My dynasty league held its annual rookie draft over the weekend. It's a three-round, extended format deal that we typically hold one week after the NFL draft; enough time to see where the rookies have landed and what the teams that drafted are saying about them.
I put up a mock of how I thought the draft might go a week ago, and it proved reasonably accurate. A few notes about the league: it's a PPR league where you get half a point for running back receptions, one point for wide receiver receptions, and a point and a half for tight end receptions. We have 26-player rosters and start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, and 2 RB/WR/TE Flex spots, plus 1 PK and Team D. The scoring makes tight ends extra valuable.
Here's how the draft went down. My picks are in bold.
1.01 Sammy Watkins, Buff.
1.02 Mike Evans, T.B.
1.03 Carlos Hyde, S.F.
1.04 Odell Beckham, NYG
1.05 Brandin Cooks, N.O.
The top three picks will probably be fairly standard in most rookie drafts, although some may like Bishop Sankey more than Hyde (certainly those focusing on 2014 value). Worth mentioning that the guy who took Hyde has Gore on his roster, making his choice even easier. I think Beckham and Cooks are the next two most appealing wideouts and their selection here made sense to me.
1.06 Eric Ebron, Det.
1.07 Bishop Sankey, Tenn.
1.08 Jordan Matthews, Phil.
1.09 Marqise Lee, Jac.
The scoring gives Ebron extra appeal in our league, though I still wouldn't have selected him quite this high. The guy who took Sankey at 7 was pretty excited. I like Lee a lot, although you've got the worry that Allen Robinson turns out to be the better wideout.
1.10 Devonta Freeman, Atl.
1.11 Kelvin Benjamin, Car.
1.12 Terrance West, Clev.
2.01 Davante Adams, G.B.
I really like Freeman and tried to trade up to 1.09 to select him (since I knew my friend at 1.10 liked him, too. The price was too steep so I stayed where I was and selected West. (Last time I traded up for a running back I liked the player was Isaiah Pead, so I opted against falling in love with a player.) I like West a lot and so, reportedly, do the Browns. Yes they have Ben Tate and yes they signed Isaiah Crowell as an UDFA, but West still struck me as the best remaining back with the chance of being a full-time guy, someday. As an aside, the guy who selected Adams one pick after me has Tate on his roster, so I felt West might go there.
2.02 Paul Richardson, Sea.
2.03 Isaiah Crowell, Clev.
2.04 Allen Robinson, Jac.
2.05 Cody Latimer, Den.
2.06 Austin Seferian-Jenkins, T.B.
2.07 Jace Amaro, NYJ
It's all a matter of opinion, but I didn't like the Richardson pick. He seems like a situational guy for a Seahawks team that likes to rotate wideouts. If and when Rice and Harvin get hurt I guess he becomes more appealing. Too high for Crowell in my eyes, but most probably thought the same when I took West.
Two picks away from my selection, Seferian-Jenkins and Latimer were the top two picks on my board -- really, the only remaining wideout and one of the two tight ends I liked. So they both got taken, one on a trade-up, naturally. I settled for Amaro, since it's a draft with only three really top-level tight ends and he was the only one left.
2.08 Jeremy Hill, Cin.
2.09 Tre Mason, St.L.
2.10 Blake Bortles, Jac.
2.11 Johnny Manziel, Clev.
2.12 Teddy Bridgewater, Minn.
3.01 Donte Moncrief, Ind.
I like the potential for both running backs and would have considered either had they made it to me. It may appear that I started the run on quarterbacks, but I traded pick 2.11 to a friend who I knew wanted Manziel. Decided I'd grab Bortles as a developmental guy (my other quarterbacks are Rivers and Kaepernick). I like Moncrief fine but am leery of the morass of wideouts in Indy right now.
3.02 Martavis Bryant, Pitt.
3.03 Andre Williams, NYG
3.04 Lache Seastrunk, Wash.
3.05 Ka'Deem Carey, Chi.
Bryant was the last wideout I had any interest in. He's been compared to Stephen Hill, which isn't encouraging, but he'll get better coaching and a better quarterback in Pittsburgh, I think, which has a need for another wideout in its top 3; he might even start. Williams could very well be the starting running back for the Giants once Rashad Jennings loses a step (which could happen this season). As an Alfred Morris owner I had some interest in Seastrunk, but running backs who do their best work in space yet can't catch worry me.
3.06 Marquess Wilson, Chi.
3.07 Tom Savage, Hou.
3.08 Charles Sims, T.B.
3.09 Jarvis Landry, Mia.
3.10 Colt Lyerla
3.11 Storm Johnson, Jac.
3.12 Adrien Robinson, NYG
Unrostered veterans were also fair game in this draft, which explains the Wilson and Robinson picks. I would have considered Storm Johnson if Williams were gone when I picked. Lyerla wasn't drafted but attended Packers minicamp and is a reasonable late-draft flier.
I came out of the draft with a couple of my top 7-8 rookie running backs, my top QB, and a top 3 tight end. A little disappointed I didn't get a better wideout, but that's what happens when 11 go in the top 17 picks. Could I have taken a wideout and got West at 2.07? Maybe, and that's something I'd have done if I really liked any of the receivers I passed on. Over the next few years, we'll see how it all worked out.