Wide Receivers

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 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

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 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.

2015 WR “Sophomore Slump” Candidates

bradleybertoniere Food For Thought, Sophomores, Wide Receivers , , , , ,

Before getting into a bunch of stats and analysis I would first like to define what a “sophomore slump” is.  This is where a Rookie Wide Receiver performs at or above expectations statistically in their rookie year, but then sees a dramatic decrease in statistics in their sophomore year.  Now 2014 had a Wr class like no other.  4 Wide Receivers taken in the first round finished with at least 982 yards and 6 or more td’s.  This may be a moot point to make at all when it comes to these wide receivers as they look to be special, but we all know past production drives up where players are drafted.  So this post will examine which of the four have the greater chance to go down in production.  The four wide receiver candidates are: Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans, Odell Beckham Jr., and Kelvin Benjamin.  Before we go into their stats and projections for next season let’s look at some past sophomore disappointments.

2014 Sophomore Slumpers:

Keenan Allen- Rookie Season 2013- 105 Targets, 71 Receptions, 1046 Yards, 8 Td’s in 15 Games.  ESPN Average Draft Position (ADP): 51.4  Sophomore Season 2014- 121 Targets, 77 Receptions, 783 Yards, 4 Td’s in 14 Games.  Keenan saw his targets and receptions go up, but he had 263 less yards and his touchdown total was cut in half.

Cordarelle Patterson- Rookie Season 2013- 78 Targets, 45 Receptions, 469 Yards, 4 Td’s, 158 Yards Rushing, 3 Rushing Td’s in 16 Games.  ESPN ADP: 62.3  Sophomore Season 2014- 67 Targets, 33 Receptions, 384 Yards, 1 Td, 117 Yards Rushing, 1 Rushing Td in 16 Games.  Cordarelle went down in every single category.  Now sure some of the blame has to be on Adrian Peterson missing the entire year and defenses focusing in on Cordarelle, but it’s still a slump.

Honorable Mention Slumpage:

Tavon Austin-  Because the definition of a sophomore slump is a rookie performing at our above expectation Austin does not qualify because he was terrible in his rookie season.  He did have 418 yards receiving and 4 receiving td’s and his production fell to 242 receiving yards and 0 receiving td’s, but the difference is Austin wasn’t expected to do anything this season.  His ADP was 134.4… so no fantasy player is blaming their 2014 season on Tavon Austin.

Now several wide receivers that had decent rookie seasons in 2013 did better in their sophomore season: DeAndre Hopkins, Justin Hunter, and Kenny Stills.  But that’s not what this article is about.  It isn’t about who did better and who did worse, it’s about where sophomores are drafted in fantasy football drafts and how people can get burned by their decision.  For example, Allen’s ADP was 51.4 and Patterson’s was 62.3.  Emmanuel Sanders ADP was 74.2, Jeremy Maclin’s ADP was 76.2, T.Y. Hilton’s ADP was 76.2, and Golden Tate’s ADP was 84.2.  So if you are choosing a player 2-3 rounds before some other choices and they stink it up, that’s the slump we are trying to avoid.

2013 Slumper- Justin Blackmon

2012 Slumper- Titus Young

But neither of these two went crazy in their rookie seasons…crazy in terms of production, they both have…let’s say “maturity” issues.  So let’s switch gears and look at the very successful rookies of 2014.

2015 Sophomore Slump Candidates:

Sammy Watkins- Rookie Season 2014- 128 Targets, 65 Receptions, 982 Yards, 6 Td’s in 16 Games.  Watkins showed a plethora of talent and he had a great rookie season.  He had more receiving yards than Julio Jones did in his rookie season back in 2012.  The only reason why it doesn’t seem that good is due to the other three rookies I’ll be comparing him with.  The Bills offseason is going to be an interesting one.  This past season they benched EJ Manuel and went with Kyle Orton at Qb, they had a stifling defense, they were committed to the run, and their head coach was Doug Marrone.  Now it looks like Kyle Orton will be retiring, the GM wants EJ Manuel to be the starter, and Doug Marrone opted out of his contract.  It’ll be interesting to see who the Bills bring in and whether or not they can get EJ Manuel where he needs to be.  Fred Jackson is getting older and the oft-injured CJ Spiller is a free agent this offseason.  Would they look for a more pass-happy coach to develop Manuel and try to keep up in a division with Brady and Tannehill?  My prediction: I think Sammy is extremely talented and if they can get some consistent QB play I think he can do some work.  But this is still WAY early, so a lot can change depending on offseason injuries, scheme changes, etc.  He could be a value pick in rounds 5-7 or he could be a bust.  I’m leaning towards value pick as long as people don’t reach for him.

Mike Evans- Rookie Season 2014- 124 Targets, 68 Receptions, 1051 Yards, 12 Td’s in 15 Games.  I knew Mike Evans “had a motor” as Gruden would say, but I didn’t expect a season this good.  He had two mediocre quarter backs throwing him the ball in Josh McCown and Mike Glennon.  McCown might have been the better of the two and his QBR was a 35.7.  (Geno Smith’s was a 35.4)  Evans counterpart Vincent Jackson should be back next season, so that’s good in terms of Evans avoiding double team style coverages.  The biggest factor for Evans will be who the Bucs draft with the #1 Overall Pick this offseason.  If they draft a Mariota or a Winston does his production suffer as a result of them having to teach and babysit a rookie QB?  My prediction: my gut is telling me that Evans has a much higher chance of doing worse than he did this season than Odell Beckham Jr. and Sammy Watkins.  Unless something changes in the offseason that throws a curve ball, I think Evans drops in production.

Odell Beckham Jr.- Rookie Season 2014- 132 Targets, 91 Receptions, 1305 Yards, 12 Td’s in 12 Games!  The Catch.  The internet exploded when ODB caught that ball.  Another thing happened after that catch was made.  Eli Manning made the decision that he officially trusted Odell to catch whatever he threw his way.  71 of his targets, 50 of his receptions, 696 of his receiving yards, and 7 of his td’s came in games after that Dallas game with the catch.  So 54% of his targets, 55% of his receptions, 53% of his yards, and 58% of his touchdowns came in the last 5 weeks of the season.  Eli trusted him and slung the football his way.  In Week 17, Eli targeted Odell 21 times!  Eli wanted to trust Reuben Randle, but Randle kept dropping key balls in the red zone or on third down.  Randle didn’t make amazing plays and every time he had a chance to step up and be the guy he disappointed.  My prediction:  Victor Cruz will be back and Eli continues to learn Ben McAdoo’s system.  Odell continues his success and finishes the 2015 season with right about the same stats.  The problem for Odell will most likely be his ADP.  I’m hearing estimates of him getting drafted in the 2nd Round or higher.  Often with hype, disappointment follows, but he has the skills, he has his qb’s trust, and he has a bright future in the NFL.  I don’t think he slumps, but will he perform with the Jordy Nelson’s, Julio Jones, and AJ Greens of the world next season?  He did this year, but now defenses know to key in on him.  We’ll have to wait to find out.  Victor Cruz might be the value pick up.

Kelvin Benjamin- Rookie Season 2014- 146 Targets, 73 Catches, 1008 Yards, 9 Td’s in 16 Games.  Kelvin was the man in Carolina.  Steve Smith Sr. moved on to Baltimore and the Panthers WR core consisted of Benjamin and a veteran that seemed like he belonged on the Island of Misfit Toys (Jerricho Cotchery).  Naturally Cam Newton threw Benjamin the rock and he had a very successful rookie campaign.  Will Kelvin drop down like Keenan Allen did this season?  Allen was injured and looked like he was in a funk all season.  Benjamin is much bigger than Allen (6’5″ 240 vs. 6’2″ 211) and plays in the underperforming NFC South where the points are made up and the defenses don’t matter.  (Other than the Panthers, but Benjamin plays for them)  My prediction: I would draft him as my WR2 or potential Flex player with the expectation of 1000-1200 yards and 8 td’s.  If his ADP is around 70’s or so then I would feel confident in choosing him.

So there you have it.  Your candidates.  My listing of most likely to slump to least likely to slump:

1. Mike Evans- Most likely drops in touchdown production.

2. Sammy Watkins- All depends on scheme, coach, and who is throwing the rock.

3. Kelvin Benjamin- I think he does eerily similar numbers next season.

4. Odell Beckham Jr.- Could be the most exciting player to watch next season, but he could also be the most disappointing if his stringy body gets injured.  The factor that causes me to believe that his production will remain close to what he did in his rookie campaign is that he did all this in 12 games.  #1 Rookie Wideout in terms of Receptions, Yardage, and Td’s and in 3-4 less games than the other three.

Hope you enjoyed!

-FF Brad