Fantasy Football Draft Breakdown: NFFC 150 Best Ball Championship
This NFFC slow draft allows for 4 hours in between picks with a grace period overnight. It’s a PPR League, and quarterbacks get 6 points for passing touchdowns. My weekly lineup will include my best QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, TE, Flex, Team K, and Team D/ST for the week. There is a prize for the top 2 teams in the league and a 30 K grand prize for the overall winner amongst all the 150 Best Ball Championship leagues. In grand prize leagues, it is beneficial to have team stacks as they point correlations; they will be your best way to try and make it through a vast number of teams to get to the 30K. I picked seventh, so my odds of getting either Justin Jefferson or Amon-Ra St. Brown are great. As you will see from the Draft Board below, this draft went a little bit sideways, and I will explain that as I dig into this. I will also point out some mistakes that I think I made with other teams.
Round 1, Pick 7 – WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, Lions:
St. Brown is an easy pick here. I was thinking that maybe Jefferson would make it here, but Amon-Ra is as consistent as they come. He is going to have 100-plus receptions and close to double-digit touchdowns.
Round 2, Pick 18 – RB Kyren Williams, Rams:
I think Williams will be the workhorse back despite the Rams drafting RB Blake Corum. Remember last season when Jaguar draft pick Tank Bigsby was going to cut into Travis Etienne’s workload? That didn’t happen last season. The Rams and the coaching staff are interested in winning football games, and Williams gives them their best shot. I was considering RB Rachaad White here.
Round 3, Pick 30 – WR Michael Pittman, Colts:
I was ecstatic to get Pittman in this spot. I have him ranked much higher than most. I am drafting him ahead of Marvin Harrison Jr., Chris Olave, Drake London, Nico Collins, and Brandon Aiyuk. He had 109 catches last season and 99 the year before playing with poor QB play. Anthony Richardson is back, and they have a solid backup in Joe Flacco. I liked RB Josh Jacobs, but couldn’t pass up 100 catches in the third round.
Round 4, Pick 43 – RB Joe Mixon, Texans:
Running backs are going off the board fast, and I knew I couldn’t pass on one here. Mixon is steady and could score many goal-line touchdowns in this offense.
Round 5, Pick 54 – WR Christian Kirk, Jaguars:
I really like Kirk this season. He is going to be the top receiver, and he had 67 catches in just 10.5 games last year. Plus, Calvin Ridley is no longer on the team. One hundred catches are a real possibility. I was all set to draft QB Anthony Richardson to have a Colts stack, but Team 9 drafted their SECOND QB. I think that it is a big mistake to take two QBs this early, as there is just too much value at other positions. Also, look at Team 8; they drafted their second tight end and did not have a receiver.
Round 6, Pick 67 – RB Zamir White, Raiders:
The quarterback position was starting to get thin, but I wasn’t deterred from drafting White at this spot. As the Raiders’ premier back, he should get close to 250 touches. Team 8 still doesn’t have a receiver at this point.
Round 7, Pick 78 – TE Jake Ferguson, Cowboys:
Ferguson was a bit of a reach here, but he should get a ton of targets in the Dallas offense. I wanted to wait another round, but I thought he was much better than the next tight end available by a larger margin. Team 8 is becoming dead money because they took a third TE and still do not have a receiver. All that team has done is push me into drafting Ferguson much earlier than I wanted.
Round 8, Pick 91 – Caleb Williams, Bears
We have several teams with two quarterbacks on their rosters, drying up the quarterback pool. I chose Williams over Jayden Daniels because he is in a better spot. Going into the draft, I thought I would get a better quarterback in round 8, but this has been a weird draft. Congrats to team 8, as they drafted their first receiver, injury-prone Christian Watson.
Round 9, Pick 102 – WR Ladd McConkey, Chargers:
I texted Doc about this pick. I planned on taking McConkey here, but I thought about taking RB Tajae Spears. Doc confirmed that McConkey should be the choice, and I do believe he can be a Rookie of the Year candidate. Team 8 drafted Kirk Cousins, so they have three tight ends and two quarterbacks through nine rounds. Ugh.
Round 10, Pick 115 – RB Austin Ekeler, Commanders:
Ekeler was an auto-pick. I am not totally upset, but sometimes life happens, and I forget that I am in a slow draft.
Round 11, Pick 126 – WR Courtland Sutton, Broncos:
I will take the Broncos number 1 receiver in this spot. I think he can get 80 plus catches making him a solid bargain.
Round 12, Pick 139 – QB Derek Carr, Saints
Round 13, Pick 150 – QB Will Levis, Titans
Round 14, Pick 163 – QB JJ McCarthy, Vikings:
Picks 12-14 may have been a bit of a panic to take three quarterbacks, but Caleb Williams is no guarantee, and I really didn’t like who would be left on the board if I didn’t grab them.
Round 15, Pick 174 – TE Cade Otton, Buccaneers:
I think Otton will be solid and is one of my favorite second-best ball tight end targets. I think he can make 60-plus catches and double his TD production to 8 touchdowns.
Rounds 16 – 34:
Outside of drafting several team defenses and team kickers, I am just trying to round out my team with players who may see the field. WR Michael Wilson is going unnoticed because of Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr. Don’t forget he was a third-round pick last year and showed flashes. Solid value in the 18th round. I also like drafting Patriot WR K.J. Osborne, as I think he will have a few good games.
In Conclusion:
My draft started out well as I came away with a good complement of back and receivers in the first six rounds. After that, the draft became slightly more abnormal than what I have been accustomed to thus far. Quarterbacks and tight ends were being drafted earlier than I expected, forcing me to adjust and draft those positions earlier than I had hoped. My team could win the league if Caleb Williams and Ladd McConkey have standout rookie seasons, but I don’t think I will be in the running for the 30 K grand prize. I needed to get more value later.
I think there were several teams that made big mistakes. Besides team 8, which I have already discussed, teams 12 and 6 waited far too long to draft running backs. They are going to be desperate for running back points. I think I like Team 11 the most as they grabbed Gibbs, Taylor, and Mahomes early, then grabbed three receivers and their tight end. Team 4 also looks solid, even though they drafted a QB much earlier than I like.
