I don’t play in many analyst leagues or for high stakes.
My primary purpose in playing fantasy football is to stay connected to my friends, destroy my co-workers, and insult their families along the way.
So, this was my first FFPC Main Event, and I was VERY nervous. I usually don’t second-guess picks or stress about them.
Until this one.
The FFPC Main Event is a $2,000 entry, with a $1 million grand prize—no big deal.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Main Event, check out the full rules.
I signed up for a slow draft that kicked off on Aug. 19 and picked at 1.05.
The other people in the draft took the slow part to heart, which is their right.
But it's also my right to complain about it.
As is tradition.
| QB | RB | WR | TE | DST | K |
| Tua Tagoviloa | Derrick Henry | Tyreek Hill | Kyle Pitts | Baltimore | Jason Myers |
| Kyler Murray | JK Dobbins | Tee Higgins |
Greg Dulcich | Pittsburgh | |
| Khalil Herbert | Christian Watson | ||||
| Damien Harris | Marquise Brown | ||||
| Zach Charbonnet | Jonathan Mingo | ||||
| Evan Hull | Rashid Shaheed | ||||
| Kendre Miller |
It took me all of 30 seconds to make this pick. I am all in on Hill this year. The only other real consideration was Austin Ekeler, but recent mocks had RB talent in rounds 4-8 that I liked. The two flexes also pushed me toward WR as the tiebreaker.
Henry is built different. He is a monster, and I was happy to anchor my RB1 position with him at this pick. The top QBs were a little intriguing, but I hoped one would drop to me at 3.05.
Spoilers …
Mahomes and Hurts went at the end of the second round. I was watching Josh Allen drop to me at 3.05.
I was waiting with open arms.
Except 3.04 had to crush my dreams. Allen was our No. 1 projected QB for this year, and I would have gladly scooped him up at 3.05
I was instantly tilting.
Higgins at 3.05 was the first pick I really didn’t love. I was between Josh Jacobs and Higgins and was strongly leaning toward Jacobs.
Except Jacobs was still holding out at the time of the pick. That introduced just enough doubt that I decided to play it safer.
If I had this pick back now, I would take Jacobs and be stacked at RB to start the draft.
Watson has been a target in both dynasty and redraft leagues all off-season. He is a high-risk, high-reward player.
Here’s hoping he can get healthy and have chemistry with Love.
I hated this pick when I made it.
I still hate it.
Herms did a great job breaking down the Tight End Preview with solid data analysis and pretty charts.
The summary is that drafting the TE6 through TE12 by ADP is seldom smart.
They just don’t work. They historically don’t give you an advantage, and managers are reaching once the top TEs are gone.
It creates a “TE dead zone.”
I was between Pitts and Fields here. I was a slave to ADP. I hate myself.
Every Draft Sharks employee is in on Dobbins. I briefly considered him at 5.05, but his ADP made it likely he would drop to me here.
This pick was about as fast as the Hill pick. I was happy to lock him in as my RB2.
I really only looked at WRs when I got to this pick.
I was between Brown, Michael Pittman, Zay Flowers, and Jaxon Smith-Nijgba, who all have warts.
Brown is missing Kyler and might have a guy named “Clayton Tune” throwing to him at the start of the season,
Pittman has a rookie QB who happened to be awful in college.
JSN had recently broken a bone in his wrist, and Twitter doctors basically declared him deceased.
Flowers is undersized and might be in a messy WR corp.
The tie-breaker was that Kevin had just drafted Brown in his FFPC Main Event league.
When in doubt, trust Kevin.
I think Herbert has explosive upside and the potential to outscore his ADP.
I was excited to make this pick.
Pete Carroll is a man of mystery. No one can predict how he is going to use his RBs. Maybe not even Pete knows.
Charbonnet felt like an upside pick in the ninth.
Mingo was an intriguing prospect with a surprisingly high score in my rookie model. He landed on a team in Carolina with a rookie QB and a desperate need for pass catchers.
What if Mingo ends the year as the WR1 on the team? It is within the range of possibilities and I felt he was worth the risk here.
My tentative goal after Round 1 was to stack Hill and Tua. I think Tua’s injury risk is overshadowing his upside.
He is not currently hurt. And if he gets hurt, there are guys on the waiver wire.
Harris was a handcuff-type RB with some flex upside. We don’t know how the Buffalo backfield will shake out. He felt like a solid value in the 12th.
There was a mini-run on young TEs in the late 12th and early 13th rounds. I only had Pitts on the roster and wanted to target a young, upside TE since this is a TE-premium league.
Dulcich felt like a steal at 13.05 and the seeming end of a TE tier.
Target ambiguous backfields. I knew Kamara would be out for three weeks and that Jamal Williams is a solid but not special RB.
There is plenty of opportunity for the rookie Miller to have value.
Hull is an intriguing prospect in this year's draft. He is a bigger RB who can catch passes—my catnip.
He felt like a solid handcuff and could be interesting while JT is on the PUP.
Baltimore has a matchup with the Texans in Week 1.
Stroud is a rookie QB with subpar pass catchers and a team that earned the #2 overall pick last year.
The Texans look like an early season target to stream defenses against.
He’s fast.
Kyler in the 18th felt like a free pick. His slide in ADP is overblown.
He went from an avoid to a target throughout August for me.
He is an active kicker.
Pittsburgh had a solid Week 2 matchup that would pair well with the Baltimore defense pick from earlier.
Drafting your fantasy football team is only the beginning. Now you have to win the season.
That means setting your best fantasy football lineups.
That means working the waiver wire.
That means making smart fantasy football trades.
We've got you covered in all areas. Learn more about our in-season strategy in this video ...