Roto Street Journal Expert Draft

rsj expert draft
The results from our RSJ expert draft and analysis from each member of the RSJ team.

 

Above, are the results for all of our RSJ writers in our expert draft – which, consisted of us RSJ guys and a few other fantasy mavericks. With a league full of addicts, I think we all expected to come out of the draft slightly disappointed.

What’s on the line? Aside from the official RSJ trophy, (which we are yet to show you) all of us are in multiple fantasy leagues, all with monetary prizes. So instead of putting up cash we all agreed two tickets to a NFL playoff game, was a worthy prize.

Punishment – What’s a fantasy league without a proper punishment for the clown who ends the season sitting in the 12 spot? We all agreed, this needed to be something excruciatingly embarrassing. Something that would portray the proper amount of shame our last place finisher deserves. The Great White Shark, (who has a strong dislike for women’s sports) suggested that the loser would have to buy floor seats to a WNBA game. Everyone seemed to like that idea with a few contingencies.

  1. The Shamee needs to wear something absurd (which other league members will agree on)
  2. The Shamee must bring a sign (which other league members will decide the messaging)
  3. The Shamee must stand up at least once per quarter and cheer at unnecessary times (when everyone else is sitting)
  4. The Shamee must buy two tickets and bring a random person from Craiglist to the game.

I’m really looking forward to this punishment being fulfilled, maybe even more so than the playoff game I’ll be going to.

Below, you can read how all the guys reacted to their drafts.

Jimboslice

“In a fantasy league where I would be surrounded by experts, I knew putting together a solid team would be difficult. I entered the draft room expecting the worst. I was going to get manhandled in this league and it was going to be ugly. But, as the saying goes, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”. That’s exactly what your boy did and here I am standing on top of the proverbial preseason mountain. I really like this team, I think it can do some lethal damage. If you put any stock into Yahoo’s draft grades and projections, I’m sitting at a 12-2 record with the second highest projected points ranking. Ho hum. Hopefully the season pans out as Yahoo thinks it will (spoiler alert: pretty much never does). Here’s a quick breakdown of my team.

The theme is balance. I think all positions are nicely covered and have solid depth. I fancy the receiving core of Cooks-Landry-Fitzgerald, all who should thrive in PPR formats. Reaching for Landry in the 3rd round was tough, but knowing that everyone in this league loves him, I had to make my move early. I like my running back core of David Johnson and Rashad Jennings, while James White and Isaiah Crowell can fill in if necessary. Chris Johnson was an obvious handcuff choice for DJ. I know we all like to wait on QB’s but I really liked getting Aaron Rodgers at #45. At that time, people are picking up mediocre running backs and WR3’s. Snagging an elite QB to anchor my team feels good in what should be Rodgers’ big bounce back year.  Emmanuel Sanders and Corey Coleman provide good depth at receiver, and having the Carolina defense should eliminate most weeks of streaming a defense. My only regret was picking TE Zach Ertz over TJ Yeldon. He wasn’t on my radar at the time and would have been a nice PPR option off the bench in case Jennings doesn’t work out.

Overall, I really like my team. I think we can do some serious work in what should be an ultra-competitive league.”

Dirty Karma

“Drafting out of a top 3 slot actually is one of my least favorite things to do, so much of your season rides on your first pick – Odell Beckham Jr in this case – I’d trade the 2 and 23 for the 12 and 13 EVERYDAY! But of course that wasn’t the case here.  For the most part I like my squad, but I absolutely hate myself over my 2nd round implosion.  I knew I wanted Alshon Jeffery at 23 overall, but was still debating about the 26 overall and I made two fatal mistakes…

Took my eyes off the clock

Didn’t just throw Jeffery in my drafting que

And now Mark Ingram is my #1 back – F.M.F!!! Insult to injury Alshon went with the very next pick. True story, once in high school my girlfriend’s parents walked in on us completely naked – when I saw Alshon go off the board I felt more vulnerable and scared in that moment than I ever have in my life.  Could have recovered with Amari Cooper or Jarvis Landry or Demaryius Thomas…nope I reached for Matt Forte, more FFing for me.  To be clear I love Forte as an RB2 this year, but not in the 3rd round.  In the 4th I went Maclin over Kelvin Benjamin (because I was targeting Olsen 3 picks later), and Michael Floyd and Larry Fitzgerald because I don’t know if I trust Carson Palmer to stay healthy all year, not to mention there are so many mouths to feed in Zona.  Like don’t love Drew Brees to end the 6th, but at that point I felt comfortable I’d be able to grab my remaining wish list guys without issue so I started the run at QB – Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Tom Brady, Carson Palmer, Blake Bortles, and Eli Manning all went in the next 2 rounds.

Favorite Pick – Odell Beckham Jr – I know it’s cliché, but I love the Giants and I love me some OBJ!  Second favorite pick was Kamer Aiken – I’ve written about him previously this draft season and I think he has a chance to blow up.  Grabbing him in the 10th at 119 overall was right at his ADP and if you remember I was greenlighting taking him as early as the 8th.

Least Favorite Pick – Mark Ingram – I just don’t like him, and being the result of my biggest draft catastrophe since I was in 8th grade doesn’t help.

Other Notables – Stefon Diggs, Travis Benjamin, Sammie Coates – Like Aiken, I’ve made my thoughts on Diggs and Benjamin pretty clear this year, I love them both.  Coates I think has a chance to be the new Martavis Bryant in Pittsburgh.  Markus Wheaton just isn’t good.

Overall I like my squad.  Invested a lot in “my guys” so we’ll see how smart I actually am, and of course if this team ever hits the basement it will 100% be blamed on Mark Ingram, obviously.”

The Truth

“Drafting against the RSJ staff (as well as a couple more ringers) meant to me that I just had to just go for my guys and not worry about ADP.  If there was someone I wanted that I knew wouldn’t be there next round, I was going to take him—even if it was supposedly a few picks too early.  My basic plan was to load up on WRs and RBs for 7 or 8 rounds and then see if I could score good value options everywhere else.  I was interested to see how this strategy would play out against a bunch of other guys who were possibly doing the same thing.

Loaded up on WRs on 4 of my first 5 picks.  Julio Jones, Amani Cooper, Marvin Jones, and Josh Gordon.  A few people were not pleased with me getting Gordon.  The only pick in my top 5 that was not an WR was Lesean McCoy, who I own in every league I am playing.

Other noteworthy picks: I got both Dolphins RBs (Foster and Ayaji).  Time will tell on that one.  I also snagged Derrick Henry, which infuriated the Wolf.  My QBs are both solid (Eli Manning and Derek Carr), but I admit I am worried about not having a clear #1 because I’m worried I’ll second guess myself.

Yahoo gave my draft a solid “B” and says I will go 8-6.  Whatevs.  That will be enough to keep me from being court side at the WNBA game at least.”

The Bear

“My strategy will be more reserved than most.  I seek out guys that are low-risk and high in the consistency categories.  Several factors are of high importance: age.  Not too young, I almost never draft rookies.  Never too old.  I always stay away from guys that are beyond their prime for several reasons, the most important being their bodies are more brittle and subject to injury.  Another factor I take into consideration is past injury history.  Does this guy (Arian Foster, Demarco Murray) miss time almost every year?  Too much risk.  Finally I ask, “How consistent will this player be for me week to week?”  I don’t want hot and cold.  I want a guy who’s putting up 10 points a week.  Even if I sacrifice the big game potential.  The bearish investor will start players who meet their goals nearly every week, thus defeating the risk takers who start unproven or injury-prone/suspension-prone with an abundance of talent but an inability to stay on the gridiron for all 16.

Favorite Pick: Doug Baldwin – I am always a buyer of the Seattle offense- bigggg Russell Wilson fan.  Great things out of Baldwin last year and he has the potential to be even more productive this year.  I think investing in this system is always a wise move.

Least Favorite: Jeremy Hill – Ehhhh…  Pretty stiff competition in this league.  All my regular guys were taken in this scorched earth draft.  He could really pan out, he’s just not one of “my guys”.  I think it goes back to all the back and forth between him and Bernard a couple years ago.  Just not a sure thing.

Other Notables:  I am a fan of Bortles at QB.  Have him on all 6 teams (I know the addiction is real) this year.  On the same note (Jacksonville Offense), I am a fan of Allen Hurns in the flex he averaged roughly 10 points a game last year non-PPR.  That’s all I am looking for.”

Billy The Kid

Tough draft, everyone involved knows what they are doing and are all thinking the same thing. Following the Wolf’s big board I knew I had a decent chance at either Ezekiel, Gurly or Robinson. I was a bit surprised when both backs went early. So at that point Robinson was the best option. I could have gone Le’veon Bell but, spending my first round pick on a guy with a three game suspension was just too mentally. In round 2 Gronk and Brandon Marshall went at 14 and 15 leaving AP there at 16. With that pick I could solidify both a strong RB1 and WR1 in my lineup, which is how I went. At pick 33 I saw Moncrief, Cam or Doug Martin as my potential options. I suppose I could have grabbed Decker too but again, with Cam I felt my team would be balanced across the board. My fourth pick came down to Jeremy Hill or Latavius. I already had Latavius in two other leagues and really just thought, “why not – 3 times the charm.” (I guess it didn’t hurt that the wolf had him ranked over Hill either.) I needed another WR, and Jordan Matthews was one of the only clear #1’s left on the table. (I could have gone Crabtree he did very well for me last year but it felt safer to go with the #1 option.) Carlos Hyde was an accidental pick, I was not paying attention to the clock, so that’s on me. I wasn’t thrilled it happened but, he’s a steal at 64. I went into the next pick looking for a TE, Kielce was there but I just like Bennett.  Maybe it’s my homerism. Maybe not. I just have a good feeling about him. I wanted to take Tajae Sharp, however I felt I had a good chance at getting him on the way back at 112. So, I went with Dorsett at 105. I did get Tajae as planned. Love it when a plan comes together. Marcus Mariota feels good about this rookie and so do I. In the case my intuition on Martellus Bennet doesn’t pan out, taking Witten seemed safe. For my last pick I grabbed McKinnon in the casts that something happens to AP. Overall, I feel pretty good about this team, I feel really good about all my #1’s and think I have some ability to trade if needed.

Great White Shark

“Let me start by saying, this was my absolute worst draft of the year, which says a lot about this league.  I was initially pissed off when I looked at my roster but after looking through everyone else’s, I’m confident we can get it done. With the 11 pick in a 12 team draft, so much happens between your 2nd and 3rd pick.  What happened with my 2nd round pick had me all sorts of flustered.  I took Elliot first because he’s a stud, and wanted to grab a WR on the way back around.  I was looking at Keenan Allen but right when I was about to pick I started considering Brandon Marshall and wrapped my own brain in a pretzel.  I click to pick Allen, and the fucking time runs out and I auto draft Gronk.  Now as a Patriots fan, it will obviously make this year better when spikes the ball into oblivion, but as a fantasy player, I am disappointed in myself.  I didn’t go RB/TE in a single fucking mock, and here I am being a jackass letting time run out.  From that point on I was in panic mode, but at least I didn’t pick Doug Baldwin at 16.  I grabbed lots of depth and young players who are boom or bust.  Guys like Kevin White, DeVante Parker, and Laquon Treadwell.  Yahoo gave me a B for my draft grade, B most likely representing ‘Bullshit Wide Receivers.'”

Author

  • THE Inaugural 2016 RSJ Fantasy Football League Champion. Owner of a #bigbrain, and lover of football, baseball and college hoops. When not grinding for the RSJ, can be found captaining his beer league softball team.

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