Congratulations to Chris Liss of Rotowire. He's the winner of the Experts Draft League that we drafted back in May, published in our preseason annual. Scott Pianowski of Yahoo Sports came in 2nd, and L.A. Hale of Fantasy Gives finished 3rd.
Drafting from the No. 5 position, Liss started out with Odell Beckham Jr., then selected Jordy Nelson -- coming off a torn ACL -- in the second round. He went wide receiver again in the third (Mike Evans) before selecting his first running back in the fourth. That also worked out well: DeMarco Murray.
Waiting on a quarterback also turned out favorably (Kirk Cousins in the ninth round). His late-round selections at Kicker (Matt Bryant) and Defense (Denver Broncos) didn't hurt, either.
It wasn't all good, as neither of the tight ends Liss selected (Dwayne Allen and Jared Cook) panned out.
This was a Draftmasters type league with no transactions allowed after the initial draft. It hurt Liss at tight end, and killed other teams that were hard hit by injuries. Nothing you can do if your top running backs and receivers get hurt or otherwise struggle.
Michael Nazarek of FF Mastermind, for example, selected Rob Gronkowski and Keenan Allen with two of his top three picks. Bryan Hough of Fantasy Titan 101 selected Thomas Rawls and Ameer Abdullah as two of his top 4 running backs. Jim Nienaber, the Super League Qualifier, was burned by Sammy Watkins, Dion Lewis and Karlos Williams. Cam Newton was also an underachiever.
Full standings are shown below. Each team played every other team every week during the season. Top score went 11-0, 2nd-highest score 10-1, etc.
Congratulations, Chris!
FANTASY INDEX EXPERTS DRAFT LEAGUE | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Wins | Losses | Points | |
Rotowire | 134 | 42 | 20,636 | |
Yahoo Sports | 119 | 57 | 20,196 | |
Fantasy Gives | 108 | 68 | 19,635 | |
Extra Point Press | 91 | 85 | 18,458 | |
Fantasy Titan 101 | 91 | 85 | 18,337 | |
Fantasy Football Warehouse | 91 | 85 | 18,205 | |
League Safe | 81 | 95 | 17,501 | |
FFMastermind.com | 80 | 96 | 17,677 | |
Draft Sharks | 72 | 104 | 17,479 | |
The Huddle | 71 | 105 | 17,248 | |
USA Today Fantasy Sports | 62 | 114 | 16,918 | |
Super League Qualifier | 56 | 120 | 16,005 |
--Andy Richardson