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 | |
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Pick | Player |
9.01 | Caleb Williams |
9.02 | Travis Etienne |
9.03 | Javonte Williams |
9.04 | Cam Skattebo |
9.05 | Jayden Reed |
9.06 | Tyrone Tracy |
9.07 | Tyler Warren |
9.08 | Justin Fields |
9.09 | Matthew Golden |
9.10 | Dallas Goedert |
9.11 | Colston Loveland |
9.12 | Brock Purdy |
10.01 | Jordan Mason |
10.02 | Najee Harris |
10.03 | Zach Charbonnet |
10.04 | Jared Goff |
10.05 | Tyjae Spears |
10.06 | Dak Prescott |
10.07 | Jonnu Smith |
10.08 | Justin Herbert |
10.09 | Cooper Kupp |
10.10 | J.J. McCarthy |
10.11 | Jordan Love |
10.12 | Keon 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 | |
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Pick | Player |
11.01 | Darnell Mooney |
11.02 | Drake Maye |
11.03 | Jaydon Blue |
11.04 | Michael Pittman |
11.05 | J.K. Dobbins |
11.06 | Trevor Lawrence |
11.07 | C.J. Stroud |
11.08 | Kyle Pitts |
11.09 | Emeka Egbuka |
11.10 | Michael Penix |
11.11 | Isaac Guerendo |
11.12 | Christian Kirk |
12.01 | Hunter Henry |
12.02 | Matthew Stafford |
12.03 | Bhayshul Tuten |
12.04 | Tua Tagovailoa |
12.05 | Rhamondre Stevenson |
12.06 | Cameron Ward |
12.07 | Rashid Shaheed |
12.08 | Tre' Harris |
12.09 | Bryce Young |
12.10 | Trey Benson |
12.11 | Austin Ekeler |
12.12 | Ray 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 | |
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Pick | Player |
13.01 | Marvin Mims |
13.02 | Isaiah Likely |
13.03 | Brandon Aubrey |
13.04 | Brandon Aiyuk |
13.05 | Rachaad White |
13.06 | Luther Burden |
13.07 | Jerome Ford |
13.08 | Dylan Sampson |
13.09 | Zach Ertz |
13.10 | Wan'Dale Robinson |
13.11 | Brenton Strange |
13.12 | Tank Bigsby |
14.01 | DEN Team Defense |
14.02 | Jayden Higgins |
14.03 | Quentin Johnston |
14.04 | Geno Smith |
14.05 | Sam Darnold |
14.06 | Chris Boswell |
14.07 | Braelon Allen |
14.08 | Cameron Dicker |
14.09 | Anthony Richardson |
14.10 | BAL Team Defense |
14.11 | Rashod Bateman |
14.12 | Cedric 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 | |
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Pick | Player |
15.01 | Mike Gesicki |
15.02 | Romeo Doubs |
15.03 | Chig Okonkwo |
15.04 | Tyler Allgeier |
15.05 | Aaron Rodgers |
15.06 | Justice Hill |
15.07 | Nick Chubb |
15.08 | Jake Bates |
15.09 | Harrison Butker |
15.10 | Russell Wilson |
15.11 | Roschon Johnson |
15.12 | Jaylen Wright |
16.01 | PIT Team Defense |
16.02 | Hollywood Brown |
16.03 | Pat Freiermuth |
16.04 | Mason Taylor |
16.05 | Wil Lutz |
16.06 | Adam Thielen |
16.07 | Cade Otton |
16.08 | PHI Team Defense |
16.09 | Juwan Johnson |
16.10 | Matt Gay |
16.11 | Rico Dowdle |
16.12 | Daniel 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 | |
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Pick | Player |
17.01 | Joshua Palmer |
17.02 | Tyler Shough |
17.03 | LAC Team Defense |
17.04 | DeMario Douglas |
17.05 | Will Shipley |
17.06 | Miles Sanders |
17.07 | Jack Bech |
17.08 | BUF Team Defense |
17.09 | Kyle Williams |
17.10 | DAL Team Defense |
17.11 | Ka'imi Fairbairn |
17.12 | Evan McPherson |
18.01 | Xavier Legette |
18.02 | Elijah Arroyo |
18.03 | Chase McLaughlin |
18.04 | HOU Team Defense |
18.05 | Jake Elliott |
18.06 | KC Team Defense |
18.07 | Dalton Schultz |
18.08 | Tyler Bass |
18.09 | SEA Team Defense |
18.10 | Pat Bryant |
18.11 | Jalen McMillan |
18.12 | Darius 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 | |
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1.01 | Ja'Marr Chase |
1.02 | Justin Jefferson |
1.03 | Bijan Robinson |
1.04 | Jahmyr Gibbs |
1.05 | Saquon Barkley |
1.06 | CeeDee Lamb |
1.07 | Brock Bowers |
1.08 | Malik Nabers |
1.09 | Ashton Jeanty |
1.10 | Amon-Ra St. Brown |
1.11 | Christian McCaffrey |
1.12 | De'Von Achane |
2.01 | Nico Collins |
2.02 | Puka Nacua |
2.03 | Brian Thomas |
2.04 | Derrick Henry |
2.05 | Trey McBride |
2.06 | A.J. Brown |
2.07 | Josh Jacobs |
2.08 | Lamar Jackson |
2.09 | Drake London |
2.10 | Josh Allen |
2.11 | Ladd McConkey |
2.12 | Jonathan Taylor |
3.01 | Kyren Williams |
3.02 | Chase Brown |
3.03 | Jaxon Smith-Njigba |
3.04 | Bucky Irving |
3.05 | George Kittle |
3.06 | Joe Burrow |
3.07 | Garrett Wilson |
3.08 | Tyreek Hill |
3.09 | Tee Higgins |
3.10 | James Cook |
3.11 | Omarion Hampton |
3.12 | Breece Hall |
4.01 | Davante Adams |
4.02 | Jayden Daniels |
4.03 | Kenneth Walker |
4.04 | Marvin Harrison |
4.05 | Terry McLaurin |
4.06 | Chuba Hubbard |
4.07 | Rashee Rice |
4.08 | Mike Evans |
4.09 | Jalen Hurts |
4.10 | T.J. Hockenson |
4.11 | Alvin Kamara |
4.12 | DJ Moore |
5.01 | Courtland Sutton |
5.02 | Xavier Worthy |
5.03 | James Conner |
5.04 | DeVonta Smith |
5.05 | Tetairoa McMillan |
5.06 | Sam LaPorta |
5.07 | DK Metcalf |
5.08 | Zay Flowers |
5.09 | TreVeyon Henderson |
5.10 | Evan Engram |
5.11 | George Pickens |
5.12 | D'Andre Swift |
6.01 | Patrick Mahomes |
6.02 | Jameson Williams |
6.03 | David Montgomery |
6.04 | RJ Harvey |
6.05 | Aaron Jones |
6.06 | Jaylen Waddle |
6.07 | Travis Hunter |
6.08 | Kaleb Johnson |
6.09 | Joe Mixon |
6.10 | Calvin Ridley |
6.11 | Travis Kelce |
6.12 | Brian Robinson |
7.01 | Bo Nix |
7.02 | Rome Odunze |
7.03 | Chris Olave |
7.04 | Mark Andrews |
7.05 | Tony Pollard |
7.06 | Quinshon Judkins |
7.07 | Isiah Pacheco |
7.08 | Kyler Murray |
7.09 | David Njoku |
7.10 | Baker Mayfield |
7.11 | Jauan Jennings |
7.12 | Stefon Diggs |
8.01 | Jake Ferguson |
8.02 | Jordan Addison |
8.03 | Jakobi Meyers |
8.04 | Jerry Jeudy |
8.05 | Khalil Shakir |
8.06 | Jaylen Warren |
8.07 | Ricky Pearsall |
8.08 | Deebo Samuel |
8.09 | Josh Downs |
8.10 | Chris Godwin |
8.11 | Tucker Kraft |
8.12 | Dalton Kincaid |