A few years back I stumbled upon the Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC) leagues, with their Main Event competitions and also Footballguys leagues. It is far and away my favorite league to compete in each year, and I've done pretty well, as an added bonus. My league for this season drafted last night.
This is a PPR league, but also TE-premium, so tight ends get 1.5 points per reception. There are also 2 flex spots, so a winning strategy, if you have the right roster, involves starting 2 or even 3 tight ends. I won a league a few years back with 3 TEs starting regularly (Austin Hooper was the key late pick in his big Atlanta season), and have tended to draft with that in mind ever since.
I landed the 12th pick last night, which I was actually thrilled about. Early picks are nice, but if I'm picking late, give me the back-to-back picks every time. I love not having to worry about the strategy of deciding which player to take and which player will make it back to me each time. Here's the entire draft board, and below is my thought process for each pick.
1.12. D'Andre Swift
2.01. Najee Harris
I like Swift a lot this year, and felt pretty confident I'd get him here. In fact, I pretty much decided I'd be starting RB-RB when I got my draft spot. Lions offense is underrated, Swift is a lot better than their other running backs. Harris, I also figured I'd be taking him here, especially in the wake of him mentioning a Lisfranc injury. Straight off our board, I should have gone with Joe Mixon, who was (to my slight surprise) available. And I considered him. But ironically I consider Mixon slightly more of an injury risk (more tread on his tires), and I don't think Harris would have played in Pittsburgh's final preseason game if there were any actual concerns about injury. Talk about resting Harris more this season -- just talk. Benny Snell can't play, Jaylen Warren is a nice dynasty hold, but Harris is going to get at least 80 percent of the work in this backfield again, probably a little more than Mixon.
3.12. Keenan Allen
4.01. George Kittle
If you start out RB-RB, of course, you're going to miss a whole lot of wide receivers. Five were taken before my first pick, and 10 before my next picks. So I was quite pleased that our 10th-ranked wide receiver, Allen, was available to me as the 16th one drafted. And legit stunned that teammate Mike Williams and Courtland Sutton, among others, went before him. (The guy that took Josh Allen almost three full rounds before the second quarterback was drafted also made what I'm going to call a sizable error.)
The Kittle pick was a bit of a departure for me, and one of my mild regrets this morning. We have Dalton Schultz ranked higher, and I'm going to admit right now that if I had it to do over, I'd have selected Schultz. I also considered Dameon Pierce, but I thought there was a good chance he'd make it back to me at 5.11 (and he was thisclose). I also strongly considered Allen Robinson and another running back, James Conner. All would have been excellent choices. But the TE-premium nature of this league had me going tight end. And since three others were gone before it got back to me, no regrets on the position, just the player itself (I don't like injury-prone guys, which Kittle is, and there's also the new quarterback question). But whatever. Index advice: draft Schultz.
5.12. T.J. Hockenson
6.01. Justin Herbert
Hockenson making it back to me in this league was stunning. I raced to the podium. We actually have him ranked above Kittle (and Schultz). Easy choice, and I don't really understand some of the players who went ahead of him, including Ertz and especially JuJu and Elijah Moore, who I think each went several rounds too early. Get your guys, I guess. Pierce made it all the way back to 5.10, so I think not taking him at 4.01 was the right move (although since I didn't actually get him, it's debatable). In retrospect I could have had Pierce and Hockenson rather than Kittle and Hockenson, and were multiple strong TEs not a big plus in this league, I might have.
Possible I took Herbert a little early. Three other top QBs went before my next picks. But he's our No. 1, I've got the Herbert-Keenan stack...I'm glad to have him atop my team. The other player I strongly considered was DK Metcalf, but in retrospect it worked out (since I took Seattle's other main wideout later). Michael Thomas probably would have been a good choice, if I didn't not trust Thomas these days.
7.12. Josh Jacobs
8.01. Allen Lazard
I do not get the industry-wide dismissal of Jacobs. One guy writes a story guessing the Raiders will use a committee and suddenly Jacobs is being selected 30th at the position (and maybe later if I hadn't stopped his fall), behind injured guys and backups and the like. I have Jacobs everywhere and this is the latest I've taken him. A few weeks from now either I'm going to be very wrong or everyone else is. At 7.12, there's very little risk for a guy we've got ranked a dozen spots higher. Being afraid of Ameer Abdullah or a fourth-round rookie makes little sense to me. Lazard is our guess to be Aaron Rodgers' No. 1, I think he'll be on almost every Index team. We ranked him 30th, I took him 40th. I considered Kirk, too.
9.12. Nyheim Hines
10.01. Tyler Lockett
I think we discussed Hines enough yesterday. Easy choice. Lockett is not a usual target of mine, but I did like seeing Geno Smith target him twice on their lone drive together in the last preseason game, and our latest rankings have him 35th among wide receivers; I got him 48th.
11.12. Matthew Stafford
12.01. Isaiah Likely
I like having a good No. 2 quarterback. These guys do get hurt on occasion, or there might be matchup issues or whatnot. Stafford's got the sore elbow or whatever but I'm choosing to ignore that. Likely, I decided before the draft I wanted to get him. Knowing exactly where to select him is tricky; arguably I could have taken him on my next picks, but I decided I wanted to make sure to get him, and there was no other huge value at running back or wide receiver I was passing up. Again, you can start 3 TEs in this league and it sometimes makes sense. And I think Baltimore's going to be playing 2 TEs all the time, with Likely potentially a top-3 target. If not, whatever, 12th-round pick. That being said, three guys I was considering -- Josh Palmer, Brian Robinson and Michael Gallup -- were taken in the next six picks. Gallup is the one I most regret not taking. If I had it to do over, I'd probably have taken Gallup and hoped Likely made it back. He probably would have.
13.12. Julio Jones
14.01. Jerick McKinnon
Can we not talk about these two picks? OK fine. Jones is opening as one of the top 3 in Tampa Bay, no question. Way more talented than anyone else I could have selected here. But he'll probably get hurt. McKinnon, I have no good excuse. He was one of the players in my queue and the clock was winding down. He makes the most sense on this roster as the 3rd-down back, but if we're being honest I could have selected him two rounds later. Should have taken my top defense, Buffalo, instead.
15.12. Hayden Hurst
16.01. KJ Hamler
Nothing much to say here. Hurst is a nice late-round choice at the position in TE-premium, I think he'll turn in a few 4 for 45 type games in Cincinnati. The Bengals are signing O.J. Howard today. Who cares. Hamler will be Denver's No. 3 wideout. I kind of wanted to get Jerry Jeudy earlier, so I'll settle for Hamler. A flier.
17.12. Broncos Defense
18.01. Ryan Succop
Broncos are ranked as a top-5 defense on our board, and I considered them two rounds earlier; felt pretty good they'd make it to me. Rookie returner Montrell Washington is going to bring a touchdown back this year, and I love the early-season schedule: Seattle, Houston, San Francisco to start, followed by three iffier ones (Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Chargers) but then the Jets and Jaguars. Succop was the best kicker remaining.
19.12. David Bell
20.01. Mike Davis
When you like your last two picks more than your previous five, sounds like a good draft. Bell might well be the slot receiver for Jacoby Brissett. Davis might (probably will) be a Week 1 starter in Baltimore. Highway robbery that he was available this late. I get it, he's Mike Davis. But I see a whole lot of wasted picks that will be cut right away the round or two before me.
So that's my team, feel free to rave or trash below. Good luck in your drafts.