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Andy Richardson

Best-Ball Draft Recap (Rounds 9-18)

Filling out a season-long roster

Last week I posted the first eight rounds of a best-ball draft I've been participating in over at FFPC.com. It's PPR and TE-premium (1.5 per reception for that position), with 2 flex spots. Here now are Rounds 9-18.

For those who missed the earlier article, I've included the first eight rounds at the bottom of this post. You can also see it here. My picks are in bold, and I'll discuss them at the end of each 2-round section.

ROUND 9-10
PickPlayer
9.01Caleb Williams
9.02Travis Etienne
9.03Javonte Williams
9.04Cam Skattebo
9.05Jayden Reed
9.06Tyrone Tracy
9.07Tyler Warren
9.08Justin Fields
9.09Matthew Golden
9.10Dallas Goedert
9.11Colston Loveland
9.12Brock Purdy
10.01Jordan Mason
10.02Najee Harris
10.03Zach Charbonnet
10.04Jared Goff
10.05Tyjae Spears
10.06Dak Prescott
10.07Jonnu Smith
10.08Justin Herbert
10.09Cooper Kupp
10.10J.J. McCarthy
10.11Jordan Love
10.12Keon Coleman

I don't really understand the lack of interest in Goedert. He's a productive receiver, the de facto No. 3 in Philadelphia, with no real competition. There's an injury concern, but that's true of a lot of tight ends.

I'm not a Charbonnet fan, as I've mentioned here in the past. But he's as clean a No. 2 as there is and he's been productive when the starter has missed time. I kind of regret the Kenneth Walker pick because it forces you to reach a little to secure Charbonnet. But in a best-ball league especially, I feel like this is a pick you have to make. Although in retrospect, I wish I'd taken my 2nd quarterback, because of how the next 18 picks went.

ROUND 11-12
PickPlayer
11.01Darnell Mooney
11.02Drake Maye
11.03Jaydon Blue
11.04Michael Pittman
11.05J.K. Dobbins
11.06Trevor Lawrence
11.07C.J. Stroud
11.08Kyle Pitts
11.09Emeka Egbuka
11.10Michael Penix
11.11Isaac Guerendo
11.12Christian Kirk
12.01Hunter Henry
12.02Matthew Stafford
12.03Bhayshul Tuten
12.04Tua Tagovailoa
12.05Rhamondre Stevenson
12.06Cameron Ward
12.07Rashid Shaheed
12.08Tre' Harris
12.09Bryce Young
12.10Trey Benson
12.11Austin Ekeler
12.12Ray Davis

No sugar-coating this one. I was very much taken aback by the crazy run on quarterbacks that ensued between my pick at 10.03 and 11.10. When I made that first pick, I saw no less than 5 quarterbacks I would have been happy with as my 2nd passer, and was confident at least one would make it 18 picks. Lawrence, Maye, Prescott, Goff or even Stroud -- any would have been fine. To my surprise, they all went, plus three others I wouldn't have been crazy about. Surveying what was left, I could have gone with relatively stable Matthew Stafford, but I decided to go with the upside potential of Michael Penix. Awfully small sample set of NFL starts, but at least he's not an immobile 37-year-old with an iffy back. Key to my winning this league last year was my late-round selection of lightly regarded rookie Bo Nix. So, we'll see.

Tuten (pictured), I was happy to select as a 5th running back with the upside and potential to start. Really the only Jacksonville runner I've been selecting anywhere thus far.

ROUND 13-14
PickPlayer
13.01Marvin Mims
13.02Isaiah Likely
13.03Brandon Aubrey
13.04Brandon Aiyuk
13.05Rachaad White
13.06Luther Burden
13.07Jerome Ford
13.08Dylan Sampson
13.09Zach Ertz
13.10Wan'Dale Robinson
13.11Brenton Strange
13.12Tank Bigsby
14.01DEN Team Defense
14.02Jayden Higgins
14.03Quentin Johnston
14.04Geno Smith
14.05Sam Darnold
14.06Chris Boswell
14.07Braelon Allen
14.08Cameron Dicker
14.09Anthony Richardson
14.10BAL Team Defense
14.11Rashod Bateman
14.12Cedric Tillman

Was ready to pounce on Ertz, who we have as a top-10 tight end (even better in TE-premium), but he annoyingly went one pick before. Happened a lot in this draft, I think the guys ahead of us had our rankings. Missing out, I decided to address our lack of wide receiver depth; we only had three through 12 rounds. Wan'Dale is nothing to get excited about but he'll catch some passes, I could see careful Russell Wilson sending a lot of short passes his way. Johnston isn't fondly thought of but caught 8 TDs last year and will probably be the No. 2 wideout for the Chargers. (Note: I made this pick before there were any reports of the Chargers reuniting with Keenan Allen, so that's kind of unfortunate. When I picked, he seemed like the No. 2. Now, not so much.) The 58th and 60th wide receivers off the board in this draft, highlighting how deep we're getting (this is a 28-round draft, so we're actually only half-done; I will not be posting the final 10 rounds of kickers, defenses, and fourth-string running backs).

ROUND 15-16
PickPlayer
15.01Mike Gesicki
15.02Romeo Doubs
15.03Chig Okonkwo
15.04Tyler Allgeier
15.05Aaron Rodgers
15.06Justice Hill
15.07Nick Chubb
15.08Jake Bates
15.09Harrison Butker
15.10Russell Wilson
15.11Roschon Johnson
15.12Jaylen Wright
16.01PIT Team Defense
16.02Hollywood Brown
16.03Pat Freiermuth
16.04Mason Taylor
16.05Wil Lutz
16.06Adam Thielen
16.07Cade Otton
16.08PHI Team Defense
16.09Juwan Johnson
16.10Matt Gay
16.11Rico Dowdle
16.12Daniel Jones

Three QBs kind of important in best-ball, I think; the guy I beat out last year didn't have one the last few weeks of the season. Wilson is unappealing because most likely it'll be Jaxson Dart starting the last month of the season if not more, but Wilson is making enough money that I think he'll start most of the way, plus the only actual starters left when I took him were whoever starts for New Orleans and Cleveland.

Freiermuth being available this late in a TE-premium league is goofy. Jonnu Smith was taken 6 rounds earlier, which is absolutely mind-numbing. I'm well aware of what Smith did last year, but he was just a veteran guy in the right place at the right time. Now he's the 2nd-best tight end on his own team. There is no chance of me drafting Jonnu in any league this season, and him going six rounds ahead of Freiermuth gets my vote as worst pick of the draft. Even if he were the best tight end in Pittsburgh, and he's not, we can count on Arthur Smith sending passes to both of them and probably one or two others. Freiermuth at 16.03 is a bargain either way.

ROUND 17-18
PickPlayer
17.01Joshua Palmer
17.02Tyler Shough
17.03LAC Team Defense
17.04DeMario Douglas
17.05Will Shipley
17.06Miles Sanders
17.07Jack Bech
17.08BUF Team Defense
17.09Kyle Williams
17.10DAL Team Defense
17.11Ka'imi Fairbairn
17.12Evan McPherson
18.01Xavier Legette
18.02Elijah Arroyo
18.03Chase McLaughlin
18.04HOU Team Defense
18.05Jake Elliott
18.06KC Team Defense
18.07Dalton Schultz
18.08Tyler Bass
18.09SEA Team Defense
18.10Pat Bryant
18.11Jalen McMillan
18.12Darius Slayton

Defense and kicker, it's time. I think a team with a good returner is a nice best-ball option, and the Cowboys have about the best. McLaughlin is safe to be the Bucs kicker all season. Safety is what I'm looking for at this position in a no-transactions league.

In retrospect, I don't love my team. Could have done some things differently, and will need some guys to step up. But depth-wise, I feel good that I'll have solid starters all year long. This is a battle of attrition, and some teams are in worse shape in that regard than others. We'll see.

ROUNDS 1-8
1.01Ja'Marr Chase
1.02Justin Jefferson
1.03Bijan Robinson
1.04Jahmyr Gibbs
1.05Saquon Barkley
1.06CeeDee Lamb
1.07Brock Bowers
1.08Malik Nabers
1.09Ashton Jeanty
1.10Amon-Ra St. Brown
1.11Christian McCaffrey
1.12De'Von Achane
2.01Nico Collins
2.02Puka Nacua
2.03Brian Thomas
2.04Derrick Henry
2.05Trey McBride
2.06A.J. Brown
2.07Josh Jacobs
2.08Lamar Jackson
2.09Drake London
2.10Josh Allen
2.11Ladd McConkey
2.12Jonathan Taylor
3.01Kyren Williams
3.02Chase Brown
3.03Jaxon Smith-Njigba
3.04Bucky Irving
3.05George Kittle
3.06Joe Burrow
3.07Garrett Wilson
3.08Tyreek Hill
3.09Tee Higgins
3.10James Cook
3.11Omarion Hampton
3.12Breece Hall
4.01Davante Adams
4.02Jayden Daniels
4.03Kenneth Walker
4.04Marvin Harrison
4.05Terry McLaurin
4.06Chuba Hubbard
4.07Rashee Rice
4.08Mike Evans
4.09Jalen Hurts
4.10T.J. Hockenson
4.11Alvin Kamara
4.12DJ Moore
5.01Courtland Sutton
5.02Xavier Worthy
5.03James Conner
5.04DeVonta Smith
5.05Tetairoa McMillan
5.06Sam LaPorta
5.07DK Metcalf
5.08Zay Flowers
5.09TreVeyon Henderson
5.10Evan Engram
5.11George Pickens
5.12D'Andre Swift
6.01Patrick Mahomes
6.02Jameson Williams
6.03David Montgomery
6.04RJ Harvey
6.05Aaron Jones
6.06Jaylen Waddle
6.07Travis Hunter
6.08Kaleb Johnson
6.09Joe Mixon
6.10Calvin Ridley
6.11Travis Kelce
6.12Brian Robinson
7.01Bo Nix
7.02Rome Odunze
7.03Chris Olave
7.04Mark Andrews
7.05Tony Pollard
7.06Quinshon Judkins
7.07Isiah Pacheco
7.08Kyler Murray
7.09David Njoku
7.10Baker Mayfield
7.11Jauan Jennings
7.12Stefon Diggs
8.01Jake Ferguson
8.02Jordan Addison
8.03Jakobi Meyers
8.04Jerry Jeudy
8.05Khalil Shakir
8.06Jaylen Warren
8.07Ricky Pearsall
8.08Deebo Samuel
8.09Josh Downs
8.10Chris Godwin
8.11Tucker Kraft
8.12Dalton Kincaid
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