Category: Rookie Draft

The 2022 Dynabowl Draft Exit Survey

Rookie Draft Survey No Comments

This exit survey was run by Chris Braithwaite, GM of Dyna Hard. I am certain that everything shown in this report is exactly right and hasn’t been twisted in any way, shape or form. Anyway, onwards…

Welcome to the 100% accurate assessment of the Dynabowl draft. Why even bother playing the games after this when we know exactly how good all of these players are going to be, right?

We’ll start out simple: average scores per team. There were two teams way out in front, with an average of 7.3. Max takes it by a nose, 7.33 to 7.25, over Chris. That’s especially impressive given Max’s admission that “I genuinely don’t know who any of the players are.” Ignorance is evidently bliss. Max was the only person to garner a 10 (apart from Goody trying to sneak a 10 in for himself), but Chris was the only person where every vote was 6 or higher. So there’s that. It’s then a drop of 0.9 down to Pete in 3rd at an average of 6.4. So lets just skip right to the bottom, where Benj is sitting with a score of 4.9, just behind Goody’s 5.0. And lets take a moment to give credit to Neil, who was the only person who managed to have his drafted rated as a 1 and yet had enough people who liked his draft to get him to a solid mid-table finish. Congrats?!

TeamRankAverageMaxMin
Max17.3105
Chris27.396
Pete36.475
Mike46.175
Neil55.881
Ian65.583
Ben & Stew7=5.374
Slatz7=5.382
Goody85.082
Benj94.973

The overall average was 5.9, so if your score was below that, you did badly. But good work overall everyone on using a reasonable scoring scale, rather than the actual NFL draft grades which seem to have A- as a fail.

Comments

Enough with the numbers, lets get to the comments. We’ll go in the same order as the rankings for this draft, so the comments get progressively worse. Lets not make this thing too cheerful, right?

Max

  • Okay
  • I like quite a few if them. Good effort
  • Loved this draft. Burks and Williams were my top 2 WRs, Pickens could easily be in there to were it not for the character concerns. He could easily have got 3 WR1s here. Generally liked the value throughout and it was difficult to pick anyone as a bust.
  • Had the capital to get some high end talent and didn’t make any boneheaded picks with it. However, endorsed domestic abuse, so swings and roundabouts.
  • Good solid team bolstering
  • Really like most of this draft, hard to be critical. Jameson Williams might be the best receiver in the draft (Watson has a higher ceiling, but way more variability). If Burks is Brown 2.0 as suggested then that’s another win at 4.

Chris

  • Some good early picks but no one after that
  • Decent. I like most of them
  • I like the receivers drafted and could be shrewd value with Pickett
  • A lot of players I had on my list. He was picking after me so maybe this should have been my draft?
  • Solid as usual
  • I don’t like Olave because he doesn’t match up physically well against anyone and I’m not sure how often even a mediocre corner will give him a free release. In space he’s Edelman-esque though. I also am very down on the whole Saints offence. Wan’Dale Robinson I like there, White I’d hoped to get and Skyy Moore could be great, although I think he’s risen a bit too high in fantasy/NFL drafts to be the player I liked as a sleeper pre-draft.

And here’s what Chris thought: “I am still not super happy with picking Moore – my rankings loved him so I just decided to trust them. Was disappointed not to get more defensive players, but I liked the couple I got.”

Pete

  • Solid and predictable
  • Hall and Watson should be fine. The rest?
  • I feel like it’s a good mix of solid chalky players (Hall, Bell) who should have a good floor and then boom/bust guys like Watson and Andersen. I liked him double dipping at CB for 2 elite prospects – they still seemed like OK value, which isn’t usually the case with the 1st CB. His team is notably better after the draft than it was before.
  • Steady
  • Wadda lodda corners.
  • It hinges heavily on Watson – Hall will be what he’ll be. Either a solid committee back who ends up mid-tier, or a clear win, but he’s the #1 pick, generally you’re going to get something there barring unforeseen things like injuries. Watson’s ceiling is right up there. If you somehow hit on the best WR in this class and the best RB, then it’s a big win.

Here’s what Pete had to say for himself: “This wonderful human being deserves all the success that is undoubtedly coming his way.”

Mike

  • Started well and then tailed off with some average picks
  • Not normally a fan of so much d early but I like what boob has done
  • Good draft capital but not sure he got any stars out of it. The defensive players are all good, but I don’t think any are going to turn his team into a contender and Walker doesn’t feel like he has top 5 upside. Threw a lot of interesting darts in the middle rounds though.
  • Quay Walker will “bust” only in fantasy terms. He’ll likely work well at run stopping but I don’t see him getting the kind of plays you need at LB to be successful in our league. Volume drafting is probably sensible to try to turn the team around. The more darts the better.
  • Embrace the D
  • Austin is nice there as an upside guy, though he’s tiny. I think the Steelers might be a bit more creative in his use than the Seahawks with Eskridge. I love the Hamilton pick and Ebikete could be awesome, always bet on athleticism in that position. And Lloyd could be Isaiah Simmons or Micah Parsons… Walker, I get, and I wouldn’t have passed on him at 3 – it’s more about the shallowness of the draft in that position than talent. But not much else to get excited about.

Mike’s fairly tepid assessment was “Lot of mid round talent reflecting lots of mid round picks.”

Neil

  • First two picks great, not much to shout about after then
  • Awful. Don’t like any of these picks
  • Cook felt like a major reach. Hutchinson is good but propped up by his draft capital in a super weak class. Did good work in the middle rounds though – I feel like everyone from Hutchinson to Tindall has a legit shot to be their team’s #1 at their position. And Snoop Conner has a realistic path to relevance.
  • Good value later in the draft, although Cook felt like a bit of a reach at the top
  • Nothing silly. Some players who will contribute. But I’m hardly tumescent reviewing it.
  • Decent
  • I felt Cook was bad value at 8/9 – I understood why he was mocked there because of the RB class being shallow – but to take him at 5 with Williams and Wilson or even Moore, Watson and Olave still there feels like a massively wasted pick for a guy who seems like he’s probably somewhere between Cole Beasley and JD McKissick. Willis has a massive upside if he develops enough as a passer to start.

Ian

  • Not many high picks but some good quality lower down
  • Didn’t have too much capital in the end, but did ok with it. Spiller was great value, I thought he’d go a round earlier (and he would have if Goody hadn’t made a big offer). Taking 3 TEs feels a bit wasteful to me though, and I can’t see how Dulcich becomes fantasy relevant in that offense – it’s just so crowded.
  • Got some good late round value with players falling to them. Could make up for a lack of early picks
  • Literally no one I was thinking about taking.
  • Not a lot to work with, but flags fly forever! Oooo Rah!
  • He traded all his picks to win. And won. In that sense it’s a 10/10. If we’re purely judging on picks made… they’re pretty bad picks, but what do you expect with so few and so few early.

Neil took the Max approach here: “Who are these guys.”

Ben and Stew

  • Okay at first, but Karlaftis was a reach
  • Reasonable solid effort without being spectacular
  • I loved Wilson as a prospect, so they’ve done well there. I wasn’t a big fan of Davis-Price, but can’t argue with the upside and he was quite cheap. Hated the Karlaftis pick though, I think he’s going to be one of those decent NFL guys but who maxes out at about 8 sacks. So not a fan there. They tend to do well with defensive players though.
  • Boom-bust profile
  • Pretty by the book. Nothing to get wildly excited about but nothing which makes me want to vomit in my mouth. Which is a nice change.
  • Good competent draft in a tough spot (6)
  • This draft comes down to Wilson really. And it’s really hard to know how good he’ll be if Zach Wilson continues his trend of trying to make Nathan Peterman look good retrospectively. Karlaftis should be fine, if not special – maybe in a Spags defence with his ears pinned back he might be more, but I’m not sure how long Spags will be around there. Pierce is an X factor, ridiculous athletic talent with true #1 ceiling, but he’s so raw he’s basically unprepared sushi.

Slatz

  • Love the first 5 picks
  • Don’t like it at all. Lots of reaches
  • I was comparatively low on London and Thibodeaux so I expect to be an outlier here. And I love Davis, but don’t think a rookie DT who needs a tonne of projection to be relevant in the NFL is worth a 3rd. I feel like there’s a lot of guys who will stick around the roster, I don’t think there are many who will be stars. Honestly, Harris is the only guy I think he got who he didn’t overdraft.
  • Seemed to know the guys he wanted to draft and took them
  • It’s obviously the best draft. Obviously. Because everyone else took the wrong players, which means he must have got the right ones.
  • Reasonable  draft for the awkward tweener drafting position

Here’s what Slatz had to say: “10/10 of course. Seriously though, passing on White to take Thibodeaux was a tough call, and needs to work out as RB was a real need. Davis is a gamble some will hate, but I love a guy like that and I had to hold myself back from taking him in the second, so for me I feel like that pick was value.”

Goody

  • Pretty rubbish
  • I didn’t like any of their picks bar Dotson (and didn’t really like the trade for him). Pierce and Allgeier feel like desperation picks for a win now team, and Asamoah isn’t going to contribute for at least a year, if not two. Otton might be decent, but that’s about it.
  • Decent value with limited picks
  • Lots of reaching. A number of players I wouldn’t have minded getting 2-5 rounds later. Not to my taste. But he’s happy and that’s nice.
  • The drive to succeed within the season leaves his drafts a bit threadbare.
  • Both Allgeier and Pierce represent the same thing – dice rolls on opportunity/volume with players of limited draft capital and questionable efficacy in bad situations. If both work out the value question goes out the window. If both fail then this looks pretty bleak. Both seem about as likely?

Here’s what Goody had to say: “The best draft ever.”

Benj

  • Average at best.
  • Too d heavy early on for me. Not many picks I liked
  • Didn’t have too much capital, but didn’t do much with it. I wasn’t a fan of Dean and most of the other players feel like they’ve got limited upside.
  • I like the mid round skill players. Be interested to see how the DTs turn out
  • Similar ignore-the-draft team building strategy to Goody. Comment withheld.
  • Hard to judge properly on someone who traded away high picks, without valuing in what was gained vs what could have been gained. Dean looks like a steal, but Philly have been a graveyard for LBs. If he balls out (and he has the talent to be Roquan Smith) that’s a really good spot to have grabbed him.

And here’s what Benj had to say: “Didn’t have a first, traded out of the second, didn’t stupidly reach for anyone, got some of the players I hoped for, but was patient and, again, didn’t stupidly reach for anyone I’d earmarked. I’m pretty happy that I got some contributors. I may not have a star in there but I think it gives me some solid depth.”

Trades

While we’re jumping all over the map, lets continue the trend and look at the trades that happened during the draft. This is what we thought, from least balanced trade to most balanced (and there’s a bit of judgement in this):

  1. Goody gets 2022 pick 20 (Jahan Dotson). Ian gets Jalen Hurts, Allen Lazard. (6 favouring Ian, 3 saying even.).
  2. Goody gets Tyler Lockett, 2022 pick 19 (Tyler Allgeier), 2023 Round 6 pick. Chris gets Mike Evans, Denzel Ward. (5 favouring Chris, 3 saying even, 1 favouring Goody)
  3. Ben and Stew get picks 69 (Sam Howell) and 99 (Daniel Bellinger). Chris gets pick 66 (Tyler Badie).  (4 favouring Chris, 4 saying even, 1 favouring Ben and Stew. And I think I was that one).
  4. Slatz gets 2022 pick 25 (Jalen Tolbert). Neil gets Fred Warner. (4 favouring Neil, 3 saying even, 1 favouring Slatz.
  5. Neil gets picks 93 (Myjai Sanders) and 113 (Jalen Nailor). Slatz gets pick 75 (Daxton Hill). (4 saying even, 3 favouring Slatz, 1 favouring Neil)
  6. Goody gets picks 17 (Dameon Pierce) and 47 (Brian Asamoah). Benj gets pick 28 (Jermaine Johnson), 38 (Romeo Doubs) and 39 (Demarvin Leal). (5 saying even, 2 favouring Benj, 2 favouring Goody – perfectly balanced)

I’ll try something as a summary: a net positive rating for all these trades by team. So you get +1 for each vote saying you won a trade and -1 for each vote saying your lost a trade.

  1. Chris: +7
  2. Iran: +6
  3. Neil: +1
  4. Benj: 0
  5. Slatz: -1
  6. Ben and Stew: -3
  7. Goody: -10

Max, Pete and Mike didn’t make any trades. Benj just made the one perfectly balanced trade. I guess there should be a way to get a bit more nuance here: Neil and Slatz only traded with each other, but I feel like Neil winning a trade involving a 3rd round pick and then losing a trade for an 8th round pick doesn’t really cancel out as much as this table says. And then, does Ben and Stew losing a trade for a 7th round pick really matter? But I can’t be bothered trying to work that out – the data is above if anyone fancies it. But anyway, we all agreed: Goody’s trades were bad, Chris and Iran’s were good.

Individual drafts

I’ll just do these in the order I listed teams in the survey. I’ll say that is so this doesn’t spiral into relentless negativity, but really its just cos its easier for me. For all of these, I’ll just list any answer which got more than 1 vote.

Pete

Best player

  • Breece Hall (7)

Best value:

  • David Ojabo (4)
  • Troy Andersen (3)

Worst value:

  • Christian Watson (3)
  • David Bell (3)
  • Troy Andersen (2)

Bust:

  • Christian Watson (4)
  • David Bell (3)

Sleeper

  • Sauce Gardner (3)
  • Bryan Cook (3)
  • Terrel Bernard (2)

It seems we were content with Breece Hall as the consensus number 1, and not at all high on Christian Watson or David Bell. So I guess we’ll find out if Pete knows better than the rest of us. Andersen getting support as both best value and worst value is fun, I love a polarising prospect.

Ben and Stew

Best player

  • Garrett Wilson (7)

Best value:

  • Ty Davis-Price (3)
  • Garrett Wilson (2)
  • Alec Pierce (2)

Worst value:

  • George Karlafits (5)
  • Sam Howell (3)

Bust:

  • Ty Davis-Price (5)
  • George Karlaftis (3)

Sleeper

  • Velus Jones (5)
  • Daniel Bellinger (2)

So safe to say Ty Davis-Price is a polarising guy. 3 calling him best value, 5 calling him a bust. Same with Karlaftis – not too many calling him a bust, but general agreement that he was bad value.

Goody

Best player

  • Jahan Dotson (5)

Best value:

  • Cade Otton (3)
  • Brian Asamoah (2)
  • Jahan Dotson (2)

Worst value:

  • Tyler Allgeier (3)
  • Dameon Pierce (2)
  • Jordan Stout (2)

Bust:

  • Tyler Allgeier (4)
  • Dameon Pierce (3)
  • Jahan Dotson (2)

Sleeper

  • Cade Otton (7)

Its probably not a good sign when you trade up for 2 RBs, and both get support as worst value or a bust. But then Dotson was overwhelmingly seen as the best player and still also garnered support as worst value and a bust too. Basically, everyone liked Cade Otton and that’s about it.

Mike

Best player

  • Kenneth Walker (4)
  • Devin Lloyd (3)
  • Quay Walker (2)

Best value:

  • Trey McBride (3)
  • Calvin Austin (2)

Worst value:

  • Quay Walker (6)

Bust:

  • Kenneth Walker (4)
  • Quay Walker (3)
  • Kyle Hamilton (2)

Sleeper

  • Phidarian Mathis (3)
  • Damone Clark (2)
  • Trent McDuffie (2)

So people either loved or hated Kenneth Walker – he’s either the best player or he’s a bust. Similar for Quay Walker, except that everyone thought he was overvalued too.

Slatz

Best player

  • Drake London (6)
  • Kayvon Thibodeaux (2)

Best value:

  • Jalen Tolbert (4)
  • Jordan Davis (2)
  • Christian Harris (2)

Worst value:

  • Kayvon Thibodeaux (3)
  • Jordan Davis (2)
  • Jalen Tolbert (2)

Bust:

  • Jalen Tolbert (5)
  • Jordan Davis (3)         

Sleeper

  • Daxton Hill (4)
  • Matt Corral (2)
  • Ty Chandler (2)

We generally seemed happy that Drake London was a perfectly fine pick in the 1st, and then it got polarising: Thibodeaux got support as best player and worst value; Jordan Davis got support as best value, worst value and bust; Jalen Tolbert was either best value or a bust. Basically, we have no fucking clue what is going on here, which is no different from any other team’s draft.

Neil

Best player

  • James Cook (5)

Best value:

  • Malik Willis (3)
  • James Cook (2)
  • Channing Tindall (2)

Worst value:

  • James Cook (3)
  • Aidan Hutchinson (2)
  • John Metchie (2)

Bust:

  • Malik Willis (3)
  • Aidan Hutchinson (3)
  • John Metchie (2)

Sleeper

  • Jeremy Ruckert (3)
  • Snoop Cooner (3)

Neil’s draft was weirdly polarising. It had the biggest range of overall ratings, and it also had an unusual spread of best value, worst value and busts. Basically, most people found something to like about Neil’s draft and something to hate too. And no one liked or hated the same players. So this will be an interesting one to see how it plays out in future years.

Benj

Best player

  • Nakobe Dean (7)
  • Jermaine Johnson (2)

Best value:

  • Romeo Doubs (3)
  • Nakobe Dean (2)
  • Tyquan Thornton (2)

Worst value:

  • Nakobe Dean (2)
  • Jermaine Johnson (2)
  • Logan Hall (2)

Bust:

  • Logan Hall (4)
  • Nakobe Dean (2)
  • Jermaine Johnson (2)

Sleeper

  • Desmond Ridder (3)
  • Charlie Kolar (3)
  • Kingsley Enagbare (2)

I guess some of us really liked Nakobe Dean (best value) and some didn’t (Bust, worst value), but we generally thought he was the best of a bad bunch. And then we didn’t really like Logan Hall.

Max

Best player

  • Jameson Williams (5)
  • Treylon Burks (2)
  • George Pickens (2)

Best value:

  • Jameson Williams (3)
  • George Pickens (2)
  • Brian Robinson (2)

Worst value:

  • Travon Walker (2)
  • Brian Robinson (2)

Bust:

  • Travon Walker (5)
  • Treylon Burks (2)
  • George Pickens (2)

Sleeper

  • Isiah Pacheco (3)
  • Kyle Phillips (2)
  • Brandon Smith (2)

Max’s best player results are fun, especially combined with the bust results, and probably drove his high ratings. The fact that Williams was overwhelmingly more popular than Burks but was picked quite a lot later is interesting. The fact that some people still loved Pickens over both is also interesting. And then the fact that most people thought Travon Walker would be a bust over any of them is interesting too. Although that last bit might just be a bit of noise driven by people not liking Walker as a prospect.

We also seemed to love Jameson Williams – 5 people called him the best pick, 3 called him the best value (as pick 7) and no one called him most likely to bust. So that’s interesting.

Iran

Best player

  • Isaiah Spiller (6)

Best value:

  • Isaiah Spiller (6)

Worst value:

  • Hassan Haskins (3)
  • Isaiah Spiller (2)
  • Greg Dulcich (2)

Bust:

  • Danny Gray (3)
  • Isaiah Spiller (2)
  • Hassan Haskins (2)
  • Greg Dulcich (2)

Sleeper

  • Chad Muma (5)
  • Chigoziem Okonkwo (2)

I wasn’t sure whether to include 4 players in the bust rankings for Ian simply because the 4th player was the 70th pick. Spiller being the overwhelming favourite player from this class, and then no real consensus on worst value or bust, seems to say that we basically liked the Spiller pick but not much else. Except Chad Muma. We liked the value there. 2/9 rated Spiller’s lack of speed as the pre-draft story they actually factored in when picking.

Chris

Best player

  • Skyy Moore (4)
  • Chris Olave (3)

Best value:

  • Rachaad White (4)
  • Wan’Dale Robinson (2)

Worst value:

  • Wan’Dale Robinson (3)
  • Skyy Moore (2)
  • Rachaad White (2)

Bust:

  • Wan’Dale Robinson (6)

Sleeper

  • Kaiir Elam (4)
  • Malcolm Rodriguez (3)
  • Isaiah Likely (2)

Seems like a couple of people liked Wan’Dale Robinson as good value, but most people thought he was a big reach. Rachaad White feels like the interesting one here, getting votes at best value and worst value. Someone also voted for Isaiah Likely at pick 119 as my worst value, which feels like they either thought I had a hell of a draft or didn’t read the question.

The sleeper picks were mildly interesting: Pickett got a vote as best value, but no picks as a sleeper. People did care about Pickett’s tiny hands – 4/9 said that was the pre-draft storyline they actually considered when making picks.

Random draft bits and pieces

There wasn’t any consensus on the biggest surprise. And some disagreement, between “defensive reaches so early in the second” and “it being so offense heavy.” The other comments were:

  • How far veluss Jones fell. The slating did for him. Bargain
  • Cook going top 5
  • No QBs picked for ages
  • That I didn’t excessively reach for anyone.
  • Goody blowing up his team for two mediocre RBs

There also wasn’t consensus on the best name. Sauce Gardner got 1.5 votes, but other than that there was only one vote per player: Smoke Monday, C Otton, Tyler Baddie (sic), Romeo Doubs, Snoop Conner, Ty Fryfogle and ZaQuandre White. Lets hope next year is better. A quick skim of a consensus board seems to think it might be: Henry To’oto’o, Habakkuk Baldonado are both in the top 50.

The only pick comment that people actually liked was “I expect Hassan to be Haskins some questions pretty quickly.” Must do better next year folks.

In terms of getting sniped, Tyler Badie was the only person who was mentioned twice as someone you wanted but some fucker picked first (and you are welcome). Props to Slatz for saying that he got sniped on Kyle Hamilton and then still traded Fred Warner to get a 3rd round pick where he couldn’t take Hamilton.

We’ve been arguing about how to quantify good or bad drafts, and it turns out we don’t really agree on who has been good or bad anyway.

Best drafter in Dbowl history

  • Chris (3)
  • Max (2)
  • Goody (1)
  • Benj (1)
  • Can’t remember this draft (2)

Worst drafter

  • Neil (3)
  • Slatz (2)
  • Pete, Mike and Ben & Stew (1)
  • Don’t want to say (1)

There was an odd consensus here. Simply because no one got votes as best draft and worst drafter. I didn’t check whether anyone voted for themselves. And no one seems to remember Iran drafting at all.

But as we’ve now got 3 years of post-draft surveys, I figured I’d take a look back and see how we rated each other over the last few years. There’s been some impressive consistency: Chris has been 2nd every year, Mike has been 4th every year, Iran has finished either 6th or 7th.. And some less impressive consistency, as Goody and Benj have each finished in the bottom 3 every year. Pete also has an excellent upwards trend.

Team202220212020TotalRank
Chris22261
Ben & Stew7=1192
Mike444123=
Max165123=
Neil537155
Pete3510186
Slatz7=93197=
Ian676197=
Benj988259
Goody81092710

The average total is 16. So above that you’ve been good, below that you’ve been bad. It feels overall like vague tiers of Chris, Ben & Stew, Mike and Max; Neil, Pete, Slatz, Iran; Benj and Goody. You could probably put Neil in either the tier above or below, or just make him a tier of his own. Over the last few years anyway. With the depth of analysis you’d expect, I can’t be bothered to see how that correlates to draft capital. But from memory it has felt like Benj, Goody and Iran haven’t had too many picks and have been rated as drafting badly as a result.

It is amusing that based on our surveys, 2 of us think Benj or Goody are the best drafters, and they have been consistently seen as very bad the last 3 years. And 2 of us think Mike and Ben & Stew have been consistently good recently but are seen as bad. While there’s more agreement that midtable Neil and Slatz have been bad.

But I am the best. That’s the key.

With the sort of talent we have for drafting and also for evaluating the performance of everyone else, you definitely want to rely on our collective pearls of wisdom about it. The only consensus was in “do more research” and “do more prep”. And then we had:

  • “too much hope in the top 10”
  • “If you draft the best guys you can be really good”.

Helpful. You want the best players, but also the people you think are definitely good players probably aren’t. But what about this?

  • “Trade all your picks. Then you can’t fail”
  • “Do not, under any circumstances, get involved in a draft day trade with any of the followi…” (I have no idea what happened here).

So definitely trade all your picks no matter what, but also don’t trade. And then my favourite:

  • “It’s a crap shoot and only 2 or 3 of us are any good at shooting those craps. And none of them are Slatz”
  • “Bet on athleticism, because the misses don’t matter and the hits are massive. Take players you like, it’s not as much fun rooting for dickheads.”

Its a crap shoot, but its also very easy to game. I particularly love the shout-out to Slatz (based on the last 3 years he’s not been good, but he hasn’t been awful) and also that the certainty on display in the latter one seems to be from Slatz.

General Dbowl stuff

I asked who you thought would win the league this year. You picked two favourites: Chris (4) and Iran (3). And then threw in Goody and Benj with 1 vote each as contenders. Essentially, if you made the playoffs last year, you have a chance this year.

3 people said Iran would repeat at the top. 3 people also said Pete would repeat the bottom, following by 2 votes for Mike. Neil, Max, Slatz and Goody also got votes for this shame. So that means that everyone thought Ben and Stew would be solidly mid-table, getting votes in neither category.

7 out of 9 thought the draft was at about the right time, so pencil it in for this time next year folks. And there was equal disagreement about whether we should fucking pick already (4) or drag things out more (3), so you can pencil in next year’s to take around a week.

The most divisive question in the draft was how impressive Ian getting through the whole draft in 0 seconds. The average score was 2.4, but that was made up of 4 ratings of 1 and 4 ratings of 5. So maybe expect some people to prioritise time and some people to not. How insightful.

There wasn’t much consensus on whether we need comp picks:  3 said good riddance to them, 5 said Benj should be ashamed for forgetting them, and one person said a 4th round pick for whoever pisses off Slatz the most. Expect a rule change submission soon.

And speaking of rule changes: 7/9 said they were open to a rule about creating an exempt list to get rid of players we morally object to. And 4/9 said that they had a rule change to submit. So expect a couple of rule changes coming through soon.

Right, that was long. I should probably give this an edit. I’m not going to though.

The Dynabowl 2022 Draft Entrance Survey

Rookie Draft Uncategorized No Comments

Well, the 2022 Dynabowl Draft is in the books. Before it all went down, I asked the GMs to make some predictions about what might happen, and these are the results.

First up, I asked GMs to predict the first round. Some people had an advantage, as they were picking in the first round, sometimes more than once. It certainly made things easier for the Sadness, given their surprise pick of Quay Walker at 10, while the Hurricanes predicted 4 defensive players to go in the first round, which would have been a record, but failed to spot that Walker was the one who would actually. They also incorrectly predicted a trade for pick 8, but failed to nominate who the player taken there would be.

Here’s the full table, along with a score for how accurate people were at guessing. I put my inaccuracy down to not researching the round as I wasn’t going to pick there.

Fashionably late, I received the entrance survey from the Losers shortly after publication and can now add their predictions here, predictions which netted 30 points, leaving Kelkowski as the king predictors:

And after that, let us all salute The Champions for their predictions:

2. How many trades will there be during the draft?

The correct answer was 6. If you’d done your research you could have guessed it would be in this neighbourhood because a glimpse into the past shows that since 2018 there’s been 6, 6, 5 and 4 trades (though 2018 had two trades mid-draft for 2019 picks. However, going back further in time we see that 2017 had 13 trades, 2016 had 10 and 2015 – the first draft in the books, had a whopping 15 trades in during the draft. Insanity. There were only 7 rounds for each of those drafts too…

So what did we say? Well, living in the past we had the Sadness, who went for an astonishing 14 (!!!), while Hard and the Hurricanes both said 10. Some more sensible guesses were had from Tamworth (8), Kelkowski (7), Champions (7), and the Bombermen (8, though admitting “I am literally plucking a number out of the air there”), while the Brees (2) really low-balled it.

Late comer Losers topped everyone, suggesting a total of 15 trades, commenting “Stupid fucking question”, which I assume means that the answer was so obvious why even bother asking.

And at this point I would note that the commentary was pretty scant from most respondents so if this is a bit dry, you know who to blame. (Yourself and everyone but me).

3. Which pick will be the first pick traded?

The correct answer was 2.07, it belonged to the Bombermen, until it was sold to the Tamworth Two. But did anyone get it right?

We already know the Hurricanes guessed that 1.08 would be traded away.

Tamworth went for 2.04, perhaps indicating a desire to get up even higher than they managed.

Kelkwoski plumped for Chris selling 1.09, along the same lines as the Hurricanes guess.

The Bombermen stated “I think Chris will trade one of his first round picks. While I don’t really think that Dave will trade up, but he could be convinced  because I fancy he wants Skyy Moore. But I don’t know, really.” So there definitely was something in the air about Chris making a move, and Moore did, indeed, go at 9 so if he had been sought after you’d have needed to make this leap.

The Brees thought pick 1.04 would have a buyer – a pick which the Champions spent on Treylon Burks.

The Sadness matched Tamworth in plumping for 2.04 while the Hard plumped for 1.06 and the Champions went high, suggesting 1.02 would be on the move.

The Losers were non-committal – “This is more a question of buyer than seller. I’d move 3, but I don’t think I’ll find a buyer”

That meant three people thought Chris was trading, 3 thought Max was, one vote for the Brees and one for the Sadness.

4. Will the first pick traded be for a player (or players), picks, or a combination?

The first trade that happened was 2.07 & 5.07 for 3.08, 4.08 and 4.09, so all picks.

The Brees, Hard and Champions (and the late-comer Losers) said it would be solely for picks, though the Sadness appears to have suggested 2.04 would be sold for 3.05 straight up. Everyone else said a player+pick deal which, based on history, was probably the right guess.

5. Who will be involved in the first trade?

The correct answer was Bombermen and Tamworth, which no one got right. Probably not a surprise.

We had a Hard/Brees trade (Hurricanes and Hard – though the Hard said that he could alternatively trade with the Hurricanes of Champions, so he was sold on himself trading, just like everyone else), Dungeoneers/Champions (Tamworth), Hard and apparently no one else (Kelkwoski), “I already said – Slatz and Chris. Definitely Chris. No real idea about Slatz. Maybe Ian?” (Bombermen), Champions/Hard (Brees), Sadness/Hurricanes (Champions) and Champions/Tamworth (Sadness). Oh, and “Chris” (Losers).

So out of all that there was one half of the trade was guessed correctly, once.

6. Which position are you most keen to pick up to be a contributor for this season?

The Hurricanes wanted a RB and got James Cook. He shoots, he scores.

Tamworth also wanted an RB, but didn’t have a pick until the third round. They traded up for Dameon Pierce and Tyler Allgeier in the second, and also picked up a “Treston Ebner”, whatever that is, in the 11th round. Mission accomplished perhaps as well as could be expected given the capital available at the start of the draft.

Kelkowski wanted a DT to contribute this season, which was probably a tough ask regardless. Even tougher when they don’t end up picking one the whole draft.

The Bombermen said “Running Back. It’s the position most likely to have an impact in the first season.” But they only took one in the 7th (Jerome Ford) and 9th (Jashaun Corbin), so that’s unlikely to have much impact. But the options were a bit thin on the ground this year.

The Brees wanted a wide receiver and got three of them – Garrett Wilson (1st), Alec Pierce (3rd) and Velus Jones (11th). Jones, in particular is a bit of a steal there given the opportunity in Chicago.

The Sadness wanted a linebacker and snaffled up Quay Walker in the first round along with Devin Lloyd in the 2nd and Damone Clark in the 11th. Got that one pretty well covered. Now to see if they contribute first up.

The Champions were after a wide receiver (“Shame about the players”) and came away with 5 of them – their top three picks – Burks (1.04), Williams (1.07) and Pickens (2.04), as well as guys in the 9th and 11th who you’ve never heard of and never will again.

The Hard took this question seriously and responded “I think it’s a really good and deep WR class, so will be upset if I don’t come away with 2 good WRs from the 1st 3 rounds. I generally really like the talent in rounds 3-4. It feels like a draft lacking that top end talent (round 2 is a wasteland) but with great depth.” And on the back of that he has Olave and Moore (1.08 and 1.09) as well as Wan’Dale Robinson in the third. All in all, a good day at the office.

The Losers wanted an RB, and fulfilled that to some degree by taking one in the 7th, the 8th and 11th. It’s possible none of those players take any meaningful snaps.

7. Which player are you most keen to get/most likely to reach for?

I think most people took this as the player they most wanted, whereas I was hoping for the player who appealed to the GM more than the consensus, so they might get jittery and take early – ie I basically wanted to know who you would reach for. I’ll reword it next time.

This became obvious from the first answer I looked at, the Hurricanes proclaiming they were most keen to get Breece Hall, the consensus number 1 overall pick. Not really possible to reach for him, is it?

Tamworth were only mildly closer to the question I really wanted to ask, suggesting James Cook “but he will go too early”. Yes he will. He’ll go fifth when your first pick coming into the draft wasn’t until the third round.

A more sensible response came from Kelkowski: “Given my first pick is at 20, I’m hoping Spiller falls to me there”. Given they traded away pick number 20, they can be very pleased at nabbing Spiller at 3.10, thirtieth overall.

The Bombermen can be equally happy, stating “Doubs, the Green Bay wide receiver. But I’m not so excited that I’ll be grabbing him in the 2nd or anything.” Instead it was 4.08, 38th overall, that they picked up Doubs, right about where he should have been going.

The Brees went for Chris Olave who, unless they traded up to the top two, probably couldn’t have been considered a reach, but if he was the player the most wanted, they had the chance at 6 and declined the option.

The Sadness offered a window into their world by responding ‘Dunno’, which is either the least helpful response possible, or the name of a player so under the radar it could have succeeded in a mission against a nondescript enemy in Top Gun: Maverick.

The Hard said “Rachaad White. Great upside, plus he covers me for Fournette. I’d prefer to take him at about pick 15, but if I can’t get a better option I’m happy with him at #9.” and promptly took him at 18, so all in all, very happy with his work.

The Losers managed to fall on both sides of the coin, with the obvious desire and the one more in keeping with the aim of the question. He didn’t get either player though: “Well, Breece Hall would be nice. But failing him, I like Rachaad White as a good size-speed guy with pass catching skills in a good situation.”

And finally the Champions sums up what everyone is really thinking: “Whichever one Slatz tells me afterwards was my stupidest pick/biggest reach.”

8. Who will make the consensus biggest reach (Draft Exit Survey will be the judge)?

Hurricanes says Hard

Tamworth says Dungeoneers

Kelkowski says Tamworth

Bombermen says (incorrectly) “Everyone will say me. It won’t be me. I swear it. I’ll say…. (pulls name out of hat)… [Tamworth]. No, wait, it’ll be [the Hurricanes]. I won’t spoil the answers that are coming up by saying who….”

Brees appears to think that James Cook was also taking part in the draft and would make the biggest reach… Presumably this mean that he would be the biggest reach (not the question asked), but maybe the post-draft survey will confirm this as correct, seeing as he went fifth overall to the Hurricanes.

Hard says Hurricanes, in a nice bout of symmetry.

The Losers were perhaps a little down on themselves, stating the person most likely to make the consensus reach will be “Me – a lot will depend on if I can swing a deal, but I want Jordan Davis in the second”

And the Champions nominate the Champions.

9. Who will get the consensus biggest bargain?

The Champions says “The Hard – this is how he does well”, and, as recent analysis has shown, unless you don’t believe in all that analysis bollocks (I know I don’t), it is how he does well.

The Hard nominated the Bombermen. Which is very nice of them. I doubt that will hold up now.

The Sadness also believes in the Hard’s drafting ability.

As well as James Cook, Jameson Williams was also making picks in this draft, according to the Brees, and will end up with the biggest bargain… Again, if we change the question to the one they answered, maybe this could be right. He came off the board to the Champions at 1.07. Will that prove to be a bigger bargain that Velus Jones in the 11th round?

We thought the Champions had nailed it above, did the Bombermen nail it here: “Somebody will fall into the Losers’s lap that everyone thinks is great who will then get injured and his career will never really take off”?

Kelkowski and the Hurricanes both thought the Losers would get the biggest bargain, while Tamworth thought the Brees would. They offered no reasoning or colourful commentary on this.

The Losers made possibly the most prescient comment: “Whoever picks Tyler Algieier? Unless someone reaches for him in the 2nd or something mad. He’s probably a 4th round sort of pick, and with no other competition that’ll be a bargain for a potentially competent starting RB.”

Algieier was taken by Tamworth at 2.09 (19th overall).

10. When will the first QB go off the board (round and pick number)? & 11. Who will be the first QB taken?

The correct answer here was Malik Willis at 5.05. For me, he was top of my list at QB, but I had hoped that perhaps that wasn’t the thinking elsewhere in the league. Let’s find out.

The Hurricanes, who took Willis at 5.05, plumped for Howell at 4.08 (originally a Tamworth pick, but traded to the Bombermen in the draft), which would have been quite remarkable given he was the 6th QB taken in the draft and the Commanders also just traded a fair bit of capital for Wentz. But hey. The pick was pretty close.

Tamworth went for Pickett at 3.04, which would have been a Champions pick.

Kelkowski also thought Pickett would go, but seemed to think he would go in the first round, putting down pick 10 as the slot he’d go in. No QB has gone first round before. A remarkable suggestion. A reminder that Pickett when at 8.09 to the Hard.

The Bombermen suggested the first QB would go to the Hurricanes (bing bing bing), but went a round early at 4.05… “Pickett – [the Hurricanes] will take him because he’s a Steeler. It will be the consensus reach.”

The Brees went for the same player, but even higher, at 2.09, which would have been a Hard pick.

The Sadness also plumped for Pickett and also seemed to suggest Neil would take him by isolating pick 3.05 as the spot he’d come off the board.

The Hard has a bone to pick with lots of people after stating “Kenny Pickett. If it’s anyone else it’s a mad pick. I like Corral’s chances for this year too. I’m not sure I’d even bother with any of the others.” We’ve already mentioned they took Pickett themselves, and a long way below the 4.10 (Kelkowski) slot he thought he would go in.

The Losers also said Pickett. “Nobody should be picking Pickett before the 6th round. No other QB should be drafted in the first 7 or 8. He’ll probably go in the 4th though, pick 37”, with, for some reason, the Bombermen taking him (or trading out of the pick, I guess).

The Champions also went for the 4th round, suggesting “4.06, wait that’s me, 4.07”. As for who? “Slim Pickens”. Thanks. For. That.

12. When will the first defensive player go off the board (round and pick number)? & 13. Who will be the first defensive player taken?

Real answer: Quay Walker, 1.10.

Commentary from the Champions: “Honestly, it should probably be 1.01. Have [the Dungeoneers] got the balls for it? Given I’ve said [the Sadness] will trade down I’ll say [the Losers] will at 1.03. Maybe [they]’ll play it more traditional but [they’re] just crazy enough.” Nailed. It. And likewise nailed the who: “I’ve [said the Losers] will do it so I’ll say Aidan Hutchinson as [they] only [have] 3 DEs.” Given the Losers respect for his “T-Rex arms”, couldn’t have been more right.

The Hard were one place and one player out, opting for 2.01 and Devin Lloyd (second defensive player at 2.02). Perceptive. The Losers also went for 2.01, but said it would be Hutchison.

The Sadness nailed it. Because they knew they intended to take Walker at 1.10. I’m not giving points for predicting what you’re going to do. Sorry.

The Brees said Aidan Hutchison at 2.07. He was the 4th defensive player at 2.05, so not a million miles away for the draft spot at least.

Let’s see what the Bombermen have to offer… “2.07? I might take one. Though I could see one going earlier,” and “Hutchison? The Detroit DE taken with the second pick.” So cribbing notes from the Brees then.

2.07 is clearly in vogue as Kelkowski picked Devin Lloyd to be the first defensive player taken in that slot. Perhaps the Bombermen have developed a reputation for taking defensive players early? However, they’ve normally done it in the first round.

Tamworth were pretty close pick-wise, opting for 1.08 – the only one to suggest a defensive player would go in the first. They also managed to write this as a footer rather than in the body of the text. Just a bit of flavour of the kind of rubbish I have to put up with. Anyway, they correctly predicted the pick would be Walker. Bravo! That said, their predicted first round – the first question of this survey, said the Hard would take Skyy Moore at 1.08, so draw your own conclusions.

Finally the Hurricanes thought safety Kyle Hamilton would come off the board 4th, which must make him a steal for the Sadness at 3.02.

14. Who will take the most defensive players?

Volume or percentage, the answer is the same:

The Champions were close. Ish. “Probably [us]. [We] have a history of not taking offensive players after the first 3 rounds except for the odd TE.” Two odd WRs and an odd RB in the final 4 rounds put to rest any dreams in that direction.

The Hard sort of nailed this one, suggesting the Sadness, who were any acceptable right answer by volume.

The Sadness also knew their destiny and predicted they would top the list too.

The Brees also put themselves forward but were a little further from being accurate.

The Bombermen threw themselves and the Champions into the ring and get nothing in return.

The Losers pumped for themselves and weren’t a million miles out: “I’m hoping it’ll be me. I need to do some work.”

Kelkowski gets the dunces hat for nominating themselves, while Tamworth opted for the Brees and the Hurricanes opted for the Champions.

15. How long will the draft last (in days, hours and minutes)?

Actual answer – 6 days, 1 hour and 8 minutes. Well done to the Champions for just being closer than Tamworth:

The latecomer Losers said 3 days, 4 hours, 11 minutes, putting them as the second most inaccurate. Again, it’s a “stupid fucking question”, but if they think it’s so obvious, they were an awfully long way out…

Your Draft Survey Results

League Business Rookie Draft No Comments

It’s time to review the draft with Chris’s extra-special post-draft survey, one that we all really enjoyed. Chris didn’t enjoy it that much though as he’s not done the hard work part of typing these words out. I guess he just doesn’t really love the Dynabowl.

Anyway, first up we’ll have the average scores that people got for their drafts, then the comments, and finally we’ll have the details of the answers to the actual questions, featuring the only question you all really want to know the answer to – who has the best name…

Also, there will be a poll on MFL for the best player out of all those players voted best value.

One note, Max may or may not have responded. One respondent put their name down as “I might be Max” and in pretty much every textual question answered “I don’t know what happened in the draft.” I feel this is accurate so maybe it’s him, but I’m going to remove his ratings from everyone’s score for the draft.

So, who do we think had the best draft? Well, the raw points are worthless because we have a different amount of ratings for different people – a couple of people neglected to score a couple of other people, so it’s the average points that really count. So how did we stack up?

Well, Ben & Stew had the best draft, with a healthy gap back to Chris. There’s then a big drop off to Neil in third. I’m sure that this won’t be another false dawn.

Bringing up the rear are Benj in 8th, Slatz in 9th and James back in 10th. I’m sure James wasn’t penalised for flouting regulations during the season and this is a true view of the quality of his draft.

So here’s the table:

  Total PointsScorersAverage PointsMax ScoreMin Score
1Ben & Stew5987.3886
2Chris5077.1495
3Neil4986.1393
4Geoff4886.0071
5Pete4785.8893
6Max5295.7873
7Ian4285.2581
8Benj3684.5062
9Slatz3584.3882
10James2773.8652

Now, onto what you thought. Let’s start at the top of the list.

1. Ben & Stew

Solid

I liked a lot of their early picks. There may be the beginnings of a decent offense there? I didn’t recognise any of their later picks so they’re probably really good

Decent job with a lot of picks, and early picks

A few of my guys picked up but all around when I had them valued. Nice draft but not too many steals

I don’t know what happened in the draft.

A solid effort, 7 on 10

Solid use of plenty of early round picks

I could genuinely see pretty much every player being useful. Not sure you ever need to draft 3 safeties in one year though.

Stew’s influence is obvious as this looks like a decent class.

2. Chris

Not bad

Not much here to not like. I don’t love trading away so much for an old TE though, especially the Derwin James piece.

I’m unfamiliar with any of those players so probably very canny on Chris’s part

What’s the phrase I’ve continually heard this draft cycle? This was all “chalk”, which I think (based on context) means he basically did everything he should with each pick – he was very much aligned with consensus. I like the first few picks but wasn’t interested in anyone he took late really.

I have completed your blood survey. I don’t know what happened in the draft.

I really liked my draft. I got guys I liked at good value throughout, and managed to trade for an elite

TE at a price that wasn’t totally eye-watering. Would have liked a starting LB out of it, but otherwise I’m happy with it.

Main positives are the value with the first 2 picks and the trades where he ripped off Max

Solid but unspectacular

3. Neil

Some okay picks around where I valued then

No real surprises, I think Neil picked the guys he was supposed to pick, when they were supposed to be picked

Can’t complain much about the first 3 picks but feels like he lost his way after that

I really hated the Jaycee Horn pick, but otherwise I think this is a pretty good draft. Most of them have starting potential, and even Horn could be vaguely worth it.

I don’t know what happened in the draft.

One of the best drafts, if we look past Neil’s CB obsession. I do not understand a) taking more when several are on the roster already or b) taking one as early as he took Horn.

I normally like Neil’s drafts. But Smith aside there’s a lot of guys who are just taken about where they should be who have question marks. I think that’s probably a reflection of a poor draft class.

A bit overdrafted across the board imo

Holy Moses, I’m Surtain we will Jaycee this team go Long

4. Geoff

A cornucopia of sadness

Solid early picks which given Mike picked them means they’re definitely going to break or be bad people

The draft rating is bearing in mind the draft capital he had. Wise to take Pitts first because at least half the league wanted him. Sermon is poor value but Lance is a good pick – arguably the best fantasy QB to go for in a 10 team league – QBs are plentiful so you want to draft one with the highest ceiling.

He must love to stay in Double-Trey Hotels. I like the Pitts and Waddle picks, two exciting prospects

I don’t know what happened in the draft.

A lot of reaches imo – Pitts, Lance, Waddle, Sermon, Collins. Mike usually is pretty active trading back, but he seems to have decided this year is the one he wouldn’t and just taken his guys where they came to him. But in reality he’s just taking everyone early.

I’m not a fan of Pitts at 1, but he was going in the top 3, so I guess if you want him you get him. I’d just rather have had Chase or Harris. I also think Sermon was a big reach at 11. But both guys have good upside and there’s a bunch of guys here that are similar. Feels like a lot of swings for the fences on boom/bust guys, but they seem like good swings.

A TE at one was a big shock to me but I know some others called it

Bog standard draft. Not too much ‘wow’ factor here

5. Pete

Efficient

Very few of my guys picked so this was a middling draft

Over half his draft picks I didn’t have ranked in my top 100

Some good value in the early rounds then went all d with exception of a random Shi Smith

I don’t know what happened in the draft.

An LB with the 13th pick takes some cahones

Getting Harris at 3 was very good for Pete. I think he was a bit early on Davis and Oweh, but they should be decent players. I feel like he took too many DEs, but don’t hate the players he took.

Pete: Strangely optimistic about this year’s picks.

Too many picks for not enough cap room.

6. Max

Let’s go Jags!

Some relatively solid picks and an amazing trade combined with an awful one

Hopefully set himself up at qb but has so many holes didn’t really fill them

I don’t know what happened in the draft.

This commenting stuff gets tricky after a few. Meh.

Pretty solid!

I liked his first 3 picks, although I think it ended up being that you could get a good DE way later, so Paye wasn’t great value. I know nothing about the two mid-round WRs.

I think Lawrence was taken too early and isn’t the best QB to go for in this draft. It’s a bit of a meh draft for me – fine, nothing special, not a disaster.

I think he did too much prep for this one

7. Ian

OMG

Very little value here

Made the most out of limited capital

He didn’t have a lot to work with, but I liked most of the picks. Picking a “worst value” was really difficult – even if Atwell is a bust, it’s not that much of a waste given where he was drafted. Most of the late round guys have a vague path towards being useful, so all in all a decent draft given the lack of picks.

He had nothing to work with and got very little for it.

I don’t know what happened in the draft.

For having limited early picks, there is a lot to like

Seems fine

8. Benj

Fall in love with guys and massively overdraft them. Check.

I don’t know what happened in the draft.

Could have just drafted 12 Mr Irrelevants

Another middling draft. Not much to get excited about but I like the Turner pick

Very different to my rankings, but being contrarian could work out well

I think I did ok. I got players I wanted and spammed the RB position in the hope that someone steps up. I was surprised that Brown was seen as such a reach – I’d seen plenty of mock drafts putting him around that area or within the next 4 or 5 picks (so not making it to me by my next pick) and of course we get no insight into who values which players where so I only really have a bunch of mocks to go on as to where he might fall to. Anyway, we’ll see.

Three a lot of darts at RB’s but no bullseye’s for me

I really liked Bolton, Bateman should be good, and Mitchell at his price was very good value. Brown was a bit of a reach but should be good. Of the picks after Mitchell though, I only liked Turner.

Steady away with limited early round picks

9. Slatz

Yes please

I don’t know anything about rhamondre Stevenson, so that colours this grade a bit. In a sense, I am grading my own ignorance.

I only value Nico Collins as a great pick here so that balances out some other poorer picks

I don’t like it at all. Lots of reaches for guys he obviously liked

Not my favourite draft, but too hard to say at this point if its good or bad

I like Collins, Hubbard and Hawkins but I don’t really fancy that this draft will off much long term. I’d be surprised if any get extended, punter aside of course.

I’m not a fan. Stevenson was a big reach, the WRs and RBs are all major dart throws on guys who mostly didn’t show much actual talent in college. He could easily have cut the entire class in 2 years.

I hate the Stevenson pick. I don’t understand taking him so early. Sure, the draft wasn’t great in depth but he’ll likely have 3 fantasy relevant games a year and you will never know which ones they will be.

I don’t know what happened in the draft.

10. James

Amazing

Huge focus on d but probably reached for a lot of guys. Still he’s got who he wanted I imagine

I don’t know what happened in the draft.

I like the Micah pick, but too WR light to get a top rating

He didn’t have much to work with, and Parsons was a good pick. Basham could be decent. I didn’t like Grant, and everyone else could easily be off rosters within a couple of years.

I don’t really like any of these players. Would be interesting to be able to rate what he traded the first for as well though, to see if he got good value for picks not used

Tough sledding with no early picks. Draft could only be defensive in nature, and we all hate defensive players

Mainly late round picks so hard to really assess their long term value

I don’t think he picked a single player I was remotely considering. A waste of a draft. Also, the trade would have scored much higher if he’d used the pick on someone worthwhile.

Onwards to the data!

Now then, rather than in ranked order, just normal league order, starting with Pete, here are the answers to each of the questions. I’m not listing every answer, anyone with only one vote is omitted for at least some semblance of brevity. Oh, and there were 10 voters on every question. Well done everyone.

Pete’s Draft

Who will be the best player?

RB Najee Harris (3) – 6

LB Jamin Davis (13) – 2

Who represents the best value?

WR Kadarius Toney (29) – 4

DE Gregory Rousseau (43) – 3

RB Najee Harris (3) – 2

Who was the worst value pick?

LB Jamin Davis (13) – 2

DE Jayson Oweh (23) – 2

WR D’Wayne Eskridge (33) – 2

Which top 30 pick is most likely to bust?

WR Kadarius Toney (29) – 5

RB Najee Harris (3) – 2

None of them – 2

Which pick in the 8th round or later is most likely to be useful?

CB Greg Newsome (118) – 6

WR Shi Smith (78) – 2

Ben & Stew’s Draft

Who will be the best player?

WR Ja’Marr Chase (2) – 9

QB Justin Fields (25) – 1 (alright, I said I wouldn’t do the single votes thing, but here, because there was only one, I thought you might like to see who checked in above Chase)

Who represents the best value?

WR Amon-Ra St Brown (32) – 2

WR Ja’Marr Chase (2) – 2

Who was the worst value pick?

WR Rondale Moore (12) – 4

DE Jaelan Phillips (22) – 3

Which top 30 pick is most likely to bust?

WR Rondale Moore (12) – 5

RB Travis Etiene (5) – 2

QB Justin Fields (25) – 2

Which pick in the 8th round or later is most likely to be useful?

S Trevon Moehrig (77) – 5

None of them – 2

James’s Draft

Who will be the best player?

LB Micah Parsons (15) – 7

Who represents the best value?

DE Carlos Basham (53) – 3

LB Derrick barnes (68) – 2

LB Micah Parsons (15) – 2

RB Chris Evans (49) – 2

Who was the worst value pick?

S Richie Grant (30) – 8

LB Micah Parsons (15) – 2

Which top 30 pick is most likely to bust?

S Richie Grant (30) – 5

Neither of them – 3

LB Micah Parsons (15) – 2

Which pick in the 8th round or later is most likely to be useful?

RB Jermar Jefferson (84) – 4

None of them – 3

The score for the following trade:

GIVE Jonnu Smith, GET Pick 3.10 (used for Richie Grant) was… 4.375/10, after I removed the 10 that James gave himself. Someone else gave it a 10 though. Crazy.

Is it weird that Chris called Goody ‘James’ throughout?

Yes – 8

No – 2

Geoff’s Draft

Who will be the best player?

TE Kyle Pitts (1) – 7

WR Jaylen Waddle (6) – 3

Who represents the best value?

LB Zaven Collins (21) – 2

RB Trey Surman (11) – 2

WR Jaylen Waddle (6) – 2

Who was the worst value pick?

TE Kyle Pitts (1) – 3

RB Trey Surmon (11) – 3

QB Trey Lance (19) – 2

Which top 30 pick is most likely to bust?

RB Trey Surman (11) – 5

None of them – 2

Which pick in the 8th round or later is most likely to be useful?

S Divine Deablo (116) – 4

CB Caleb Farley (86) – 2

WR Cornell Powell (76) – 2

None of them – 2

Slatz’s Draft

Who will be the best player?

WR Nico Collins (26) – 5

RB Rhamondre Stevenson (18) – 2

WR Anthony Schwartz (38) – 2

Who represents the best value?

WR Nico Collins (26) – 3

WR Anthony Schwartz (38) – 2

RB Rhamondre Stevenson (18) – 2

QB Davis Mills (111) – 2

Who was the worst value pick?

RB Rhamondre Stevenson (18) – 8

Which top 30 pick is most likely to bust?

RB Rhamondre Stevenson (18) – 9

WR Nico Collins (26) – 1

Which pick in the 8th round or later is most likely to be useful?

QB Davis Mills (111) – 3

P Pressley Harvin (121) – 2

WR Ihmir Smith-Marsette (81) – 2

None of them – 2

Neil’s Draft

(Neil didn’t provide ratings for any of his picks so there are only 9 votes in play)

Who will be the best player?

WR Devonta Smith (4) – 6

LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (24) – 2

Who represents the best value?

DE Joseph Ossai (56) – 3

LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (24) – 2

Who was the worst value pick?

CB Jaycee Horn (37) – 5

DT Christian Barmore (28) – 2

WR Devonta Smith (4) – 2

Which top 30 pick is most likely to bust?

DT Christian Barmore (28) – 4

RB Michael Carter (14) – 4

Which pick in the 8th round or later is most likely to be useful?

CB Patrick Surtain (79) – 5

WR Simi Fehoko (109) – 3

Benj’s Draft

Who will be the best player?

WR Rashod Bateman (7) – 6

LB Nick Bolton (27) – 2

Who represents the best value?

RB Kylin Hill (59) – 2

RB Elijah Mitchell (57) – 2

DE Payton Turner (70) – 2

(As an aside, it’s quite nice to see 7 different players get picked here)

Who was the worst value pick?

WR Dyami Brown (17) – 5

WR Rashod Bateman (7) – 3

Which top 30 pick is most likely to bust?

WR Rashod Bateman (7) – 4

WR Dyami Brown (17) – 3

None of them – 3

Which pick in the 8th round or later is most likely to be useful?

RB Jake Funk (82) – 5

None of them – 4

Max’s Draft

Who will be the best player?

QB Trevor Lawrence (10) – 7

Who represents the best value?

DE Kwity Paye (20) – 2

WR Terrace Marshall (9) – 2

S Andre Cisco (105) – 2

Who was the worst value pick?

DE Kwity Paye (20) – 3

WR Terrace Marshall (9) – 2

QB Trevor Lawrence (10) – 2

Which top 30 pick is most likely to bust?

None of them – 5

WR Terrace Marshall (9) – 4

Which pick in the 8th round or later is most likely to be useful?

S Andre Cisco (105) – 4

LB Baron Browning (95) – 3

The score for the following trade:

GIVE: Travis Kelce, Pick 4.10; GET: Henry Ruggs, Derwin James, Pick 1.09 (used on Terrace Marshall) was… 4.67/10

The score for the following trade:

GIVE: Pick 3.10; GET: Jonnu Smith was… 6.56/10

Ian’s Draft

Who will be the best player?

LB Pete Werner (35) – 4

TE Pat Friermuth (45) – 3

WR Tutu Atwell (39) – 2 (so someone other than Chris voted for him)

Who represents the best value?

LB Pete Werner (35) – 3

TE Pat Friermuth (45) – 3

RB Kenneth Gainwell (47) – 3

Who was the worst value pick?

WR Tutu Atwell (39) – 5

LB Pete Werner (35) – 3

TE Pat Friermuth (45) – 2

Ian had no picks in the first 3 rounds. He traded a 1st and 3rd (and potentially another 2nd or 3rd) for Allen Robinson. He also traded a 2nd for Zach Ertz. Which of these trades was horrifically bad?

TE Zach Ertz for a 2nd – 10

Which pick in the 8th round or later is most likely to be useful?

WR Dez Fitzpatrick (80) – 3

TE Brevin Jordan (90) – 2

Chris’s Draft

Who will be the best player?

RB Javonte Williams (8) – 5

WR Elijah Moore (16) – 4

Who represents the best value?

WR Elijah Moore (16) – 5

RB Javonte Williams (8) – 2

Who was the worst value pick?

RB Javonte Williams (8) – 2

LB Chazz Surratt (60) – 2

DT Milton Williams (75) – 2

Which top 30 pick is most likely to bust?

None of them – 7

RB Javonte Williams (8) – 3

Which pick in the 8th round or later is most likely to be useful?

TE Tommy Tremble (83) – 3

S Jevon Holland (93) – 3

WR Seth Williams (113) – 3

Who has the best name in the draft?

Racey McMath – 4

Divine Deablo – 4

Chuba Hubbard – 1

Amon-Ra St Brown – 1 (Maybe Max?)

Who gave the best pick comment?

“All aboard the Toney Train! Fat Controller: Dave Gettleman. Conductor: Jason Garrett. DRIVER: the Young Joka himself, Two Shoes Toney. Choo Choo!” (Pete on Kadarius Toney) – 5 votes

“Don’t Look Back in Hufanga.” (Ben and Stew on Hufanga Talanoa) – 2 votes

“Now I can cut Andy Dalton to make sure both my QBs have first names for last names.” (Max on Trevor Lawrence) – 2 votes (one of these votes was maybe from Max though)

“In the 2nd round, if you’re not hitting Paye-dirt, you may as well Kwity.” (Max on Kwity Paye) – 1 vote

Pete picked fastest, at 17 minutes per pick. What should his reward be?

200$ extra cap room

A weekend away at Neil’s for him to take over Neil’s 2022 draft

The nickname “Pistol Pete” for the season

He should be punished for not writing pick comments.

Slow clap

To work out if he was really fastest if auto picks are included

He gets the only playoff spot for Peter each season.

Something nice, like a better team

Bonus pick next year

A turducken

Neil picked slowest, at 6 hours per pick. What should his punishment be?

A chiduckey

He gets moved to Peter.

Bonus pick next year

Punishment? Should get an award for having to listen to the moaning!

He should have a baby to keep him awake all night

Not allowed to watch any Chiefs games this year; only Steelers

Being forced to have a really busy job and a new-born child. Oh, wait.

Banned from all future drafts

A weekend with Pete to help him with the 2022 draft

The nickname “Andrew Neil” for the season

The draft took 10 days. Is that…?

Too long – 6

About right – 3

Too short – 1 (this may have been Max)

Any last words?

Thoroughly enjoyable

Great draft, very enjoyable. Now that I’ve stopped watching the actual football, definitely the highlight of the year. Wait, did I say that out loud?

It feels like the worst draft class we’ve had so not many picks felt like good value

Really enjoyed my first rookie draft!

Nope

I don’t know what happened in the draft.

Dynabowl 2020 draft – exit survey

Around The Grounds League Business Rookie Draft Trading No Comments

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.”

A Beginner’s Guide to College Fitba

Previews Rookie Draft No Comments

Me again,

I thought I’d do a quick college football preview for anyone who’s interested in learning a bit more about the guys who might be near the top of the Dynabowl draft in the coming year or two. So for a handful of players I’ll look at what they might do, and then to summarise at the bottom I’ll note some of the games I’ve highlighted, and some others I maybe haven’t mentioned but that will be well worth a watch.

Sam Darnold (QB, USC #4, PAC-12) is the presumptive number one overall pick in the 2018 draft. Evaluating QBs is about more than pure college performance, which is why Darnold is ahead of say Baker Mayfield, who for me is the best QB, possibly best player, in college football. USC certainly aren’t shy throwing the ball, like any PAC-12 team they love to air it out, but not on the scale that some of the big 12 this year will. Darnold is pretty bloody good too though. For me he throws a few too many interceptions, and that should be something anyone scouting him pays attention to this year. What he does do though is win. USC’s season was already in the tank last year (1-3 start, with a heavy losses to Stanford and Bama) before he took over the starting job, but after he did the upturn was immediate and significant, most notable was the dismantling of Washington (who went to the CFP) late in the regular season, and the for-the-ages Rose Bowl shootout victory over a very good Penn State team (well offence) that saw 1-3 turned into a respectable 10-3 season. Assuming Darnold does make the jump, he could well be a 180+ rated passer, with around 5 ints and 50 TDS on his way to over 4k yards. That might well nab him a Heismann of his own on his way to the #1 pick. Of course, he could also be the guy who struggles to follow up his first year, and stays steady or regresses a little as teams / defensive backs see a chance to make a name for themselves against such a stellar prospect, and the loss of JuJu Schuster Smith to the Steelers in the NFL Draft won’t help. Either way it’ll be fun, and there’s a good chance USC is in the conversation in the PAC-12 until late in the year. However, it’s equally possible that they’re basically out of the CFP picture by week three with huge games in week 2 and week 3 against Stanford and Texas respectively and nowhere near enough real, quality teams (unless ND come out firing and bump up their ranking) on their schedule to help mitigate those losses, even if it ends up being enough to win the PAC-12. Catch them early in those big games, the game with Stanford (W2) and the match up against Tom Herman’s Texas (W3) are definitely the big highlights, and that Stanford game could be a prelude to a much more significant rematch for the PAC-12 conference title and a playoff spot.

Baker Mayfield (QB, Oklahoma University #7, Big 12) is basically the player Darnold wants to be this year. Last year he posted a stellar 196 PER, breaking Russell Wilson’s (he turned out pretty OK) single-season mark at Wisconsin for the best ever season by a passer, completing 71% (top 30 all time) of his passes for 11.1 yards per attempt, itself the 2nd best mark in history (behind Michael Vick). That’s the sort of number you look at as good per completion. He also racked up 40 TDs and 8 ints (less than Darnold in more games). Basically, he was pretty fucking good. And he’s not the presumptive #1, which I can only assume is mostly because teams look down on spread offence QBs (there’s a good article on the Ringer about just this). Anyway, the Big 12 is a fun conference, maybe not as high quality as the big three (Big 10 East, SEC West and ACC Atlantic Division), but with Oklahoma, Texas, OSU, WVU and Kansas state all in the pre-season top 25 it’s definitely in the mix, and has been unfairly shut out of the CFP in two out of three seasons (particularly last year). It’s virtually impossible to pick between OSU and OU (#10) to win it this year, which means that Bedlam (Week 10 – their 9th game) will be huge and it’s really a can’t miss rivalry game any year, but especially this year. In a bid to make sure their teams got more of a shot at the CFP the Big 12 mandated their teams to really stack their schedules, which means in week two (on top of Stanford-USC), it’s well worth tuning in to watch Mayfield take on one of the best defences (Ohio #2) in the entire NCAA, on the road in front of 100k+ fans, which means it’ll be a real test of his mettle.

I could go on talking about QBs, there’s tons of exciting guys around. Whether it’s Josh Jackson (Virginia Tech #21, ACC Coastal) who could be one to watch for the future (redshirt freshman) taking over the QB spot for the Hokies, who just looks a really exciting athlete and a potential star. Deondre Francois (FSU #3, ACC Atlantic) who’s a fairly common pick to take a big leap forward this year in a loaded FSU team who many think will be back in the CFP again. And who could forget reigning Heismann champion Lamar Jackson (Louisville #16, ACC Atlantic) who should be even better in his second year as a starter, quite a claim for a guy who had over 5,000 total yards and 50 total touchdowns. And that’s just in the ACC. But QBs aren’t the guys who’re going to hit the top of the Dynabowl draft board. So how about some running backs?

Saquon Barkley (RB, Penn State #6, Big 10) inherits the title of best running back in college football, after carrying Penn State to a surprise title in the Big 10, ahead of Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan and Ohio State, who ended up going to the CFP ahead of them, somewhat controversially despite Penn beating them. I don’t have Barkley on a par with McCaffrey and Fournette who were the previous competitors for the title, but he’s still a high quality player, playing in a really tough division for runners. With the Big 10 still loaded with top ten teams – Ohio, Wisconsin (Big 10 West, rather than East), Penn – and Michigan sitting 11th, there’s plenty of big games for Barkley to flash his low centre of gravity and explosive speed in, and he combines being an effective runner with good pass catching skills. With Trace McSorley also returning at QB, Penn should be in good nick to take the Big 10 title to the wire, though they start 2nd favourites behind Ohio State, who are just loaded with so much future NFL talent. Penn have back-to-back match ups with Michigan and @Ohio State in weeks 8 and 9 coming off their bye, and these are the best games to catch for this team as the Big 10 teams don’t currently tend to load up their schedules with tough non-conference games the way the other conferences have been doing.

Derrius Guice (RB, LSU #13, SEC) has big shoes to fill with Leonard Fournette now a Jaguar and looks more than capable of doing so. At his best Fournette was a beast, but he never showed that side enough because of injuries and his foot issues, and it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that we talk about Guice more glowingly than we do of Fournette. He’s that good. Guice clocked up over 750 yards in the last four games of last year, and with Les Miles finally moved on, it feels like LSU would be a trendy CFP pick in any other division than Alabama’s. As is ever the way the SEC has a string of teams in both the East and West divisions in the top 25, and they’re often televised games here in the 9pm Slot on BT ESPN so there’s a good chance LSU will feature more than once this season. The key matches to watch out for are the obvious ones – Auburn (week 7) and Alabama (week 10). LSU are one of the few teams in football who can match up to Alabama physically, and despite being low-scoring, last year’s game was fascinating. If Guice can produce against a much-weaked Bama front 7 (a remarkable 7 players from the Bama defence went in the NFL draft last year, but I doubt they’ll be anything less than great again), he could find himself catapulting to the top of many fantasy mock drafts.

Myles Gaskin (RB, Washington #8, PAC-12) has back-to-back 1300 yard seasons. He’s primarily a ground threat, with minimal additional yardage in the catching game, but he’s averaged a solid 5.7 and 5.8 yards in his two seasons for the Huskies with 24 total touchdowns without racking up significant mileage (no 300+ carry seasons). Chris Peterson’s team were perhaps a little over-rated last season, and a bit lucky to get the 4th CFP spot, but if they can win their half of the PAC-12 (the tougher half, with Washington State – who they play in rivalry week, week 13 – and Stanford – matched up in week 11), the championship game (assumed to be against USC) could well be a play-in game for them. They’re not the sexy pick that Stanford and USC are, but with Gaskin and Lavon Coleman in the backfield, Luke Falk returning at QB and a string of key contributors on defence (headlined by Vita Vea) all returning, they’re likely to be there or thereabouts, particularly as the loss of John Ross is perhaps not as significant as some may think with Pettis ready to step up and prove himself a number one receiver.

Justice Hill (RB, Oklahoma State #10, Big 12) is one of a string of stars in the OSU offence (Mason Rudolph at QB and James Washington at WR – more on him shortly), that make the Big 12 race so exciting. He was Big 12 freshman of the year last year, compiling over 1100 rushing yards as a rookie at 5.5 yards per carry but only a measly 6 TDs. He should improve in year two. The week 8 OSU match-up against Texas and the don’t-miss Week 10 Bedlam match up against the Sooners are the best games to see him, and Washington, in action.

There’s tons of others around, Bo Scarborough (Alabama #1, SEC) should see plenty of action for Alabama this year and is likely to go to the NFL and feature in the first round of the Dynabowl draft. The Big 10 is loaded with running backs, but Justin Jackson (Northwestern unranked, Big 10) actually lead the conference in yardage last year ahead of Saquon Barkley, and is back to carry the load again. Pitt’s back Qadree Ollison (Pitt unranked, ACC) (not to be confused with team-mate Quadree Henderson) lost the job to James Conner (now a Steeler) last year, but was a 1000y rusher in his rookie year, and while the ACC’s leading rushers have mostly moved on, Jacques Patrick (FSU #3, ACC) is a five star recruit who was an absolute monster in high school and steps into the Dalvin Cook shaped-hole in the FSU offence hoping to follow in Cook’s and Devontae Freeman’s footsteps as another NFL-bound FSU player.

Before I go into wide receivers, I’ll mention a couple of defensive players to keep an eye on. Derwin James (DB, FSU #3, ACC) is probably the best defensive back in college and may well have gone to the NFL draft if he’d not got injured and missed the whole season last year. He’s a stud, and the path from FSU to the NFL is a well-trodden one, particularly for defensive backs, who’ve gone high in the first round regularly. Vita Vea (DL, Washington #8, PAC-12) could easily have gone to the draft last year, but returns for Washington. And there’s those who suggest his name could be the first called amongst defensive players when he does go to the draft in 2018. Ohio is absolutely stacked on defense, but Tyquan Lewis (DL, Ohio State #2, Big 10) is probably the standout member, and he’ll be looking to build on last season’s 8.5 sacks, while Nick Bosa on the other side of the line from him will be hoping to follow in his brother Joey’s footsteps from Ohio State standout to the NFL. Lastly, it wouldn’t be defence without mentioning an Alabama player, so let’s go with Minkah Fitzpatrick (DB, Alabama #1, SEC), along with Derwin James one of the top two defensive backs in the college game. I haven’t really mentioned linebackers either here, and they’re pretty solid defensive players who can contribute early and often to your Dynabowl team, so pay attention to Arden Key (LB, LSU #13, SEC), who leads the SEC’s returning players from last year in sacks. Also worth keeping an eye on is the Big 10’s Tegray Scales (LB, Indiana unranked, Big 10) who had 23.5 tackles for a loss last year from linebacker.

James Washington (WR, Oklahoma State #10, Big 12) is the leading candidate to win the 2017 Biletnikoff Award for best college receiver. He’s going to be a star in the NFL. Averaging over 100 yards a game last year, with 10 TDs in the mix, he should only be better in his senior year (he opened up his account with 145y and 2 TDs in OSU’s early week one game). He’s a consistent deep threat, averaging virtually 20ypc over the last couple of seasons, but without compromising on his volume. I’ve already covered OSU’s best games, but I’ll mention Bedlam again, because why the fuck not, it’s one of the best events in the college football season.

Calvin Ridley (WR, Alabama #1, SEC) is the main receiving threat on the best team in college football. He’s not put up stellar numbers so far, but that’s more to do with the depth of talent Alabama can call on, and the fact that (despite winning the Freshman of the Year award in the SEC) Jalen Hurts is not that great a passer of the ball yet. Alabama know their stuff on receivers though, with Julio Jones and Amari Cooper both going on to be successes in the NFL, despite neither being exactly high volume guys at Bama. I’m not for a second putting Ridley in a bracket with those two, but he is a really good receiver and could be in line for a breakout third year, much like Cooper. Bama’s schedule is typically loaded, simply from being in the SEC, but there’s no doubt the highlight is the week one (yes, today – hopefully this went out in time) match up with FSU that sees the 1st and 3rd ranked teams from pre-season face off in a potential early playoff sneak peek. On top of that the matches with LSU (previously mentioned) and Auburn (Week 13, rivalry week) are always tough games. I never want to over-sell Alabama matches though, they’re a really good team, but at times it’s like watching New England v Cleveland, you can admire it, but it’s not exciting simply because it’s not competitive. That’s not their fault, but ultimately it doesn’t make any difference for the neutral. Hurts is fun though, and with Scarborough, Ridley and the raft of new talent they’ll doubtless roll out, they’ll be one of the best, if not the best team in college football, and you’ll see plenty of future NFL players on show.

Christian Kirk (WR, Texas A&M unranked, SEC) is a dynamic receiver / returner. He had over 1000 yards receiving as a rookie, and came up just short of repeating that in his second year. He could be set for a year three breakout, but I’m not inclined to think so on an Aggies team that looks like being their worst for a while and one which will probably see it’s coach canned before the end of the season. It doesn’t matter though, as Kirk is still an exciting talent, and should find his way to the NFL draft just for his speed and ability to make things happen. They’ll face Alabama, LSU and Auburn this year as they’re in the SEC West, where the big boys play. That’s your best chance of seeing them, though I’d add that some of the other SEC games involving particularly Arkansas and recently Ole Miss (though probably not in 2017) are often fun, even if they’re not currently in a position to compete with the heavyweights of the division.

Deon Cain (WR, Clemson #5, ACC) isn’t getting much love. It’s a bit unfair on the defending National Champions, but prevailing opinion is that Clemson won’t be as good with Mike Williams and Deshaun Watson off to the NFL. Here’s the thing though, the same was true previously – Clemson’s lost quite a lot of talent to the NFL (and quite high) with guys like Vic Beasley, Sammy Watkins and Shaq Lawson all being high picks who were supposed to make the defence / offence take a step back. Dabo Sweeney is arguably as good as any coach in the NCAA though (Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Dabo Sweeney and Jimbo Fisher – but it always feels to me like Dabo has to do more with less, and doesn’t have the advantages the others enjoy when it comes to recruiting players), and where they’ll probably take a step back on offence, the defence looks primed to take a step forward. One player who should help on offence is Cain who scored 9 TDs and put up over 750 yards on only 38 catches last year, as a deep threat with great downfield speed. With an increased workload, he could be poised to make a big leap this year, and things may not be as bad at QB as they seem. Kelly Bryant is the likely starter, having served as backup the last two years to Watson, but Hunter Johnson is a five-star recruit and true freshman, who’s waiting in the wings and seems to be moving into the number two slot on the depth chart already. We’ll likely see two, it not all three of Clemson’s QBs in the first week against Kent State, but in week two against Auburn we should see who gets the nod, at least for now. Playing in the ACC Atlantic division means Clemson will be one of the best week-to-week watches, with the big games against Louisville (Week 3) and FSU (Week 11) being the highlights, while the Week 2 game against #12 Auburn is also well worth a watch, along with the game against Virginia Tech #21 (Week 5).

Anyway, there’s some guys to keep an eye on and no doubt others will emerge over the season as they breakout, or their teams do. In terms of some early projections of games to watch out for, the following all are worth taking a look at…

 

Week One: Alabama #1 v FSU #3 is not just game of the week, but a contender for best match up of the year, right up front. Michigan # 11 v Florida #17 is a decent curtain raiser too, and it’ll be interesting to see how the Wolverines have rebuilt after losing a lot of players to the NFL last spring.

Week Two For me, it’s Oklahoma #7 @ Ohio State #2 that has the most appeal, just because I love watching Baker Mayfield, week two is absolutely packed though, and the Stanford #14 @ USC #4 and Auburn #12 @ Clemson #5 games are both really tasty looking top 25 match ups. I’ll also be following Georgia #15 @ Notre Dame to see if ND are actually any good (they went 4-8 last year, but a lot of those were against really good teams, and they rarely got blown out, so they’re reasonably good bounce back candidates) while Miami #18 @ Arkansas is a good early test for Miami, especially on defence, ahead of their huge week 3 game against FSU.

Week Three Well, I’ve already mention Miami #18 @ FSU #3, which could be a preview of a potential ACC championship game. Or a defining early season game for a pair of 1-1 teams. Texas #23 @ USC #4 is a really exciting early look at Tom Herman’s Texas. He’s unbeaten at both Ohio State as OC and at Houston as HC in games where his team were the underdogs, and his Houston team were one of the best stories of 2015 and talked about as a potential CFP team from outside the Power 5 early in 2016. This has the makings of a back and forth shootout, with Darnold on one side and Herman coaching on the other. You could make the case however that the best game of the weekend is Clemson #5 @ Louisville #16. This was a great game last year between two of the ACC’s heavyweights, and reigning Heismann winner against National Champion is never going to be a bad way to bill a game.

Week Four is a good time to catch your breath, there’s no all top 25 match ups. There’s intriguing games, but nothing must see. Away from the bright lights of the Power Five conferences, the Thursday night match up between Temple and South Florida looks good, and could be decisive in deciding which one of the group of six teams is heading for a New Year’s Day Bowl game. Aside from those… UCLA @ Stanford #14, Oklahoma #7 @ Baylor and TCU @ OSU #10 could be good games.

Week Five sees Clemson #5 @ Virginia Tech #21 a game which could be very important for Clemson if it already has a loss on it’s record by this point. No two loss team has been to the CFP yet. USC #4 @ Washington State #24 is also interesting as this is two very offensive teams who haven’t shown much interest in defence, and is another shootout for Darnold to navigate through on his path to being the #1 overall pick, while Georgia #15 @ Tennessee #25 is a big game in deciding who will win the SEC East and go to the conference championship to lose to Bama.

Week Six features Alabama #1 @ Texas A&M which hasn’t been an easy game in recent seasons for the Crimson Tide. It also features Michigan #11 @ Michigan State which is about as friendly as you’d imagine it to be, the Spartans are pretty shit though, so I wouldn’t expect too much from this game. Stanford #14 @ Utah is a tricky fixture, Utah are on the fringes of the top 25 and this is no gimme, on the road, for the Cardinal. LSU #13 @ Florida #17 is the early standout, but I’m not sure it’ll be quite so appetising by the time the game rolls around, as defeat to Michigan would likely see Florida out of the top 25 quite quickly.

Week Seven has a couple of big games, with Alabama #1 @ Arkansas an interesting-ish test for Alabama’s rebuilt defence against a team who’ve given them a couple of minor scares in recent seasons. That however is merely an appetiser for the two meaty main courses – the smashmouth Auburn #12 @ LSU #13 which will likely determine Alabama’s major competitor, and the Red River Showdown – Oklahoma #7 @ Texas #23 – A Big 12 shootout between Herman’s new Texas offence and Baker Mayfield.

Week Eight ramps things up with four top 25 (pre-season) match ups, plus a couple of other interesting games. Michigan #11 @ Penn State #6 is probably going to be the most important in terms of the final standings in the Big 10 East and the playoff picture, but (for me anyway) Louisville #16 @ FSU #3 is the tastiest. FSU got a total spanking last year with Lamar Jackson scoring approximately 50 of his 51 total touchdowns in this game, so this will be real grudge match. Oklahoma State #10 @ Texas #23 will be fun, unless you’re a fan of good defence, while this week also features Tennessee #25 @ Alabama #1. I’m also throwing some love to USC #4 @ Notre Dame as another good game for Darnold to show off his stuff.

Week Nine is highlighted by another Big 10 showdown, between last year’s best two teams Penn State #6 @ Ohio State #2. There’s also an SEC top 25 match up between Georgia #15 @ Florida #17, and a Big 12 showdown between OSU #10 @ WVU #22. But this week is all about the big Big 10 match up.

Week Ten is Bedlam. I might have mentioned it… Oklahoma #7 @ Oklahoma State (OSU) #10. It’s big and meaty, and speaking of big and meaty, it doesn’t get much bigger or meatier than the battle for the line of scrimmage in LSU #13 @ Alabama #1. There’s other games of note this weekend, but these two are a class apart.

Week Eleven and there’s no let up. Two huge games that will could well be conference deciders (assuming, not unfairly, that championship games will be mostly formalities), headlined by FSU #3 @ Clemson #5 but closely followed Washington #8 @ Stanford #14. I love both these games for pitching nominal favourites on the road against huge rivals. These games will dominate, much like the pair the week before, but don’t sleep on Georgia #15 @ Auburn #12 as it’s these sorts of games that can kill a season if you lose them, and it comes at a point when college teams do start to tire and lose awkward games.

Week Twelve is unsurprisingly a bit quieter, coming as it does off the back of two huge weeks, and before the big rivalry games in week 13. There’s still a couple of tasty matchups though, and none tastier than the Big 10’s East v West battle Michigan #11 @ Wisconsin #9. Kansas State #20 @ Oklahoma State #10 and LSU #13 @ Tennessee #25 could have conference championship and bowl ramifications, but probably not playoff ones.

Week Thirteen is the big one. Rivalry week. Every single game matters, even if you’re looking at a pair of 2-X teams, pride matters. The best three though, and the most important, are likely to be Alabama #1 @ Auburn #12, FSU #3 @ Florida #17 and the big one, that produced an instant classic in triple OT last year Ohio State #2 @ Michigan #11. Harbaugh hasn’t won one of these yet, and it’s basically impossible to come any closer than they did last year. I think Michigan fans are still arguing about the spot of the ball in the drive in overtime. This has all the makings of another great matchup between the two powerhouses in the Big 10 East.

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