6th Annual Football Garbage Time Fantasy Football League Draft Results & Analysis

By the Football Garbage Time Staff & Friends

Football is here!  Meaning that Fantasy Football is ALSO here!

And so comes the 6th Annual Football Garbage Time Fantasy Football league, this year featuring managers from around the industry, including:

As you might recall, we don’t like making things easy, so our league is a two QB, half PPR  league with an offensive flex.  So no snoozing on that draft!

And because we care, below are my comments on the draft including trends that I saw in our draft in relation to past drafts and mock drafts, as well as comments from some of the other managers.  Questions?  Let us know!

Also, feel free to follow the league here!

– Ha Kung Wong, Editor-in-Chief

6th Annual Football Garbage Time Fantasy Football League Draft Results

Being the first overall pick, my strategy was pretty straight forward.  Christian McCaffrey was the clear number one choice, and with my next pick coming really late, I felt compelled to fill a second solid RB (Chris Carson being the best available in terms of volume) and my first QB since this is a two QB league, Lamar Jackson being the clear choice as second best QB in the draft.

Interesting to note that 8 of 12 teams drafted a QB in the first 3 rounds and 10 of 12 teams took 2 RBs in the first 3 rounds.  The take away I had was that true bell cow RBs are still a premium this season and that you really need to anchor your team with a top 12 QB in a two QB league, as it starts to get ugly fast later in the draft.  Also interesting to note is that most teams decided to wait at WR, with 4 teams having only 1 WR in the first 5 rounds and one team going zero WR in the first 5 rounds.  This was in line with what I’ve seen in other leagues as there are plenty of upside WR picks late in the draft when you combine the high level rookies entering the league and lesser known WR2s with opportunity.

Having only 1 WR entering the 6th round, I focused on rounding out my WR core and adding a TE in the next 6 rounds.  I’ve been a huge fan of both Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp this season with Brandin Cooks out of the picture, but Woods has consistently been the better value being available 1 to 2 rounds later than Kupp.  I also loved what I saw from DK Metcalf late last season and think there’s even more room to grow with Tyler Lockett being the only other viable returning target for Russell Wilson.  When I don’t get one of the top 3 TEs in Travis Kelce, George Kittle or Mark Andrews, I tend to wait to get one of Darren Waller, Evan Engram or Hayden Hurst in the 8th or 9th round, which landed me Engram.  And finally, I don’t normally draft Kareem Hunt, but the value was too high for Hunt being available in the 8th round.

In terms of trends, I noted that 8 of 12 teams took a QB in rounds 9 and 10, meaning that 7 of 12 teams had 3 QBs by the end of round 10.  The takeaway I had from this is that in two QB leagues, you not only have to get your first QB in the first 3 rounds, but you need to at least have your second QB by the end of round 10 if not sooner.  With regard to TEs, as I noted above, the last of the starting TEs I’d want was gone by round 9, so don’t wait on TE unless you want Noah Fant, who seems to continuously get undervalued.

The remainder of my draft was taking a few flyers on upside WRs and filling out defense and kicker.  From round 12 onward I like to add at least 2 of the following upside rookie WRs: CeeDee Lamb, Henry Ruggs III, Jerry Jeudy, Justin Jefferson, Brandon Aiyuk, and Michael Pittman Jr.  I also don’t mind adding those WRs with increased opportunity this season and little competition, like Allen Lazard in Green Bay and N’Keal Harry in New England.

Unsurprisingly, the run on defenses began in earnest in round 15, which is why I don’t mind getting one a round earlier than that so you don’t have to play “defense roulette” during the season.  And also unsurprisingly, the run on kickers began in round 16.  In my opinion, there’s essentially no reason to draft a kicker prior to the last round, and there’s zero reason to get a backup.

Adam’s Comments on the Draft

Rolled the dice with the #2 overall selection by taking KC rookie RB Edwards-Helaire. I went all in and selected a few of his teammates with quarterback Pat Mahomes with my second overall pick and adding WR Mecole Hardman and RB D.Williams in the later rounds. With WR’s T.McLauren and Chris Godwin leading the way, this could be an explosive team for The Burgundy and Gold Report. #FightForOldDC

Scott’s Comments on the Draft

I’ll admit it, this seasons fantasy season snuck up on me. Maybe it was the lack of preseason games, maybe it was the lack of camp or maybe I was just slacking. I had to do some cramming but I caught up quickly. This was my first live draft of the season so I had to adjust to my competition. I landed Zeke at #4 so that helped get me in the groove. I followed the strategy I laid out in my mocks and grabbed Goff in the 6th, not an exciting pick but solid in two QB leagues. My draft overall went as planned, I’m a bit light at TE and somehow ended up with 3 Lions. As a Lions fan that really concerns me. We’ll see how this season goes, good luck.

Mike’s Comments on the Draft

Normally I go heavy on RB and WR early, but this time I tried a different tactic with Travis Kelce earlier to have the positional advantage at TE. WR is deep this year, so I am comfortable with waiting on that position and having Cooper Kupp and Keenan Allen leading the way. RB will be what really makes or breaks this team, taking risks on rookies with upside in Jonathon Taylor and Zack Moss. Both guys are in a backfield that will start the year in a split, but I expect Taylor’s talent to win out and Moss to have the higher value carries in Buffalo. Marquise Brown was a target I am expecting a breakout year from. From there it was a mix of veteran talent (Golden Tate and Desean Jackson) and young unproven guys (CeeDee Lamb and Bryce Love). Not the typical team for me especially at RB, but interested to see how it turns out.

Joanne’s Comments on the Draft

In uncertain times, in which many were skeptical whether a NFL season would even exist, we start the countdown for the 2020 season opener on Thursday Night Football – The Super Bowl Champions vs the Houston Texans.

One benefit of picking late is going back-to-back on your picks, or close to back-to-back when you’re the 10th pick in a 12-team league. Of course after the first two picks, you have to wait twenty picks before your next one. That’s where strategy comes in to play. Because this season is deep in wide receivers, especially several rookies that have potentially high ceilings, I targeted running backs for my first two picks, with the exception that I would have selected Micheal Thomas if he was still available at the 10th pick. Therefore in round one and two, I went running back – running back with Nick Chubb (Cleveland Browns) and Kenyan Drake (Arizona Cardinals). Nick Chubb was an obvious first round pick. In his second season in the league, 2019, Chubb had 298 attempts for 1494 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns. Chubb also had 36 receptions for 278 receiving yards. Kenyan Drake was also an obvious pick for me. A fifth-year veteran, Drake joined the Arizona Cardinals in 2019 behind David Johnson and exploded for 643 yards and 8 touchdowns in the second half of the 2019 season, one of his best seasons in the NFL.  In 2020, Drake will be the lead back for the Cardinals, driving up his value in fantasy leagues. Drake seems to have found his fit, and if his stock continues to trend up, he has the potential to put up the stats of a top 5 running back, having the best season in his career.

In fantasy, quarterbacks can make or break your team. And in a two quarterback league, drafting quarterbacks becomes more of a priority. In round 3, Deshaun Watson (Houston Texans) was an obvious draft pick as a top five ranked quarterback coming into the 2020 season, even without Hopkins.  Watson had 3,852 passing yards and 12 passing touchdowns along with scrambling for 413 rush yards and 7 rushing touchdowns.

AJ Brown (Tennessee Titans) is the consensus 9th ranked wide receiver coming into the 2020 season, good for a tier 3 player according to Fantasy Pros, and good for my fourth round pick, and my first wide receiver pick. Brown had 52 receptions for 1051 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns, as well as 60 rushing yards and a touchdown in 2019 and an extra year under his belt can’t hurt.

 

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