For the third-consecutive season, I have been invited to the Scott Fish Bowl.
This season I am playing under the For Fantasy Sake banner.
I have made the postseason tournament each of the last two seasons behind Christian McCaffrey who I took in the second round, after taking Todd Gurley with the third pick two years ago and third overall last year.
This year, I am in the Bop-It division. Selecting out of the 11 slot. Not ideal, but champions aren’t made easily. Follow along here as I will give commentary on the draft and on each of my picks.
Round 1
Who I took: Joe Mixon (1.11)
Why I took him: I have done well the past two seasons going running back in the first round, I had considered Travis Kelce through five or six picks, but he went at 1.07. With Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill, DeAndre Hopkins and George Kittle all still on the board, I will be able to get a stud at a second position and 2.02.
Who else I considered: Nick Chubb or Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Both are question marks for me with the presence of other good backs in their backfields.
The pick before: Dalvin Cook.
The pick after: Derrick Henry
Surprise of the round: Drew Brees at 1.09: With the RBs and WRs and George Kittle as well as Dak Prescott, Deshaun Watson and Kyler Murray on the board, I think he limited himself with his first round pick taking Brees who won’t get any additional bump running the football.
Round 2
Who I took: Davante Adams (2.02)
Why I took him: With all but one person having two picks before I get to go again, it was important for me to grab one of the top tier wide receivers.
Who else I considered: Tyreek Hill or DeAndre Hopkins. With the limited off season, I think Adams, already having a relationship with his quarterback will hold some value over Hopkins. Especially when it comes to those short-yardage downs when Adams is Aaron Rodgers’ top target for a quick first down, which is a half point in this league.
The pick before: George Kittle
The pick after: Nick Chubb
Surprise of the round: Miles Sanders at 2.09. This league is all about going with your gut and I am not here to disparage anyone else’s rankings, but Aaron Jones, Kenyan Drake, Todd Gurley and Clyde Edwards-Helaire were taken after Sanders.
Round 3
Who I took: Mike Evans (3.11)
Why I took him: With the majority of the top three tiers of running backs off the board, I didn’t want to miss the chance of doubling down on wideouts in the top two tiers. Even with Gronk around, Evans should see a lot of short-yardage targets (all of his passes are short yardage) from Tom Brady.
Who else I considered: Kenny Golladay, DJ Moore, James Conner. One of my weaknesses in drafts, is a tend to draft guys that I already have somewhere else, which is the case for Evans, in my home dynasty league.
The pick before: Zach Ertz
The pick after: Matt Ryan
Surprise of the round: Kenyan Drake at 3.01. I am low on Drake. I am not saying that he won’t be awesome, but there were other players on the board at the beginning of the round that I would have rather had on my team.
Round 4
Who I took: Kenny Golladay (4.02)
Why I took him: Much of the same reasons that I went with Evans at 3.11. Two QBs went off the board between my two picks, so, I took the chance that a could get the running back I want in the fifth round. Fingers crossed.
Who else I considered: JuJu Smith-Scheuster, DJ Moore, James Conner. I took a straw pull on the pick, but ultimately, I went with my rankings, where I have Golladay ranked ahead of JuJu and DJ Moore.
The pick before: Matthew Stafford
The pick after: Tom Brady
Surprise of the round: Jonathan Taylor at 4.04 and D’Andre Swift at 4.06. I think both are more of a dynasty picks in a draft like this. There were running backs with guaranteed carries still on the board. As of today, I feel like both of these backs are more handcuffs to be owned than starting fantasy running backs.
Round 5
Who I took: Keenan Allen (5.11)
Why I took him: Wasn’t necessarily who I was planning on taking when I took Golladay in the fourth, but a couple of my running back targets were still available with my next picks just three picks away. We start three WRs and have four flexes, so all four WRs are startable for me.
Who else I considered: Courtland Sutton, AJ Brown, AJ Green, Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen. Each WR has their upsides, I ultimately settled with Allen because of his short yardage work, hoping even with a new QB he will be a big target on third and shorts.
The pick before: Amari Cooper
The pick after: Adam Thielen
Surprise of the round: Cam Akers at 5.09. Wrong or not, as stated above, I tend to shy away from rookie running backs in the SFB. I may be (and probably am) wrong, but I will be interested to see how this plays out.
Round 6
Who I took: Devin Singletary (6.02)
Why I took him: With four wide receivers, I had to go running back this round. With Gore no longer in Buffalo, Singletary should see the majority of the work in all situations. Buffalo has expressed how important it is to keep Singletary on the field, meaning the expect him to be a major player in the offense.
Who else I considered: David Montgomery. Singletary was the main target when I took Keenan Allen. But, with Montgomery and Singletary both on the board and the person picking twice between my picks being without a wide receiver, I liked my chances of him not taking both running backs.
The pick before: Kareem Hunt
The pick after: Calvin Ridley
Surprise of the round: We are really getting into the meat of the draft, where you pick guys based of your likes/dislikes so in some rounds, it is hard to pick a surprise of the round. This one saw a steady mix between all four positions.
Round 7
Who I took: Drew Lock (7.11)
Why I took him: In the Scott Fish Bowl, we have the opportunity to start up to two quarterbacks, through almost seven rounds, I had zero. Lock was the 22nd quarterback off the board and the names remaining don’t excite me too much. Lock was my favorite QB on the board, so I made the pick.
Who else I considered: Every year, I pick a turn to take my quarterback(s) and I call the 22 picks between that, the anxiety rounds. However, this year I got lucky as only 4 quarterbacks made their way off the board during that run. Last year, 11-straight picks leading back to me were quarterbacks. Lock was my absolute pick on this turn.
The pick before: Damien Williams
The pick after: Terry McLaurin
Surprise of the round: Ke’Shawn Vaughn at 7.08. The running backs on this squad are now Austin Ekeler, D’Andre Swift and Vaughn. A lot of upside, but also a lot of questions surrounding these players. I might have gone with a little more safety, like Raheem Mostert who went 7.09 or Mark Ingram, who went 7.10.
Round 8
Who I took: Cam Newton (8.02)
Why I took him: Cam was someone I targeted after taking Singletary in the 6th, knowing that I wanted to double down on quarterbacks at this swing. Which is the strategy I came into this draft with.
Who else I considered: Phillip Rivers was the only other quarterback I considered here.
The pick before: Ryan Tannehill
The pick after: Jimmy Garoppolo
Surprise of the round: Tua Tagovailoa at 8.05. This could turn out to be a really good down the road selection as Tua is his third QB after Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield. I would have elected for the early season safety of Gardner Minshew, Phillip Rivers or Sam Darnold, all of which went after Tua.
Round 9
Who I took: Kerryon Johnson
Why I took him: Kerryon was another long-distance target of mine. I was targeting him back in the 7th round hoping he would last until the 9th. He looked good when healthy last year. I know they drafted Swift. But, I feel like Johnson will be a big part of the Lions offense.
Who else I considered: I considered going WR here, but I like the depth on my roster and still left at the position to consider skip WR this turn.
The pick before: Tevin Coleman
The pick after: AJ Green
Surprise of the round: Zack Moss at 9.08. He selected Moss before the news about Mostert requesting a trade came out, however, since he took Mostert too rounds before, this would have been an interesting place to take Coleman, who went one pick later.
Round 10
Who I took: Marlon Mack
Why I took him: I think that Kerryon and Mack both fell for the same reason, late-season injury and a running back drafted with some serious capital into their backfield. They were both productive backs before getting injured so I am happy to have them both on my roster.
Who else I considered: Like Kerryon, I might have gone WR had Mack not been there. But after taking Kerryon, Mack was my target. This draft has gone as I have planned within a couple rounds. Which means I am in big trouble.
The pick before: Hayden Hurst
The pick after: Ronald Jones
Surprise of the round: Brandon Aiyuk at 10.06. I think if I was in that situation needing a WR like this team was, I would have drafted someone on a better passing offense, like Hollywood Brown, who went to two picks later.
Round 11
Who I took: John Brown
Why I took him: I took Brown about a round before his ADP, but I wanted to get back into the WR game with just the first four that I drafted on my roster. Josh Allen liked going deep to Brown last year, so I feel like I could have down worse with my WR5.
Who else I considered: Christian Kirk, who went with the next pick and Phillip Lindsay.
The pick before: Julian Edelman
The pick after: Christian Kirk
Surprise of the round: Michael Pittman, I promise I am not a rookie hater and Pittman does have upside with Phillip Rivers throwing to him. But, there were other upside players that could have been drafted here.
Round 12
Who I took: Phillip Lindsay
Why I took him: I know that the Broncos brought in Melvin Gordon in the offseason, but, if this offense is as explosive as many believe, there should be room for both Lindsay and Gordon to succeed. Lindsay is my RB5.
Who else I considered: With that turn around pick, I am able to kind of target who I want pretty early and Lindsay was that guy for me.
The pick before: Matt Breida
The pick after: Tony Pollard
Surprise of the round: AJ Dillon. #NervousFaceEmoji. I think he is the third running back on that roster this season truthfully. Tarik Cohen and Duke Johnson both went within a few picks of him.
Round 13
Who I took: Jace Sternberger
Why I took him: I had to go tight end with this pick and I had originally though about Ian Thomas or Eric Ebron and they both went before my chance on the clock.
Who else I considered: Sternberger was always going to go with one of my next two picks, but with Thomas and Ebron off the board, he had to go now.
The pick before: Chris Herndon
The pick after: Boston Scott
Surprise of the round: Jordan Love. This section just sounds like, what rookie did I not like this round. I don’t think Love will take many or any meaningful snaps this season and guys like Dwayne Haskins, Nick Foles, Mitch Trubisky and Ryan Fitzpatrick were available.
Round 14
Who I took: Dwayne Haskins
Why I took him: Sternberger officially filled my starting lineup, so I wanted to get started filling what my bench will look like. With the ability to start two quarterbacks, Haskins will play more than one week for me providing he makes the football field.
Who else I considered: Mike Williams and Sammy Watkins. I did not think Haskins would make it back to me, but there are enough good WRs that I felt okay going Haskins, who was the 33rd QB off the board.
The pick before: Preston Williams
The pick after: Will update
Surprise of the round: Will update
