Tag: Rookie Draft

Finally, it’s the 2024 DynaBowl Rookie Draft Exit Survey

It’s the eve of a new season so what better time to look backwards and finally review the 2024 Dynabowl rookie draft, the deepest wide receiver draft and shallowest every-other-position draft in league history; an interminable process lasting over 12 days, with the Bombermen delighting in accounting for a quarter of that. But how did everyone do? There’s only one way to find out. No, not a fight, nor letting those picks play out over the next 3 or 4 years. No, it’s time to see what everyone’s gut feels are before any of these players have footed a ball in anger.

7 GMs responded, which feels about par for the course. Let’s look at each team’s review in turn, starting with…

East Flanders Dungeoneers

Self-Assessment

Score6  
Why?  I don’t know what I’m doing so going for middle of the road, but going for 6 because of my first pick.
Who were you disappointed to miss out on?Kool-Aid McKinstry
Did you approach the draft with a particular philosophy?See who has a good score, does well on scouting reports, filling gaps in my roster and funny names as a tie breaker.

League Assessment

NB: 6 voters – you don’t complete this for yourself. Unless Chris neglected to remove the mandatory status for the questions about your team.

Best pick for fantasyMarvin Harrison Jr (WR, pick 1.01, 6 votes)
Best valueMarvin Harrison Jr (4), Byron Murphy (DT, 2.01, 1), Sione Vaki (RB, 9.01, 1)
Worst valueChop Robinson (DE, 3.01, 4), Tip Reiman (TE, 5.11,1), Javon Bullard (S, 6.01, 1)
Early picks likely to bustChop Robinson (3), All good (3)
Late picks likely to be usefulKris Jenkins (DT, 7.01, 2), Sione Vaki (1), Tory Taylor (P, 11.01, 1), None (2)

Commentary

Pretty solid. Best offensive and best defensive players. Can’t complain about that. I’ll claim any success as my own. Adam knows why.

Sticking at 1 and taking Marvin Harrison gives a solid floor. I thought there was too much defense though.

Went very early on defenders and passed on some good options as a result. But you’ve got to start building somewhere

Great pick number 1. Not sure on any of the others

Too defense heavy for my tastes

I can understand the theory – my defence is bad and I need to fix it – but this wasn’t the draft for that, and honestly, after MHJ I think every player was at least a small reach, even if the player wasn’t going to come back in some cases (Byron Murphy). Also, the offensive side of this roster wasn’t good enough to pass on offence, and particularly WR, so often.

Ratings

Here Comes The Brees

Self-Assessment

Score7
Why?  Some good picks, missed out narrowly on a few players
Who were you disappointed to miss out on?Brock Bowers
Did you approach the draft with a particular philosophy?Fill needs and best player

League Assessment

NB: 6 voters – you don’t complete this for yourself. Unless Chris neglected to remove the mandatory status for the questions about your team.

Best pick for fantasyBryan Thomas (WR, 1.05, 5), Edgerrin Cooper (LB, 3.05, 1)
Best valueRay Davis (RB, 5.05, 2), Theo Johnson (TE, 8.05, 2), Bryan Thomas (1), Edgerrin Cooper (1)
Worst valueJJ McCarthy (QB, 4.05, 4), Edgerrin Cooper (1), Kwame Lassiter (CB, 12.05, 1)
Early picks likely to bustJJ McCarthy (6), Edgerrin Cooper (3)
Late picks likely to be usefulTheo Johnson (4), Tyrice Knight (LB, 9.05, 1), Tykee Smith (S, 10.05, 1), None (1)

Commentary

Looks pretty awful

Okay – a distinct lack of potential due to no picks in 4-6 that I liked

Cunts stole my Coop. It was a shit draft and they got three good players, for my money – Thomas, Cooper and Davis.

I may have picked the Edgerin Cooper pick as worst value, but that’s mostly because there wasn’t ‘none’ as an option. I think probably the worst value is Brian Thomas Jr – not because he’s a bad pick at 5, but because I don’t see how he’s better than what’s on the roster – AJ Brown, Chase, Lamb and St Brown. Even though I really dislike this RB class, given needs, I think it might have been a better option. That or moving up for Bowers.

Not really a massive fan of anyone. Brian Thomas could be good, but could also be stuck as just a deep threat. McCarthy just didn’t seem worth a pick that high.

Ratings

Tamworth Two

Self-Assessment

Score6
Why?  No high picks. A lot of speculation on the remaining picks. A possible reach at QB (but I think he could be special). But I like the players I’ve picked up
Who were you disappointed to miss out on?None
Did you approach the draft with a particular philosophy?Fill a few needs

League Assessment

NB: 6 voters – you don’t complete this for yourself. Unless Chris neglected to remove the mandatory status for the questions about your team.

Best pick for fantasyTrey Benson (RB, 2.03, 2), Laiatu Latu (DE, 2.06, 2), Caleb Williams (QB, 1.10, 1), Adonai Mitchell (WR, 3.03, 1)
Best valueKimani Vidal (RB, 5.03, 2), Caleb Williams (1), Trey Benson (1), Adonai Mitchell (1), Javon Baker (WR, 4.03, 1)
Worst valueCaleb Williams (3), Trey Benson (1), Javon Baker (1), Dedrion Taylor-Demerson (S 10.03, 1)
Early picks likely to bustAdonai Mitchell (3), Caleb Williams (2), Trey Benson (2), Laiatu Latu (1)
Late picks likely to be usefulMazi Smith (DT, 8.03, 1), Brandon Dorlus (DT 9.03, 1), Austin Booker (DE, 11.03, 1), None (3)

Commentary

I have Caleb as the best and worst value pick because I had him ranked inside the top 7, but also because this was a deep QB class and the path to relevance in this league for a QB is tight. If he hits his ceiling, it’ll look like a good pick, but that’s a pretty big ask. I really dislike giving up Myles Garrett to get a QB though. Every player of note in this group of selections could be a hit or a bust, there’s a lot of talent with red flags – injuries, character concerns etc. – that could work out really well, or really badly.

Solid as a rock. Kimani Vidal was a nice mid-round pick up

I’m pleasantly surprised to see the top end of Goody’s draft (the bottom end of everyone’s draft is awful). I’m not a fan of taking QBs so high because there’s such low demand in our league for them, and I think Williams will be good, but better in the NFL than in fantasy. I think Daniels is probably the best bet for fantasy, though a higher likelihood of being a bust.

There’s a tonne of upside – Williams, Benson, Latu and both Mitchells could be really good. But they all also have massive bust potential. Could be a kickstart to the rebuild, could be a massive waste of time.

Really solid start. I like all of the first 7 picks

Ratings

The 4th Dynmension: Dynasty of Sadness

Self-Assessment

None provided

League Assessment

NB: 7 voters as none of them were Mike.

Best pick for fantasyMalik Nabers (WR, 1.02, 4), Marshawn Lloyd (RB, 2.10, 1), Jerzhan Newton (DT, 4.02, 1)
Best valueMarshawn Lloyd (3), Dallas Turner (DE, 3.02, 2), Ricky Pearsall (WR, 2.02, 1), Cooper Dejean (S, 7.02, 1)
Worst valueRicky Pearsall (3), Michael Penix (QB, 9.02, 2), Dallas Turner (1), Jerzhan Newton (1)
Early picks likely to bustRicky Pearsall (3), Marshawn Lloyd (2), Dallas Turner (2), Malik Nabers (1)
Late picks likely to be usefulBrendon Rice (WR, 8.02, 3), Michael Penix (3), Mike Sainsristil (CB, 10.02, 3), JD Bertrand (LB, 11.02, 1)

Commentary

Overall a very good effort, 7 on 10

I like it. Good balance of positions. Lots of good potential. A good draft to build off. Being manboob of course it will all turn to shit

Lloyd has arguably the best path to relevance (Jacobs is on a defacto one year contract), in a good offence, of any RB in this class, so to get him where he did (RB4?) was pretty good going, but this draft swings on Nabers, who’s a bit Garrett Wilson – clearly talented, but in an awful situation that I can’t see improving. The Giants have the worst O-line in the league, and they’ll have a year of a rehabbing Daniel Jones, following by picking a QB from a bad class too high, and not fixing the O-line, he could end up being the most frustrating player from this draft class, the talent is there but the team can’t utilise it.

Wasn’t a fan of Ricky Pearsall this early, but that applies to the NFL draft too, so maybe the 49ers know something I don’t. Lots of good players at decent values generally.

Perfectly fine draft. I probably would have gone Odunze rather than Nabers, but it’s very much pick your preferred flavour. Will it turn him into a challenger? Maybe. But probably not

Pretty decent up top

Ratings

Dynasore Losers

Self-Assessment

Score7
Why?  My main aim was to take some shots at WR, and given my draft position I think I did reasonably well with that
Who were you disappointed to miss out on?Ladd McConkey
Did you approach the draft with a particular philosophy?Stock up at WR in a very strong receiver draft, don’t overdraft players in weak position groups

League Assessment

NB: 6 voters – you don’t complete this for yourself. Unless Chris neglected to remove the mandatory status for the questions about your team.

Best pick for fantasyKeon Coleman (WR, 1.09, 4), Roman Wilson (WR, 2.09, 2)
Best valueRoman Wilson (2), Drake Maye (QB, 4.09, 2), Jalynn Polk (WR, 3.09, 1), Kool-Aid McKinstry (CB, 10.09, 1)
Worst valueDrake Maye (3), Roman Wilson (2), Jalen Coker (WR, 9.09, 1)
Early picks likely to bustKeon Coleman (3), Roman Wilson (2), Jalynn Polk (2), None (2)
Late picks likely to be usefulKool-Aid McKinstry (5), Rasheen Ali (RB, 8.09, 2), None (1)

Commentary

Drank the Kool-Aid and now his team is on fire

Fine. Very chalky. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing to be upset with, nothing to get excited about. I get the Maye pick in the context of his roster.

Took a few players early that I had as don’t draft (Coleman & polk) and none of the later picks were ones that I was targeting so not for me

Seemed to be stuck picking in some fairly poor slots, but I’m not convinced by any of picks. Coleman probably has a decent floor, but everyone else could end up being useless. Especially Roman Wilson.

No huge stand outs but no misses either.

Ratings

NB – This question was mandatory for Slatz so he entered 1 as a score. This has been discounted when referenced elsewhere.

Hawkesville Hurricanes

Self-Assessment

None provided

League Assessment

NB: 7 voters, as none of the responses was from Neil

Best pick for fantasyXavier Worthy (WR, 1.06, 4), Jermaine Burton (WR, 4.06, 2), Isaac Guerendo (RB 6.02, 1)
Best valueJermaine Burton (4), Xavier Worthy (1), Isaac Guerendo (1), Kamren Kitchens (S, 7.06, 1)
Worst valuePayton Wilson (LB, 3.06, 5), Xavier Worthy (1), Aeneas Smith (WR, 10.06, 1)
Early picks likely to bustXavier Worthy (3), Payton Wilson (3), None (2)
Late picks likely to be usefulJacob Cowing (WR, 8.06, 2), Jordan Magee (LB 9.06, 1), none (3)

Commentary

Lack of a 2nd makes it look slightly worse. I’m okay with the first 3 picks but nothing for me after that

A laser focus on picking funny first names, I respect it

I’m not convinced by Worthy. Perfect situation but he’s mainly speed – I don’t think he’s the second coming of Tyreek. But if he is, he’s quids in. Beyond that I barely recognise any of the names, but that may be a me problem rather than an issue with his draft.

I like Worthy and Burton, and would probably like the whole draft more if he’d taken Burton in the 3rd and Wilson in the 4th. Wilson just seemed like a reach, and there’s too many LBs here overall.

Burton had the talent to go higher, but the character concerns that meant his actual draft position ended up surprising some people. Maybe it works out, maybe it doesn’t, but if it doesn’t I think this class is pretty bleak. I don’t have much faith in Worthy, he could be Tyreek Hill or he could be Skyy Moore.

I like the potential of a couple of these but they are not standing out. Burton could be great but not convinced

Ratings

Dynablaster Bombermen

Self-Assessment

Score4
Why?  I actually think I’ve got some decent players, but I missed out on some targets by a few spots, which frustrated me, and it was just a shit draft in general so no one’s class was going to be great.
Who were you disappointed to miss out on?Edgerin Cooper. Went two picks before I was going to take him
Did you approach the draft with a particular philosophy?I wanted RBs, but it was a weak class, as it was almost everywhere, so I guess I’m happy with the ones I got. I wanted a good LB. I got one I’ve never heard of in the hope he might start. This might actually turn out to be one of my better drafts (comparatively) purely because I took two WRs who had inexplicably fallen and felt like I got some bargains, even though I didn’t really want them – Corley and Walker – and I got a Chiefs TE when Kelce is surely nearing the end, so maybe that’s something?

League Assessment

NB: 6 voters – you don’t complete this for yourself. Unless Chris neglected to remove the mandatory status for the questions about your team.

Best pick for fantasyJonathan Brooks (RB, 1.07, 4), Jared Verse (DE, 3.07, 1), Malachi Corley (WR, 4.07, 1)
Best valueJonathan Brooks (3), Malachi Corley (2), Jared Verse (1)
Worst valueJaylen Wright (RB, 2.07, 4), Jonathan Brooks (1), Spencer Rattler (WB, 10.07, 1)
Early picks likely to bustJaylen Wright (5), Jonathan Brooks (2), Jared Verse (1)
Late picks likely to be usefulJaden Hicks (S, 9.07, 4), Cade Stover (TE, 8.07, 3), Spencer Rattler (1), DeWayne Carter (DT, 11.07, 1), Jahwar Jordan (RB, 12.07, 1)

Commentary

I will write this comment so reading it feels like Ben’s actual draft… Aaaaaaaaaaa biiiiiit liiiiiiiiiike Adaaaaaaaaaaaaam’s in thaaaaaaaaat I can seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan and the neeeeeeeeeeeeed at RB. Buuuuuuuuuuuut Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeen paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasseeeeeeeeeeed ooooooooooooooooooooooooon gooooooooooooooooooooooood plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayers tooooooooooooooooooooooo piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick RBs iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad situuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatioooooooooooooooooooooooons, whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiich doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooesn’t seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike goooooooooooooooooooood draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaftiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Fucking torturous. [A bit like Adam’s in that I can see the plan and the need at RB. But Ben passed on good players to pick RBs in bad situations, which doesn’t seem like good drafting to me]

I really liked Cade Stover as a sleeper. I was high on Jonathan Brooks too, I think he’ll be very good. Jaylen Wright seemed wildly overdrafted to me – he feels like one of those guys who is a good scheme fit but lacks the talent for that to actually matter.

Taking 2 rb’s with first 2 picks in such a weak draft for RBS is a no no. Brooks should be solid though

Some great value and average picks

I get emotional just looking at it

Ratings

Champions of the Sun

Self-Assessment

None provided

League Assessment

NB: 7 voters, as none of the responses was from Max

Best pick for fantasyJunior Colson (LB, 3.04, 4), Bucky Irving (RB, 5.04, 2), Xavier Leggette (WR, 2.04, 1)
Best valueBucky Irving (2), Xavier Leggette (1), Junior Colson (1), Jalen, McMillan (WR, 5.07, 1), Malik Washington (WR, 6.04, 1), Max Melton (CB, 12.04, 1)
Worst valueXavier Leggette (3), Junior Colson (2), Bo Nix (QB, 6.13, 2)
Early picks likely to bustXavier Leggette (5), Tevin Wallace (LB, 4.04, 2), Junior Colson (1), None (2)
Late picks likely to be usefulNate Wiggins (CB, 8.04, 3), Max Melton (3), Isaiah Davis (RB, 11.04, 1), None (1)

Commentary

Really the value came in trades. Brock Bowers for Myles Garrett and Javonte Williams feels like quite a good deal. I wasn’t a big fan of the rest of the draft. Someone had to take Legette I suppose. Jalen McMillan could be really good. Too many LBs in a shitty LB class.

I’m not sure Max knows who any of these players are. But then I barely do, so I shouldn’t cast aspersions. Maybe rescued a bit by the Garrett trade.

Getting Myle’s Garrett for 10 was good value, and while I understand not wanting Bowers because of strength at TE, Javonte Williams is a dud, and you paid a late 1st round price for him (i.e. imo the difference between 4 and 10 in this draft is c. a late first). Selling cheap to Chris, of all people, is a cardinal skin and I’ve knocked a couple of points off for it, as overall I think without the Bowers trade it’s probably an 8. Other than that, I like some of these picks – Washington might have been a little high, but he is a speedster in an offence that loves that, McMillan was one of my pre-NFL draft crushes (but his landing spot was really bad). I don’t know who the fuck Tevin Wallace is, but double-dipping at LB in this class feels like a waste. NFL teams don’t know how to develop LBs any more.

RB was a need so can understand the trade for javonte with few decent options in the draft. Don’t think Garrett is necessary for him so that was a waste. Too many reaches on lb’s for me

Slightly below average

It’s Legette a fine draft

Ratings

Kelkowski Don’t Play By No Dyna Rules

Self-Assessment

Score6
Why?  Always difficult when you’re at the back end as you can’t get the truly elite picks unless you trade. Got some of my targets. Wasn’t intending to load up on receivers but there were too many good options. Hardly any defenders is a concern. But then there weren’t any good defensive options in the draft
Who were you disappointed to miss out on?Jer’zahan newton
Did you approach the draft with a particular philosophy?I start with a philosophy but then it quickly goes out of the window and I panic

League Assessment

NB: 6 voters – you don’t complete this for yourself. Unless Chris neglected to remove the mandatory status for the questions about your team.

Best pick for fantasyJayden Daniels (QB, 2.08, 4), Ladd McConkey (WR, 1.08, 2)
Best valueJayden Daniels (3), Troy Franklin (WR, 3.08, 2), Ladd McConkey (1)
Worst valueLadd McConkey (2), Bub Means (WR, 10.08, 2), Troy Franklin (1), Luke McCaffrey (WR, 5.08, 1)
Early picks likely to bustLadd McConkey (2), Jayden Daniels (2), Troy Franklin (1), Ben Sinnott (TE, 3.10, 1), None (1)
Late picks likely to be usefulAdisa Isaac (DE, 8.08, 1), Bub Means (1), Anthony Gould (WR, 12.08. 1), None (3)

Commentary

I love Franklin and that is it

Daniels is the top fantasy QB in this draft and, given how the league values QBs, he did well to get him there – even if I don’t think QBs should go that early. I also recognise some of the other players. It’s an OK draft.

I like the top half of this draft more than the bottom. I’m conflicted about Jayden Daniels, he’s potentially a really good fantasy player, but I don’t trust his playstyle to keep him healthy and I hate breakout Seniors (and that goes double for Covid super-Seniors) as they are just adults beating up on kids and that’s not a good indicator for how they’ll do when everyone else is an adult, but rushing is the fantasy cheat code for QBs, so really him being a bust/success is entirely on his longevity/health. Troy Franklin is an odd one, he profiles like Jameson Williams and was drafted by the NFL in the 4th two years after Williams was a top 10 player. But Williams has never done much either, and Franklin is so skinny you have to be concerned about his ability to survive in the league.

I didn’t like Ladd McConkey this high. Such poor college production, but now we’re expecting him to come in and be a #1 WR? I don’t buy it. Getting Jayden Daniels almost a full round after Caleb is great value. I really liked Sinnott and Franklin as sleepers. Especially Sinnott.

Bub Means what? Took all the good WRs damn it

Ratings

Dyna Hard

Self-Assessment

Score8
Why?  Very pleased that I was able to get 2 of the top 4 guys without paying a premium to trade up. Corum was also useful insurance with upside. Otherwise the whole draft class was a bit meh, so hard to be too excited.
Who were you disappointed to miss out on?Ben Sinnott. I was hoping he’d be available at 4.08.
Did you approach the draft with a particular philosophy?I wanted to stock up on WRs, but that didn’t really happen until some late round dart throws.

League Assessment

NB: 6 voters – you don’t complete this for yourself. Unless Chris neglected to remove the mandatory status for the questions about your team.

Best pick for fantasyRome Odunze (WR, 1.03, 3), Brock Bowers (TE, 1.04, 3)
Best valueBlake Corum (RB, 2.05, 3), Rome Odunze (1), Brock Bowers (1), Audric Estimé (RB, 4.08, 1)
Worst valueBlake Corum (2), Brock Bowers (1), Darius Robinson (DE, 4.10, 1), Braelon Allen (RB, 5.10, 1), Joshua Karty (K, 11.10, 1)
Early picks likely to bustBrock Bowers (2), Blake Corum (2), None (3)
Late picks likely to be usefulTerrion Arnold (CB, 9.10, 2), Louis Rees-Zammit (RB, 12.10, 2), Joshua Karty (1), None (2)

Commentary

As usual, Chris wins by taking advantage of people willing to trade. We can only hope that the arrival of Teddy fucks his judgement and this kind of shit never happens again. You all have blood on your hands.

Some great high value picks

Ummm, the inverse of Max’s comments, getting 1.04 for 1.10 and Javonte Williams was robbery. Not Bijan-scale, but still a robbery. Adding Estime in the 4th who could well end up supplanting Williams was just trolling. I think there’s a path to Odunze being the top WR in this draft. T’Vondre Sweat is an interesting one, played really well in college, and massive athletic profile, but also seen as a massive reach by Tennessee where they took him, even if character concerns were a bit overblown. Given his strength against the run and the Jeffrey Simmonds of it all at the Titans he could end up a nose tackle, but if not he has a chance to be relevant, which is good value for that point in the draft. You forgot to include 1.03 in the picks summary, which is a pretty notable asset.

Pipping us to Brock Bowers was painful. I hope he’s terrible (I don’t)

Aggressive as usual and really solid picks. I don’t know how he does it. Hopefully teddy will slow him down in future

Ratings

Overall

TeamSelf-AssessmentLeague AssessmentDifference
East Flanders Dungeoneers66.1670.167
Here Comes The Brees75.000-2.000
Tamworth Two66.1670.167
The 4th Dynmension: Dynasty of SadnessN/A7.833N/A
Dynasore Losers75.333-1.667
Hawkesville HurricanesN/A5.000N/A
Dynablaster Bombermen45.0001.000
Champions of the SunN/A5.714N/A
Kelkowski Don’t Play By No Dyna Rules67.1671.167
Dyna Hard88.5000.500

So Chris wins the draft, followed by Mike and Ian, and that definitely won’t change over the next few years. Meanwhile the Brees, Hurricanes and Bombermen lost it and may as well give it all up.

Reflections

At least one of you doesn’t understand what the word ‘Value’ means, having repeatedly suggested that picks in the 9th round or later were the worst value picks those teams took, while also suggesting that taking Odunze and Bowers 3rd and 4th – ie getting two of the players universally rated as 2nd to 4th best (pick your own order) in the top 4 – represented good value. Don’t get me wrong, not bad picks, just players taken at pretty much exactly the spot everyone said they should go so offering precisely average value.

There wasn’t a huge amount of consensus across the league. A few picks were universally liked (Marvin Harrison Jr? What are the chances). The Bombermen can take comfort in having all if their late round picks marked by someone as having the potential to be contributor, suggesting an ability to pick players with decent upside at least. It’s a crumb after having the early rounds, if not slated, at least be given a thumbs down. At the other end of the scale, everyone seems overwhelmingly convinced Tamworth’s first 4 picks are destined to bust.

On a personal level, I still didn’t recognise a significant number of the players everyone drafted which either says something about the quality of my research or this draft class.

Draft Day(s) Trades

Who won each of the trades that took place during the draft?

Now, let’s just be clear on this trade. Ignore the players, look at the picks. Chris moves up 3 spots in the second round and down 8 spots from the 3rd to the 4th. That seems reasonably evenly balanced. Indeed, this draft pick value chart suggests it couldn’t have been much closer to even – a perfect swap would have been 2.05 & 4.07 for 2.08 & 3.10 – so one spot out. But Chris managed to get an extra sixth round pick out of the deal. How anyone then felt that Ian won the trade, I do not know.

Draft Miscellany

Biggest Surprise?

How much the fun of it was drained away by long pick times, particularly in the early rounds.

Just how shit it was. I think my lack of preparation was meritted and if it was a better class I’d have dived into it more. I’m also surprised I didn’t get more slated for taking so long to do everything.

That I didn’t get it completely wrong?

The running QBs falling so late. Blake Corum going so so high

That it ended. Seemed like it would never come

The continuing lack of trades. And how generally shit it was given that it had been heralded as a great class.

That it finished so quickly

Timings

Those who felt it went too long were very vocal in their distaste while a silent majority seemed to be OK with it, if not craving even more…

Historical Drafting

Who’s the best drafter?Hard (4), Kelkowski, Losers, Brees (1 each)
Who’s the worst drafter?Dungeoneers (4), Hurricanes (2), Sadness (1)

Other Draft Thoughts

Good fun, could have used more trades. I liked it taking a while.

Let’s hope next year is a better class. For all our sakes.

The highlight

It was a good time, wish it went longer

Who’s going to win Dynabowl XI?

Dyna Hard (4), Dynablaster Bombermen (2), Tamworth Two, Dynasore Losers (1 each)

Who’s going to be picking first in the 2025 draft?

East Flanders Dungeoneers (3), Tamworth Two, The 4th Dynmesnion: Dynasty of Sadness, Hawkesville Hurricanes, Champions of the Sun (1 each)

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Marvin Harrison Jr (5), Jayden Daniels (1)

One vote came with the comment that they prefer Odunze’s chances overall, but think Harrison will be better year one.

Defensive Rookie of the Year

Byron Murphy, Laiatu Latu (2 each), Junior Colson, Jer’zahan Newton (1 each)

Your Draft Survey Results

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.

A Trade Retrospective

With another draft in the books, I thought it’d be interesting to take a retrospective look at some of the more complicated trades over recent seasons, and the domino effect of those trades, so I’ve picked out six that I think are more complicated and wide reaching, or involved big names in trades to see what sort of return they netted in the end. I’ve avoided some of the bigger seeming trades where minimal picks were involved (the TY Hilton trade for example) as they essentially come down to player valuation at the time, and focused on pick heavy trades – particularly where they involved further trading down the line. I’ve ranked them very unscientifically in order of blockbusteriness and interestingness.

Six

  • DynaForOne Firebirds – 2016 3.02 & 5.02 and 2017 Round 5 Pick
  • Dynasty of Sadness – 2016 2.02

Two teams that will turn up pretty often in these trades in are the Sadness and the Firebirds, but I like this trade because while there’s a lot of multi-pick trades where team A moves up a few places in a high round at the cost of moving down more places in a later round this is a much simpler decision to pay to move up. So what does the trade value chart make of this? 2.02 is worth 1200 points while 3.02 (780) and 5.02 (480) combine to more points without the additional 5th rounder in 2017 (based on 6.05 this is worth 350). In total the Firebirds paid 1610 points, the equivalent of 1.06 in order to get this pick. Or should I say, get this pick back. Since he’d previously traded it to the Sadness in exchange for Markus Wheaton about a month before. So… Firebirds ended up giving up three picks, of decent value, in order to get back a pick he spent on Markus Wheaton (who’s scored a whopping 13.1 points for him since the trade), which seemed a reach for a guy who was only around the 40th best receiver the season before (although he did finish the previous season hot).

So what did the Firebirds end up with, aside from Wheaton, for this treasure trove – CJ Prosise. A handcuff to the Thomas Rawls, acquired in an earlier trade (1.09 spent on Devontae Booker and 2.05 which was traded on again and eventually spent on Kenyan Drake, and neither of which Neil originally started with, as I’ll cover later). Prosise looked reasonably good in limited action before his injury, and getting the handcuff to Rawls seems smart in retrospect given how much he’s struggled with injuries when he’s played and how unconvinced by him Seattle seemed to be last year. Sadly that might not be enough with Lacy now in town, the expensively acquired Prosise and Rawls could both be out of the picture, unless they get smart, team up and open a burger joint near CitiLink Field.

That’s just looking at the Firebirds side of the trade though, what happened to the picks the Sadness acquired. 3.02 was spent on Mike Thomas, sadly not the one in New Orleans. LA Rams receiver Mike Thomas has been considerably worse, with a total of only 6.2 points as a rookie. He may yet turn into a good receiver, but the Rams passing offence doesn’t seem any better than last year’s putrid edition, the Rams invested in more weapons for Goff that might see Thomas fall down the depth chart all together and right now he’s probably a candidate for the chop, only one year in. And speaking of the putrid Rams offence, 5.02 was spent on the source of the terrible smell – Jared Goff. I think we all know how that’s turned out so far. As for the 2017 5th rounder (5.04) – it’s turned into Ishmael Zamora, the dog-beater. There’s really no way to know how that pick turns out at this point, but unless the plan is to dress Thomas and Goff as dogs then I’m not sure Zamora will really end up being the important part of rescuing this trade for the Sadness.

I don’t think we can pick winners or losers on a lot of these, but if we were, I’d probably shade this one to Neil right now. It also highlights an interesting point – trading down and getting good value for a premium pick is a solid strategy, but you have to spend the picks wisely when you do, not on the Rams passing offence.

Five

  • Tamworth Two – Snead, Willie NOS WR, 2016 Round 1 Pick and 2017 Round 2 Pick
  • DynaForOne Firebirds – Thomas, Demaryius DEN WR

So here’s a different sort of trade to the first – a player swap, with picks to make up the difference. This pick took place in season, so the final value of both picks wasn’t known at the point of trade, but one was for the current season and it was done at the deadline with T2 in the thick of the playoff battle, so I’d call it the 1.08 pick on average, rather than the usual 1.05 average that I’d use for a future pick, but the total value of the picks still comes to close to the 3rd overall pick. That’s a lot of value, but Thomas was a stud receiver at the time, number three overall in 2014 but struggling a little in 2015 – mostly because of Peyton Manning falling off a cliff and being unable to complete a pass over 10 yards. Those sorts of talents are generally going for double firsts, which suggests Snead – not unreasonably as he’d end up putting up nearly 1,000 yards as a rookie over only 9 games, a record for an undrafted player’s rookie season – was either valued at a first himself, or maybe that the Firebirds gave Thomas up slightly cheap.

In actual fact though this is a really savvy deal, Thomas’ struggles continued in 2016 and it’s hard to remember a receiver coming back from the sort of extended dip he’s struggled through and T2 have been left with a top six salary for a player who couldn’t crack the top 20 in 2016. Between the IRL big contract and the continued problems at QB for Denver it’s not unreasonable to suggest the struggles aren’t going away. As for Snead, he followed up his 984 yards and 3 TDs with 895 yards and 4 TDs, but over 16 games. That’s probably because of the emergence of Michael Thomas in the second half of the year and the presence of Cooks, with Cooks gone Snead could break out in a bigger role in 2017. And if nothing else, he’s been so much cheaper than Thomas for similar production, and is younger, so without the picks I’d be tempted to call Neil a winner here – despite Thomas having a proven ceiling considerably higher. However, put that aside, because the pick value removes any doubt. Even with the worst picks in the world Neil’s value on this trade is off the chart. Which is probably good as Neil spent the first rounder he received as part of the Rawls trade (along with 2.05 which ended up traded around until it became Kenyan Drake – told you it would come up again), which has worked out OK, but hasn’t produced the top ten stud RB he would have hoped given the price. The 2.05 pick that the 2017 pick also ended up traded, to the Sadness along with 2.04 (and was spent on James Conner), to get the 9th overall pick which was spent on Alvin Kamara. Given that the pick traded for Rawls ended up the same pick that then subsequently got traded in 2017 the best way to look at this is probably that it’s Thomas for Snead and Rawls. Even with Rawls disappointing 2016 and unconvincing position for 2017, I’d call Neil a clear winner on this one simply because I’m not convinced Thomas has a path back to being an elite receiver right now. A pattern is emerging, don’t fuck with Neil when it comes to trades.

Four

  • Dynasty of Sadness – Tate, Golden DET WR and 2016 Picks 3.01 & 5.01
  • Champions of the Sun – 2016 Picks 1.06 & 3.10

It wouldn’t be a trade review if these two didn’t show up in it somewhere trading picks. While a lot of their trades are the sort of up in one round down in another sort of trades I mentioned in the first trade I highlighted, this one is a little more straight-forward. This is a chunk of stuff given up by one team to get a high pick off the other. I picked this one here as it involves a player as a makeweight to trade up, unlike number six which was purely about picks or number five which was mostly about trading for a star.

Let’s start with the pick valuation and see what it values Tate as in terms of a pick. Champions are giving up 2220 points of value, while Sadness give up 1290, a difference of 930 which equates to somewhere roughly in the middle of 2.07 and 2.08. Given the valuations we’ve seen of Thomas, Snead and Landry, this is probably on the low side for Tate, who was coming off something of a breakout first year in Detroit and looking at a potentially bigger role with Megatron retiring. Even with him not being as young as any of those mentioned, it’s still less than was paid for Wheaton who was considerably less productive and with far greater downside. Initially then this looks like being advantage Champions.

Fortunately for the Sadness, they played a blinder with the big pick, nabbing Michael Thomas at 1.06 – a top receiver in his rookie season, and a big part (along with Elliot) of why the Sadness made a playoff run. With Cooks gone, he has an opportunity to take on an even bigger role in the next couple of seasons. The 3.10 pick was spent on Jordan Payton who’s delivered the square root of fuck all so far in Cleveland, but there’s time for that to change. Similarly the two picks given up by Sadness have gone on QB development prospect Paxton Lynch who’s shown little to nothing so far (though was not expected to deliver anything in 2016), and Washington RB non-event Keith Marshall as the Champions correctly didn’t trust Matt Jones, but wrongly pegged Marshall rather than Fat Rob Kelley as the solution.

Right now this trade essentially boils down to Tate for Thomas, and that’s a clear win for the Dynasty of Sadness.

Three

  • Dynasty of Sadness – Bryant, Dez DAL WR and 2017 Round 5 Pick
  • Dyna Hard – Morris, Alfred DAL RB and Diggs, Stefon MIN WR and 2016 Pick 1.08 and 2017 Round 1 Pick

OK, so as a one-off trade goes, this is probably the blockbusteriest trade so far in the Dynabowl, two firsts, Stefon Diggs and Alfred Morris for Dez Bryant and a make-weight future 5th. It’s like the Thomas trade, only with sprinkles on top (Morris, two firsts instead of a first and a second). Only here’s the thing, much like Thomas, Bryant comes with a huge price tag and was coming off a disappointing year – injuries rather than Peyton Manning being the limiting factor as he produced only 57 points. And much like Thomas, he failed to deliver in 2016 as well, an injury hit start hurting his total points and putting him out of the top twenty, but even his point per game return wouldn’t have been enough for a top ten finish. As for Diggs – he wasn’t as electric as Snead in his rookie year, but he showed flashes and attracted interest off the taxi squad. Much like Snead, he’s not a better player than the one he’s been traded for… yet. But he’s in a position to succeed, as a key part of his offence, and you’d rather be buying stock in Snead/Diggs right now than in Bryant or Thomas (though I’d favour Bryant over Thomas as a comeback candidate, because the Cowboys are better at QB right now and because Bryant’s been hurt rather than just bad).

Morris is mostly irrelevant to this trade, but he had a relatively unfriendly salary for a handcuff to the Sadness’ presumptive number one Elliot, so it was a worthwhile addition with cap space spare.

As for the picks – the 2016 1.08 was used on Kenneth Dixon, who’s sometimes looked good, but failed to really cement himself as the Baltimore lead running back as yet, unless he does this seems like a lost pick. The 2017 pick was traded back twice, to 1.08 with the Brees, then 2.01 with the Dungeoneers, netting a fifth rounder (subsequently traded down to move up from 2.04 to 2.02) and to move up 5 places in the 4th. The final landing spot at 2.01 was used on Kareem Hunt. Hunt has talent and if either he or Dixon end up as a number one back and a good RB1/2 to complement Elliot as the Sadness’ stud then they’re clear winners here. Similarly if Diggs develops into a good receiver at a WR2 sort of level, while Bryant fails to become a clear WR1 again, then you’d have to call the Sadness winners here, however if Dixon and Hunt end up in RBBC situations, and Diggs never really breaks out of the WR3/Flex level he was in his second year, then it’s probably going to favour Dyna Hard as I just don’t think Bryant is done yet, and even as an overpaid WR2 he still offers more than three at-best flex level players. All in all there’s a lot of ifs around this, and it could easily go either way still, so I think it’s fair to move on without declaring a clear winner.

Two

  • Dynasore Losers – 2016 1.04 to Firebirds; 2016 3.04 and 2017 Round 1 Pick to Tamworth Two
  • DynaForOne Firebirds – 2016 4.02 and 2017 Round 1 Pick
  • Tamworth Two – Landry, Jarvis MIA WR and 2016 3.09

There’s two different trades here, but ultimately the two go together as the Losers deal with the Firebirds was an attempt to recoup the 2017 first rounder lost in the deal for Landry as the 2017 draft seemed a lot stronger than the 2016 one did. So how did this all shake out?

The Firebirds gave up a pick valued in advance at 1.05, but which ultimately became 1.04, the same pick given up to get Landry, while the 2017 first became 1.02. As such the Losers didn’t lose spots in the draft as they ended up trading away their 2016 1.04 for what became the 2017 1.04, but because they ended up losing their own 1.02 and gaining the Firebirds 1.04 they did actually lose two spots. Still following? Good.

The Firebirds pick became Corey Coleman. So far he’s been better than Doctson and Treadwell, taken ahead of him, but worse than Shepherd and Michael Thomas who were taken after him. With only 60 points in his rookie season he’s a long way from being worth the first rounder given up to get him yet, but receivers do sometimes take time, and the Browns have a terrifyingly bad QB situation, so there’s still hope for him as that potentially improves.

The two picks the Firebirds gave up to get Coleman became Christian McCaffrey and Deion Jones. Right now there’s no two ways about this, Jones looks like a stud, scoring nearly 80 more points than Coleman in his rookie year as the top point scorer among (drafted) defensive rookies, and the 4th highest (drafted) rookie scorer (non-QB) in his class. Obviously, that’s only one season, but that’s all we have for both players so far.

As for the second half of the trade, the first given up on Landry was spent on Corey Davis. This worked out pretty well for both sides, with the Losers getting McCaffrey at #4 from their own trade into 2017 (who they would have taken at #2 anyway, given the need at RB) and T2 moving ahead of the Brees who had hoped to snag Davis at #3. It’s impossible to evaluate this up front, as Davis has yet to appear in an NFL game, but who wins that trade in the long run comes down to whether Landry or Davis ends up being the better receiver. As for the exchange of thirds… Rashard Higgins has produced little to nothing so far for T2, but does have great hair and plenty of time to come good (hopefully not a sign of things to come from Davis for them) while the 3.09 pick that went the other way was used in a package with Charles Sims to nab two picks from the Brees which were spent on DeAndre Washington and Adolphus Washington, if DeAndre Washington ends up a starter in Oakland then this part of the deal certainly favours the Losers, but that’s a big if with Beast Mode coming home to Oakland and looking to be the feature back for them. Adolphus may or may not do anything in the long run, it’s simply too early to say. If none of these three develop into viable fantasy options, then it will literally come down to the two receivers. While that’s certainly true when it comes to the long-term evaluation of the trade, it’s also fair to say that just on a fundamental level it’s almost always going to be better in a trade to get a young receiver with proven production rather than trading for a pick to draft one, no matter how highly they’re regarded – especially when that trade is for an unknown draft pick in the subsequent year’s draft.

The net of this three way trade is that the Losers bagged Christian McCaffrey, Deion Jones, Jarvis Landry and DeAndre Washington. T2 netted Corey Davis and Rashard Higgins while the Firebirds got Corey Coleman. A lot depends on how Coleman and Davis do over the next two or three years, but it’s fair to say that if McCaffrey is a bust the Losers have at worst got a pair of quality starters and for either T2 or the Firebirds to feel happy about their parts in this deal they’ll need their own high pick receivers to out-perform Landry at a minimum. It seems fair to say at this point though that the big loser looks to be the Firebirds, who’s Jedi trade tricks fail to work a third time as McCaffrey and Jones for Coleman seems heavily weighted in favour of the Losers, regardless of how Landry for Davis works out.

One

  • Here Comes The Brees –  2016 Picks 1.05 & 1.06 to Champions of the Sun; Donald, Aaron STL DT to Dynablaster Bombermen
  • Champions of the Sun – Robinson, Allen JAC WR
  • Dynablaster Bombermen – 2016 Round 1 & 4 Draft Picks and 2017 Round 1 Pick

Much like the previous example this is a three way trade essentially, but this with the Brees at the centre of it. In one sense the Brees gave up Donald to get Robinson, and got a 4th out of it but it’s a touch more complicated than that. Basically the Brees picked up a pair of firsts, spending the first of them, along with their own 2016 pick to get Allen Robinson. That’s not out of line with the prices paid for Bryant and Thomas, without giving up a young receiver in return. However that wrongly puts Thomas and Bryant (established studs with better seasons) on a par with Robinson who had one good season off the back of a high number of TD scores. Where Thomas and Bryant struggled to recapture their best form, which is probably what put them on the market, Robinson’s 2016 fall feels more like gravity pulling him back down (although he dropped further than I would have expected and should bounce back some in 2017). There’s arguments both ways on this as Robinson is also younger, had a decent seeming offence in place and had a season on the cheap before a massive extension would be due, however it was a massive pay rise as he jumped into the top tier of receivers, unlike Landry (who also commanded a first plus trade price) who finished just shy of a top tier extension cost. Ultimately, double firsts (and better ones than were paid for Bryant / Thomas) seems an slight overpay, just because Thomas and Landry didn’t quite stretch to double firsts, and I just don’t think he was established as a top tier player like Bryant and Thomas were, but it’s certainly not an indefensible one.

Meanwhile, Champions spent the 1.05 on Sterling Shepherd and traded away the 1.06 in the previously discussed Tate / Michael Thomas trade. So instead of picking Thomas and Shepherd and being clear winners in this trade they’ve ended up trading away a potential stud for a pair of at-best WR2s. That seems like a push at the moment, and will most likely come down to whether or not Robinson delivers WR1 value. If he doesn’t, his extension cost will mean the value pairing of Tate and Shepherd win out, but Shepherd’s ceiling is low with an in-decline Eli and a much-better Odell Beckham limiting his value to somewhere in the region of a WR3 and Tate looked poor for most of last year as Detroit struggled offensively so there’s plenty of scope for both sides to come away feeling unhappy about this, especially with what could have been for the Champions with Thomas.

And that brings us to the other side of this deal. While the Brees co-managers sit there wondering if they’re going to be stuck with a massively overpaid disappointment in Robinson, the Bombermen get Aaron Donald – outscoring all receivers and all other defensive players in both 2015 and 2016. I call that a win at almost any price. The two firsts the Bombermen gave up – 1.05 in 2016 and 1.08 in 2017 have gone on receivers, partly on Robinson as discussed and on Jon Ross (via a small trade up from 8 to 7), but realistically unless you end up with two WR1s out of that, then it’s hard to call it anything other than a loss, especially considering the massive salary differential between top tier receivers and a top DT (even after the Suh deal this summer). There is a light at the end of this tunnel though, and it might not even be a train. The Rams might be changing from a 4-3 to a 3-4 scheme with Jeff Fisher and Greg Williams being shown the door. If Donald ends up moved from DT to DE his point-scoring will drop significantly (just look at Kerry Hyder’s points in 2016’s league and in 2017’s following re-classification, they’ve virtually halved), and his extension cost will sky-rocket, if that happens then what looked like a rock solid win for the Bombermen becomes much, much more debatable. Ultimately it’ll still come down to how Robinson bounces back, and whether Ross is any sort of success, but they go from needing to find two top five receivers to maybe one top 10 receiver and a solid WR2. The 4th round pick in this trade I’ve mostly ignored so far, but for posterity’s sake it was spent on Braxton Miller, so it deserved to be ignored.

As a result then I’d say that while the Champions / Brees part of the trade is fairly even (with the Brees having the better potential to come out on top), the Brees are very much on the downside of the overall trade, swapping a defensive player who out-performs even the top receivers (for less money) for a player who isn’t a top receiver. While keeping to the cap doesn’t seem to be a problem for the Brees management as yet and maybe ameliorates some of that downside, it does still limit their ability to compete for the top free agents, or extend some useful players. It’s also fair to say that both the Brees and Champions GMs should feel more than a little bit rueful, as in both cases they had a chance to get both Shepherd and Thomas with those 1.05 and 1.06 picks and both teams would be in a better position if they’d just stopped after the first trade and used the picks they’d garnered.

 

Addendum There’s two teams not included in this write-up at all. That’s nothing against those teams, it’s just that I mostly found their trades fell into the ‘player-heavy’ category or the two picks for two picks category. The Dungeoneers did get a mention in one of the write-ups and pulled off some nice business, fleecing the Firebirds into giving up anything for Ryan Tannehill, the Bombermen into giving up good players for bad ones in the Carlos Hyde trade and getting the 1.02 pick for fat Eddie Lacy which they used on Amari Cooper (then wasted their own 1.03 on Kevin White, so that feels like a push to me). While that seems like a list of wins, they also overpaid the Brees for Keenan Allen’s one game a year and got absolutely destroyed by Kelkowski (the other team not mentioned) when they traded away Doug Baldwin for Stevie Johnson (oops). Kelkowski’s trades are mostly terribly dull and involve buying or selling expiring contracts at the trade deadline for 6th and 7th round picks.

2017 DynaBowl Mock Draft

At James ‘Goody’ Goodson’s behest, he, Chris Braithwaite and Ian Kulkowski have mock drafted for their puny insignificant lives and come up with the following opening three rounds of the 2017 Dynabowl Rookie Draft.

 

1.01 1. East Flanders Dungeoneers

Pick: Leonard Fournette, JAX, RB

Chosen by: Goody

Reasoning: The consensus 1.01 of Dynasty Drafts, Fournette ticks more boxes for any of the RBs drafted in 2017. He has the talent and opportunity to be an immediate starter for the Dungeoneers, and will easily justify the 1.01 tag. The Jags are already building around him by drafting an OT and FB, negating any concerns over their poor RB gradings last year. Probably the easiest pick in this mock.

Opinion: Chris: pretty obvious pick with a high floor. He should get a ton of volume.

Ian: I’m happy with this pick.

 

1.02 2. Tamworth Two

Pick: Christian McCaffrey, CAR, RB

Chosen by: Ian

Reasoning : No.2 pick seems to be between McCaffrey and Davis.  T2 biggest need is arguably RB (just).  Plus who wouldn’t want to pair run CmC with CAP?!  They also have pick 5 so can probably take the WR they want there.

Opinion: Goody. Interesting pick here! I’m not overly enamoured with Mccaffery’s landing spot to warrant 1.02, based on Carolina’s power offence, Cam and J-Stew hogging TD opportunities this year, plus the arrival of second round pick, and CMC double, Curtis Samuel.

Chris: I agree with this pick


1.03 3. Here Comes The Brees

Pick: Craig David, WR, Tennessee

Chosen by: Chris

Reasoning: Davis seems to be the consensus top WR. He was the highest drafted WR, has a clear path to being the #1 WR (in that he already basically is). He has a fairly high bust potential as there’s not a great deal of evidence that he can play against NFL quality corners, but from the combination of draft pedigree and situation, it’s difficult to ignore his upside.

Opinion: Goody: I would have probably gone for Williams here. Better red zone target and higher calibre of opposition faced, plus no/fewer injury concerns.

Ian: Exactly who I would have picked here.  Best WR available and brees have a desperate need!


1.04 4. Dynasore Losers

Pick: Mike Williams, WR, LAC

Chosen by: Goody

See my comment above for Davis. We know Slatz isn’t a Davis fan, with good reason, so he’d be thrilled to pick Williams here.

Opinion: Chris: probably a fair pick, but Williams has a fair few concerns: sub-optimal athleticism, very crowded situation and an aging QB with no succession plan in place.

Ian: Sensible pick, probably BPA.  But I just don’t think Slatz has a need at WR so I would expect him to go RB here.

 

1.05 5. Tamworth Two

Pick :John Ross, WR, CIN

Chosen by: Ian

Reasoning: Ah, so the two stand out WR’s have gone?!  I was convinced one of them would still be available – maybe you should consider trying to trade up for one of them?  I would say it’s between Cook, mixon & Ross at this point.  Based on need and as you took McCaffrey with pick 2 (remember?) then I’m going to go for Ross here.  Should be in a decent position opposite AJ Green with an opportunity to make a big impact early.

Opinion: Goody: I like this pick based on need. Ross will go in as WR2 with a high ceiling and good opportunity.

Chris: i think with the board like this, trading down would be a strong consideration. Given the need, Ross makes sense, but this is pretty awful value. Much like the pick of Ross in the reality.


1.06 6. Champions of the Sun

Pick: Joe Mixon, CIN RB

Chosen by: Chris

Reasoning: The bigger need is probably WR, but the value is probably at RB at this point. For me, Mixon is a better player on a better team, so should get more carries and more TDs, especially early on. He’s also shown less of a pattern of being a dick (although his acts of being a dick are worse).

James: This is a nice pick, although I think Cook may surprise more this year. Hill is in his final year and Bernard is coming back off injury.

Ian: Maxx doesn’t really have any pressing needs so may look to trade down if he can get value.  Otherwise I would say it’s between Cook & Mixon here.  Cook probably has the better immediate opportunity but Mixon is the better long term bet so Maxx will be fine with this.


1.07 7. The People’s Republic of the 4th Dynmension: Dynasty of Sadness

Pick: OJ Howard, TE, TEN

Chosen by: Goody

Reasoning: Two picks out of three give a good opportunity for the Sadness to pick up their targets. OJ Howard fills a longer term need and will produce a likely pro-bowl appearance at some point.

Opinion: Ian: I have no issues with this pick here, Howard is a solid first round pick who should have a top tier career at TE.

Chris: I’m not a fan of Howard here. I think he’ll be a fantastic real NFL player, but i think his blocking may limit his impact as a fantasy player. Especially as he is at best the third receiving option on the team for the next year or two (and may be behind Sims and Brate). Lot of upside, but i think the other TEs have a better floor.

 

1.08 8. Here Comes The Brees

Pick: Ju Ju Smith-Schuster PIT WR

Chosen by: Ian

Reasoning: This is where it becomes tricky, it feels like we’re now into the 2nd tier.  Brees may be looking to trade up from here (Hello Maxx!).  Their big need remains WR so I’ll go with Ju Ju S-Schu.  I have him as the best of the 2nd tier of WR’s and he should have a decent opportunity in a good (for now) offence.

Opinion: Chris: Not a fan of him landing with the Steelers for a few reasons: he’ll never be their #1, there’s good competition at WR with Bryant, Coates and Rogers, and by the time JuJu battles his way through that competition to be the #2, Landry Jones might be the QB.

James. I can see JJSS having an Boldin type of role, he may not get you 150 yards but his solid hands and redzone presence will mean he will be a sound fantasy option.


1.09 9. The People’s Republic of the 4th Dynmension: Dynasty of Sadness

Pick: Dalvin Cook, RB, MIN

Chosen by: Chris

Reasoning: RB is a pretty big need, Dalvin Cook should be a pretty good RB. He might not be an RB1, but between Cook, the Detroit backs and Dixon, it should be possible to cobble together an RB2 and 3 most weeks.

Opinion: Ian: Manboob will be happy Cook has fallen this far after passing on him with pick 7.  Fills a big need on his roster with a rookie who should get a decent number of touches immediately.

James. Solid pick here. I’ve cooled on Cook since the combine but the Vikings have also improved their O-line and Cook will supplant Murray by end of year 1.


1.10 10. Kelkowski Don’t Play By No Dyna Rules

Pick: Alvin Kamara, RB, NO

Chosen by: Goody

Reasoning: RB is definitely the need here, so I could even see Kelkowski trying to trade up if they want to nab their man. A sharp drop off with the potential elite RBs leave Kelkowski having to make a judgement call. Kamara provides a bit of safety with 28 year old Ingram on their roster and a future plan to accommodate the recent arrival of Adrian Peterson.

Opinion: Ian: Finally we have a pick!!!  Kamara makes sense I guess as we already have FHTWMIJ although I would rather take hi with pick 20!

Chris: I agree that this seems high for Kamara, but i feel there’s a fairly long tier here where people can justify taking a wide range of players depending on need. Picking up two bits of the Saints backfield makes sense, and Kamara has shown some good skills. However, if we’re looking at getting the whole backfield, i think Kareem Hunt would have been a better pick.

 

2.01 11. East Flanders Dungeoneers

Pick: David Njoku, CLE TE

Chosen by: Ian

Reasoning: Having secured the RB he needs I think Pete goes TE here to compliment HH.  It’s a toss up between Njoku and Engram.  Both are good prospects who have landed in good situations as the likely no.1 TE on their respective teams.  I’ll go with Njoku as he seems to be the guy with most talent.

Opinion: Goody: Another real Dynasty option, Njoku will take time to settle but I see him with a better initial opportunity than Engram.

Chris: he certainly doesn’t have much competition, so should get a lot of snaps pretty quickly. My concern is that it’ll take him a couple of years to really produce, but i think Pete is ok not going all-out win-now.


2.02 12. Dynasore Losers

Pick: Kareem Hunt, RB, KC

Chosen by: Chris

Reasoning: Slatz loves his WRs, but there are probably enough guys there to hope that he can get three or four contributors each week. RB is looking a lot barer. I think Hunt is probably the guy with the clearest route to a starting job that’s left available, given how Ware didn’t produce much in the second half of the season.

Opinion: Ian: Fair pick.  Slatz is all about buying Running Back tickets at this point and Hunt has talent and reasonable shot of getting touches in a run heavy offence.


2.03 13. Here Comes The Brees

Pick: Jeremy McNichols, RB, TBB

Chosen by: Goody

Reasoning: This was such a hard pick. There are a few RBs in a tier of their own at this stage, mostly based on the chance to them becoming the primary back to a starter with contract (Doug Martin), age (Frank Gore), injury (Carlos Hyde) or ability (Ty Montgomery) issues. The Brees try to solidify their Tampa backfield with a RB who fell in the draft due to recent surgery issues. That’s not an immediate problem in Dynasty and McNichols grades well at pass protection and has a path to a starting position in a high powered offence in a year or two.

Opinion: Ian: Wouldn’t have him this high but makes sense for Brees given their monopoly on the TB running game.

Chris: i think this is way too early for McNichols. If they want to consolidate a running game, Donta Foreman for the Texans is a better player. McNichols might have been available in the next round.

Update: Goody: I didn’t realise that Martin may be suspended for the first 4 games of the season so I still stick with this pick.


2.04 14. DynaForOne Firebirds

Pick: Samaje Perine, RB, WAS

Chosen by: Ian

Reasoning: And so Neil finally enters the draft with back to back picks.  He has needs all over his roster but I think RB is where he has the biggest hole so I’m going Perine here.  He has a chance to be productive straight away in a good offence so can help fill a gap for Neil.

Opinion: Goody. Good pick. I probably would have had Perine higher at 2.03 if not for the Brees tentative situation with Martin linked to being cut.

Chris: Perine is in the same boat as McNichols, in that I’m not sure about his talent, but his situation is decent enough. Good upside pick.

 

2.05 15. DynaForOne Firebirds

Pick: D’onta Foreman, RB HOU

Chosen by: Chris

Reasoning: Even with Perine, Neil doesn’t have a lot at RB, so double dipping seems reasonable. Foreman is probably the RB with most upside and a decent floor, so i think he makes sense here.

Opinion: Ian: I might have been tempted to go WR here but Neil could definitely do with more depth at RB which Foreman could provide.


2.06 16. Champions of the Sun

Pick: Zay Jones

Chosen by: Goody

Reasoning: A tough one again, as there are a number of RB’s on the board with a lower floor but higher ceiling. Max could also be tempted by Mahomes, (who coincidently autocorrects to Manholes) as Big Ben is on his way out. But Jones enters a Buffalo team in dire need of a receiver. Watkins has injury concerns and there are a number of targets available with the release of Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin and Justin Hunter. I think this is a very safe pick at 2.06

Opinion: Ian: A good prospect in a decent position to contribute straight away is a good fit for maxx at this point.  Could be real value next year if the Bills move on from Watkins.

Chris: I’m not a huge fan of Jones, his college production and draft position make this pretty good value.


2.07 17. The People’s Republic of the 4th Dynmension: Dynasty of Sadness Pick: Deshaun Watson

Chosen by: Ian

Reasoning: Manboob’s quarterback situation is a total mess.  He has the unenvious task of choosing between Bridgeater, Glennon, Goff, Man Penguin Boy, Brockules and Smith each week.  I mean Wow!  That’s brutal!  So he’s definitely going to complicate things further by taking a chance on one of this year’s crop of uninspiring rookie passers. Watson is the pick because of he has the highest likelihood of making an immediate impact – I mean, no one believes BOB’s bullshit about Savage being the starter, Houston needs to win NOW!

Opinion: Chris: i like this pick. Watson’s should be the starting QB, and his combination of passing and rushing should make him a viable starter.


2.08 18. Dynablaster Bombermen

Pick: Chris Godwin, WR, TB

Chosen by: Chris

Reasoning: The Bombermen don’t really need a win now contributor, so they can pick a guy who has the best chance of having a WR1/2 upside. He should also work as a decent handcuff to Desean Jackson if age hits him.

Comment: Goody: Godwin could see himself come in and play the perimeter and Jackson is the wrong side of 30, so good Dynasty value here.

Ian: I can see the logic in taking a stash here as the B men don;t have any pressing needs.  They might think about breaking the seal on D here.

 

2.09 19. Live Free or Dyna Hard

Pick: Evan Engram, TE, NYG

Chosen by: Goody

Reasoning: I originally had Marlon Mack here, but I now pick Evan Engram who Chris would be delighted to pick. With an ageing Bennett and Gates on the DynaHard roster, Engram is the perfect Dynasty grab.

Chris: I’d be very happy if things worked out like this. Engram wouldI be excellent value here.

Ian: Probably best player available at this point so good pick for Chris


2.10 20. Kelkowski Don’t Play By No Dyna Rules

Pick: Curtis Samuel, WR, CAR

Chosen by: Chris

Reasoning: Kelkowski probably need some more depth at WR, and Samuel is probably the best player available. It’s difficult to know how he’ll be used in Carolina, but if he gets used from the slot and gets return work, he should be quite a consistent scorer.

Opinion: Goody: Samuel has big play ability so Kelkowski will hope for some Tyreek Hill style matchups. Ian: I’m okay with this.  WR depth is certainly a requirement and Samuel gives us a monopoly of the 2nd tier of receivers in Carolina behind Benjamin & Olsen.

 

3.01 21. East Flanders Dungeoneers

Pick: Joe Williams, RB, SF

Chosen by: Goody

Reasoning: The Flanders roster is just horrible at RB depth. Hyde is likely out after this season and Williams is openly loved by Kyle Shanahanahanahan. Shanahan loves runners who can go outside and Williams excelled at that in College. He could be RB1 at the 49ers at the end of the year so this represents great value.

Opinion: Ian: RB is definitely the major need for Pete so Williams works here as a backup and eventual successor to Hyde.

Chris: This is a decent pick. Works as a handcuff to Hyde and a player with potential in his own right.


3.02 22. Dynasore Losers

Pick:Myles Garrett, DE, CLE

Chosen by: Ian

Reasoning: With offensive talent thinning out at this point I think Saltz will be happy the best defensive option in the draft has fallen this far.  With his 3 top DE’s in their final year this pick will help him for years to come.

Opinion: Goody: I could see Slatz staying with offence. If there is a position he is definitely stacked in, its DE, and he’s got such a generous salary cushion he doesn’t really need to worry about renewals. I’d have probably said that Slatz goes for someone like Carlos Henderson as a long term replacement for Sanders, or trade down a few spots for a bigger defensive need – LB, so maybe Reddick or Foster.

Chris: I think this is a good spot for Garrett, but I’m not sure Slatz would take him. Even if Quinn moves to LB, the 3 guys he has at DE are fine for this year.

 

3.03 23. Here Comes The Brees

Pick: Cooper Kupp, WR, LAR

Chosen by: Chris

Reasoning: Even with Davis, the Brees probably still need a WR, preferably one with WR1 upside. Kupp probably has the clearest route to that of the people left, due mainly to lack of competition.

Opinion: Goody: I think ‘doubling-down’ here for the Brees makes really good sense and could leave them with the primary target on team with a QB looking for a safe target.

Ian: Agree with the others here, Brees need to be all in on WR and Kupp is about the best option still available.


3.04 24. DynaForOne Firebirds

Pick: Marlon Mack, RB, Ind

Chosen by: Goody

Reasoning: Arguably RB and DE was a massive need for the Firebirds coming into this draft. CJ Anderson will now share carries with Charles, Blount is without a team, Mathews is likely to be dropped, and Rawls will share backfield duties with ‘obese mode’ Eddie Lacy. It doesn’t look great and they’ve only effectively picked up Foreman and Perine so far. There is also a need for a DE, but most evidence suggests that rookie DEs are hit and miss. The 2017 class is regarded as a good and deep one, but not great in relation to potential elite (Garrett). Even Garrett, if he was available now, only picked up 3 of his sacks against a NFL based O-line. In this case, Barnett, who picked up 16 of his sacks against similar opposition, could be an acceptable pick. Therefore, Firebirds may think they can pick up some DE depth later on with someone like Barnett, McKinley or Charlton. Now the case for the prosecution, Mack is a good receiver and has high home run potential. Gore is old. So very old. With the Firebirds a bit away from ‘win now’, getting a potential starting RB with the 24th pick is immense value. Come 2018, they may have some of their 3 RBs hit and become competitive.

Opinion: Ian: This is now Neil’s 3rd RB of the draft after taking Perine & Foreman in the 1st so he’s certainly going all out to address his major need.  I might have gone WR here instead but as a third round pick in his own right Mack is okay.


3.05 25. Tamworth Two

Pick:Rueben Foster, LB SF

Chosen by: Ian

Reasoning: Time for T2 to start addressing their defensive needs.  Foster is the best LB available and will be an immediate contributor in San Francisco so will continue to build on T2’s good young LB core.

Opinion: Chris: i think this is a solid pick. I think T2 need an elite defensive player. My only quibble is whether DE is a bigger need, but Foster might be the best defensive player available and T2’s LBs have a lot of question marks.

Goody. Foster is an elite prospect but I’m concerned by his injury, and recent failed surgery. There is also chat about a number of hidden concussions at College, plus, I’m all for hydration, but Foster takes it too far.

 

3.06 26. Champions of the Sun

Pick: Pat Mahomes QB, KC

Chosen by: Chris

Reasoning: CotS need a QB for when Big Ben retires, which could easily happen next year. Despite being the 2nd QB picked in the NFL draft, Mahomes has a better fantasy outlook than Trubisky due to his athleticism, his head coach and the fact he should have a chance to learn for at least a year, rather than being thrown in straight away.

Opinion: Goody:A solid gamble, Mahomes is likely to have a very high ceiling but will have to learn a much more complex playback. Andy Reid has a good track record of elite QBs so Max could get a diamond here.

Ian: I would have considered a QB in R2 for Maxxx so am fine with taking one here.  With a year of Rapistberger remaining Maxx has no immediate need so P Homes is the perfect development opportunity.

 

3.07 27. The People’s Republic of the 4th Dynmension: Dynasty of Sadness

Pick: Jonathan Allen, DT. WAS

Chosen by: Goody.

Reasoning: With a need at DT, the Sadness Pick the best one on the board, who is in a great landing spot at Washington.

Opinon: Ian: Having addressed his need at RB & QB and taken Howard as a potential superstar Manboob has plenty of options here.Williams and Conner are still available for added RB depth and another QB ticket wouldn’t hurt.  However, I agree there are needs in the D also.  Davis would be an option here at LB but DT as arguably the more pressing need so Allen makes sense as the best DT in the draft (he may however end up as a DE).

Chris: I think Allen will be a great player. But I think he’ll be a DE, which will hurt his value.

 

3.08 28. Dynablaster Bombermen

Pick:Adam Shaheen. TE CHI

Chosen by: Ian

Reasoning: With no immediate pressing needs Bendy has the luxury of taking the best player available.  I have no clue who that is at this stage so I’ll go with Shaheeeeen.  There’s not much ahead of him in Chicago (although that’s not saying much) and there’s a good development opportunity here behind Bendy’s existing starting TE’s.

Comment: Goody: I think this is a bit early for the remaining TEs, who drop off after the 3 main guys. I’d have probably seen a bit more value in going defence, especially at LB.

Chris: I agree it’s early for Shaheen, but i think if a team wanted a TE at this stage and took Gerald Everett, that might be defendable

   

3.09 29. Live Free or Dyna Hard

Pick: Haasan Reddick, ARI, LB

Chosen by Goody.

Reasoning: DynaHard have an opportunity to pick someone up who has been identified as an athletic specimen, albeit no experience at playing ILB. Although the jury is still out if Reddick will be able to develop this way, Chris may see this as a pretty low risk appointment.

Opinion: Chris: Reddick is a pretty nice pick. I’m not sure LB is a big need for me though, with Miller, Ragland and Jatavis Brown on board for the next 2 years. But he does seem like BPA at this point. Apart from the next guy…

3.10 30. Kelkowski Don’t Play By No Dyna Rules

Pick: Solomon Thomas, DE, SF

Chosen by: Chris

Reasoning: Thomas is the clear BPA here in my opinion. He might not get gaudy sack numbers like Garrett, but his ability against the run should give him a lot of tackles and TFLs, so he should be a fairly consistent scorer. Kelkowski don’t have a need at DE, but Thomas and Bosa would make them set at the position for the long term.

Opinion: Goody: Solid pick here. No complaints from me.

Draft Review and Early 2015 Predictions

With the draft in the books, it’s time to take stock and work out what it all means… Pre-draft needs are taken from the 2.0 draft.

DynaHarder

Pre-draft needs: QB, RB3, WR2, TE, S

What you started with: 1.01, 2.01, 3.01, 4.01, 4.11, 5.01, 5.11, 6.01, 7.01. Julian Edelman, Alex Ogletree, Ron Saunders, DeAngelo Williams

What you ended up with: Toddy Gurley, Marcus Mariota, David Cobb, Tyler Lockett, Jeremy Langford, Tre McBride, Kenny Bell, Stefon Diggs, Bradley Pinion, TY Hilton

 

The worst case: An over-used running back, with a succession of muscle injuries and topped off by one few, if any, players ever completely recover from, on a team who’s line has been rebuilt after stinking out 2014… Gurley out T-Riches T-Rich. The least Whisenhunt QB ever, going to work with Ken Whisenhunt, and two depth options from a moribund offence offer no viable fantasy starters. In fact, in the worst case scenario, the only fantasy relevant starter in this draft is a punter. At least there’s TY Hilton, until he signs somewhere else next year.

The upside: Hilton doesn’t land in a bad spot when he leaves the Colts. Gurley’s injury doesn’t take much of his top end and he becomes the best thing in St Louis since Faulk. Mariota rejuvenates the Titans offence, and Cobb quickly moves to the top of the depth chart behind a line which improves a lot as Warmack finally harnesses his talent. Bell replaces Jackson, Forte leaves the Bears and Diggs develops into Teddy’s favourite target. Then you wake up.

Realistically: Mariota may never be a fantasy starter, but he fills the need at QB, Gurley and Cobb offer solid RB3 options and Hilton is a very good WR2. The needs at TE and S can be filled in free agency, with good options available there.

Dynasty of Sadness

Pre-draft needs: QB?, RB1, TE, DE, DT, LB2.

What you started with: 1.02, 2.02, 3.02, 4.02, 4.12, 5.02, 6.02, 7.02. Calais Campbell*, Cam Newton

What you ended up with: Ameer Abdullah, Jaelen Strong, Josh Robinson, Matt Jones, Bud Dupree, Arik Armstead, DeAndre Carter, Zach Zenner, Eddie Lacy, Brock Osweiler, Markus Wheaton, Sheldon Richardson, DeAngelo Williams, Paul Richardson*, Drew Brees

The worst case: You wasted your top pick on a back up, and have thoroughly sewn up a wholly worthless Detroit backfield. Robinson and Jones are gambles that don’t work out. Armstead is a project who never projects to anything and Wheaton, Williams and Osweiler don’t even make it through roster cuts. With no targets in the passing game Brees wastes the last couple of years of his fantasy relevance and Teddy never kicks on, leaving two QBs who rank just outside the top 10. A third concussion in three years leads to a long lay off and he returns a shadow of his best on limited workloads, meanwhile Amari Cooper tears it up and somehow this trade ends up looking like the Sadness got the worst end.

The upside: Lacy is the RB1 the Sadness needed and Abdullah quickly replaces Bell who’d plateaued at mediocre to become a good RB2. Strong is a solid WR2/3, Richardson and Dupree are defensive starters, Jones replaces Morris who leaves in free agency and Robinson replaces Gore in 12 months. Carter outperforms Perriman and Armstead develops into the beast his physical stature suggests.

Realistically: Brees fills the need at QB immediately, giving time for Bridgewater to develop, Lacy is a definite filler for RB1. The need at TE could be filled in the medium term with a free agent rookie and Sheldon Richardson is a solid starting DE2. Dupree fills a need at LB and could play from year one. Need at DT remains. The Sadness are definitely improved in the draft, but for all the trading, they ended up with the same number of picks they started with and a lot of the trade pieces were middling at best.

East Flanders Dungeoneers

Pre-draft needs: RB2, WR1/2, DE1, LB3, S.

What you started with: 1.03, 2.03, 2.11, 3.03, 4.03, 5.03, 6.03, 7.03. Eddie Lacy, Drew Brees, Steve Smith*, Brock Osweiler, Charles Clay, Frank Gore, DeAndre Levy

What you ended up with: Amari Cooper, Kevin White, Devin Smith, Mike Davis, Rashad Greene, Paul Dawson, Cam Newton, Keenan Allen*, Vernon Davis, Darren Sproles, Ryan Tannehill

The worst case: You traded away a legitimate RB1 at pennies on the dollar, bringing in wide receivers who will get thrown the ball (sideways) by Derek Carr, Genome and sulky Jay Cutler (until he’s cut next summer). Cam is a busted flush, who isn’t a viable fantasy starter without running and Tannehill is not Brees. Keenan Allen turns out to be the guy from 2014, rather than 2013 and Vernon Davis and Darren Sproles are only starting because they play for the Dungeoneers.

The upside: Both Cooper and White hit big early, and given a couple of years Devin Smith develops into a viable starter when the Jets find a QB. Cam’s pocket passing develops, but he remains a big threat on the ground, and a top 5 QB, while Tannehill becomes good tradebait for a QB-needy team. Both Clay and Davis are solid TEs at least for the short term and Levy remains a top tier LB for a few more years. Gore turns out to be actually invincible as has long been suspected.

Realistically: At best one of Cooper and White develops into a top tier WR1/2, but the other is serviceable as a 3rd receiver. Yes, the team sucks this year, but that just puts them in a good position to get a good RB in 2016. Paul Dawson should be a fine ILB, and Keenan Allen’s true worth is probably as a decent WR2, regardless of which, stealing him for Steve Smith was a stroke of genius. Defensive End is still a problem.

Tamworth Two

Pre-draft needs: WR1, TE, DE1, LB1, CB1, S1.

What you started with: 1.04, 2.04, 3.04, 4.04, 5.04, 6.04, 7.04. Markus Wheaton, Vernon Davis, Orlando Scandrick, John Brown, Darren Sproles

What you ended up with: DeVante Parker, Duke Johnson, Vic Beasley, DeAndre Smelter, Cameron Artis-Payne, Landon Collins, Denzel Perryman, Karlos Williams, Darren Waller

The worst case: The bust rate on first round receivers is massive, and even if Parker doesn’t bust, there’s no guarantee he is anything more than a low end fantasy starter or flex in Miami’s uninspired offence. Smelter is a reach who never becomes relevant, Johnson is part of a committee and Artis-Payne and Williams only handcuffs. A defensive starter or two don’t make up for the misses on offense, meanwhile John Brown lights it up for the Champions of the Sun.

The upside: Parker works well underneath in Miami’s new offence and gets volume yardage as well as red-zone action. Johnson establishes himself as the main back in Cleveland and Beasley, Collins and Perryman all serve their teams well. Smelter needs time but becomes a flex option, replacing Boldin, while Williams and Artis-Payne back up the main men on Tamworth Two just fine.

Realistically: Parker is probably a WR2 at best, with his viability underneath and in the red zone making him a good option for Tannehill who doesn’t have the arm to make good deep throws. Johnson is in a committee in Cleveland, but could end up being the main part of it, either way, he’s probably a low end RB2 at best. Beasley should be a viable DE and Perryman and Collins could also be viable positional starters. John Brown might be the new TY Hilton, but without Andrew Luck that doesn’t mean much.

Champions of the Sun

Pre-draft needs: QB?, RB2/3, WR3.

What you started with: 1.05, 2.05, 3.05, 4.05, 5.05, 6.05, 7.05. DeSean Jackson, Paul Richardson*, Da’Norris Searcy, Terrence West, Isiah Crowell, Marquise Lee.

What you ended up with: Jay Ajayi, Leonard Williams, Dante Fowler Jr, Thomas Rawls, Bernardrick McKinney, Hau’oli Kikaha, MyCole Pruitt, Michael Bennett, Marcel Dareus, Calais Campbell*, Roy Helu, Philly Brown, John Brown

The worst case: Ajayi never displaces Lamar Miller, Williams is used situationally, Fowler never makes it to the NFL due to injuries, Dareus moves to nose, Helu disappears into Oakland’s depth chart much as he did in Washington, neither of the Browns are viable starters and Michael Bennett is more of a nose alongside San’derrick Marks. Lots of flex players, but few starters.

The upside: John Brown is the new TY Hilton with Palmer back, Dante Fowley and Williams develop into top tier NFL ends, and MyCole Pruitt takes over as the Vikings Tight End. Dareus ends up with all the play of an end, while remaining a DT by position on MFL.

Realistically: Having traded down and then out of the first there wasn’t a potential star available, and picking up the best two defenders in the mid rounds represents value, if not necessarily guaranteeing any success. Ajayi might be short term due to injury concerns, but it’s a short term position anyway, and with bell leading the RBs there’s  no need for him to be a star. Rawls is a wasted pick, but gives you a monopoly on the Seattle running backs who never actually play.

Fingerblaster Bummermen

Pre-draft needs: ‘elite’ players.

What you started with: 1.06, 2.06, 3.06, 4.06, 4.13, 5.06, 6.06, 7.06. Danny Lansanah, Rob Ninkovich, Brandon Graham, Steven Jackson*

What you ended up with: Melvin Gordon, David Johnson, Chris Conley, Justin Hardy, Trae Waynes, Shane Ray, Grady Jarrett, Trey Flowers, Christian Ringo, Jeremy Hill, Orlando Scandrick

The worst case: Gordon ensures control of a San Diego backfield that sucks, his tendency to bounce outside and get tackled for a loss, relying on speed to beat sub-par college players proves unsurprisingly unsuccessful in the NFL. Conley discovers why Kansas receivers didn’t score a TD at all last year, Hardy is the new Harry Douglas while David Johnson ensure Arizona’s committee of mediocrity is maintained. With Green returning and Bernard fitter, Hill ends up part of a committee also, although not as mediocre as the one in Arizona, neither Bernard nor Hill are much more than RB2s.

The upside: Hill, Ellington, Johnson and Bernard fall into more traditional 1/2 roles giving 2 good starters, Conley shows the reason why KC didn’t score touchdowns was a lack of talent, rather than Alex Smith & Andy Reid and Gordon is the game-changing playmaker the Chargers traded up for. Waynes is a solid selection at CB, and Scandrick makes up a starting pair at the position with him.

Realistically: There’s probably an RB1 somewhere in the mess of Ellington, Hill, Bernard, Johnson, Oliver and Gordon, but whether there’s more than one is hard to call, and they could easily all get in each others ways. Conley and Hardy are upside picks, but both probably top out at WR2 or WR3. Shane Ray could be a decent DE in a year’s time, but might not offer much immediately. Hill and Gordon offer the best chance of hitting on an elite player and Green’s return to fitness should provide one at WR, but ultimately, the need to find an elite player or two probably wasn’t met in this draft.

Kelkowski Don’t Play By No DynaRules

Pre-draft needs: QB, TE?, DT, LB1, CB2.

What you started with: 1.07, 2.07, 3.07, 4.07, 5.07, 6.07, 7.07.

What you ended up with: TJ Yeldon, Devin Funchess, Stephone Anthony, Randy Gregory, Danny Shelton, Ahmed Brooks

The worst case: Gerhart takes over the Jags backfield making Yeldon wait. Funchess’ lack of pace combined with Cam’s erratic throwing make for a poor combination, Anthony barely plays, Shelton is a nose and Randy Gregory is a bit too much of a prick for the cowboys to stomach.

The upside: Gregory is a solid steal in the middle rounds, and Anthony blossoms with improved scoring for inside backers. Funchess is an Olsen like workable WR2, and Yeldon gives the Jags a proper running back threat, it not at elite one.

Realistically: There’s still a need at Tight End, and Shelton (being a Nose) is probably not going to fill the need at tackle. Projecting Anthony as an LB1 in the short-term seems a streatch, and the need at QB was not filled due to Kelkowski not recognising the danger when the Losers traded up. Yeldon might be a starter at RB, but there wasn’t too serious a need at the position anyway, so he might end up being a reasonable chip for a trade. Funchess could go either way, but projects as at best a bench option in a fairly limited Panthers passing attack.

DynaSore Losers

Pre-draft needs: QB?, RB2, WR3, DT, CB

What you started with: 1.08, 2.08, 3.08, 4.08, 5.08, 6.08, 7.08. Sheldon Richardson.

What you ended up with: Nelson Agholor, Jameis Winston, Sammie Coates, Owamagbe Odighizuwa, Clive Walford, Jake Ryan, Danielle Hunter

The worst case: Agholor dropped for a reason, and that reason was Sam Bradford, who isn’t good before he gets hurt and is Mark Sanchez after. Coates never gets a look in at Pittsburgh and Odighizuwa never replaces JPP. Winston meanwhile is every bit as good as advertised and becomes the best quarterback serving time in federal prison, trading Richardson for him turns out even worse as the massive hole at DE goes unfilled.

The upside: Winston is every bit as good as advertised in the NFL, proving to be almost as good as Luck and replacing Manning for 2016 in the Losers starting QB slot. Agholor develops into a WR1 due to his ability to turn routine plays into huge gains and be a threat in the red zone. Coates meanwhile shows his big game talent regularly, replacing Bryant and Wheaton as a clear #2 option for Roethlisberger. Ryan and Odighizuwa are solid defensive starters from the early days and Walford is a decent bench option at TE.

Realistically: There’s a hole at DE that Odighizuwa won’t fill in 2015, and Hunter is even less likely to. No viable tackle is found and the weaknesses in defence undermine the team by costing silly points each week. There is a serious lack of depth at RB, and even covering bye weeks, let alone injuries, will be tough.

Here Comes the Brees

Pre-draft needs: RB, WR, DE, DT, LB, CB2?, S

What you started with: 1.09, 2.09, 3.09, 4.09, 5.09, 6.09, 7.09. Marcel Dareus, Roy Helu, Philly Brown, Keenan Allen, Martellus Bennett

What you ended up with: Tevin Coleman, Breshad Perriman, Phillip Dorsett, Maxx Williams, Shaq Thompson, Garrett Grayson, Jordan Hicks, Steven Jackson*, Steve Smith*, DeSean Jackson, Danny Lansanah, Terrence West, Isiah Crowell, Marquise Lee

The worst case: Perriman, Dorsett and Williams offer little to nothing in 2015, and don’t exactly light it up in 2016 either. Jackson remains the boom/bust receiver who misses 2-4 games a year with injuries. Owning the browns backfield is as worthwhile as it would seem and Coleman is a RB2 in the good years. Keenan Allen refinds his 2013 form.

The upside: Coleman establishes himself early and for a number of years as an RB1-/2+ and Perriman replaces Smith fairly seemlessly as a WR2-/3+. Williams is a solid tight end with a QB who loves throwing to him, and establishes himself as a solid TE1 and Dorsett’s talent sees him work his way into the team in 2015, with Hilton barely missed in 2016. Marquise Lee becomes a good depth receiver with his fitness issues overcome.

Realistically: There were a lot of players drafted, but this is a long-term sort of draft. Tight Ends rarely offer much in year one, Dorsett doesn’t offer much hope of a strong first year and Baltimore’s offence is hardly electric, suggesting Perriman will need time also. Ultimately this draft was one to position the team to be more competitive in 2016, and Dorsett, Perriman and Coleman should do that. 2015 will likely be rough though.

DynaForOne Firebirds

Pre-draft needs: DE1, LB, CB, S

What you started with: 1.10, 2.10, 3.10, 4.10, 5.10, 6.10, 7.10. Jeremy Hill, TY Hilton, Ryan Tannehill

What you ended up with: Dorial Green-Beckham, Eric Kendricks, Javorius Allen, Mario Edwards Jr, Henry Anderson, Bryce Petty, Martellus Bennett, Rob Ninkovich, Brandon Graham, Julian Edelman, Alex Ogletree, Ron Saunders, Charles Clay, Frank Gore, DeAndre Levy

The worst case: Trading starting offensive pieces for middling offensive and defensive starters is a tactic that backfires. Bennett is an expensive back-up for Gronk if he stays fit and a poor replacement if he doesn’t, Edelman isn’t going to replace Jones if he gets injured (again), and Ogletree is an upgrade at LB but at a stiff price. Kendricks is an ILB and doesn’t crack the top 20 LBs any time soon, Allen is the 3rd RB in Baltimore and DGB is nowhere on the Titans depth chart. Henry Anderson joined one of the worst rushing defences in the NFL.

The upside: Anderson becomes the pass rush in Indianapolis and the upgrades on defence offer more to the Firebirds than they lose on offence. Edelman is a good WR2, with Jones fit ahead of him and Hill isn’t missed because Lynch and Anderson carry the rock effectively and a lot.

Realistically: If / when Jones gets an injury the team will suffer as Edelman simply doesn’t have the potential to put up WR1 points that Hilton did and while Hill won’t be missed with Anderson and Lynch putting up solid RB1 points it’s likely that the points gained on defensive upgrades such as Ogletree and Levy only balance those lost on offensive players, with the team overall showing more variance in scoring and losing one or two more games in down weeks as a result.