The Football Garbage Time 2016 Fantasy Football Draft

By The Football Garbage Time Staff

We discussed who we would draft in our Mock Draft breakdown for Rounds 1 & 2.  And now it’s time for the real deal.

Here…you…GO…the results of the Football Garbage Time Staff Fantasy Football Draft!  And we’re not about to go “run-of-the-mill” on you, because as you know, it’s not our style.  We’re doing it up with a custom 10-team head-to-head 2 Quarterback league with an added half point per reception.  In total, each team will have to field 2 Quarterbacks, 2 Running Backs, 2 Wide Receivers, 1 Tight End, 1 WR/RB/TE Flex, 1 Kicker and 1 Defense/Special Teams.  Wonder how our fantasy football draft sorted out?  Well, take a look, and I’ll make a few comments along the way along with some of the rest of the staff.

And if you’d like to follow our league, feel free to check it out throughout the season by clicking the button below!

Football Garbage Time Staff Fantasy Football League

— Ha Kung Wong, Editor-in-Chief

The 2016 Football Garbage Time Staff Fantasy Football Draft

Team: Team GarbageTalk

Owner: John Kirkland

It’s always tough in 2 QB leagues not to take a QB early, but Antonio Brown is an easy first choice, particular in our half PPR league.  Brown had the second most receiving yards (1834 yards), was tied for the most receptions (136) and was the most targeted (204) receiver in the NFL last year.  And did you realize that only 6 other WRs had over 100 receptions last year?  So, yeah, makes a difference for PPR league.  And Phillip Rivers and Matthew Stafford as starting QBs in the 7th and 8th rounds is perfectly acceptable.  The absolute best value on this team though is Justin Forsett in the 15th round.  Starting RB in the second to last round? No brainer.

This is what John had to say about his picks:

For year two of our Football Garbage Time Fantasy Football league I had to auto draft and frankly I’m liking auto draft a lot. I like both my QBs, my wide receivers and my running backs. Philip rivers has never done me dirty. With both Allen and Benjamin I think the rivers is going to be hitting on all cylinders. He’s competitive and hates to lose. What else could you want in a qb. And while my other qb Stafford is used to losing – despite the loss of Calvin Johnson I’m liking his upside based on the lions acquisition of boldin and Tate though I am concerned about a potential loss of ebron and pettigrew. On the positive side, Stafford’s wife Kelly, former GA cheerleader and Instagram sensation, is judging tryouts for the lions cheerleading squad … So there’s that.

My wide receiver squad rocks and Ingram did me right last year in another league. Hyde is a question mark as is anyone on team 49rs but I like how forsett looks so I’m looking forward to bringing it this year!

Cheers America!

Team: FXP

Owner: Scott King

This is what Scott had to say about his picks:

With the second pick in the FGTDraft I had a decision to make.  Do I go with new conventional wisdom and take a WR or do I go old school and grab a RB?  As expected the first round was dominated by WRs and I followed suit by taking OBJ.  I could have gone with Julio, but I think the Giants are primed for a big season on offense.

I hate picking at the top because it’s a long wait until my next pick.  With my second pick (19 overall) I grabbed what I think is my best value pick.  WR Jordy Neson.  Yes he’s coming off injury but I think GB is going to have a big season on offense.

The pick I’m most disappointed in is Brees in the 5th (42 overall).  At that point I had three WR and RB (Rawls).  There were some good WR still available but I didn’t want to wait too long on a QB and get hosed.

Overall I have some work to do at RB but I have depth at WR and solid enough at QB to put together a good season.

Of course after week 1 I’ll think my team is terrible.

@NFLFantasy_more

Team: OBJYN

Owner: Joey Alibro

This is what Joey had to say about his picks:

I had the 3rd pick in the draft so I knew I was going to be able to end up with one of the big three receivers (Brown, Beckham, and Jones). I snagged Julio in the 1st and then doubled down on receiver in the 2nd by grabbing Keenan Allen. I knew I wanted to wait a little longer than most to grab QBs and a tight end because the disparity between the top QBs and the middle of the road guys isn’t great enough to warrant a high pick. I picked Eli and Derek Carr in the middle to late rounds expecting Manning to continue to flourish in the Mcadoo offense and expecting Carr to make another leap this season. Also, I had Martellus Bennett as one of my top targets for late in the draft because of how much New England utilizes their tight ends. I have a solid RB in Doug Martin, but I also picked Jeremy Hill even with the question marks surrounding the Cincinnati backfield. Randall Cobb will serve as a very competent flex. For my bench, I was able to get Michael Floyd, Stefon Diggs, Teddy Bridgewater, Dorial Green-Beckham, Jordan Cameron, and Matt Jones. This team looks to be pretty strong all-around, and I like my chances to kick everyone’s ass. 😉

 

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyalibro

Team: BP’s Barons

Owner: Bobby Pierson

The best pick by far was Sammy Watkins in the 4th round.  He has the skills to become a top 2 round talent if the Bills decide to feature him going forward (and he stays healthy).  Dwayne Allen in the 14th is also intriguing and speaks to solid TE depth.

On the other hand, I wasn’t thrilled with the QB situation, as Tony Romo is fine, but Marcus Mariota in the 8th is a huge risk.  Jay Cutler in the 15th is worth the price of admission, but not a solid second QB to have in a 2 QB league.

This is what Bobby had to say about his draft picks:

As with any autodraft, I expected multiple top tier kickers and defenses.  This year, I have been graced with a solid kicker in Graham Gano, but no backup kicker.  As for defenses, I secured the Seahawks (which is great) and the Eagles (which is my favorite team in reality, but not necessarily in fantasy).  Had I been at the helm of the autodraft logic, I may have foregone the Eagles for a strong backup kicker (like Steven Hauscka or Justin Tucker, both of whom were still on the board).

Team: Un-BEAR-Able

Owner: Ha Kung Wong

As I said previously, it’s tough to avoid first or second round QBs in a two QB league.  But I just couldn’t pass on Todd Gurley with the fifth pick.  Sure, he had the third most rush yards last year, but he now has a full year under his belt in the Rams system and is the focal point of an offense that doesn’t have many other weapons.  Besides, did you know that only 7 RBs had over 1000 rushing yards in 2015?  Many teams employ a running-back-by-committee approach to preserve the health of their RBs and to diversify their offense, so finding a true “bell cow” back is not as easy as it used be.  Have at least one can help give you an advantage in head-to-head matchups.

Which is also why I think the best value of my draft was Jeremy Langford in the 10th round.  There have been a lot of questions during the off season regarding who would get the bulk of carries after Matt Forte’s move to New York.  Many saw Langford’s performance in 2015 as a sign of things to come, as he had 537 rush yards, 279 receiving yards and 7 total TDs starting about half the games for the Bears.  But then the Bears drafted Jordan Howard in the 5th round of this year’s draft.  Howard had 1213 rushing yards and 11 rushing TDs in 2015 for Indiana (3rd best in the Big Ten), and 1587 rushing yards and 13 TDs in 2014 for Alabama-Birmingham (2nd best in CUSA), so there’s reason to believe he could become productive as a primary RB in the NFL.  And there were rumblings of a RBBC approach in Chicago throughout the offseason.

However, as I mentioned in the Early Preseason Podcast, Langford started the first preseason game and rushed for 7 yards on 4 carries, catching 1 pass for 3 yards. The numbers aren’t impressive, but he was the clear primary back for the Bears, and also did well in pass protection, particularly on one play against Broncos ILB Brandon Marshall, something that he struggled at last year.  Howard, on the other hand, played not only behind Langford, but also Jacquizz Rodgers and KaDeem Carey.  Langford started again in the second Bears preseason game totaling 55 rush yards and a TD in 8 carries, adding a reception for 8 yards.  I feel pretty good about my 10th round selection.

Last, I’ll mention 2015 breakout TE Gary Barnidge in the 12th round and second year WR Devin Funchess in the 14th round.  Honestly, Barnidge in the 12th demonstrates you can get solid TEs late in drafts.  He’s shown good chemistry with likely starting QB RGIII, and tallied 26 yards and a TD in the second preseason game.  As for Funchess, perhaps I reached a bit, but I think he’s going to get even more productive targets now that Kelvin Benjamin is back.  He’s a big target, and I’m willing to go on record saying that he’ll end the season only slightly behind much earlier drafted Benjamin.  A great WR4/5 sleeper.

And one parting thought.  Now that I was able to snag Julian Edelman in the 6th round, I didn’t feel nearly as good about AJ Green in the 2nd round.  If I could do it again, I’d take another top tier RB, and then take another upside WR in the 5th round instead of taking Matt Forte.

Team: CoolHandLuke Kuechly

Owner: Robert Knarr

First of all, I love the upside of rookie Ezekiel Elliot behind the dominant Cowboys offensive line, but I’m more risk adverse in the early rounds of drafts.  So I would have preferred a more proven option, or a QB here.

I do love the Jamaal Charles selection in the 3rd round, as I still believe he’s a first round talent when healthy, and the Antonio Gates selection in the 13th round.  Heck, no matter what, he’s still Antonio Gates and will get his fair share of targets from his pal Philip Rivers.  However, if he has a hot start, I might look to trade him in light of the fact Gronk is already on this team.

Team: Jason’s Cool Team

Owner: Jason Johnson

Grabbing Aaron Rodgers at the 7th overall pick in a 2 QB league makes tons of sense.  And pairing him with Carson Palmer in the 5th round and Matt Ryan in the 7th round means never having to worry about that position.  My only concern though is spending the 7th round on a backup QB when he could have waited until the end of the draft to take someone like Ryan Fitzpatrick or RGIII.  They way I see it, grabbing Rodgers early gave him the flexibility to sit on a backup because he’ll play Rodgers essentially every week no matter the matchup.

I really like Tyler Boyd in the 14th round.  He’s been the talk of the town in Cincy, and has put his skills on display in the preseason, totaling 38 yards and a TD in the second preseason game.  Someone has to replace Marvin Jones and Mohammad Sanu, and take pressure of AJ Green, and Boyd looks like the man for the job.

Team: Two Cool Dudes

Owner: Joanne Kong

This is what Joanne had to say about her draft picks:

As raining champion of the League, there’s always pressure to be victorious.  The first step towards the road to victory is the DRAFT.

Up-Side Pick – Eddie Lacy (RB for the Green Bay Packers) – 3rd round pick (28th pick overall)

In 2015, Eddie Lacy had his worst season, 187 attempts for 758 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Criticized for being out-of shape, Eddie Lacy worked with P90X guru Tony Horton during the off-season, losing 20 lbs and getting back into form.

“I feel more explosive, yeah,” Eddie Lacy said after his week 1 pre-season debut.  And, analysts seem to agree.

First look at new, improved #Packers RB Eddie Lacy. Up close, looks like he lost weight, especially in upper body. pic.twitter.com/TjS6ztnqpE

— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) May 24, 2016

There were some great options in running back this year.  But, with the new and improved (or maybe the original) Eddie Lacy starting in the Packers’ roster, he’s looking to have a thousand yard rushing season.

Down-Side Pick – DeAndre Hopkins (WR for the Houston Texans) – 1st round pick (8th pick overall)

Unfortunately, my roster looks to be filled with more downside prospects than upside ones.  But, we all know there is little security in fantasy football.  Hype of the Houston Texans before the pre-season quickly extinguished after the first pre-season game.  An unproven Brock Osweiler looked lost and out of place with the Houston offense, leaving the wide receiving core in question.  Of course, the pre-season doesn’t dictate the regular season, but with less than a month remaining, the Texas offense still have a lot of work ahead of them to be ready.  With a disappointing 8th pick in the 2016 FGT Draft and my targeted first round pick, Todd Gurley (RB for the LA Rams) taken, my first round draft pick was DeAndre Hopkins.  How good is a wide receiver with a mediocre quarterback?  Hopkins is familiar with the drill.  And, so am I.  With Hopkins on my roster during the 2015 season, there were high highs and low lows, and there were many weeks I cursed drafting him.

Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.

Team: U.S.S. Brady’s Revenge

Owner: Ryan Whitfield

Being the resident Patriots homer, I wasn’t surprise to see Ryan take Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo.  But I think he did it in the smartest possible way, as he got Brady in the 6th round (who will be a 1st round talent by week 5 in 2 QB leagues) and didn’t have to handcuff him with Garoppolo until the last round of the draft.  I might have preferred taking a flyer on Ryan Fitzpatrick or RGIII instead of Garoppolo, but for the price, it’s a no risk situation.

And I understand the thinking behind taking Josh Gordon in the 10th round, as he could be a top 4 round talent when he returns, but he hasn’t played a snap in over a year, so I’m wary of what we’ll get out of him this season.  On the other hand, I see Chris Ivory in the 11th round as a great value, as he’s likely to get more than 50% of the snaps in what appears to be a much improved offense in Jacksonville.

Team: David Boston Biceps

Owner: Michael Pattison

Far and away the best value selection here was LeGarrette Blount in the last round of the draft.  He’s not exciting to own, and his upside is limited while Dion Lewis is taking snaps, but his role seems well established in New England, or at least as well established as can be under Bill Belichick.  He proved it again in the second preseason game where he rushed for 69 yards and a TD.  Again, no Lewis on the field, but I think he’s safe to deploy as an RB3.

Adrian Peterson at 10th overall was also a solid pick, but I would have passed on Le’Veon Bell in the second round in light of his three game suspension and opted for a top flight QB or WR there instead.