A very special message coming to Max Cubberley…
Dynabowl 2020 draft – exit survey
The picks are in. And more importantly the survey has been done. Let’s find out who said the meanest things about each other’s drafts!
Pete
Best player: Joe Burrow (pick 29) – 8 votes. A fairly easy call – Pete’s first pick was the #1 overall pick in the NFL draft. Curtis Weaver (pick 49) and Jeff Okudah (pick 60, 3rd overall pick in the NFL draft) each garnered a vote.
Best value: A tie with 2 votes between Curtis Weaver (pick 49), Jeff Okudah (pick 60), Malik Harrison (pick 71), Mykal Walker (pick 83). Damon Arnette and Noah Igbinoghene each got one vote. I can’t work out whether we think Pete got equally good value on all his picks, or equally bad value.
Worst value: Jeff Okudah (pick 60) – 5 votes. Taking the first QB off the board is always going to be a bit controversial. Burrow came in second on 2 votes.
Best name: Sterling Horfricther – 8 votes. Noah Igbinoghene would have been a leading candidate in most draft classes, but didn’t have a shot here.
Comments: “Apart from Burrow and Weaver I’m not sure any of the players will be better than FAs. Burrow was great value though.”; “Really need to include what Pete got for all of his early picks to fully evaluate. I suspect was very little so the rating might be generous”; “Not many picks, not much gained.”; “Late value and the first pick was a QB”
“Very little prep done this year, and it shows.”
“Nobody needs to draft 3 cornerbacks. I mean, you don’t really need to draft any. Unless they are one of about 4 players, they are largely interchangeable and/or random.”; “Tough to rate Pete’s draft due to not coming in early but he got his position of need and then stocked up on defensive prospects. Given that his team has a strong offence already I think there was good strategy at play here.”
Ben
Best player: Tie between Clyde Edwards-Hilaire (pick 1) and Jonathan Taylor (pick 2) – 3 votes. Ceedee Lamb (pick 4) and Isaiah Simmons (pick 12). It can’t be too bad when people can’t decide which is the best player out of the first 4 that you picked.
Best value: Antonio Gandy-Golden (pick 40) – 3 votes. A big week for Gandy-Golden, revealing he beat coronavirus and was a great value pick for Ben. Isaiah Simmons (pick 12) got 2 votes. 5 other players (CEH, Taylor, Gross-Matos, Lamb and Benjamin) each got a vote.
Worst value: Javon Kinlaw (pick 21) – 5 votes. I wholeheartedly agree. Isaiah Simmons completely his trifecta of runner-up spots, picking up 2 votes. Gandy-Golden, Lamb and Trevon Diggs (pick 75) each got 1 vote.
Best name: Antonio Gandy-Golden – 7 votes. I am shocked about the upset over Gross-Matos (2 votes), but I guess I’m a sucker for a rhyming name. Edwards-Hilaire got 1 undeserved vote.
Comments: “Some off the wall picks in the middle of the draft”; “Don’t feel like there’s any real value in this draft, it’s paying sticker price or higher for everyone in the early rounds and then a bunch of low-ish value late round picks”; “Not much ‘value’ per se as all the top picks have come at a premium. But you get your guy. Simmons overvalued there I think.”
“It’s tough to go wrong when you have 3 of the top 4 picks, and Ben managed to avoid any pitfalls. This should be transformational and take a team that’s not really been relevant since year one and turn them into challengers for the next 3 years. If it doesn’t then we know the GM is the problem. I look forward to his success infuriating Slatz.”
“Love the first round, but I think it lost its way in rounds 2 and 3. Good players, bad value.”; “Ben got good value out if his haul. Again you’d need to factor in what he gave up for his picks but I don’t think it was too much”
Goody
Best player: Ross Blacklock (pick 58) – 3 votes. A mixed bag as Deejay Dallas (pick 47) and CJ Henderson (pick 74) also got 2 votes and Darrell Taylor (pick 81), Jordan Love (pick 91) and Ashtyn Davis (pick 101) each got a vote. You could say that this shows he got good players throughout the draft. You could also say that this shows he had shit picks and picked shit players.
Best value: Darrell Taylor (pick 81) takes this home with 3 votes. Ashtyn Davis (pick 101) got 2 votes, though for my money he’s a better real player than fantasy player. Love, Henderson, Blacklock, Dallas and Shaquille Quarterman (pick 111) each got a vote. Again, no consensus.
Worst value: Finally, consensus! Jordan Love takes it home with 5 votes. And Jalen Hurts (pick 69) comes in 2nd with 3 votes. Picking a backup QB to a franchise QB isn’t popular. Ross Blacklock got the remaining vote.
Best name: Shaquille Quarterman – 7 votes. Deejay Dallas got the other 3, but frankly the only thing worse than the quality of players here is the quality of names.
Comments: “I basically like none of these picks – two back up QBs, a bunch of defenders and a guy who has a shot at being the lead RB on a team who like to swap them on a weekly basis, but also the 3rd RB on that team. No draft capital to speak of, but what they had was wasted.”; “Not a lot to work with, but might as well punt on two dubious QBs?”
“Jordan Love to be MVP All Pro.”
“It was fine. I don’t like his plan of taking two long-term backup QBs. Apart from them he got some decent prospects given his utter lack of capital.”; “I haven’t really heard of any of the players goody took”; Love is a terrible pick I’m glad he took, because it meant other players fell an extra slot down. Other than that, he couldn’t do much, not having a pick in the top 4 rounds. If only he could have traded one of his WRs to Pete for a first round pick.”; “It’s hard to rate a worst value pick when Goody only had two picks before the 7th round. I like the Ross Blacklock pick, i had been about to take him. I’m not convinced using two picks on QBs when you have so few is a great idea, even if they were pretty inconsequential picks.”
Geoff
Best player: Tua Tagovailoa (pick 32) – 6 votes. Not bad value to get your best player with your 4th pick (although that might say more about the first 3). His first two picks shared the remaining votes though: Denzel Mims (pick 11) with 3 and Tee Higgins (pick 16) with 1.
Best value: Tee Higgins (pick 16) with 3. Derrick Brown (pick 51) came in second with 2 votes, and Chaisson (pick 37), Gay (pick 36), Josh Kelley (pick 24), Mims (pick 11) and Grant Delpit (pick 66) each got a vote. It seems like there was general praise for how Geoff worked the middle rounds of the draft.
Worst value: Apart from picking Adam Trautman at 34. 4 votes for him. Kelley and Higgins each got 2, with Mims and JaMycal Hasty picking up a vote each.
Best name: Hasty might be bad value, but he’s a great name. 9 votes for him. Willie Gay is an underrated funny name for childish reasons, so he prevented Hasty’s clean sweep.
Comments: “I like both Mims and Higgins but better value at 24. Strnad could be good value.”; “A bit of a meh draft. Trading out of the 1st resulted in more picks but less oooomph”; “Missing out in the first round hurts a little. Mims and Higgins are an interesting pairing.”; “Lots of players, and lots who will likely be good in the nfl, but I’m not convinced they will be great in fantasy. It’s still pretty good, he got the best fantasy TE available, though in a shit year for TEs. There are quite a lot of players here I didn’t really have down as players worth picking when they came off the board, but he complained about being sniped consistently. Maybe there’s another world where he got a truly transcendent draft.”
“A class full of strong names. Getting Derrick Brown where he did was great value.”
“Mike is another who has stacked up plenty of good prospects on both sides. Really, it’s hard to have a bad draft (on first inspection) when you have so many picks so expect these comments to come out for Slatz and Chris too. I like the Tee Higgins pick a lot, Mike could well have got a WR1/2 for many years for a mid-2nd. Adam Trautman is overdrafted there though I think, maybe a round too early.”
Slatz
Best player: a tie between Jerry Jeudy (pick 7) and Chase Young (pick 6). 5 votes each. Not really hard to argue with that.
Best value: Jerry Jeudy runs away with it with 7 votes. Brandon Aiyuk (pick 17), Justin Herbert (pick 46) and Bradlee Anae (pick 100) each got a vote. I assume people ignored what it cost Slatz to trade up to get Jeudy.
Worst value: a (surprising, in my opinion) tie. Chase Young and Herbert (pick 46) each got 3 votes. I would have bet on Young winning this at a canter. Zack Moss (pick 26), Chase Claypool (pick 10), Aiyuk and Donovan Peoples-Jones (pick 63) each got a vote.
Best name: Donovan Peoples-Jones recovers from the ignominy of being an overrated late round pick to win best name, with 5 votes. Jerry Jeudy ran him close with 3 votes and Claypool and Davion Taylor each picked up a vote.
Comments: “He picked a bunch of players around their ADP or later, which is good, but they are pretty much all players I’m not a fan of. But I’m probably wrong. I think Young is great but he’s way overdrafted, especially given that he traded a lot to then get Jeudy.”; “Really good depth across offence and defence. I love the picks of Young and Moss. Some superb value with Jeudy and McFarland”
“Seems pretty good although gave next year’s first to achieve it. No bad picks standing out.”
“Hightower and Anae are strong picks that I was lining up for my next pick when he took them. Moss is a sneaky good pick too, and Jeudy shouldn’t have fallen to him at 7 (or 6, when he also could have taken him). Herbert is a wasted pick in my book though. Not as egregious as Love but I don’t see him being a viable nfl starter over the next three years.”; “I think both of the Steelers were taken a bit too high here so I’ve dinged the overall rating slightly but Slatz’ roster, overall, is stacked now and he did some fantastic work in round 1 to come away with Jeudy at 7 and snag the hands-down best defensive player in the draft. Young may have been a small reach but he was out on his own at the top and when you have a ton more picks coming up in a deep draft it doesn’t matter if you go and get that guy.”
Neil
Best player: AJ Epenesa (pick 53) with 7 votes. Lynn Bowden (pick 44) picked up the other 2. Surprising consensus, when compared to the other guys who didn’t join the draft until late.
Best value: Epenesa again, with 5 votes. Bowden picked up 3 votes and Devin Duvernay (pick 42) picked up 1. Not bad, your first 3 picks each garnering at least 1 “best value” vote.
Worst value: Not all good though, as Duvernay picked up worst value with 3 votes. Bowden picked up 2 votes, as did Jeff Gladney (pick 94). Isaiah Hodgins (pick 64) and Epenesa each picked up a vote.
Best name: A tie, but with early picks again performing well. Lynn Bowden and Duvernay picked up 2 votes each, as did Brycen Hopkins. Gladney and Uche eached picked up a vote, but this is a very poor name class.
Comments: “Not bad given the lack of early picks. Made his highest picks count.”; “I don’t understand the CB picks. He had 4 on the books and took 2 more. They are largely interchangeable and you shouldn’t be spending more than about $5 on 3 of them for the season.”
“Negative points for too many traditional names. Seriously, none of these players were on my list apart from Uche.”
“A lot of good potential contributors and very hard to pick a “worst value” player. Good work with shit capital. He should stop trading away all his picks.”; “I haven’t heard of many of the players past AJ Epenesa so I picked the first one as worst value (this is more of an indictment of me than Neil). I’ve rated the draft pretty low more because I can’t really see what Neil has on his roster to make up for the fact he didn’t have any early round picks.”; “Considering where he started picking, there’s solid value here with a lot of offensive guys who can contribute.”
Benj
Best player: Patrick Queen (pick 10) with 7 votes. Antonio Gibson (pick 20) picked up 2 votes, and Xavier McKinney (pick 50) picked up 1.
Best value: a tie between Queen and McKinney. Gabriel Davis (pick 61) also picked up a vote.
Worst value: Patrick Queen picks up his 3rd win, with 4 votes. The next two picks also challenged, with Gibson and Tyler Johnson (pick 30) each picking up 2 votes. Xavier McKinney and Reggie Begelton (pick 104) each got a vote too.
Best name: Begelton might have only got 1 pick as worst value, but got 8 picks as best name. An amazing achievement for a player who shouldn’t even have been eligible for the draft (he already went undrafted 3 years ago). Troy Dye picked up 2 votes.
Comments: “An okay draft. I don’t think there is many special talents there apart from Queen. Get your guy”; “It’s tough to give a high score when your first pick is an LB and your second is a project RB (even if I like him). But a bunch of good, probably high floor players.”; “I just don’t see a lot of value here – first pick is an overpay for a defender, second is an RB who is not value at RB as he’s a WR and third is a WR who may not play immediately. This is not a draft which helps keep the team on top.”
“Not a fan of Ben’s haul overall. The 10th pick is tough though. Queen is the only pick likely to contribute much”
“I don’t think Johnson is bad value, but I understand why others do. I put him as worst because arguably he could have been got later, but I didn’t have a pick for 20 picks and he’d definitely have been gone by then. I’m largely happy with what I achieved. The fact that a tier of WRs ran out just before my second round pick really frustrated me, but I’m happier with Queen than one of the WRs. I’ve been shit at picking WRs anyway, no doubt whoever I would have taken at 10 would have turned out to be the dud.”
Max
Best player: D’Andre Swift (pick 8) with 6 votes. Michael Pittman (pick 15) and Laviska Shenault (pick 19) each got 2 votes.
Best value: Pittman and Devin Asiasi (pick 38) each got 3 votes. Quintez Cephus (pick 48) got 2 votes – I really like him. Shenault and Keshawn Vaughn (pick 18) each got 1.
Worst value: Devin Asiasi takes this one too, with 3 votes. A controversial choice. Jeremy Chinn and Keshawn Vaughn (pick 18) got 2 votes. Swift, Pittman and Shenault with 1 each.
Best name: Quintez Cephus takes this easily, with 7 votes, Shenault probably suffered from familiarity, only getting 2 votes, and Neville Gallimore, which I think is just a dull name, got 1.
Comments: “Solid draft. Swift so late in the first when a month ago he was a potential #1 overall is an indictment of the Lions, but also great value as they probably aren’t permanently bad either.”; “I like this draft. I love Pittman, Chinn and Asiasi. Some solid picks and a couple of players chosen after others of worst value”
“Max started well with the first 4 picks but then seemed to lose his way. Did he get bored?”
“I like most of the picks here, and he did really well to get two potential starting RBs at good value. Cephus is a really promising sleeper too. The obsession with Patriots at the end was weird though.”; “I said Swift was the worst value, but that’s only because Detroit is where RBs go to die. In theory getting him at 8 is great value. There are lots of people who that I don’t know who they are and I think the same might be true for Max.”
“Even I think I took Asiasi too early. I also don’t know why I have 4 New England offensive players in my draft.”
Ian
Best player: JK Dobbins (pick 5) waltzes home with 8 votes. Kenneth Murray (pick 25) and Antoine Winfield (pick 67) got 1 vote each.
Best value: Logan Wilson (pick 45) with 4 votes takes the crown. Antoine Winfield and Dobbins each picked up 2 votes. Murray and Dezmon Patmon (pick 119) got a vote.
Worst value: Joe Reed (pick 59) and Kenneth Murray (pick 25) each got 3 votes. Murray is a surprise, I really like him and its a more traditional value for a first round LB, given where Simmons and Queen went. Justin Madubuike (pick 56) got 2 votes, and Logan Wilson and Thaddeus Moss (pick 99) got 1 vote.
Best name: A high quality category, but McTelvin Agim saw off the competition with 6 votes. Albert Okwuegbunam picked up 2 votes. Thaddeus Moss and Dezmon Patomn each got a vote.
Comments: “Okay but not spectacular. Would have liked some better players with the midround picks. Logan Wilson could be amazing IMO”; “I usually like Ian’s drafts, but Dobbins doesn’t necessarily help immediately, and then two linebackers to fill out his top 50, makes for an opportunity missed to improve a team which missed the playoffs again last year.”
“I missed not having a 2nd round pick. A lot of talent was selected whilst I was waiting for my 2nd pick. I did okay with what I had but not the most exciting group.”
“There are maybe 3 players here I’d quite like on my roster. I’m not convinced by Murray. Winfield is a great pick though. He also picked a player he refused to name when he announced him, which can’t do much for squad morale.”; “Ian’s done some good work here. I was torn between Wilson and Winfield as best value, both are defensive players that should challenge for his starting spots immediately. Ian will be happy to have JK Dobbins there over Cam Akers too, for my money.”
Chris
Best player: Cam Akers (pick 3) with 5 votes. You’d better hope a high pick is your best player. The next 3 picks also got votes: Justin Jefferson (pick 9) with 3, Jalen Reagor (pick 13) and Henry Ruggs (pick 14) with 1 each.
Best value: Bryan Edwards (pick 35) with 4 votes. Henry Ruggs picked up 2 votes, and Darrynton Evans (pick 33), Akers, Reagor and Jefferson each picked up 1.
Worst value: Cam Akers with 6 votes. I wholeheartedly agree, but just liked having a Rams RB when Gurley had knees, and couldn’t get any value to trade down. KJ Hamler got 3 votes and Henry Ruggs got 1. The correct answer was to leave this blank because all of my picks were great.
Best name: A poor quality category. AJ Dillon won with 4 votes, beating Darrynton Evans’ 2. Reagor, Cole Kmet and Raekwon Davis each picked up votes.
Comments: “Can’t fail to hit on a few receivers”; “As ever, a good draft. I love the Edwards pick there. Less sure of Jefferson quite so high though.”;
“Really good draft. Smashed the WRs. Akers is high at 3 (I prefer Dobbins) but could be Rookie of the year”
“I would have liked to trade down to get Akers slightly later, but I didn’t get sniped for anyone so I’m ok with how it ended up. Very happy with my draft (and lawn).”; “I mean. All the wide receivers. Just when you thought he must be done with them he wasn’t and he took some more. He’ll either end up with loads of value or no viable starters out of it. Hopefully the latter, because that would be hilarious, saving the rest of us from the dregs. I don’t like either the Akers of Ruggs picks. Akers wasn’t good value there at all and Ruggs I don’t think is good full stop.”; “Great draft overall. Chris didn’t have a huge need at defence and knows that our league inexplicably values offensive players much higher than their equivalent defensive players so he is absolutely set to have a good team going forward whilst being able to trade some pieces to draft well in future. My only knock would be that I think, given the quantity of picks he had, he could have traded down from 3rd spot for some future draft capital.”
Overall scores (averages). I’ve just kept these till here to keep you reading.
Ben A: 8.2
Chris: 7.3
Slatz: 7.2
Geoff: 6.2
Max: 6.0
Ian: 5.8
Neil: 5.0
Benj: 4.4
Goody: 4.2
Pete: 4.0
Overall conclusions
Who had the best draft: shockingly, this matches up with the average scores above. Ben A gets 7 votes. Slatz, Neil and Chris each got 1 vote.
Who had the worst draft: A tie, with 3 votes each: Pete, Benj and Goody. Ian also got a vote, so I guess wins most polarising draft.
Suggestions for how to improve the draft in future: “Nope. It’s my favourite weekend of the year”;
“People would announce their picks properly and MFL would allow more characters for comments of players after they’ve been drafted”;
“We should have to get all picks approved by Slatz in order to make sure we draft players at the right time”
“More trades. More high picks for me. More research and preparation for me. More people taking shit QBs and CBs. More rounds. Do it more often – can we have a draft once a month?”;
“I would love to do it in person again at some point if Coronavirus allows.”
2017 DynaBowl Mock Draft
At James ‘Goody’ Goodson’s behest, he, Chris Braithwaite and Ian Kulkowski have mock drafted for their puny insignificant lives and come up with the following opening three rounds of the 2017 Dynabowl Rookie Draft.
1.01 1. East Flanders Dungeoneers
Pick: Leonard Fournette, JAX, RB
Chosen by: Goody
Reasoning: The consensus 1.01 of Dynasty Drafts, Fournette ticks more boxes for any of the RBs drafted in 2017. He has the talent and opportunity to be an immediate starter for the Dungeoneers, and will easily justify the 1.01 tag. The Jags are already building around him by drafting an OT and FB, negating any concerns over their poor RB gradings last year. Probably the easiest pick in this mock.
Opinion: Chris: pretty obvious pick with a high floor. He should get a ton of volume.
Ian: I’m happy with this pick.
1.02 2. Tamworth Two
Pick: Christian McCaffrey, CAR, RB
Chosen by: Ian
Reasoning : No.2 pick seems to be between McCaffrey and Davis. T2 biggest need is arguably RB (just). Plus who wouldn’t want to pair run CmC with CAP?! They also have pick 5 so can probably take the WR they want there.
Opinion: Goody. Interesting pick here! I’m not overly enamoured with Mccaffery’s landing spot to warrant 1.02, based on Carolina’s power offence, Cam and J-Stew hogging TD opportunities this year, plus the arrival of second round pick, and CMC double, Curtis Samuel.
Chris: I agree with this pick
1.03 3. Here Comes The Brees
Pick: Craig David, WR, Tennessee
Chosen by: Chris
Reasoning: Davis seems to be the consensus top WR. He was the highest drafted WR, has a clear path to being the #1 WR (in that he already basically is). He has a fairly high bust potential as there’s not a great deal of evidence that he can play against NFL quality corners, but from the combination of draft pedigree and situation, it’s difficult to ignore his upside.
Opinion: Goody: I would have probably gone for Williams here. Better red zone target and higher calibre of opposition faced, plus no/fewer injury concerns.
Ian: Exactly who I would have picked here. Best WR available and brees have a desperate need!
1.04 4. Dynasore Losers
Pick: Mike Williams, WR, LAC
Chosen by: Goody
See my comment above for Davis. We know Slatz isn’t a Davis fan, with good reason, so he’d be thrilled to pick Williams here.
Opinion: Chris: probably a fair pick, but Williams has a fair few concerns: sub-optimal athleticism, very crowded situation and an aging QB with no succession plan in place.
Ian: Sensible pick, probably BPA. But I just don’t think Slatz has a need at WR so I would expect him to go RB here.
1.05 5. Tamworth Two
Pick :John Ross, WR, CIN
Chosen by: Ian
Reasoning: Ah, so the two stand out WR’s have gone?! I was convinced one of them would still be available – maybe you should consider trying to trade up for one of them? I would say it’s between Cook, mixon & Ross at this point. Based on need and as you took McCaffrey with pick 2 (remember?) then I’m going to go for Ross here. Should be in a decent position opposite AJ Green with an opportunity to make a big impact early.
Opinion: Goody: I like this pick based on need. Ross will go in as WR2 with a high ceiling and good opportunity.
Chris: i think with the board like this, trading down would be a strong consideration. Given the need, Ross makes sense, but this is pretty awful value. Much like the pick of Ross in the reality.
1.06 6. Champions of the Sun
Pick: Joe Mixon, CIN RB
Chosen by: Chris
Reasoning: The bigger need is probably WR, but the value is probably at RB at this point. For me, Mixon is a better player on a better team, so should get more carries and more TDs, especially early on. He’s also shown less of a pattern of being a dick (although his acts of being a dick are worse).
James: This is a nice pick, although I think Cook may surprise more this year. Hill is in his final year and Bernard is coming back off injury.
Ian: Maxx doesn’t really have any pressing needs so may look to trade down if he can get value. Otherwise I would say it’s between Cook & Mixon here. Cook probably has the better immediate opportunity but Mixon is the better long term bet so Maxx will be fine with this.
1.07 7. The People’s Republic of the 4th Dynmension: Dynasty of Sadness
Pick: OJ Howard, TE, TEN
Chosen by: Goody
Reasoning: Two picks out of three give a good opportunity for the Sadness to pick up their targets. OJ Howard fills a longer term need and will produce a likely pro-bowl appearance at some point.
Opinion: Ian: I have no issues with this pick here, Howard is a solid first round pick who should have a top tier career at TE.
Chris: I’m not a fan of Howard here. I think he’ll be a fantastic real NFL player, but i think his blocking may limit his impact as a fantasy player. Especially as he is at best the third receiving option on the team for the next year or two (and may be behind Sims and Brate). Lot of upside, but i think the other TEs have a better floor.
1.08 8. Here Comes The Brees
Pick: Ju Ju Smith-Schuster PIT WR
Chosen by: Ian
Reasoning: This is where it becomes tricky, it feels like we’re now into the 2nd tier. Brees may be looking to trade up from here (Hello Maxx!). Their big need remains WR so I’ll go with Ju Ju S-Schu. I have him as the best of the 2nd tier of WR’s and he should have a decent opportunity in a good (for now) offence.
Opinion: Chris: Not a fan of him landing with the Steelers for a few reasons: he’ll never be their #1, there’s good competition at WR with Bryant, Coates and Rogers, and by the time JuJu battles his way through that competition to be the #2, Landry Jones might be the QB.
James. I can see JJSS having an Boldin type of role, he may not get you 150 yards but his solid hands and redzone presence will mean he will be a sound fantasy option.
1.09 9. The People’s Republic of the 4th Dynmension: Dynasty of Sadness
Pick: Dalvin Cook, RB, MIN
Chosen by: Chris
Reasoning: RB is a pretty big need, Dalvin Cook should be a pretty good RB. He might not be an RB1, but between Cook, the Detroit backs and Dixon, it should be possible to cobble together an RB2 and 3 most weeks.
Opinion: Ian: Manboob will be happy Cook has fallen this far after passing on him with pick 7. Fills a big need on his roster with a rookie who should get a decent number of touches immediately.
James. Solid pick here. I’ve cooled on Cook since the combine but the Vikings have also improved their O-line and Cook will supplant Murray by end of year 1.
1.10 10. Kelkowski Don’t Play By No Dyna Rules
Pick: Alvin Kamara, RB, NO
Chosen by: Goody
Reasoning: RB is definitely the need here, so I could even see Kelkowski trying to trade up if they want to nab their man. A sharp drop off with the potential elite RBs leave Kelkowski having to make a judgement call. Kamara provides a bit of safety with 28 year old Ingram on their roster and a future plan to accommodate the recent arrival of Adrian Peterson.
Opinion: Ian: Finally we have a pick!!! Kamara makes sense I guess as we already have FHTWMIJ although I would rather take hi with pick 20!
Chris: I agree that this seems high for Kamara, but i feel there’s a fairly long tier here where people can justify taking a wide range of players depending on need. Picking up two bits of the Saints backfield makes sense, and Kamara has shown some good skills. However, if we’re looking at getting the whole backfield, i think Kareem Hunt would have been a better pick.
2.01 11. East Flanders Dungeoneers
Pick: David Njoku, CLE TE
Chosen by: Ian
Reasoning: Having secured the RB he needs I think Pete goes TE here to compliment HH. It’s a toss up between Njoku and Engram. Both are good prospects who have landed in good situations as the likely no.1 TE on their respective teams. I’ll go with Njoku as he seems to be the guy with most talent.
Opinion: Goody: Another real Dynasty option, Njoku will take time to settle but I see him with a better initial opportunity than Engram.
Chris: he certainly doesn’t have much competition, so should get a lot of snaps pretty quickly. My concern is that it’ll take him a couple of years to really produce, but i think Pete is ok not going all-out win-now.
2.02 12. Dynasore Losers
Pick: Kareem Hunt, RB, KC
Chosen by: Chris
Reasoning: Slatz loves his WRs, but there are probably enough guys there to hope that he can get three or four contributors each week. RB is looking a lot barer. I think Hunt is probably the guy with the clearest route to a starting job that’s left available, given how Ware didn’t produce much in the second half of the season.
Opinion: Ian: Fair pick. Slatz is all about buying Running Back tickets at this point and Hunt has talent and reasonable shot of getting touches in a run heavy offence.
2.03 13. Here Comes The Brees
Pick: Jeremy McNichols, RB, TBB
Chosen by: Goody
Reasoning: This was such a hard pick. There are a few RBs in a tier of their own at this stage, mostly based on the chance to them becoming the primary back to a starter with contract (Doug Martin), age (Frank Gore), injury (Carlos Hyde) or ability (Ty Montgomery) issues. The Brees try to solidify their Tampa backfield with a RB who fell in the draft due to recent surgery issues. That’s not an immediate problem in Dynasty and McNichols grades well at pass protection and has a path to a starting position in a high powered offence in a year or two.
Opinion: Ian: Wouldn’t have him this high but makes sense for Brees given their monopoly on the TB running game.
Chris: i think this is way too early for McNichols. If they want to consolidate a running game, Donta Foreman for the Texans is a better player. McNichols might have been available in the next round.
Update: Goody: I didn’t realise that Martin may be suspended for the first 4 games of the season so I still stick with this pick.
2.04 14. DynaForOne Firebirds
Pick: Samaje Perine, RB, WAS
Chosen by: Ian
Reasoning: And so Neil finally enters the draft with back to back picks. He has needs all over his roster but I think RB is where he has the biggest hole so I’m going Perine here. He has a chance to be productive straight away in a good offence so can help fill a gap for Neil.
Opinion: Goody. Good pick. I probably would have had Perine higher at 2.03 if not for the Brees tentative situation with Martin linked to being cut.
Chris: Perine is in the same boat as McNichols, in that I’m not sure about his talent, but his situation is decent enough. Good upside pick.
2.05 15. DynaForOne Firebirds
Pick: D’onta Foreman, RB HOU
Chosen by: Chris
Reasoning: Even with Perine, Neil doesn’t have a lot at RB, so double dipping seems reasonable. Foreman is probably the RB with most upside and a decent floor, so i think he makes sense here.
Opinion: Ian: I might have been tempted to go WR here but Neil could definitely do with more depth at RB which Foreman could provide.
2.06 16. Champions of the Sun
Pick: Zay Jones
Chosen by: Goody
Reasoning: A tough one again, as there are a number of RB’s on the board with a lower floor but higher ceiling. Max could also be tempted by Mahomes, (who coincidently autocorrects to Manholes) as Big Ben is on his way out. But Jones enters a Buffalo team in dire need of a receiver. Watkins has injury concerns and there are a number of targets available with the release of Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin and Justin Hunter. I think this is a very safe pick at 2.06
Opinion: Ian: A good prospect in a decent position to contribute straight away is a good fit for maxx at this point. Could be real value next year if the Bills move on from Watkins.
Chris: I’m not a huge fan of Jones, his college production and draft position make this pretty good value.
2.07 17. The People’s Republic of the 4th Dynmension: Dynasty of Sadness Pick: Deshaun Watson
Chosen by: Ian
Reasoning: Manboob’s quarterback situation is a total mess. He has the unenvious task of choosing between Bridgeater, Glennon, Goff, Man Penguin Boy, Brockules and Smith each week. I mean Wow! That’s brutal! So he’s definitely going to complicate things further by taking a chance on one of this year’s crop of uninspiring rookie passers. Watson is the pick because of he has the highest likelihood of making an immediate impact – I mean, no one believes BOB’s bullshit about Savage being the starter, Houston needs to win NOW!
Opinion: Chris: i like this pick. Watson’s should be the starting QB, and his combination of passing and rushing should make him a viable starter.
2.08 18. Dynablaster Bombermen
Pick: Chris Godwin, WR, TB
Chosen by: Chris
Reasoning: The Bombermen don’t really need a win now contributor, so they can pick a guy who has the best chance of having a WR1/2 upside. He should also work as a decent handcuff to Desean Jackson if age hits him.
Comment: Goody: Godwin could see himself come in and play the perimeter and Jackson is the wrong side of 30, so good Dynasty value here.
Ian: I can see the logic in taking a stash here as the B men don;t have any pressing needs. They might think about breaking the seal on D here.
2.09 19. Live Free or Dyna Hard
Pick: Evan Engram, TE, NYG
Chosen by: Goody
Reasoning: I originally had Marlon Mack here, but I now pick Evan Engram who Chris would be delighted to pick. With an ageing Bennett and Gates on the DynaHard roster, Engram is the perfect Dynasty grab.
Chris: I’d be very happy if things worked out like this. Engram wouldI be excellent value here.
Ian: Probably best player available at this point so good pick for Chris
2.10 20. Kelkowski Don’t Play By No Dyna Rules
Pick: Curtis Samuel, WR, CAR
Chosen by: Chris
Reasoning: Kelkowski probably need some more depth at WR, and Samuel is probably the best player available. It’s difficult to know how he’ll be used in Carolina, but if he gets used from the slot and gets return work, he should be quite a consistent scorer.
Opinion: Goody: Samuel has big play ability so Kelkowski will hope for some Tyreek Hill style matchups. Ian: I’m okay with this. WR depth is certainly a requirement and Samuel gives us a monopoly of the 2nd tier of receivers in Carolina behind Benjamin & Olsen.
3.01 21. East Flanders Dungeoneers
Pick: Joe Williams, RB, SF
Chosen by: Goody
Reasoning: The Flanders roster is just horrible at RB depth. Hyde is likely out after this season and Williams is openly loved by Kyle Shanahanahanahan. Shanahan loves runners who can go outside and Williams excelled at that in College. He could be RB1 at the 49ers at the end of the year so this represents great value.
Opinion: Ian: RB is definitely the major need for Pete so Williams works here as a backup and eventual successor to Hyde.
Chris: This is a decent pick. Works as a handcuff to Hyde and a player with potential in his own right.
3.02 22. Dynasore Losers
Pick:Myles Garrett, DE, CLE
Chosen by: Ian
Reasoning: With offensive talent thinning out at this point I think Saltz will be happy the best defensive option in the draft has fallen this far. With his 3 top DE’s in their final year this pick will help him for years to come.
Opinion: Goody: I could see Slatz staying with offence. If there is a position he is definitely stacked in, its DE, and he’s got such a generous salary cushion he doesn’t really need to worry about renewals. I’d have probably said that Slatz goes for someone like Carlos Henderson as a long term replacement for Sanders, or trade down a few spots for a bigger defensive need – LB, so maybe Reddick or Foster.
Chris: I think this is a good spot for Garrett, but I’m not sure Slatz would take him. Even if Quinn moves to LB, the 3 guys he has at DE are fine for this year.
3.03 23. Here Comes The Brees
Pick: Cooper Kupp, WR, LAR
Chosen by: Chris
Reasoning: Even with Davis, the Brees probably still need a WR, preferably one with WR1 upside. Kupp probably has the clearest route to that of the people left, due mainly to lack of competition.
Opinion: Goody: I think ‘doubling-down’ here for the Brees makes really good sense and could leave them with the primary target on team with a QB looking for a safe target.
Ian: Agree with the others here, Brees need to be all in on WR and Kupp is about the best option still available.
3.04 24. DynaForOne Firebirds
Pick: Marlon Mack, RB, Ind
Chosen by: Goody
Reasoning: Arguably RB and DE was a massive need for the Firebirds coming into this draft. CJ Anderson will now share carries with Charles, Blount is without a team, Mathews is likely to be dropped, and Rawls will share backfield duties with ‘obese mode’ Eddie Lacy. It doesn’t look great and they’ve only effectively picked up Foreman and Perine so far. There is also a need for a DE, but most evidence suggests that rookie DEs are hit and miss. The 2017 class is regarded as a good and deep one, but not great in relation to potential elite (Garrett). Even Garrett, if he was available now, only picked up 3 of his sacks against a NFL based O-line. In this case, Barnett, who picked up 16 of his sacks against similar opposition, could be an acceptable pick. Therefore, Firebirds may think they can pick up some DE depth later on with someone like Barnett, McKinley or Charlton. Now the case for the prosecution, Mack is a good receiver and has high home run potential. Gore is old. So very old. With the Firebirds a bit away from ‘win now’, getting a potential starting RB with the 24th pick is immense value. Come 2018, they may have some of their 3 RBs hit and become competitive.
Opinion: Ian: This is now Neil’s 3rd RB of the draft after taking Perine & Foreman in the 1st so he’s certainly going all out to address his major need. I might have gone WR here instead but as a third round pick in his own right Mack is okay.
3.05 25. Tamworth Two
Pick:Rueben Foster, LB SF
Chosen by: Ian
Reasoning: Time for T2 to start addressing their defensive needs. Foster is the best LB available and will be an immediate contributor in San Francisco so will continue to build on T2’s good young LB core.
Opinion: Chris: i think this is a solid pick. I think T2 need an elite defensive player. My only quibble is whether DE is a bigger need, but Foster might be the best defensive player available and T2’s LBs have a lot of question marks.
Goody. Foster is an elite prospect but I’m concerned by his injury, and recent failed surgery. There is also chat about a number of hidden concussions at College, plus, I’m all for hydration, but Foster takes it too far.
3.06 26. Champions of the Sun
Pick: Pat Mahomes QB, KC
Chosen by: Chris
Reasoning: CotS need a QB for when Big Ben retires, which could easily happen next year. Despite being the 2nd QB picked in the NFL draft, Mahomes has a better fantasy outlook than Trubisky due to his athleticism, his head coach and the fact he should have a chance to learn for at least a year, rather than being thrown in straight away.
Opinion: Goody:A solid gamble, Mahomes is likely to have a very high ceiling but will have to learn a much more complex playback. Andy Reid has a good track record of elite QBs so Max could get a diamond here.
Ian: I would have considered a QB in R2 for Maxxx so am fine with taking one here. With a year of Rapistberger remaining Maxx has no immediate need so P Homes is the perfect development opportunity.
3.07 27. The People’s Republic of the 4th Dynmension: Dynasty of Sadness
Pick: Jonathan Allen, DT. WAS
Chosen by: Goody.
Reasoning: With a need at DT, the Sadness Pick the best one on the board, who is in a great landing spot at Washington.
Opinon: Ian: Having addressed his need at RB & QB and taken Howard as a potential superstar Manboob has plenty of options here.Williams and Conner are still available for added RB depth and another QB ticket wouldn’t hurt. However, I agree there are needs in the D also. Davis would be an option here at LB but DT as arguably the more pressing need so Allen makes sense as the best DT in the draft (he may however end up as a DE).
Chris: I think Allen will be a great player. But I think he’ll be a DE, which will hurt his value.
3.08 28. Dynablaster Bombermen
Pick:Adam Shaheen. TE CHI
Chosen by: Ian
Reasoning: With no immediate pressing needs Bendy has the luxury of taking the best player available. I have no clue who that is at this stage so I’ll go with Shaheeeeen. There’s not much ahead of him in Chicago (although that’s not saying much) and there’s a good development opportunity here behind Bendy’s existing starting TE’s.
Comment: Goody: I think this is a bit early for the remaining TEs, who drop off after the 3 main guys. I’d have probably seen a bit more value in going defence, especially at LB.
Chris: I agree it’s early for Shaheen, but i think if a team wanted a TE at this stage and took Gerald Everett, that might be defendable
3.09 29. Live Free or Dyna Hard
Pick: Haasan Reddick, ARI, LB
Chosen by Goody.
Reasoning: DynaHard have an opportunity to pick someone up who has been identified as an athletic specimen, albeit no experience at playing ILB. Although the jury is still out if Reddick will be able to develop this way, Chris may see this as a pretty low risk appointment.
Opinion: Chris: Reddick is a pretty nice pick. I’m not sure LB is a big need for me though, with Miller, Ragland and Jatavis Brown on board for the next 2 years. But he does seem like BPA at this point. Apart from the next guy…
3.10 30. Kelkowski Don’t Play By No Dyna Rules
Pick: Solomon Thomas, DE, SF
Chosen by: Chris
Reasoning: Thomas is the clear BPA here in my opinion. He might not get gaudy sack numbers like Garrett, but his ability against the run should give him a lot of tackles and TFLs, so he should be a fairly consistent scorer. Kelkowski don’t have a need at DE, but Thomas and Bosa would make them set at the position for the long term.
Opinion: Goody: Solid pick here. No complaints from me.
MAX’S STAT BLATS! Week 6
Better late than never! Or maybe not. I’ll leave that up to you. In week 4 I took a look at every team’s offensive performance so far in 2016 and compared it to their 2015 performance to look for improvement and decline. This week I’ll be doing the same with the defense. To the stats!
| 2016 Week 1-6 Average vs 2015 Average | ||||||||||
| Dungeoneers | Brees | T2 | Sadness | Losers | Champions | Firebirds | Kelkowski | Hard | Bombermen | |
| DT/DE | -6.31 | 4.90 | -8.94 | 1.80 | -3.83 | 4.10 | 1.40 | 7.85 | -5.02 | -2.05 |
| LB | -0.29 | 8.69 | 3.39 | -3.05 | 7.57 | -4.63 | 3.14 | -6.71 | -1.17 | 3.46 |
| CB/S | 4.13 | 2.63 | 3.08 | -9.36 | -3.03 | -9.20 | 5.86 | -3.58 | 7.45 | -1.51 |
| DEF | -2.46 | 16.22 | -2.47 | -10.61 | 0.71 | -9.73 | 10.39 | -2.44 | 1.26 | -0.10 |
Defensive Line
Winners: Kelkowski are crushing it on the D-line this year! Nearly 8 points up on 2015! Look a bit deeper though and it has, perhaps, some of the qualities of a mirage. Firstly, JPP and friends are averaging 22.67 points per game, slightly above average for the D-line. It’s an improvement but it’s a movement from bottom of the pile to mid-table obscurity. Secondly, that average is propped up by a massive 63 points in week 3 when the ghost of Malik Jackson briefly turned up to spook Ebeneezer Kelkowski. Across the other 5 weeks they average 14.6 points, a number better only than Pete’s damp paper bag of a D-line. Despite losing Aaron Donald, the Brees are functioning better than last season too. Part of this is due to replacing the best DT in fantasy football with the second best in Fletcher Cox but Michael Bennett and Cameron Jordan are both solid producers too.
Losers: Oh T2, we knew thee well. After triumphing in the “underwhelming running back” stakes last time out, Goody and Mat show us that they can disappoint on both sides of the ball. Some of this decline is due to missing pieces (Gerald McCoy and Chandler Jones have been absent much or all of the year) but I think we see an impact of the scoring changes here. T2 hit big on Kawann Short and Gerald McCoy last season and DTs are probably the group to take the biggest hit from the downgrading of big plays. Both have scored very well but those 40 point games should be gone now for the most part. A lot of last year’s big DT scorers have done worse through the start of 2016. The Dungeoneers d-line is also down 6 points but I don’t think I can kick Pete anymore so let’s leave it at that.
Linebackers
Winners: There are two clear winners in this category, the Brees and the Losers. Both units were very poor last season so, like Kelkowski’s D-Line, this improvement puts them in the middle of the pack rather than raising them to the top of the charts. Slatz invested in the position in free agency and the draft with Paul Posluszny and Markus Golden delivering and Deion Jones and Leonard Floyd looking strong through the start of their rookie seasons. The Brees, meanwhile, seem to have gone for the “2015 Josh Norman” effect and just picked up a player from waivers having a monster season in Lorenzo Alexander. 51 of the 99 points they’ve scored at LB in the last three weeks have been from him. Improved play from Will Compton and Shaq Barrett is helping but to maintain this improvement they need Alexander to continue playing out of his skin.
Losers: What would Max Cubberley say if you asked him about the decline of his linebackers (4.5 points down on last season). He’d tell you that they’re still scoring more than anybody else’s linebackers so you can go fuck yourself. He’d probably also whinge on about injuries and players moving position but lets not give him a platform. Kelkowski’s overall defensive decline continues here with their linebackers regressing the most out of all the teams (6.7 points down on last season). Their situation is the reverse of the Losers’ and the Brees’. Kelkowski’s LBs were among the best in the business last season and this year they’re just… average. D’Qwell Jackson and Brandon Marshall are the main culprits here and Stephone Anthony’s reduced playing time at strong side LB for the Saints leaves them short a little bit of depth. Zach Orr is a good wire pickup though who should be able to compensate for that.
Defensive Backs
Winners: Yuk. Defensive back analysis. Well, Dyna Hard and the firebirds are both doing better this season than last. Rodney McLeod was a great pick-up for Chris and Aqib Talib’s 3 INTs so far this year certainly don’t hurt. Chris’ DBs are comfortably the highest scoring in the league so far this season and his main problem now is the potential for PLOBbage. With 43 cornerbacks to choose from on any given week, it’s no wonder that Neil is doing well but the PLOBbage is real here. Trying to predict S and (particularly) CB scoring week on week is far from easy and although Neil has done a good job it must be frustrating to look at your bench every week and see the road not taken.
Losers: The Sadness and the Champions both show an equal decline at the DB spot. For Cubberley the situation is similar to his LBs. Despite losing 9 points a game on 2015 the Champions still have the third highest scoring set of DBs in the league so this decline is as much a result of an outlying season of success as anything else. With Reshad Jones gone for the season now though Maxxxxxx will have to look deep into the waiver wire to try to maintain the pace. The Sadness, on the other hand, are, by nearly 6 points per game, the worst secondary in the Dbowl. Their decline is from mediocrity to abject failure. Looking at the scores of his players for the year to date though you wouldn’t think you were looking at a secondary so adrift from the rest of the field. To be honest, they’ve scored from disappointing to average every week rather than terribly and this slump is really a result of having no big weeks so far. A couple of INTs this week could see them pick up and return closer to the average. DBs, eh? It’s a funny old game.
Defence
Winners: Although his DB improvement is the best, Neil has improved across the board on defence this season, scoring over 10 points more than last year per game. At 86.20 points per game, his group is the best in the Dbowl at the moment but the week on week stats show a sharp decline. In weeks 1-3 the Birds averaged 108 points per game on D. In weeks 4-6 that number fell to 64 points per game. He’s had big pieces on bye in each of those weeks but it’s something to keep an eye on. If I was Neil I would be moving to address the obvious gap at DE in his roster. Maybe drop a CB or two to make ro… who am I kidding, he’s never going to drop any CBs. If you think improving by 10 points is impressive, though, look at the Brees! A 16 point increase! That takes them to averaging 76 points per game which is… wait… it’s bang average. Putting aside Pete’s crepe paper D (sorry Pete) the Brees were about that far adrift of everyone else last season. Really, it would have been more impressive to be so bad two seasons in a row.
Losers: Let’s just check in with Max Cubberley on what he thinks about his defence averaging 10 points fewer than last season. “Go fuck yourself!” Thought so. The Champions are still the second best scoring defence but last week was a low outing from them and this week’s lineup has a few too many waiver wire pickups for my liking. We’re not too far off a week where Cubberley starts 4 Texans’ linebackers and that can’t be good for anyone. The Sadness are the other team to have lost 10 points off their average. Most of that is their secondary, as discussed, though and there is some cause for optimism that those numbers could improve over the season. Despite Linval Joseph’s monster season so far the Sadness only show a 2 point improvement on the D-Line though and there is room for improvement here. Mangboob’s DEs are not inspiring and a little trade magic could really help him to improve those numbers and make a playoff push in Peter.
Overall
Winners: It will come as no surprise to anyone that the Bombermen are the big improvement on last season, averaging 24 points more per game than last season’s disappointing results. You’ll have seen that they were conspicuous by their absence in today’s report and, indeed, their defence is operating at a 0.1 loss on last year. All of this is offensive improvement and it looks like it has the legs to go all season. The Sadness are the other big improvement, nearly 15 points up on last year. This is despite giving 10 points away per game from their receivers and it shows the difference that a certified stud like Zeke Elliot can make.
Losers: Last season’s hot ticket, the Champions of the Sun, are back scrapping with everyone else this year, down 10 points on defence and 6 points on offence. Despite all of this they’re still scoring well but some thinness at RB and secondary is coming home to roost and they’re now in a position of relying on Trevor Siemian week on week for production. After them, Tamworth Two are having a ‘mare this season, giving away 8 points a game. LeSean McCoy is keeping their running game above water on his own and it’s really just the D-line and special teams (!) that account for the decline.
Weekly Stats
TABLES!
Peter vs. Tim Watch
Week 1: Peter (average) 179.68 vs Tim (average) 192.14. Tim wins. 1-0 to Tim (victory margin 12.46)
Week 2: Peter (average) 184.04 vs Tim (average) 200.91. Tim wins. 2-0 to Tim (victory margin 16.87)
Week 3: Peter (average) 192.11 vs Tim (average) 212.54 Tim wins. 3-0 to Tim (victory margin 20.43)
Week 4: Peter (average) 175.27 vs Tim (average) 198.18 Tim wins. 4-0 to Tim (victory margin 22.91)
Week 5: Peter (average) 177.50 vs Tim (average) 176.66 PETER WINS. 4-1 to Tim (victory margin 0.84)
Week 6: Peter (average) 170.47 vs Tim (average) 174.70 Sanity is restored, Tim wins. 5-1 to Tim (victory margin 4.23)
Season to Date: Peter (average) 179.85 vs Tim (average) 192.52. Tim leads (margin 12.68)
MAX’S STAT BLATS! Week 4
Well thank Christ for that. Week 4 is in the books and finally we have some data that is actually starting to mean something. This feels like the first point in the season, for me, that we can really look at our teams’ performances and start to draw meaningful conclusions. Over the next two weeks I’m going to take a look at each team’s average score by position group so far this season and compare it to their average from weeks 1 – 16 of last season. This week: offence. To the data!
| 2016 Week 1-4 Average vs 2015 Season 2015 Average | ||||||||||
| Dungeoneers | Brees | T2 | Sadness | Losers | Champions | Firebirds | Kelkowski | Hard | Bombermen | |
| QB | -1.06 | -1.08 | 2.49 | 5.96 | -0.36 | 4.09 | -5.23 | -2.22 | -6.23 | -0.73 |
| RB | -3.84 | -4.36 | -6.44 | 14.34 | 4.54 | 0.84 | 3.13 | 9.75 | -2.29 | 13.61 |
| WR/TE | -3.59 | 5.26 | 2.18 | -12.68 | 6.34 | 0.42 | -9.69 | -5.67 | -0.41 | 10.71 |
| SPEC | 2.09 | 0.95 | -2.59 | -2.10 | -0.09 | -2.29 | -1.11 | 2.79 | -1.22 | 0.91 |
| OFF | -6.41 | 0.77 | -4.37 | 5.52 | 10.43 | 3.06 | -12.90 | 4.65 | -10.14 | 24.49 |
Yuk. It looks much prettier in my spreadsheet, you’ll just have to take my word for it.
Quarterback
Winners: So far MANGBOOB has resisted the urge to fiddle about switching Drew Brees in and out with whatever no mark he has down the depth chart and it’s paying dividends with an increase of nearly 6 points on average at the position. I mean, last season’s performance was a low bar to clear (less than 15 points a week) but a win’s a win. The Champions are showing an improvement of over 4 points too with Roethlisberger, Eagles aside, going to town so far in 2016.
Losers: So far through 4 weeks, a QB has been in Dyna Hard’s top 10 scorers of the week only once, in week 1 (for comparison, everyone else has had a QB in their top 10 3 or 4 times). Chris has cycled through Matthew Stafford, Eli Manning and even Marcus Mariota so far, trying to play matchups but those three are simply too hard to predict (well, you could probably predict Marcus Mariota hasn’t been worth starting any of these weeks). Chris is probably best advised to pick one of Stafford and Manning and stick with them although no doubt whoever he picks will be the wrong one. The other big loser here is the Firebirds but I’m wary of reading too much into this. The Seahawks typically take time to get their offence going and Wilson has been banged up. I think we can expect to see this improve.
Running Backs
Winners: There are two runners way ahead of the pack here, the Sadness and the Bombermen. Neither of these is difficult to analyse. Imagine me standing mutely on a stage. To my right is Ezekiel Elliot. I am pointing at Ezekiel Elliot. To my left is David Johnson. I am pointing at David Johnson. You can dive a bit deeper and say that both are getting better support from Jeremy Hill and Matt Jones’ raging lack-of-any-competition but you probably don’t need to.
Losers: As many Dynabowl experts predicted (well, one… well, me) at the start of the season, T2 are suffering at tailback this season. Jonathan Stewart disappeared some time in September and without him LeSean McCoy is trying to navigate choppy waters on his own. T2 have traded for Bilal Powell this week in an attempt to put things back on course and it’s a good solid move that should help to steer them back towards mediocrity. The other big loser here is Breeses but, considering their RBs are still the 5th highest scoring in the Dbowl, I don’t think there’s much to read into this. With Doug Martin injured and Devonta Freeman not scoring three TDs every game it was bound to happen.
Receivers
Winners: The Bombermen are another big winner here and when you consider that between receivers and RBs they’re averaging 24 points more than last season it’s easy to see why they’re top of the rankings. It feels like this is the production we thought was coming this year so it’s not really a surprise. It must be very pleasing for Ben to see, having kept faith with Cooks, Benjamin and Jordan Matthews as each came through their own struggles last season. The Losers and Brees are also much improved here and you can point at off-season trades for Allen Robinson and Jarvis Landry respectively as big factors in this.
Losers: While every category so far has been a triumph for the Sadness, the reading isn’t so pretty here. Odell Beckham is mouthing off more than he’s balling out and losing Eric Decker and Golden Tate (look, he was good last season) has hurt too. Stephon Diggs looks like the real deal though and as MANGBOOB’s rookies start to warm up to the NFL this score will head back the right way. The Firebirds are the next in line to the throne of suffering. No Gronk, no Demaryius Thomas and no Brady slingin’ it to Edelman probably explains this. The good news for Neil is that Willie Snead looks to be a good WR 2/3 going forward and that Gronk and Brady will be back firing on all cylinders soon. The real person to look to for trouble here is Pete. Cooper doesn’t get a sniff in the end zone and Allen and Kevin White are done for the season. That -4 is only going down from here I’m afraid.
Special Teams
Winners: We are all winners because we play in a league with fantasy punters. Every day I wake up a little bit happier than I would have been otherwise, knowing that this is the case. Now, if only we could get those fantasy Long Snappers in.
Losers: All those plebs out there who restrict themselves to a fantasy kicker. They don’t know what they’re missing. The only thing better than a great punt is an awful punt.
Offence
Winners: The Bombermen are a whopping 25 points better this season on offence than last season, turning from a middle of the road goose (they weren’t bad enough to be an ugly duckling) into a swan. Most of that 25 points is accounted for above so I will take the time to draw attention to the second most improved team on offence, the Dynasore Losers. I haven’t mentioned them much in any of the categories above because their improvement has more been about building on what came before. Good gains at receiver at and running back pair with holding steady at QB and special teams to produce a strong growth.
Losers: Dyna Hard are one of the biggest losers compared to last year, their offence being 10 points down on last season’s performance. Much of that is accounted for in QB as mentioned above but it’s worth noting that they are worse in every single offensive position this season, a worrying trend. Bottom of the pile are Neil’s Firebirds with a modest gain at RB from CJ Anderson’s new-found reliability not enough to counteract that weakened receiver corps and a banged-up Russell Wilson. The question really is, if Neil is giving 13 points away on offence compared to last season then how has he had such a decent start to the season? Tune in to next week’s blat to find out…
Weekly Stats
Here are your stats after week 4.
Peter vs. Tim Watch
Week 1: Peter (average) 179.68 vs Tim (average) 192.14. Tim wins. 1-0 to Tim (victory margin 12.46)
Week 2: Peter (average) 184.04 vs Tim (average) 200.91. Tim wins. 2-0 to Tim (victory margin 16.87)
Week 3: Peter (average) 192.11 vs Tim (average) 212.54 Tim wins. 3-0 to Tim (victory margin 20.43)
Week 4: Peter (average) 175.27 vs Tim (average) 198.18 Tim wins. 4-0 to Tim (victory margin 22.91)
Season to Date: Peter (average) 182.78 vs Tim (average) 200.94. Tim leads (margin 18.17)
Oh dear. That margin just keeps growing. I might have to call this for Tim. TKO.