out a 1-year deal that is a little bit better than the franchise tag like similar to Saquon Barkley’s contract for this year.  But Jacobs reported and looked a bit overweight if I’m being honest.  And will he be willing to play through injury like he did last year?  Now that the Raiders have shown their hand, should he risk injuring himself further for a team that might not be competing later in the season for a playoff spot with their brutal schedule this year?  Over CeeDee Lamb, Davante Adams.  Hell I would have preferred you go Jaylen Waddle and just rename your team the Miami Dolphins.  Every offseason I crap on Josh Jacobs and then he balls out.  Maybe that will happen again.  Maybe.  In Round 3 you went Deebo Samuel.  I give up.  This is the scene from Liar Liar when Jim Carrey is drinking water then spits it out and yelling “Come On!”.  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 3rd down.  What’s left for Deebo?  He does have the potential to take a screen pass to the house and this offseason he is reportedly looking very healthy.  So, we’ll see.  Over Metcalf and Higgins though.  Lord.  In Round 4 you went with Travis Etienne Jr.  Tank Bisby is the backup and looks good, but I believe in Etienne.  I think he’s a solid RB2 for you.  I’m not buying the hype on Bisgby and see him more of a handcuff.  Jags offense looks killer this year so solid pick Josh.  In Round 5 you went Alvin Kamara.  Suspended for 3 games, but the Saints have the easiest schedule this year.  Not terrible.  I would have gone Fields or Waller or Pierce or Herbert or someone else, but it won’t be as bad as a pick as people might suspect.  In Round 6 you took George Kittle.  Kittle is hurt.  A lot.  But when he played with Purdy last year he caught a lot of touchdowns.  (To end the year last year he caught 7 touchdowns in 4 games).  He took me out in the Best Buy league playoffs.  Jerk.  In Round 7 you took Christian Kirk.  Kirk was WR#11 last year.  But that was before the Jags added Calvin Ridley.  Kirk is the slot wide receiver and so he’ll have value, but this preseason in two wr sets the Jags had Ridley and Zay Jones lined up.  So if Kirk loses snap percentage that could hurt his ceiling even more then the fact that Ridley is there to steal catches and targets from him.  I could see him being Top 30, but not Top 15 again.  In Round 8 you reach for Tua Tagovailoa giving you the Tua-Tyreek stack.  Nice.  Like the stack, but not really how early you drafted him.  In Round 9 you took Jakobi Meyers.  Meyers might be the 4th best pass catching option on a Raiders team with Jimmy G at Qb with the toughest schedule.  Over Addison.  Over Dotson.  Over Burks.  Over Flowers.  Over Cooks.  Stop the count.  I can’t do it anymore.

Draft Grade: F.  I hope I’m wrong.  I want Josh to succeed in fantasy football.  I’m sorry you were travelling during the draft and were probably beat down and tired.  If there’s a consolation to my brutal grade it’s that your team has a lot of talent and is very explosive.  You could manage this team.  Trades, waiver, etc.

  1. Logan.  

Logan recovering from the asterisk bowl and the sick burn Brad dropped on the group text message the day before the draft.  Comes in hot and takes the Prince that was Promised.  Bijan Robinson.  He played very limited action, but boy did he look good in it.  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 3rd 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 2nd 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.  Great pick by Logan.  In the 2nd Round you went RB again with Derrick Henry.  Henry is 29 years old and has lots of mileage on those tires.  BUT.  He’s a beast and he plays the Texans twice in the final three weeks including in the Fantasy Football Super Bowl.  So if Logan can make it, can Henry be the one that brings home the title for him?  In Round 3 you went Trip RB with Joe Mixon.  Mixon is much better in games where the Bengals are ahead.  He goes from Top 10 RB in those games to outside of the Top 25 when they are trailing.  A huge discrepancy.  But the Bengals are favored by an average of 5 points each of the first five weeks of the regular season, so not a bad RB3.  In Round 4 he took his first WR in Cooper Kupp.  Love the gutsy call here.  Kupp was a Top 10 pick a couple weeks ago before a hamstring injury was re-aggravated and it went from bad to worse.  He went to go see a specialist.  According to Dr. Jamie Jakes on twitter/x he summarized it as “My translation/speculation: the way the injury occurred does not match up with a typical hamstring strain and or the hamstring is not responding to treatment the way a typical hammy strain does.  My best guess it is a sciatic nerve issue that has been misdiagnosed as a hamstring strain.  Best case scenario it’s something like piriformis syndrome and he’s back in a week.  Worst case is a lumbar spine/disc issue that requires surgery and will likely end his season.”  That is a big range of outcomes.  We’ll see what the diagnosis is when the news drops.  In Round 5 you took Justin Fields.  LOVE IT.  He saved my season last year after I traded for Lamar Jackson and he got injured.  Fields exploded with over 1000 yards rushing.  This offseason he gets an upgrade at Offensive Line and the addition of DJ Moore, which should help a lot.  I like Fields to repeat his Top 10 Fantasy performance this year.  You got good value in Mike Williams in Round 6.  Williams is the #1 on a team that could explode this year.  I’m bullish on the Chargers passing attack (as evident of me drafting Herbert).  This gives you a solid WR1 if Cooper Kupp is out for a long time.  In Round 7 you committed the Cardinal Sin of drafting Kyle Pitts, thus dooming your season.  Pitts is very athletic.  On a run-first team.  With Drake London and Bijan Robinson and unproven Desmond Ridder at QB.  Over Dallas Goedert.  What a shame.  What a shame.  Tsk Tsk Tsk.  In Round 8 you took Mike Evans “in case he gets traded”.  I like it.  Decent starter to throw in if Cooper is out.  Baker sucks, but Evans has gotten 1000 yards in 9 straight seasons to start his career.  Why wouldn’t they rally around that and try to make it 10?  Especially if they aren’t competing in the NFC South this year.  I liked it.  Love Jordan Addison in Round 9.  Takes Adam Thielen’s targets and rookie wide receivers have great back half of the years.  His ceiling is capped by JJ and Hockenson but an injury to either of those two can propel him into WR2 territory.  Decent depth building pieces in Pat Freiermuth, Zach Charbonnet, Jerick McKinnon.

Draft Grade: A.  Your Rb-Rb-Rb strategy was bold.  I like bold.  Fields-Bijan-Henry-Mixon gives you an incredible floor to start the season.  Mike Williams gives you a solid WR1.  If Kupp’s injury is minor you are the favorite to win the super bowl.  If it’s major I still think you can contend.  Contender.

  1. Michael. 

Tony Pollard?!?!  In this economy.  This pick threw me off big time.  I was expecting you to take Saquon or Chubb so I wasn’t prepared to choose between the two.  Pollard was RB#7 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 unlike some other backs in the league he accepted it and signed.  Almost a little too quickly.  Hopefully the ankle healed up okay.  The fibula isn’t as load bearing as the tibia.  I knew drafting in the back of the draft it was paramount to grab at least 1 running back.  I didn’t expect Mike to go with Pollard, but he secured his RB1 and I’m okay with that.  In Round 2 he went AJ Brown.  Loved AJB.  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.  He helped me win a championship.  Funny thing that Brad went Diggs and Mike went AJB is that last year Mike had traded Logan for Diggs and Brad had AJB.  So in essence this year they swapped.  I digress.  Excellent start to get a RB1 and WR1.  In Round 3 Mike took Mark Andrews.  Although I traded for Andrews the last two years I was down on him coming into this season.  I think Monken is going to pass more.  But they added Zay Flowers and Odell Beckham Jr.  And Mark Andrews got injured in the preseason.  This has me concerned and I dropped him in my rankings.  I was relieved when Mike took him, because I wanted Waller in the 5th, but I didn’t think he would fall to me.  More on that later.  Mike then went Calvin Ridley in the 4th.  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 is cause for concern.  But I do think Ridley is the #1 and I think he’s a solid WR2 for Michael.  In Round 5 you went Christian Watson.  Watson has all the makings of a great wide receiver.  The only question mark is Love.  Seeing Love play in preseason has me more bullish on the Packers then I was.  He looked efficient and sharp.  Watson could have as much as of a sophomore leap as Olave who went 3 rounds earlier.  Could be a big time pick for Michael.  In Round 6 he took T-LAW.  Trevor Lawrence-Calvin Ridley stack is what I did in Best Buy league.  Going to be fun as the Jags have a favorable schedule and should repeat as AFC South Division Winners.  I expect Lawrence to set career highs in passing yards and touchdowns.  In Round 7 you sniped me by taking Rachaad White.  White is going to get volume.  The concern is the offensive line and Baker Mayfield.  But White did well as a rookie.  Leonard Fournette was there and took a lot of work in the passing game at the end of the season, but White should recoup those snaps with Brady and Fournette both gone.  Checking down will be Baker’s specialty this season.  In Round 8 you took Brandon Auyik.  Auyik was WR#15 last year.  That might surprise some people, but with Deebo injured for a lot of the season Purdy looked to Brandon to move the sticks.  Deebo is fully healthy, so I don’t know if Aiyuk regresses or if he is there to stay, but great value.  Round 9 you sniped me again!  Jahan Dotson.  I have a bold prediction that he will catch 12 touchdowns this season.  (If you place a season long bet on that and it cashes make sure to send me a few bucks).  I’m bullish on the Commanders passing attack (as evident of me selecting Sam Howell late). In Round 10 Mike went back to back Commanders with Brian Robinson Jr.  In half ppr I had Gibson ranked higher, but I get wanting to get a starter as one of your backups.  In Round 11 you took Jaylen Warren.  Good handcuff with flex potential.  Round 12 Tank Bigsby.  Another handcuff.  Lots of backup running backs.

Draft Grade: B.  Solid team.  Reached for Pollard, little concerned about Andrews, but lots of depth at RB and WR, which is where it matters.  Having 3 Top 15 WR is in the range of outcomes here.

  1. Brad. 

Back-to-Back Champion seeking the coveted Three-Peat.  It’s never been done before.   There’s only been two other chances for it to happen at all in our 22 previous seasons.  Wade in 2017 and Michael in 2020.  Can Brad do it in 2023?  Probably not.  In the 1st round he wanted to secure a top RB and he went with Saquon Barkley.  Barkley was RB#6 last year and the Giants look to repeat as a playoff team with the addition of Darren Waller.  The deciding factor for taking Barkley over Chubb was Barkley’s 76 targets and 57 receptions in his first season in this offense.  We’ll see if it works out.  In Round 2 Brad went with 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.  I already hate the pick and regret it.  But it gives me a solid RB1-WR1 to start.  In Round 3 I was tested with another tough choice.  DK Metcalf or Tee Higgins.  Wind up going Metcalf due to favorable early season schedule, positive touchdown regression probabilities, and because he’s a manimal.  There’s a funny video online of players reading the NFL script for this season and he reads that he’s going to have a no handed catch when he catches it with his abs.  It’s pretty funny if you haven’t seen it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlNDNrfwZr0

In the 4th round Brad took Rhamondre Stevenson as his RB2.  Stevenson is coming off of his RB#11 finish.  Damien Harris is replaced by the ghost of Ezekiel Elliot.  I wasn’t concerned about the Zeke signing, but I was concerned about the schedule.  I went with Rhamonster due to his 69 receptions a year ago as I see him able to repeat that success this year.  The core of Barkley-Rhamondre-Diggs-Metcalf is solid.  In Rounds 5 and 6 Brad continued his balance build approach with Darren Waller and Justin Herbert.  Waller looks like he might have 150 targets from Daniel Jones this season.  All offseason Jones has been peppering him with targets.  To the point where a beat writer had said that they took Waller out of practice for a few drives, not because he was hurt or winded, but because they wanted to see Daniel Jones throw to somebody else.  I bought into the hype and I was thrilled he fell to me in the 5th round as I have him finishing as TE#2 behind Travis Kelce this season.  For Herbert, I see Kellen Moore as the key to unlock Herberts potential.  They are going to throw it deep.  I think Ekeler sees regression in terms of rushing touchdowns and Herbert sees positive regression in terms of passing touchdowns.  Last year he was hurt with a lingering and painful rib injury.  He should be healed up and ready to go for his 4th season.  Look for Herbert to lead the league in passing yards this season.  (My bold prediction).  In Round 7 after Mike took White I was stuck.  Since I went with a balanced approach and had my Qb, Rb1, Rb2, Wr1, Wr2, TE I had the flexibility to absorb the risk associated with Johnathan Taylor.  Obviously, Taylor means a lot to me given our 2021 season success together, but I understand that this could be 100% a dud pick.  JT is hurt, disgruntled.  It’s not good.  The hope is that he plays for the minimum games to accrue a season towards the franchise tag OR that he gets traded prior to the deadline to a better team.  I’m not alone in wanting to see what Anthony Richardson and JT could do together, but it’s looking more and more likely like that won’t happen.  High risk pick in the middle of the rounds that could cost Brad big time or secure him a deadly flex play later.  In Round 8 I doubled up on Herbert with Khalil.  The Browns have a VERY favorable schedule down the stretch.  Herbert is better than D’Onta Foreman and Roschon Johnson.  The questions are: can he stay healthy? And how much does Justin Fields take away?  In Round 9 Brad took Treylon Burks.  Burks has the potential to break out this year in his sophomore season much like Olave and Watson.  Burks dropped due to a minor LCL sprain, but he’s already back practicing.  If he misses only a couple weeks it gives Brad a decent WR3/Flex play.  In Round 10 I went with Brandin Cooks.  Cooks on the Cowboys sounded good to me.  He’s like DJ Moore, gets 1000 yards receiving a few touchdowns on any team he goes on.  Just cheaper.  In Round 11 I went AJ Dillon.  Dillon came on strong when the weather got cold for the Packers last year.  Handcuff mostly, but we’ll see if Brad turns to him at some point in the season if he is battling through injuries.  Justin Tucker in the 12th round.  Ridiculous.  I didn’t like anyone here so I reached on a kicker.  Stupid.  Missed out on decent RB depth like Bigsby, McKinnon, Gainwell.  What an idiot.

Draft Grade: B.  Could have been an A.  But you had to get cocky and reach for a kicker.  Stupid.

  1. Max. 

Max drafting from the 10 spot.  Meaning each time he picked we ALL passed on every single one of his players at least once.  Ultimate ability to rub it in our faces if any of them go off this season.  At the Round 1 and 2 turn he went with Nick Chubb and Amon-Ra St. Brown.  Love it.  Chubb is the best pure runner in football and Kareem Hunt who was siphoning off 3rd down and hurry offense snaps is GONE.  Amon-Ra is a target machine.  I expect big things out of the Sun God this season.  I had AJ Brown ranked higher, but I get it.  In Round 3 and 4 you had Tee Higgins drop to you.  You also selected Lamar Jackson.  Higgins would be a WR1 on at least ten teams in the league and this is a contract year for him.  Look for big things out of Tee.  Lamar could realistically win MVP again this season.  Todd Monken is designing an offense with Lamar, side by side.  They added Odell.  Zay Flowers.  Bateman is back.  Look out.  In Round 5 and 6 you took DJ Moore and Dameon Pierce.  Moore took a wobbly screen pass with a 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.  Pierce should be a workhorse and he graded very well in breaking tackles last season.  I think this a solid RB2 for Max.  In Rounds 7 and 8 you got good value in Drake London and Dallas Goedert.  I passed on London because I worry about the lack of pass volume in Atlanta.  The hope is he scores a bunch of touchdowns, but with Bijan and Tyler Ageier I think Arthur Smith is going to pound it.  Not a bad depth WR to throw in.  Goedert is on a great offense.  But his volume is a concern.   Better TE then most in the league, but I would still expect more boom or bust weeks out of him.  Rounds 9 and 10 you took Zay Flowers to stack with Lamar and Samaje Perine.  Perine I like.  They invested him in the offseason with Williams coming back from that knee injury.  Solid RB depth piece for you.  Loved Tyler Algeier in Round 11.  Odell in Round 12 is fun.  I don’t think you’ll use him, but who knows maybe he gets hot for a stretch.  Overall exceptional job with drafting.

Draft Grade: A.  Max did a great job picking players that dropped to him.  This gives him a solid core, good depth, and makes him a contender this season.

Draft Grades in Draft Order:

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

Draft Grades in Grade Order with Tiers:

Contenders:

  1. Stephen: A
  2. Max: A
  3. Logan: A

Can Compete:

  1. Andy: B+
  2. Michael: B
  3. Brad: B
  4. Caleb: C+

Better Luck Next Year:

  1. Quentin: D+
  2. Ben: D
  3. Josh: F

I hope you all enjoyed and best of luck to you this season!

-Brad

BBY Dream Team Season 15 Week 1 Preview

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Let’s Ride!

JD (0-0) vs. Katon (0-0)

Super Bowl Champion JD!  All Hail!  Battle of two men who could crush me with their pinky fingers.  JD has Daniel Jones against Dallas on Sunday Night Football and Katon has Patrick Mahomes on Thursday Night Football against Detroit.  Mahomes plays like a God in Week 1.  Him and Jared Goff had that epic Mexico City game that ended 54-51 or something crazy like that.  Could this be another lightning and explosive game?  Jones didn’t do great against Dallas last season so I give the advantage to Katon.  At Running back JD has Barkley also against the Dallas Cowboys on SNF and Rachaad White vs. Minnesota.  White is a volume play but the offensive line is bad and Baker Mayfield is the Qb.  Katon has Joe Mixon against the Browns and James Conner against the Commanders.  Mixon should perform well.  Conner is a volume play but the offensive line is bad and Clayton Tune might be the Qb?  Gross.  At Wide Receiver JD has Davante Adams and DeVonta Smith.  Love the combo.  Adams plays Denver and Smith is @ New England.  Katon has Ja’Marr Chase @ Cleveland and he currently has Terry McLaurin in at WR2, but I don’t know if he’s going to be ready to go with that turf toe injury he suffered in the preseason.  At TE JD has George Kittle, but rumor is he won’t be able to play in Week 1 due to injury.  JD does not have a backup TE, so he might have to move Kittle to IR and pick up a free agent to start in Week 1.  Katon has TJ Hockenson who just signed a massive contract to become the highest paid tight end in the league.  Target monster post trade last season, look for him to pick up where he left off while Jordan Addison is getting acclimated to the NFL.  I don’t know if they’ll have to throw a lot against Tampa Bay though.  In the Flex JD has Kenneth Walker against the Rams.  Last year he got hurt in the first game against the Rams.  In the second game he rushed 29 times for 114 yards.   Katon has Isiah Pacheco against Detroit.  Detroit’s run defense was actually pretty good to end the season last year.  Let’s see what they can do against the Chiefs.  JD has Bill’s D/ST and Tyler Bass playing on Monday Night Football against Aaron Rodgers’ Jets.  Katon has Ravens D/ST against CJ Stroud who bombed the S2 Cognitive Test and plays on one of the worst rosters in the NFL.  Ravens have injuries to their secondary so this could be a shootout, but I see Baltimore smashing the Texans in Week 1. Katon has Matt Gay against Jacksonville in the Dome.

Mike (0-0) vs. Jen (0-0)

Battle of the 0 Super Bowls!  (Sorry guys).  I love this matchup.  Mike has Justin Herbert in a shootout against Miami.  Herbert regressed last year in Season 3 due to rib and cartilage injuries.  His rushing stats dropped tremendously, and his touchdowns went down.  I like them to shoot back up this year with Kellen Moore as OC.  Look for his big arm to be highlighted on Sportscenter consistently and I think he starts off big with 3 touchdowns in week 1.  Jen has Deshaun Watson against division rival Cincy.  Watson has looked a little shaky this offseason, so I’m curious to see how he performs Week 1.  Mike has Derrick Henry against New Orleans and Jahymr Gibbs vs. Kansas City.  Will be interesting to see how the Lions backfield shakes out as it has a huge implication on Mike and I’s RB2 spot this season.  Henry should do his normal thing unless the Saints go up early and game script Henry out of the game.  (Could happen with Tennessee’s defense being hot garbage).   Jen has Travis Etienner Jr. against Indy and Javonte Williams vs. Las Vegas.  Jacksonville should beat Indy easily in Week 1 because they are the better team.  Etienne should be used to run out the clock, but I won’t be surprised if he’s pulled late in the game.  For Williams it will be interesting to see how much work he gets.  He had major knee surgery last year.  I don’t see Denver opening the season and giving him the ball 30 times, so what’ll it be?  10 touches? 15? 20?  We’ll find out.  Mike has Garret Wilson on MNF against the Bills and Keenan Allen in that Miami shootout game.  Jen has JJ versus Tampa Bay and Tee Higgins vs. Cleveland.  Love all these wideouts and look for all of them to have above average games in Week 1.  At TE Mike has Pat Freiermuth and Jen has Darren “The Baller” Waller.  Pat usually gets a few catches per game, but I’m concerned that his TD total might stay low with the addition of Darnell Washington.  They could throw him and Pickens on the same side and just throw the ball up and see what happens.  For Jen Darren Waller is a smash start on Sunday Night Football.  Tough matchup against a good Dallas defense, but I still like Waller to get 7-8 targets in Week 1.  Mike has Pats D/ST against the Eagles (good luck with that) and Jen has Packers D/ST against the Bears.  They got exactly 10 points in each games last year against the Bears, so I predict they get 10 points for Jen.  Mike has Eagles kicker Jake Elliot and Jen has Daniel Carlson at altitude.  Advantage Jen.  Should be a great game, but I have a feeling Jen gets the Week 1 W.

Tommy (0-0) vs. Scotty (0-0)

Tommy is coming off his Super Bowl hangover after losing to JD last season.  So close, yet so far away.  Scotty is happy to roster a team that he drafted.  Both are looking to start off 2023 with a W.  Tommy will be starting Captain Kirk at Qb against Tampa Bay.  I like Kirk to throw his normal amount and score about 18 fantasy points.  He’s capped by his lack of rushing ability and Tampa Bay’s secondary is healthy, which wasn’t the case a year ago when they had become a pass funnel.  For Scotty he has Dak Prescott on Sunday Night Football against the division rival G Men.  Dak missed the first matchup last year due to injury but played decent in the second matchup with 14.8 fantasy points.  I like the addition of Brandin Cooks and I think Prescott does a bit better.  Of course, Scotty could start one of his other 2 Qbs he has rostered in Tua who looks to be in a shootout in LA and Derek Carr with a juicy matchup against the Titans whose secondary was God-awful last year.  The Running Back story in this matchup is intriguing.  Both teams loaded up in running backs in the draft.  Tommy took Jacobs.  Scotty JT.  Jacobs ended his holdout and signed.  He’ll look to play in Week 1, but might not get a full workload since he hasn’t been training with the team all summer.  JT is on IR and will miss the first 4 weeks of the regular season.  Tommy will have Austin Ekeler in that shootout against Miami.  Look for Ekeler’s normal high fantasy scoring game of 20ish points.  For Scotty he’ll have Rhamondre Stevenson against Philly and Miles Sanders vs. Atlanta (hopefully).  Scotty is also without Alvin Kamara for the 3 divisional games to start the year.  At WR Tommy has DeAndre Hopkins matched up against Marshon Lattimore and the Saints defense.  At WR2 he’ll most likely start Mike Williams in the Miami game.  The over under is set at 51 as of this writing.  Jalen Ramsey is on IR.  Jerry Juedy is hurt.  For Scotty he’ll have Tyreek Hill against LA.  Hill has been adamant this offseason that he wants to hit 2000 yards.  I think the Crazy Cheetah might just be able to do it too.  Look for him to start off with a bang as I’m predicting over 150 receiving yards in this matchup.  Don’t sleep on Scotty’s WR2 either.  Christian Watson was a manimal his rookie year.  Love looked decent in preseason action.  Once Watson established himself as the #1 WR for the packers he faced the Bears in Week 13 and caught 3 balls for 48 yards and a touchdown and also took a run 46 yards to the house.  22.9 fantasy points.  At Tight End Tommy has Evan Engram and Scotty has Dallas Goedert.  Engram scored most of his fantasy points in 3 games last season and this offseason they added Calvin Ridley.  Against Indy last year he was peppered with targets and caught 7 and 6 receptions, but failed to find the endzone.  For Goedert I like him to put up his average numbers against the Pats.  In the Flex Tommy has Najee Harris against the 49ers and Scotty has Marquise Brown against the Commanders.  I have low expectations for both in Week 1.  As of this writing Tommy has Dolphins D/ST in and Scotty has Steelers D/ST.  I don’t expect much from either.  Kickers don’t matter, but for Scotty he has Butker on the NFL Kickoff game on Thursday, so at least he has that.  Best of luck gentlemen.

Joe (0-0) vs. Kenny (0-0)

Joe versus K-Dub!  These two have well-rounded and robust lineups for this week.  Joe has Joe Burrow @ Cleveland.  He wasn’t great in either game last year against them.  Kenny has Jalen Hurts @ New England.  Patriots defense is usually good, but nobody could stop Jalen last year.  He was averaging about 30 points per game when I lost him to injury.  My replacement Qb scored 15 in the fantasy playoffs and I lost by 15.  Jalen was the key.  In addition to these two stud Qbs both teams feature Top 5 RBs in Joe’s CMC and Kenny’s Nick Chubb.  CMC plays @ Pittsburgh which should be a good game.  Chubb plays Cincy.  Last year Chubb has one boom game (27.9) and one bust game (6.9) versus the Bengals.  Not sure what to expect there.  At RB2 Joe has Aaron Jones against Chicago and Kenny has Cam Akers vs. Seattle.  Jones had one boom game (33.5) and one bust game (7.5) against the Bears last season.  Not sure what to expect there.  Akers versus Seattle last year had two solid outings of 18.5 and 17.3 fantasy points.  At WR the advantage is clearly Kenny.  Joe has a banged up Jaylen Waddle versus LA Chargers and Christian Kirk vs. Indy.  If Waddle plays he would be in a shootout potential matchup and be a smash play.  If.   Kirk had one boom game (22.8) and one bust game (8.8) vs. Indy.  Not sure what to expect there.  I do know that the Jaguars had Ridley and Zay Jones on the field in two wide receiver sets this preseason, so if Kirk is solely the slot guy it’ll be something to pay attention to as that could definitely cap his ceiling this year.  For Kenny he has Stefon Diggs against Sauce Gardner on Monday Night Football.  Last year the Jets did a good job containing Diggs with games of 5 catches for 93 yards and 3 catches for 37 yards, neither of which included a touchdown.  Diggs is an elite talent, so you aren’t sitting him, but expectations should be limited.  Deebo Samuel is at WR2 against Pittsburgh.  Like I said in my draft grades I have no clue what Deebo is going to do this year.  I do know that he can take a slant from Brock Purdy to the house at any moment.  Pittsburgh is tough though.  At Tight End Joe has Kyle Pitts against Carolina and Kenny has David Njoku against Cincy.  I like Njoku out of those two.  The Falcons are going to run the ball and only throw when they need to.  Njoku was pretty good last year prior to injury.  He started 2022 with 4/7 games with 5+ catches.  In the flex Joe has Alexander Mattison and Kenny has Mike Evans vs. Minnesota.  I love both of these flexes this week.  Mattison has the volume, but faces a tough defense.  Evans has the talent, but the average Qb against one of the worst offensive lines in football.  The Vikings defense isn’t that great though, so could be a good matchup.  Joe has Bengals D/ST against Cleveland and Kenny has Dallas D/ST against the Giants.  Last season the Bengals D/ST scored 8 and 9 against the Browns.  Last season the Dallas D/ST scored 14 and 5 against the Giants.  Joe has Justin Tucker against Houston, so look for him to have 6 extra point tries at least.  For Kenny he has Graham Gano on SNF.  Gano had two games of double digit fantasy points against the Cowgirls last season.  Looking at this game one thing I know for sure.  I’m not sure what to expect here.

Chase (0-0) vs. Moose (0-0)

7/14 Titles in this league belong to these two teams here.  (Insert gif of the Joker saying “Half”).  Both teams dropped their kickers to add a player onto their bench prior to kickoff.  Look for them to add a kicker once they look at whatever the hell they are looking at.  O/U?  Weather?  Wind?  Waiting for kickers to finish being cut or traded?  They both have studs at Quarterback.  Josh Allen for Chase against the NY Jets in a potential shootout on Monday Night Football.  Last season he averaged 22.65 points in his two games against the Jets securing 3 rushing touchdowns in those matchups.  For Moose he gets Lamar Jackson who Brad passed on like a dumb fuck.  Jackson gets Houston, so look for him to sit in the 4th quarter.  Last year Jackson started off en fuego with games of 20.1, 50.5, and 42.3 fantasy points.  Add in OBJ, Zay Flowers, and Todd Monken at OC and Jackson might set some records in Week 1.  At RB Chase has James Cook in the MNF matchup and Khalil Herbert against the Bears.  Cook looked explosive in spurts last season, Devin Singletary is gone, Zach Moss is gone, and Nyheim Hines got injured in a jet ski accident.  All Cook needs to do is beat out Damien Harris and Latavius Murray and Josh Allen to secure big running back numbers.  He should secure (at the very least) the 2 minute offense, hurry-up offense, and third down work.  I think he gets a bit more that that, but goal line carries are the main concern.  For Herbert we didn’t get a good sense of what he can do against the Packers last season as the first time they played he was still second fiddle to David Montgomery and he was hurt for the second matchup.  Herbert is good and grades highly in PFF.  For Moose he has Tony Pollard against the Giants and either Breece Hall, Devon Achane, or Jerick McKinnon at RB2.  I’m sure the preference is Breece Hall, but we’ll see if they ease him back into the lineup coming back from that big knee injury.  For Moose it’ll be interesting to see how he plays it as McKinnon plays TNF and Hall doesn’t play until MNF.  At WR Chase has Amari Cooper vs. Cincinnati and Courtland Sutton vs. Las Vegas.  Cooper was the #10 WR last year and has had more time to build rapport with Deshaun Watson.  Last season he had one boom game and one bust game against Cincy.  Sutton did well against Vegas last season scoring 13.7 and 10.5 in his two games against the division foe.  For Moose he’ll most likely be without Cooper Kupp who reaggravated his hamstring so he’ll turn to Diontae Johnson against San Fran, Jordan Addison against Tampa Bay, and Michael Thomas against the Titans.  Two juggernauts at Tight End with Chase having Travis Kelce against Detroit and Moose having Mandrews against Houston.  Chase has Jaguars D/ST against rookie Anthony Richardson and Moose has Saints D/ST against Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, and DeAndre Hopkins.  Should be a great matchup!

Trey (0-0) vs. Brad (0-0)

T-Money opens the season against 2-Time Champion Brad in a battle of Coast to Coast!  Trey features the dual threat phenom Justin Fields at Qb against the GB Packers.  Last season Fields played them in Week 2 and went for 7/11 passing for 70 yards, 1 Int, 20 yards rushing a rushing touchdown or 8.8 fantasy points.  After he got settled into the season he played them again in Week 13 with much better results throwing 20/25 passes 254 yards, 2 INT, 71 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown or 21.1 fantasy points.  I like Fields for 20+ points to start the season off right.  For Brad’s Trevor Lawrence he scored 18.5 and 24.9 fantasy points in his two matchups against the Colts.  Their defense hasn’t gotten much better… At RB Trey has rookie phenom Bijan Robinson against the Carolina Panthers.  Panthers were middle of the pack in run defense last season.  Look for Bijan to enter the league in style.  I like Atlanta to win this game in a blowout and for Bijan to not have to play much going into the 4th quarter.  Trey also has JK Dobbins who Brad passed on in the draft for David Montgomery.  Dobbins has a juicy matchup against Houston.  Brad will have Dameon Pierce against Baltimore and David Montgomery against the Chiefs.   Pierce’s volume potential is massive, but Baltimore was top ten against the run last year and have a couple of hurt cornerbacks.  Look for CJ Stroud to throw a lot in his first NFL regular season game.  For David Montgomery the big question is how are the Lions going to divide up the running back carries.  Will it be Montgomery taking the Jamaal Williams role and Gibbs taking the D’Andre Swift role?  Or will they establish new roles?  Brad is certainly hoping for the former.  At Wide Receiver Trey has Chris Olave in a juicy ass matchup against the Titans.  He also has DK Metcalf against the Rams.  Last season DK went off in Week 13 against the division foe with 8 catches on 8 targets for 127 yards and a touchdown.  JSN might miss week 1 with a broken bone in his wrist and Jalen Ramsey is a Miami Dolphin.  In the Flex Trey has Jamaal Williams who looks to take the lion share of the work in Week 1 given Kendre Miller hurt his hammy and Kamara is suspended for the first 3 weeks.  Look for a BIG week for Williams against the Titans.  For Brad he is starting his trio of Wideouts in Amon-Ra St. Brown, AJ Brown, and Calvin Ridley.  Ridley against the Colts.  Look for the Jags to get him a score to boost his confidence in his first game action in almost two years.  He will be emotional.  Amon-Ra look for him to get pepper with 10-12 targets and 7-8 catches as the only other weapons are aging Marvin Jones Jr. and rookie Sam LaPorta.  AJB faces New England who has a knack of taking away a teams best player.  Only problem is who do you take away for the Eagles?  They have too many weapons.  This will be AJ Brown’s first time facing the Patriots since his rookie season where he played 95% of snaps in a playoff game and only came away with 1 reception on 1 target for 4 yards.  At Tight End Trey is going with Trip Saints Juwan Johnson.  Brad is looking at Greg Dulcich against the Raiders with all of the injuries to the Denver wideouts.  Trey has 49ers D/ST against Pittsburgh and Brad has Eagles D/ST against New England.

As always best of luck to all of you!

-Commish aka B-Razzle Dazzle aka Fantasy Football Brad

BBY Dream Team League Season 15 Draft Grades

bradleybertoniere Fantasy Football, NFL, Quarterbacks, Rankings, Wide Receivers , , ,

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 3rd 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 2nd 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 4th and 5th 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 3rd 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 2nd 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 3rd.  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 16th in PFF rushing grade compared to Cook’s 64th 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 2nd 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 2nd 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 2nd 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 4th?  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 3rd 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 3rd 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 3rd 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 4th 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 5th 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 5th 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 4th round pick and not a 5th/6th 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 10th 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 12th 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 15th 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.