Draft Grades

Let the season begin... And pray for no injuries!

Welcome to the new website and a new year. This will be a fun post with all sorts of things we can look back upon at the year's end!

New year, new players. Just like the NFL, our league has retirements and rookies. With the departure of Khurram and our 2-time champion, Arshad, we welcome in Ali B. and Zeeshan into the league. The expectations are almost nothing for our newcomers. We've had at least 1 new player every year except for 2015. In those years, we've had finishes from the newcomers ranging from 1st place to last place. So expect nothing and expect everything from Ali B. and Zeeshan this year.

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The Draft

I think everyone expected the top 3 picks to be exactly as predicted. Every source for research said the 1st 3 picks would be Barkley, Kamara, and McCaffrey in some order, but pick 4 is where you would start to see some different picks. Well, that's not what happened here. Kamara fell all the way to pick 5, surprising almost all of us. I had a conversation with Yaseer prior to the draft discussing what we thought would happen in the 1st round since we were on opposite ends of the draft. We were convinced of the top 3, as that would be normal, but we weren't too sure after that. Yaseer was convinced Zeke would not be taken in the first round due to his contract concerns, but that didn't stop Kyriacos. After the surprising move by Ali S. to move up to 3 to take D. Johnson, Kyriacos passed on Kamara and drafted Zeke. At that point, it was obvious our draft would not go as expected. There was a bunch of trades to go through, which I'll do in the team-by-team analysis. Granted most of them involved my team, but we won't talk about that...

"Zeke will fall out of Round 1. You heard it here first." - Yaseer Parupia

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Who Won The Draft?

To answer this question, I think it's only right that we do a team-by-team analysis to determine the correct answer.

Parth

It's always a strong draft when you get a sure-fire RB1 at the top. McCaffrey is a no-brainer lock to have another solid season. Pair that with the top TE, Kelce, in the draft and you're already set at 2 of the positions. Not to mention a great value pick at the back end of the second round, when ADP had him going at 14. Solid depth and good picks at the back end of the draft, but a bit of a reach for Lindsey at pick 39 (ADP 59) and Mayfield at pick 59. I can understand though from a Broncos fan perspective. Ridley and Miller have solid chances to work they way up into the conversation for top tier producers if they can break out. At the end of the draft was the only trade involving Parth: J. Howard (103) and M. Brown (160) for J. Graham (119) and J. Winston (122). Most likely to end up being a negligent trade in the end, but decent value for the picks themselves. Along with all that may be the steal of the draft with E. Sanders in round 15. Overall, a really solid looking team.

Grade: A

Ahsan

A bunch of trades here, most of which I've discussed in the other teams' analysis. The only one I haven't mentioned is the trade down from the 3rd round to gain a few picks. The trade in the end was A. Brown, T. Brady, and J. Howard for G. Kittle, T. Boyd, and C. Kirk. A reasonable trade on both ends. A reluctant pick in the second round taking J. Mixon was interesting, yet a solid pick. Also, getting the number 1 WR doesn't hurt. Although there a solid amount of talent with the starters on this team, there is a lack of depth at the skill positions. Not a ton of upside there, unless there some significant injuries. Overall, a good starting lineup with not much depth behind it.

Grade: B+

Kyriacos

I think it's easy to say that this squad is made up of a lot of high-risk, high-reward players. Taking Zeke over Kamara was a surprise especially since he could potentially miss games to start the season, but if he doesn't, he could very well end up being a top 3 RB. Gurley was a great pick at 17, but also has concerns coming back from injury and with Henderson now on the roster. Mahomes was definitely a reach at pick 24 (ADP 32), but if he repeats his numbers from last year, it will pay off. But based off past years, the numbers say he won't repeat as the top QB. There's some more of that risk with AJ Green and J. Gordon, but if that pays off, it'll overshadow the clear lack of highly rated WR's coming out of the draft. Overall, a lot of risk with this team and a clear weakness at WR, which could end up being costly.

Grade: C

Ali B.

Biggest positive from this draft is easy to assess, but it was followed by the biggest negative. Getting Kamara at pick 5 was a huge success, but taking M. Gordon in the second round at pick 16 (ADP 31) with a big holdout looming over was a reach. It could end up working out, but doesn't look so good right now. The rest of the draft was pretty standard here with solid picks. Not much reaching or risks here. The only trade completed by Ali B. was moving down 2 picks and picking up an additional 10th round pick for a 16th round pick. A great move, considering it involved picking up T. Brady as his backup QB. Overall, a decent draft with some solid players.

Grade: B

Ali S.

A couple of in draft trades early made it obvious that Ali S. was set on the first 2 players he was drafting. He wanted D. Johnson and D. Cook, and completed a couple of trades that allowed him to do that. A questionable move to move up from 6 to 3 to get Johnson, but I'm sure he felt he would go at 4 after Barkley, McCaffrey, and Kamara, so he had to move up to 3 to get him first. We'll see if that move pans out in the end. It costed him a 3rd round pick for a 5th round pick, in what ended up being A. Thielen for C. Kupp. A move down to get D. Cook, gained him a 9th round pick for a 12th round pick, in what ended up being D. Guice for G. Olsen. Both of these were decent moves if confident in your rankings. Going RB/RB with the first 2 picks usually leads to going to another position with the 3rd selection, but that was not the case here. C. Carson was added to a stacked RB core, while then loading up on a myriad of WR's that could end up being good value picks or huge busts. A couple of high-upside players, with K. Murray and V. McDonald, round out the core lineup. And then there's the steal of J. Goff late in the draft, putting together a solid, heavy RB lineup. Overall, a solid draft filled with RB's that could pan out to be huge players and create some leverage in the league, but a questionable WR core is still there.

Grade: A-

Daniel

A interesting draft for a team on autopick. Chubb could end up being a great pick for the whole year, but definitely a great pick for the first 8 weeks. The real question is when K. Hunt becomes eligible; how will that affect the Browns offense. Adams can easily end up being the number 1 WR, but that all hinges on A-Rod and the new look Packers offense. The rest of the draft ended up being focused on the Colts and Bears offenses. So suffice to say, the success of this team depends on how well those offenses do. Although, there is definitely a bonus here for autopick-stealing E. Engram from Ali S. Overall, could end up panning out, but very risky taking complete offenses in the draft. Granted, there wasn't really a choice here.

Grade: B-

Zeeshan

I think the most important thing to talk about here is the fact that it was clear Odell was the target at pick 13 and he was swiped at pick 12, leaving Zeeshan in turmoil. Nah, I'm just kidding, it's definitely when he decided to trade an 11th round pick for a 15th round pick straight up. This was the price to pay for not checking bye weeks prior to drafting. But other than those critical errors, there were some solid pickups with potential. K. Johnson has the ability to really put up numbers now that T. Riddick has left Detroit. A bunch of 2nd option WR's on really good offenses can have some really good weeks, but won't be as consistent (S. Diggs, S. Watkins, J. Landry, and D. Jackson). Overall, a solid draft for the newcomer, but the mistakes overshadow it all.

Grade: B

Rimmel

Starting out the draft with Bell and Odell is a great way to get going. Both players will surely see a ton of work, but effectiveness on new teams is the question. Players starting on a new team is always risky. If they play at the level they did prior to their new teams, then both players will be steals at their spots, but if that drop in production happens, it could be costly. Following that up with 2 players already with injury concerns is worrisome, especially considering if the curse of injuries returns. Both D. Williams and A. Cooper are questionable going forward and with that rounding out the big 4 players on this team, there's a lot to be concerned with. The big plus from this draft is definitely D. Watson at pick 52. Depth on this roster is a lot of guys with not much upside, except for L. Fitzgerald and DJ. Moore, who could end up being great value picks. The trade ended up being L. Fournette, A. Eckler, and Texans Defense for A. Cooper, DJ. Moore, and L. Fitzgerald. Honestly, it seems like a pretty well rounded trade for both teams. Overall, some good players with good value at their picks, but some risky picks at the top could be the downfall of this team.

Grade: C+

Yaseer

By far, my favorite draft here. Not much I would've changed in drafting any of these players. Starting out the draft with a couple of WR1 players that will see a ton of workload in PIT and NO. Supplement that with the Giants top WR option and that's a solid group of WR's. A player that he was able to grab through a trade that seems great in terms of the pick produced. He was able to grab S. Shepard at pick 58 in exchange for picks 90 and 91. Add in a couple of really solid TE's, D. Walker and K. Rudolph, and QB's, A-Rod and L. Jackson, and your set at all those positions. RB's is where the question is at on this team, but a lot of really solid upside guys on the roster. J. Jacobs, D. Freeman, and D. Montgomery are all going to see a lot of work in their offenses and have the potential to be solid RB1's, but each has their concerns. But add in some other high-upside backups, in T. Pollard and K. Hunt, and there's some room to make some mistakes on these RB's while still getting top producers. Overall, a really great draft.

Grade: A+

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The Unanswered Question

Who will win the championship? The question all of us are wondering, and the question we all think we know the answer to. But our answers are almost always wrong. Well at least for 90% of us. So let's go to the stat book and take a look at our history. Since our league's inception, the champion has always picked in the latter half of the draft, pick 6-10. In those years, each pick has won once, except for pick 8, which has won twice. To narrow it down further, no pick before or after the winning pick the prior year has ever won. There has always been at least a 2 pick difference year to year. Since last year Rimmel won picking at 7, we can rule out picks 6, 7, and 8. That leaves us with pick 9 and 10, which belong to Rimmel and Yaseer, respectively. And if you remember the stat about not changing the team name from the year prior, then you know that since Rimmel changed his team name, he is also excluded. This leaves us with the 2019 champion according to historical stats, Yaseer.

Predictions

We'll try again this year with making picks on some of the games. Although, it hasn't worked out in years past, hopefully this is the year we set a huge winning record. Look forward to that after the season starts.