The season isn't over, but things are looking good for David Dodds in the Experts Draft League. His Footballguys team selected Christian McCaffrey at No. 2 overall, and that's helped make him No. 1 through 10 weeks of our annual competition.
Full teams can be seen in our annual preseason magazine, and at this link. In addition to McCaffrey, Dodds' regular starters in this best-ball, no transaction league have included Aaron Rodgers, Nick Chubb, Kenny Golladay and Keenan Allen. When one of those guys has a bad week, another player (Golden Tate, Austin Ekeler) has filled in. Dodds also hit on both his defense picks (Carolina and Jacksonville).
Back in May (and even into August) there were a clump of four running backs atop most draft rankings: McCaffrey, Barkley, Kamara and Elliott. Barkley and Kamara have both missed multiple games, while Elliott hasn't been a knockout. McCaffrey, meanwhile, has a chance to set an all-time yardage record for running backs.
Jared Smola's Draft Sharks team is currently 2nd, while Alan Satterlee of the Charlotte Observer is a close 3rd. Smola's third-rounder Aaron Jones and fifth-rounder Chris Godwin look like the key selections. Satterlee took Derrick Henry in the third round, and has some other steady youngsters: DJ Moore, DK Metcalf, and rookie quarterback Kyler Murray.
In this league, which uses PPR scoring for the first time, each team plays every other team every week. Highest score goes 11-0, 2nd-highest score goes 10-1, etc.
Because this is a no-transaction league, bad luck with injuries can cripple a team, and there's no way to recover. Dave Wilde's Fantasy Index Blackout team selected A.J. Green in the third round, long before there was any injury concern. Scott Pianowski of Yahoo Sports selected Antonio Brown in the second round. There's no coming back from that.
Current standings are below. After Week 16, we'll crown a champion. We'll check in on Auction League later this week.
EXPERTS DRAFT LEAGUE STANDINGS | ||
---|---|---|
Team | Wins | Losses |
Footballguys | 85 | 25 |
Draft Sharks | 72 | 38 |
Charlotte Observer | 71 | 39 |
League Safe | 68 | 42 |
Extra Point Press | 61 | 49 |
Big Guy Fantasy Sports | 60 | 50 |
Fantasy Index Podcast | 51 | 59 |
Fantasy Index Open | 49 | 61 |
FFMastermind.com | 42 | 68 |
Yahoo Sports | 41 | 69 |
Fantasy Index Blackout | 39 | 71 |
Rotoworld | 21 | 89 |
--Andy Richardson