The Football Garbage Time 2017 Fantasy Football Draft

By The Football Garbage Time Staff

As we do every year, we discussed who we would draft in our Mock Draft breakdown for Rounds 1 & 2 and in Rounds 3 & 4.  And now it’s time for the real deal.

Here…you…GO…the results of the 2017 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 2017 Football Garbage Time Staff Fantasy Football Draft

Team: CoolHandLuke Kuechly

Owner: Auto-Draft

Yeah, we had one auto-draft team.  And we put him first overall, just to make it harder on ourselves.  But, honestly, auto-draft didn’t do too bad.

David Johnson was an easy #1 overall, particularly in our half PPR format, and Fournette and Montgomery are a fine set of RBs, although both are in danger of at least some time share.  But the WR depth is abysmal, with just Baldwin and Hill really startable (though Hill with a low floor if things go south).  After that, Garcon, who’s not a bad deal at 120 overall and would make for a terrific WR4, is a weak WR3.

And clearly, no one needs to draft 3 QBs.  That’s just daft.  But it’ll be interesting see how he performs, particularly when bye weeks start.

Team: FXP Jr.

Owner: Kaiden King

This is what Kaiden had to say about his picks:

For my first fantasy draft I think I did pretty well.  My favorite pick is clearly Antonio Brown, he has a history is being great (1,200+ yards in 4 straight seasons and double digit TDs in the last three) and I hope to see more of that this year.  I’m interested to see how the Patriots do on defense this year after shoring up the secondary.  We’ll see how the year turns out.

Team: Cooks in the Kitchen

Owner: Ryan Whitfield

This is what Ryan had to say about his picks:

Just so everyone is clear, crystal. I won the draft. Yahoo told me so and I certainly do not disagree. But I digress.

Quarterbacks – In the interest of being upfront, I’m not ecstatic about my QB’s. I chose to focus on RB and WR and roll the dice on two guys who underperformed last season. I took Cam Newton first and Carson Palmer later. Hopefully they act like it’s 2015 and I’ll be sitting pretty.

Running Backs – I went Le’Veon Bell early and then grabbed Paul Perkins as my RB2, after I had built up my WR core. Adding Doug Martin and Terrence West to my bench gives me a lot of options and depth once Martin is back from suspension.

Wide Receivers – My one-two punch here is Brandin Cooks and T.Y. Hilton. I then went depth of high upside guys with Davante Adams, Martavis Bryant, John Brown, Corey Davis and Mike Wallace. In a two WR and one flex league, I plan to roll 3 WR’s most of the year and I have a ton of great options there.

Tight End – I don’t love Martellus Bennett this year. He’s had attitude issues in the past, and while he was great last year, that was a contract year. Do we see the same Marty now that he got paid? We’ll see. But I took him around 100 overall with and ADP of 63, had to do it.

Kicker – Adam Vinatieri is as consistent as they come. Kicks indoors, still hits from distance. And while I don’t build my fantasy team around this ideology, I do enjoy having Hilton racking up points on a drive that is capped off with a point or a few by Adam. Please get healthy Andrew.

Defense – Atlanta. I got them late too and was thrilled they were still available. I think they turned a corner last year and got better in the off season. Young group growing and building with a defensive minded coach. I’m expecting a top 5 performance this year.

Team: OBJYN

Owner: Joey Alibro

Typical. A team called OBJYN takes OBJ in the first round.  Other than that though, taking a chance on Zeke Elliott in the second round is quite the gamble.  If his suspension is reduced to 4 games, this will be a steal.  If it stays at 6 games, then it’s going tobe a struggle with just Isaiah Crowell, Mike Gillislee, Tevin Coleman and Theo Riddick holding down the backfield.  Of those not named Crowell, I like Coleman the best.  He had almost a 40% timeshare with Devonta Freeman in a high powered Falcons offense and should catch a few balls as well.

I really like Big Ben and Marcus Mariota as the reliable and upside QB selections respectively, but Mike Glennon was superfluous.

Team: FXP

Owner: Scott King

This is what Scott had to say about his picks:

Another year, another draft.  Coming off a championship season last year I have to overcome the hangover.  Overall I’m happy with my team, I went after some strong WRs in Julio Jones, Amari Cooper and Allen Robinson, but at the expense of the RB position.  Demarco Murray is my RB1, which is fine but it drops off from there.  I went with the “all potential” RB by committee.  One of these guys has to pop: AP, Ingram, Abdullah and L. Murray.  I also took a flier on Cutler as my third QB, just for fun.  Should be a good year.

Team: Team GarbageTalk

Owner: John Kirkland

I love Todd Gurley in the 3rd round.  The Rams looks like a new team in the preseason and Jared Goff finally looks competent.  With Sammy Watkins there, defenders shouldn’t continue to stack the box, which means Gurley may be able to return to 2015 form.  And if so, that’s a steal.

I also really like Willie Snead in the 11th round, as the Saints will continue being a pass first team that will find itself behind often in light of it’s untested defense.  And with Brandin Cooks gone, there should be more than enough to go around for Michael Thomas and Willie Snead.

Team: Two Cool Dudes

Owner: Joanne Kong
[Editors Note: Spencer Ware suffered a knee injury in the third preseason game, after our draft.]

This is what Joanne had to say about her picks:

Where I went wrong:  Second guessing first round draft pick.

With the seventh pick in the draft, picking the best available player should have been the priority.  Of course, there are no guarantees that a higher ranked player would give you the expected production.  But reaching for a potential break-out player instead can be a risk when a top draft pick is available.  Yes, the top pick I’m referring to is Mike Evens (1,321 yards and 12 touchdowns), who was available at the seventh pick, but seemed to have fallen off my radar.  Instead, I went upside with Micheal Thomas.  Thomas had a great rookie season (1,137 yards and 9 touchdowns) and without Brandin Cooks, Thomas will be the number one receiver for the Saints.  With increased opportunity, Thomas shows a lot of potential to among the top scorers in the league in the 2017 season.

Where I went right: Quarterback Draft

Like the actual NFL, quarterbacks can make or break your fantasy team.  In a two quarterback league, the position can be crucial.  Last season, I had a hard time scrambling for a pickups at the position.  This season, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake.

After securing wide receivers, running backs and a tight end, I drafted three quarterbacks back-to-back-to-back, which allowed me to draft quarterbacks that might not be guaranteed to produce like Aaron Rodgers, but have a wide berth for up-side.

Kirk Cousins (Washington Redskins – 4,917 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and 6 fumbles).  Entering his sixth year with the Redskins, Cousins was unable to negotiate a long term contract with the team, but will play under the franchise tag.  With the addition of Terrelle Pryor (WR) and a finally healthy Josh Doctson (WR), plus the return of Jamison Crowder (WR) and Jordan Reed (TE), Cousin will not be wanting for targets down field.  If his production surpasses expectations, Cousins could be looking at big money in 2018.

Derek Carr (Oakland Raiders – 3,937 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, 6 interceptions and 2 fumbles).  Leaving the 2016 season with an injury, the loss of Derek Carr probably cost the Oakland Raiders a chance at Super Bowl 51.  But the past is the past, and in the 2017 season, the Raiders are looking to work their way back to the post-season and Vegas seems to like Oakland’s chances.  With the return of the Raiders offensive front line (one of the best in the league allowing only 16 sacks), an extensive depth chart of receivers and the highly anticipated addition of Marshawn Lynch at running back, the Raiders are looking to be contenders.  And if all fails, Carr can fall back on his love of music.

Of course, Carr stated it was a joke.  Or is it?

Eli Manning (New York Giants – 4,027 passing yards, 26 touchdowns, 16 interceptions, 7 fumbles).  In his fourteenth season with the Giants, Eli Manning has been best described as unreliable when it comes to fantasy points week to week.  In 2017, Manning won’t have a lack of targets in wide receiver with OBJ, Sterling Shepard, the addition of Brandon Marshall and rookie first round draft pick tight end, Evan Engram.

Team: David Boston Biceps

Owner: Michael Pattison
[Editors Note: Julian Edelman suffered a potential ACL injury in the third preseason game, after our draft.]

Michael decided to go “Zero-RB” for the first four rounds, and I’d say it worked out relatively well for him.  Having Mike Evans, Jordy Nelson and DeAndre Hopkins at WR allows him to play two of the most consistent and high upside players at WR and a strong Flex, plus have cover for bye weeks.  And doing this still netted him Dalvin Cook and CJ Anderson as starting RBs, which isn’t too bad.  I love Cook’s upside, particularly now that he’s established himself as at worst the better side of a timeshare with oft-injured Latavius Murray.

I really do like Carson Wentz this year, but 7th round is too early for me.  I’d wait until at least 12th round, or the 11th round if you’re really being aggressive.  You should definitely target him, but not as your starter in a 10-team league, and not that early.

Team: Jason’s Cool Team

Owner: Jason Johnson

Jason went the extreme opposite of Michael and took three straight RBs with Melvin Gordon, Jay Ajayi and Christian McCaffrey.  Coming off a breakout 2016 (1,400+ total yards in just 13 games), I love Gordon’s upside this year, and he’s well worth a first round pick.  Ajayi has looked exceptional in the preseason and promises to get plenty of work as the Dolphins go conservative without Tannehill.  And McCaffrey is likely the most electric rookie RB I’ve ever seen.  Of course, 3rd round might be a little early for McCaffrey, as he’ll be in a timeshare with “The Daily Show” (aka Jonathan Stewart), but he should be able to do enough to be useful, particularly in a PPR format. And handcuffing him with Stewart in the 14th round is a fantastic deal.

Getting Demaryius Thomas and Keenan Allen as his every week WRs is plenty good, and actually demonstrates the great depth at WR this year.  My only concern is that he doesn’t have much depth at WR, and may have drafted one too many RBs (was Frank Gore really necessary?).

Team: Keep Calm & Bear On

Owner: Ha Kung Wong

If this was a single QB league, I would have waited until the 5th round to consider taking a QB.  Heck, I might have even waited until round 6 or 7 if I could get the likes of Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston there.

But this is a 2 QB league.  And since QBs are generally the highest scoring players on any fantasy team, it’s even more important to get them early if you need to play 2 of them each and every week.  So I absolutely prioritized taking the best two QBs on the board, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady.

The other issue for basically all fantasy leagues is the lack of true bellcow running backs.  So I got the best available at the 10th and 30th overall picks, Devonta Freeman and Marshawn Lynch.  Admittedly, Beastmode was a bit of a risk, but the upside in such a high powered offense is huge.

Of course, taking 2 QBs in the first four rounds has it’s price, and that price is a lack of quality WRs.  I love Michael Crabtree in the 5th round as he’s one of the most overlooked reliable options in the draft, but Sammy Watkins in the 6th round is a real risk.  Jared Goff looks like an actual NFL QB so far in the preseason, but come the beginning of the regular season, all bets are off.  Watkins can be good, but he could also be waiver wire fodder in a matter of weeks if Goff face plants again.  Golden Tate in the 7th round feels about right if Matt Stafford continues his 2016 play, but Eddie Lacy in the 8th round now feels like a huge mistake.

Lacy has looked slow so far in the preseason, and his offensive line is not doing him any favors.  He was lucky that Thomas Rawls sat out the second preseason game with an injury, but did nothing with the opportunity.  I decided to grab Rawls as Lacy insurance, but with the injury, now I’m not even sure about that.

My favorite late pick, thought, was Rob Kelley in the 11th round.  He’s a starting RB in the NFL, and although all the hype surrounds rookie Samaje Perine, it’s Kelley’s job to loose.  Starting RB in the 11th round? Yes, please.

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