from Pro Football Focus) is maybe the most prestigious fantasy football league that I have ever played in. The league is a 12-team PPR Superflex dyntasy fantasy football league with the option to start multiple tight ends AND tight end-premium (meaning 1.5 points per reception for tight ends. All of the bells and whistles for the 10-player starting lineup leagues influenced draft strategy in an interesting way. To wrinkle things further, rookies themselves were not included in the player pool but rather the rookie picks were. Instead of Kyler Murray being draftable, the rookie pick 1.01 was the drafted option.
Access premium NFL coverage 365 days a year with the RotoExperts. Season Long Draft Kits. Fantasy Football Projections. Best Ball Coverage. Dynasty Rankings. NFL Draft Coverage. Expert Chat. Betting and much more. Save 10% when you use the promo AMICO at checkout. Learn More HERE.
The murderer’s row that drafted in this startup dynasty fantasy football league was:
As you can tell, this draft was not going to be easy. While not everyone in the league had played in a dynasty league before, I would say this is one of the sharpest groups that I have drafted against and the draft went accordingly. There are not very many times in the startup draft that anyone made a pick I dramatically disagreed with but there were certainly picks I wish that I had made instead of my opponents.
The balance of a league format that really differs from a normal 12-team PPR league always makes first rounds interesting. The first QB did not come off the board until BarrettCalkins took Patrick Mahomes at seventh overall which really does point to the strength of this league. My guess is that Rich would probably walk back his selection of Todd Gurley at 1.04 and that Seige feels even better about Odell Beckham at 1.09 now than he did at the time.
In back to back picks, Graham and CJ made maybe the most hilarious picks of the draft. CJ ran hot getting Travis Kelce in the second round of a TE-premium dynasty league and Graham lost his second-round pick when he selected Tyreek Hill before the news dropped that he likely will not be with the Chiefs in 2019. Deshaun Watson, Andrew Luck and Baker Mayfield all went in this round. I made my mind up at the beginning of this draft that I would not chase QB production, particularly after Patrick Mahomes. Stringing together veterans like Big Ben and Derek Carr was my pre-draft strategy and I was able to implement it. You’ll notice I traded back from my pick at 2.10 because nothing would be worse than having to select Keenan Allen.
Jeff Collins and I traded down quite a few times in this draft (though I would say Jeff did a much better job of it than I did particularly my deal where I traded the 4.10 for a 2020 rookie first). In general, these industry startup drafts are pretty aggressive with the trading and my stance is that in the first ten rounds, you’re probably winning if you’re trading back and you’re probably losing if trading back in the double-digit rounds.
Hat tip to the one and only Scott Barrett for putting together this graph. Jeff’s approach wielded 11 top-100 players. Bob, CJ and I lag behind the group with only six top-100 players. Part of the reason why I felt comfortable moving my 4.10 for a future first was that I wanted to have some flexibility in the season if I ended up competing (or not). It’s easier to trade a future first than a fourth-round value player because the first can be whatever the other owner imagines it to be as opposed to Matt Ryan (who went with the 4.10).
Overall, I feel that my roster is pretty strong. Eight of my starters every week will be pre-determined with Ben/Dak/Chubb/Elliot/Golladay/Godwin/Hooper/Doyle complete no-brainers. I don’t think I had the best draft or am the best drafter of this group but I also don’t feel like I was out-gunned. What follows are some specific thoughts about the context of this massive league from myself and others in the league.
Best Pick Of The Draft: D.J Moore at 5.01 to The Ringer’s Danny Kelly. It is pretty safe to say that Moore’s average rookie year is being undervalued by the market. His unique combination of yards per target and rushing yards gives him a unicorn profile and without Devin Funchess, he has a reasonable chance at his first WR1 season. Moore was one of the best wide receiver prospects of the last five years, went in the first round and performed as a rookie. This was at least a round too late if not more. In general, Danny had a really strong draft; I think he crushed it.
Most Hilarious Group Of Players: The Seige’s quarterbacks. Teddy Bridgewater, Nick Foles, Will Grier, Deshone Kizer, Tyree Jackson, Jarrett Stidham, and Drew Lock are backing up Andy Dalton and Jameis Winston. I’m higher than the market on half those guys and still find it hilarious that they are all grouped up on the same team. Kizer and Jackson might complete 1.5 passes in the next 24 months!
“We drafted better, traded better, drafted better again, waivered better and will ultimately waiver better again than everyone else.” — TJ
“This is a TE Premium Superflex league. We have the best tight ends and the best quarterbacks in the league. We’re probably the best team in the short-term as well as being the team best-positioned in the long-term. Truly a dominant performance all-around from Team DFB.” – Scott Barrett
The Baltimore Ravens Memorial Tight End Hoarder: Graham Barfield’s EIGHT (8) tight ends round out another strong roster. Don’t get me wrong, Mark Andrews, Eric Ebron, Jace Sternberger, and Irv Smith Jr. are all pretty strong dynasty holds or buys but having eight tight ends on one dynasty roster is as Ozzie Newsome as it gets.
In essentially a 2 QB Dynasty league, QB’s are at much more of a premium so I traded up to get Mahomes. Trubisky is a fine QB2 w/ rushing upside. Brissett is a FA after this yr & I believe he’s a starter somewhere next yr (NE?). Like what I saw in Allen last yr. Case: a warm body
— Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) April 12, 2019
Matthew’s move to trade up for Patrick Mahomes was probably the strongest move of the entire three months of the existence of this league and I’ll be honest, I wish I owned Mahomes. Berry’s team won’t be worried about the quarterback position for the next decade.
Love my tight ends. Ertzx was a top 10 (non QB) player in this format last year. Waller and Dissly nice young sleepers – Waller getting raves from OAK coaches. DET signed James to a big deal for a reason. Olsen is good trade bait this year if I fall out of contention.
— Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) April 12, 2019
Best Onesie Positions: This has to go to Jeff Collins. Jeff has four starting quarterbacks, one young stud tight end and one old stud tight end. Jared Cook and O.J Howard might run the league at the tight position in terms of combined points. Cam Newton, Jimmy G, and Josh Allen all have QB1 upside and I’d argue if we play this season 100 times, Allen and Newton might end up as the top two fantasy QB’s more than once.
Worst Trade: I have to wear this hat. Moving the 4.10 for a 2020 first was just a misreading of the market. I would much rather have Kyler Murray than any 2020 first (even though it is rumored that the 2020 draft is loaded with #studs). The logic I used at the time of the trade is still fine but I lost that trade by 10% or so which is not a fun spot to be in.
Bob Harris’s Thoughts:
With our initial draft taking place in advance of (and during) the free-agent signing period and our rookie draft taking place before the actual NFL Draft, it’s fair to say the timing presented challenges. In the end, it turned out to be a mixed bag for me. As unhappy as I was to see Tevin Coleman sign with the 49ers shortly after I drafted Jerick McKinnon, I was equally pleased when Dwayne Haskins was drafted by the Redskins giving him as clear a path to a starting job as I could have hoped for.
Which brings me to my biggest weakness: I’m set at quarterback coming out of the chute with both Andrew Luck and Drew Brees ready to lead my starting lineup. But the minute something happens to one of them, it’s going to be panic time unless Haskins is an immediate starter in Washington. I’m not pretending it would be ideal, but the former Ohio State standout would at least give me a viable option behind my two superstars (and some hope that I’ll have a talented youngster waiting in the wings when Brees calls it a career).
No complaints about my front-line players, especially Luck and Brees. I need Dalvin Cook to be healthy and busy (with history suggesting half of that might be a reach) and I need DeAndre Hopkins to be DeAndre Hopkins (which seems all but guaranteed). I love Jets tight end Chris Herndon in this format as I have high hopes for him (fortunately, the Jets not only have similar hopes, but plans to make good on his potential).
I have ample PPR firepower in my second-tier wideouts (Jarvis Landry, Jamison Crowder, Cole Beasley and perhaps even Marqise Lee should be plenty busy) but question marks at running back. In addition to Cook remaining healthy, I need Sony Michel to continue being the dominant force he was down the stretch (and especially in the postseason). The Patriots subsequent selection of Damien Harris is a concern there. LeSean McCoy, McKinnon, Dion Lewis and Rex Burkhead might get enough playing time to be viable on any given Sunday, but it’s going to be impossible to pick which Sundays those are in advance.
Based on all that, it’s safe to say I’m approaching this as a long-term build. Which is “Dyanstyspeak” for “My draft could have been better.”
Which is a kinder way of saying “My draft mostly sucked.” But that’s the joy of Dynasty. I get another chance to screw up further next offseason.
Pick They Wish They Could Take Back: This has to be close between Rich and Graham. Obviously, there was very little Graham could do with the Tyreek Hill situation but Rich has to be similarly tilted with the news that Todd Gurley’s knees are made out of pudding combined with the third-round pick the Rams spent on Darrell Henderson.
Four Leaf Clover Shopper: If Evan Silva runs even at 75th percentile expectation, he might steamroll us. Silva could get 16 games from Joe Flacco in Denver, have Malcolm Brown or John Kelly take over for pudding knee Gurley in Los Angeles, own the Dylan Cantrell dynasty fantasy football breakout for the Chargers, have Josh Gordon be re-instated to the NFL yet again, get Rob Gronkowski returning from retirement in September, or get a healthy Jordan Reed season. This is a roster to be feared if things break in Silverback Silva’s favor.
Best Roster: There are a lot of good teams in this league. I like Matthew’s roster and BarrettCalkins is pretty strong but I would swap rosters with Pat Thorman right now. He has fantasy QB1’s in Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield, Alvin Kamara as his blue-chip running back, Brandin Cooks, Stefon Diggs, AND Sammy Watkins at wide receiver before his triumvirate of Patriots tight ends paired with David Njoku.
Overall, drafting in this league was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done in my whole career in the fantasy football industry. Anytime you have the chance to get dunked on by Scott Barrett, you just have to sign up for that opportunity. Superflex drafting when combined with TE-premium made for a lot of really difficult decisions and almost everyone in this draft can come away thinking they did a good job with their roster.
