Best & Worst Fantasy Football Picks from First Half of the 2015 NFL Season

November 4, 2015

By the Football Garbage Time Staff

In our efforts to help you, the reader, with your fantasy football draft, the Football Garbage Time Staff put together a Mock Draft complete with reasons for our picks (Rounds 1 & 2 & Rounds 3 & 4).

And because we’re all hyper competitive, we also conducted an actual Fantasy Football draft for an actual league and published the results and our reasoning. Perhaps this helped, and perhaps it didn’t, but there’s no way to know for sure without playing it out. And so here we are halfway through the NFL season, and it’s time to let you know who we think have been carrying our teams, and who we totally whiffed on in the draft!

Agree? Disagree? Questions? Let us know!

Ha Kung Wong (“Un-BEAR-able”)

MVP – Chris Ivory (9th Round)

Chris Ivory – USA Today Sports Photo

Worst Draft Pick – Kelvin Benjamin (5th Round) & Andre Ellington (6th Round)

Well, nothing has been going according to plan, and at least for me, this cemented why leagues shouldn’t draft too early. Clearly, drafting Kelvin Benjamin in the 5th Round was a horrible mistake, as his season ending injury occurred shortly after I chose him. And grabbing Devin Funchess to take his spot certainly didn’t work out, as no receiver other than TE Greg Olsen benefitted from losing the Panthers’ WR1. But assuming you drafted late enough to avoid such a foolhardy decision, then Andre Ellington has also been an all-world bust. Hoping that he would be 100% healthy this year and continue to lead the Cardinals in touches, I was really only worried that rookie David Johnson would steal carries. Little did I know that the ghost of CJ2K was going to take over. Chris Johnson has had a resurgent season thus far, and has shown no signs of slowing down, leaving Andre Ellington as a complete afterthought, and, at best, a low-end handcuff.

On the other hand, at least up until two weeks ago, Chris Ivory was surprisingly leading the AFC in rushing yards. He’s slowed down a bit, partly by a hamstring injury he sustained against the Patriots, and partly because a Jets offense without Ryan Fitzpatrick is apparently complete crap, but being one of the few healthy weapons remaining on the team, and in particular one that doesn’t entirely rely on an injured Ryan Fitzpatrick or Geno Smith to get him the ball, I think he’ll get back on track sooner rather than later. Besides, RB1 value in the 9th Round? Yes, please!

Scott King (“FXP”)

MVP – Julian Edelman (10th Round)

Julian Edelman – Getty Images

Worst Draft Pick – Buffalo Bills Defense (9th Round)

When I look back at my draft I must say that I am very happy with the value that I got each round. Overall the guys that I took early on have performed as expected. I took some late fliers in RGIII but where I took him I wouldn’t call it a bad pick. My MVP is Julian Edelman, he’s a target machine and puts up huge stats each week — Brady is an MVP again. For my worst pick I’m going with the Buffalo Bills Defense. For me this is the pick that’s performing the worst against their draft position. Overall the bills are putting up ok numbers but they should be a top 2 defense each week.

I’m not in first place, but I’m happy with my draft and that is what I look for each year.

Joanne Kong (“Two Cool Dudes”)

MVP – Rob Gronkowski (2nd Round)

Rob Gronkowski

Worst Draft Pick – Andrew Luck (1st Round)

Unlike the teams on the AFC South, “Two Cool Dudes” have been on a 3-game winning streak.

MVP: The New England Patriots most loved player, Rob Gronkowski, is also my MVP. The man that dressed as Halo’s “Master Chief” from Halo 5: Guardians for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert can do no wrong. There’s no denying, Gronkowski is a staple for the Patriots, as well as every fantasy team.

Trick or Treat @StephenAtHome, @colbertlateshow, @Halo. Best Master Chief ever! https://t.co/Ym1k0MTFXJ pic.twitter.com/d8Mnf9mLbO

— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) October 31, 2015

Worst Draft Pick Ever: I don’t know what’s worse. Your first round draft pick being the pits, or me believing the hype and selecting Andrew Luck as my first round draft pick. Currently, the fourth-quarter-comeback quarterback exemplifies the motto “too little too late” in my book, as he decides to put up numbers late in games. The AFC South can now be considered the worst division in the league with the Indianapolis Colts to the Carolina Panthers in week 8.
Regrets in the draft: Not drafting a stronger pair of quarterbacks. Regardless, “Two Cool Dudes” were able to win with the help of pick-up Alex Smith…crazy, I know.

John Kirkland (“jklmno’s Fine Team”)

MVP – Danny Woodhead (Free Agent)

Danny Woodhead – Getty Images

Worst Draft Pick – C.J. Anderson (3rd Round)

My first thought when I looked at my team pre-season was “WTF, Yahoo auto-draft? This is terrible!” And by golly, C.J. Anderson HAS been terrible!

Anyway, I credit my wins with recognizing that Danny Woodhead was going to be good this year and picking him up off waivers to play in the flex. That and I’ve had a good amount of luck … After all, I sit in second place, but my total points are not top 3 and the points against are low! And I’d be tied for first if I hadn’t forgotten to set my lineup in the week when I had 3, that’s right 3, people on BYE!

Robert Knarr (“CoolHandLuke Kuechly”)

MVP – Antonio Brown (1st Round)

Antonio Brown – Getty Images

Worst Draft Pick – Jeremy Hill (2nd Round)

The MVP of my team has been Antonio Brown. He was my first pick and, despite some disappointing games when Big Ben was out, has played well overall. Jeremy Hill was the worst pick of my draft. He ended up not breaking out, not yet at least. He hasn’t been useless, but also hasn’t delivered near the value he should as a 2nd round pick. Brandin Cooks is a close second here. As far as picks that have delivered good to great value, Amari Cooper has been stellar and I picked him in the 8th round. Greg Olsen has also been solid value for the 6th round.

Bobby Pierson (“BP’s Barons”)

MVP – Tom Brady (4th Round)

Tom Brady – AP Photo

Worst Draft Pick – Jordan Matthews (3rd Round)

New cell phone or no; saved texts or no; Brady still has the end-zone on speed-dial.

I was mighty high on Matthews coming into the season, but drops have plagued his performance. It’s nice that Bradford is still targeting him (avg. 8.3 targets after week 1, when he was targeted 13 times), but since week 1, his reception numbers have been middling, and aside from a week 2 TD (his only of this season), his fantasy value has been pedestrian.