08-30-2019, 11:19 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-14-2019, 05:16 PM by goodvsevil1275.)
I did a fantasy football draft this year but it wasn't easy. There's no resources on the subject. You can't see who the "best player available" is. Heck, you can't even see who's available at all without writing stuff down and crossing out names. So today, we're going to look at this season's fantasy football class and examine who were the best players at each position, and see what kinds of trends we can spot. And we're gonna start with the most important position in fantasy football, running back.
(As a guide, purple means the top pick, dark blue is top 5, light blue top 10, green top 20, yellow top 30, orange 31-48, and red is undrafted, which for draft position purposes is a 60.)
RBs
![[Image: FyH6zAu.png]](https://i.imgur.com/FyH6zAu.png)
As you can see, we got a lot of dark blue and a lot of purple. Running backs dominated the first round of the draft. They were selected with more than 70% of all first round picks, and were 13 of the 14 #1 overall picks. And the consensus top pick in the draft was second year back, Sam Torenson. He was taken #1 overall in half of the drafts, and he never fell past the top 5. Following him are the two Philadelphia backs, Marquise Brown and Vander Jones. It’s rare to see teammates at the same position go that high, but this is part of the reason why RBs go so high, both here, and in real drafts: they are both great runners and usually decent receivers as well. However, we now know how they’re going to utilize Brown and Jones, Brown got almost all the rushes, and Jones is basically their #1 receiver. Following those two we see Dorfus Jimbo, who presents us an example of the problem with this style of fantasy draft. Sometimes, people fall through the cracks, and Jimbo in Draft 5 was the biggest example. I was in Draft 5, and despite the fact that he never fell past the second round in any other draft, we just totally missed him. (I already put in a waiver claim and got him, this is what happens when you do research.)
Following Jimbo, we see a lot of guys who’ll be sharing workloads. Forrest Gump with Tyler Swift, Ashley Owens with Mako Mendonca, plus a couple of reluctant bellcows like Terry Taffy and Apollo Reed (although they're both off to a really good start, so hush my mouth I guess). Tyler Swift took a huge tumble in ADP (average draft position), possibly due to the other Swift (Nate of Yellowknife) confusing potential drafters. That’s the only way I can explain five top dozen picks and six undrafteds. Examining the list further, we see a few guys who’ll see very few rushes, but will primarily be played as a receiver, like Jerrod Canton and Ricky Adams. Adams in particular was completely overlooked and will probably be a huge boon for any team that picks him up. Slim Shady seems like the man in Arizona, and he’s available in a lot of leagues, just like Morgan Marshall is in Yellowknife. And while I don't agree with taking Aksel Daniellson #4 overall like some maniac did, he's an alright FLEX player, if you need one. Finally, there’s a couple of weird picks, like Thomas Carrasco. This’ll happen a lot, it’s best to just ignore it.
WRs
![[Image: ddxGUgV.png]](https://i.imgur.com/ddxGUgV.png)
Running backs took up four of the top five highest drafted players on average. The fifth one? That would be our friend Mr. Sunny Chest. He made six appearances in the first round and never fell past pick #15. The latter of those facts could also be said about Sunny’s old running buddy in Orange County, Vinny Valentine. Now a member of the Outlaws, Vinny and Sunnycursed traded the lead in lowest ADP back and forth, with Sunnycursed taking the title in the end. After those two, we come to the second tier of receivers, Kazimir Oles, Jordan von Matt, and Errol Maddox. Oles looks good so far, Maddox looks good so far, but von Matt has problems. He’s been IA for a little while now, and Nacho Varga played pretty well out of the gate. Plus, with Vander Jones seeing significant time at receiver, all three receivers are splitting a workload pretty evenly, which not what you wanna see from a top 5 receiver. Nate Swift is a risky play, since Yellowknife has three legit star receivers, and the workload could shift with a single additional TPE to either Josh Parker or Tommy Helanen, but so far it’s working out.
After that are a few guys who have their #1 job locked down: James Bishop, Vladimir Fyodorovich, and Xavier Flash, although Fyodo might have his numbers pressed by Bona’beri Jones, who’s off to a strong start. Then, we enter the land of #2 receivers: Josh Parker, Brock Landers, Nacho Varga, and Hugh Mongo. Parker has about as much value as Swift, I think they’ll have very similar numbers. Brock Landers is still improving at a strong clip, and you know he’s not going to want to give up those WR1 numbers without a fight. We’ve already talked about Nacho Varga cutting into Jordan von Matt’s numbers, and Hugh Mongo should put up decent stats, but I don’t think he’ll be a huge threat to Sunny’s workload. Lastly, there’s Django Anoa’i, the lowest rated #1 receiver in ADP. The Copperhead offense isn’t the most electric out there, but Anoa’i looks like the most exciting part of it right now, and might be valuable, even if it’s just as a FLEX option.
QBs
![[Image: EnfM6kt.png]](https://i.imgur.com/EnfM6kt.png)
The process of selecting QBs and TEs is slightly different than it is for selecting RBs and WRs. You can only have one QB and most teams only have one TE (you can put a TE in the FLEX spot, but there’s usually better options. Therefore, WRs and RBs are usually a bigger priority than QBs and TEs. That’s not always the case though, as here we can see eight different instances of a QB going in the first round, including that one other #1 overall pick, Adriana Falconi in Draft 5. So, who’s the best out of this bunch? Well, Joliet L. Christ puts up numbers of a QB1 and an RB2 with just one player, so of course it’s going to be him. It’s not uncommon for him to put up either 300 passing yards or 80 rushing yards, and he sometimes does both in the same game. He was usually taken in the third or fourth round, and only barely fell past the fourth round once. After that are three QBs that were taken in almost every single league, Cooter Bigsby, Adriana Falconi, and Andrew Reese. Bigsby always has a plethora of receivers to throw it to, and with his improvements, an already potent Yellowknife offense will only get scarier. Philly’s offense lost a Zapp Branigan, but gained a Marquise Brown and Sam Hardwick, so that’s a fair trade off. And Andrew Reese is the highest rated player in the league, and he just got Vinny Valentine to throw to, along with Brock Landers and Jammerson Irving. He’s doing just fine.
So, let's say those four QBs are already off the board, and you still need one. You have six choices left, what do your options look like? Well, a lot of people went with the rookie Franklin Armstrong. He’s inheriting an Otter offense that still has two of the best receiving threats in the game in Sunnycursed and Johnny Blaze, and given the fact that Gus T.T. Showbiz was hitting regression, the dropoff to the newcomer wasn’t that bad, just about 100 TPE less and Armstrong is improving. Others went with the guy who was in Armstong’s current situation last year, Corvo Havran. Havran only has one truly elite weapon on his offense, and that’s Errol Maddox, but on the plus side, he has an extra year’s worth of experience and TPE. More adventurous people might take a shot on Rose Jenkins. In terms of TPE, she also only has one truly elite playmaker, Kazimir Oles, but a few people on that Chicago offense are played well above their TPE last season, particularly Sam Torenson and Ricky Adams, which will only improve her production. An even riskier play is Stan Francisco, but I can definitely see the upside. He was probably the second best running quarterback in the league last season, and has a plethora of good-not-great targets to throw to. And then there’s Easton Cole and Wolfie McDummy, if you’re interested in losing.
TEs
![[Image: aXstcW5.png]](https://i.imgur.com/aXstcW5.png)
Tight end isn’t the most glamorous position for fantasy football, we often get taken in the mid-rounds at the earliest, but not all the time. But, we do have a few top 5 picks, and several top 10s, so it’s not all bad for us big heavies. So, if you want an elite tight end, you’ve got two options, but both of them are usually gone by pick #20, either Johnny Blaze or Cameron Olsen. If I had to pick one, I’d take Johnny Blaze, but it's honestly really close (sorry Cam). Olsen is behind both Xavier Flash and, somehow, Ty Justice, in terms of targets, and even Dan Wright is having a strong start to the season (heck yes). The Sabercat offense is electric, but can it feed four mouths consistently? Blaze on the other hand is the definite #2 guy in Orange County behind only Sunnycursed. Honestly, there's no real wrong answer here. If you need a TE in the third, take whichever one speaks to you. (And since Cameron literally speak to me, I guess I should go with him.)
After Blaze and Olsen, you have another choice to make, Jammerson Irving or Verso L’Alto. Through three weeks, Jammerson looks like the pick. He's jumped past Brock Landers so far as Arizona's second option, while Verso L'Alto is losing catches to Ahri Espeeyeeseetee. Personally, I took Jammerson in my league, and it looks like the right call. If you still haven’t picked a tight end yet, well your options are pretty bleak. Declan Harp is available, but his role in the Chicago offense won’t be that big this year. Dan Wright is gaining TPE nicely, but he’s behind Cameron Olsen on the depth chart and is #4 in the Sabercat passing attack (although somehow that's still working out, praise Joliet). Peter Larson is an up-and-comer, but I think he’s still a year away from putting up the numbers that fantasy owners like, and Palmer and Crindy in Colorado are either not there yet or were there years ago and has since left there, respectively.
DEFs
![[Image: X5mPvcl.png]](https://i.imgur.com/X5mPvcl.png)
In NFL fantasy drafts, you typically either get an elite defense that’ll carry you through the whole season, or you constantly flip defenses and start ones that’ll be playing weak offenses. That second option is impossible in NSFL fantasy football, not just because of how few teams there are, but also because of the limited number of waiver selections you can submit in a season. So, if you want a strong defense, you can’t afford to wait until the last few rounds. That’s why the Wraiths defense is among the top 30 players selected. They’ll loaded to the gills with playmakers, and are sure to rack up the turnovers and sacks needed to make a fantasy owner happy. Next are the Outlaws, and while they weren’t a great defense last year in terms of yards and points (only the latter matters in fantasy), they led the league in sacks comfortably and forced a decent amount of turnovers. With their one-two wrecking crew at linebacker of Raymond Vans and Leighton Lee returning, plus three 600+ TPEers patrolling the secondary, they’ve got a good shot to rack up points.
After that comes the Otters and the Hawks, who both come off the board around the same mid-to-late 30s range. The Hawks are one of the best at forcing fumbles, while the Otters get a lot of picks, and both teams are in the top four in sacks. Either one is a good play and a solid defense. The Liberty had the most INTs last season, so they might be a good play. However, the Butchers, despite being a great defense on the field, they mostly do so by forcing teams to punt, not turn the ball over. They had the fewest INTs last season, and were in the bottom half of the league in fumbles and sacks. They don’t allow a lot of points, but that’s all you’re getting from Chicago. Your options past that are rather grim. The Sabercats have an average D in most instances, and while the Second Line snag a ton of picks, they have very low sacking numbers. And Austin and Colorado, no. Just no.
Ks
![[Image: RR9afru.png]](https://i.imgur.com/RR9afru.png)
Now, I’m one of those weird guys who takes a kicker before the final round, both here and in the NFL drafts for different reasons. In the NFL draft, I just think getting a good kicker is more important than a slightly better fourth running back. Here, you can usually find someone who everyone missed with your last pick, which is how I got Xavier Flash. However, drafting a good kicker is slightly more about their offense than their TPE, although having good TPE does help, and Kulture Fulture has both going for him. He’s got the most TPE for a kicker by a country mile, and his Butchers are a great offense that give him plenty of opportunities. After Fulture, the person with the most points last season was Stephen Harris Jr., who was mid-pack in TPE, but played on a great Yellowknife offense. Alex Dasistwirklichseinnachname is in a similar boat to Fulture, decent amount of TPE and tied to a high-scoring offense. This is the trick to finding a good kicker, just find the good offense. Even if the TPE wildly favors someone, say Alfredo Crisco over Roderick Castleberry, Castleberry (of Philadelphia) will still get way more chances than Crisco (of Austin), so even if he misses more, Castleberry is the better play. So, we see the best offenses represented in this at the top of this list: Chicago (Fulture), Orange County (Alex D), Yellowknife (Kicky Bobby), Baltimore (ForThe Brand), and San Jose (Neo Donaldson). Take your pick with those guys, and whoever you think will have the best offense, and you’ll do fine. Also, there were eleven kickers drafted this year and only ten teams. Cheers to you all, expect you @Raven, your dumb picks threw off all my numbers, you get no TPE and may the mods have mercy on your soul.
2541 words .
(As a guide, purple means the top pick, dark blue is top 5, light blue top 10, green top 20, yellow top 30, orange 31-48, and red is undrafted, which for draft position purposes is a 60.)
RBs
As you can see, we got a lot of dark blue and a lot of purple. Running backs dominated the first round of the draft. They were selected with more than 70% of all first round picks, and were 13 of the 14 #1 overall picks. And the consensus top pick in the draft was second year back, Sam Torenson. He was taken #1 overall in half of the drafts, and he never fell past the top 5. Following him are the two Philadelphia backs, Marquise Brown and Vander Jones. It’s rare to see teammates at the same position go that high, but this is part of the reason why RBs go so high, both here, and in real drafts: they are both great runners and usually decent receivers as well. However, we now know how they’re going to utilize Brown and Jones, Brown got almost all the rushes, and Jones is basically their #1 receiver. Following those two we see Dorfus Jimbo, who presents us an example of the problem with this style of fantasy draft. Sometimes, people fall through the cracks, and Jimbo in Draft 5 was the biggest example. I was in Draft 5, and despite the fact that he never fell past the second round in any other draft, we just totally missed him. (I already put in a waiver claim and got him, this is what happens when you do research.)
Following Jimbo, we see a lot of guys who’ll be sharing workloads. Forrest Gump with Tyler Swift, Ashley Owens with Mako Mendonca, plus a couple of reluctant bellcows like Terry Taffy and Apollo Reed (although they're both off to a really good start, so hush my mouth I guess). Tyler Swift took a huge tumble in ADP (average draft position), possibly due to the other Swift (Nate of Yellowknife) confusing potential drafters. That’s the only way I can explain five top dozen picks and six undrafteds. Examining the list further, we see a few guys who’ll see very few rushes, but will primarily be played as a receiver, like Jerrod Canton and Ricky Adams. Adams in particular was completely overlooked and will probably be a huge boon for any team that picks him up. Slim Shady seems like the man in Arizona, and he’s available in a lot of leagues, just like Morgan Marshall is in Yellowknife. And while I don't agree with taking Aksel Daniellson #4 overall like some maniac did, he's an alright FLEX player, if you need one. Finally, there’s a couple of weird picks, like Thomas Carrasco. This’ll happen a lot, it’s best to just ignore it.
WRs
Running backs took up four of the top five highest drafted players on average. The fifth one? That would be our friend Mr. Sunny Chest. He made six appearances in the first round and never fell past pick #15. The latter of those facts could also be said about Sunny’s old running buddy in Orange County, Vinny Valentine. Now a member of the Outlaws, Vinny and Sunnycursed traded the lead in lowest ADP back and forth, with Sunnycursed taking the title in the end. After those two, we come to the second tier of receivers, Kazimir Oles, Jordan von Matt, and Errol Maddox. Oles looks good so far, Maddox looks good so far, but von Matt has problems. He’s been IA for a little while now, and Nacho Varga played pretty well out of the gate. Plus, with Vander Jones seeing significant time at receiver, all three receivers are splitting a workload pretty evenly, which not what you wanna see from a top 5 receiver. Nate Swift is a risky play, since Yellowknife has three legit star receivers, and the workload could shift with a single additional TPE to either Josh Parker or Tommy Helanen, but so far it’s working out.
After that are a few guys who have their #1 job locked down: James Bishop, Vladimir Fyodorovich, and Xavier Flash, although Fyodo might have his numbers pressed by Bona’beri Jones, who’s off to a strong start. Then, we enter the land of #2 receivers: Josh Parker, Brock Landers, Nacho Varga, and Hugh Mongo. Parker has about as much value as Swift, I think they’ll have very similar numbers. Brock Landers is still improving at a strong clip, and you know he’s not going to want to give up those WR1 numbers without a fight. We’ve already talked about Nacho Varga cutting into Jordan von Matt’s numbers, and Hugh Mongo should put up decent stats, but I don’t think he’ll be a huge threat to Sunny’s workload. Lastly, there’s Django Anoa’i, the lowest rated #1 receiver in ADP. The Copperhead offense isn’t the most electric out there, but Anoa’i looks like the most exciting part of it right now, and might be valuable, even if it’s just as a FLEX option.
QBs
The process of selecting QBs and TEs is slightly different than it is for selecting RBs and WRs. You can only have one QB and most teams only have one TE (you can put a TE in the FLEX spot, but there’s usually better options. Therefore, WRs and RBs are usually a bigger priority than QBs and TEs. That’s not always the case though, as here we can see eight different instances of a QB going in the first round, including that one other #1 overall pick, Adriana Falconi in Draft 5. So, who’s the best out of this bunch? Well, Joliet L. Christ puts up numbers of a QB1 and an RB2 with just one player, so of course it’s going to be him. It’s not uncommon for him to put up either 300 passing yards or 80 rushing yards, and he sometimes does both in the same game. He was usually taken in the third or fourth round, and only barely fell past the fourth round once. After that are three QBs that were taken in almost every single league, Cooter Bigsby, Adriana Falconi, and Andrew Reese. Bigsby always has a plethora of receivers to throw it to, and with his improvements, an already potent Yellowknife offense will only get scarier. Philly’s offense lost a Zapp Branigan, but gained a Marquise Brown and Sam Hardwick, so that’s a fair trade off. And Andrew Reese is the highest rated player in the league, and he just got Vinny Valentine to throw to, along with Brock Landers and Jammerson Irving. He’s doing just fine.
So, let's say those four QBs are already off the board, and you still need one. You have six choices left, what do your options look like? Well, a lot of people went with the rookie Franklin Armstrong. He’s inheriting an Otter offense that still has two of the best receiving threats in the game in Sunnycursed and Johnny Blaze, and given the fact that Gus T.T. Showbiz was hitting regression, the dropoff to the newcomer wasn’t that bad, just about 100 TPE less and Armstrong is improving. Others went with the guy who was in Armstong’s current situation last year, Corvo Havran. Havran only has one truly elite weapon on his offense, and that’s Errol Maddox, but on the plus side, he has an extra year’s worth of experience and TPE. More adventurous people might take a shot on Rose Jenkins. In terms of TPE, she also only has one truly elite playmaker, Kazimir Oles, but a few people on that Chicago offense are played well above their TPE last season, particularly Sam Torenson and Ricky Adams, which will only improve her production. An even riskier play is Stan Francisco, but I can definitely see the upside. He was probably the second best running quarterback in the league last season, and has a plethora of good-not-great targets to throw to. And then there’s Easton Cole and Wolfie McDummy, if you’re interested in losing.
TEs
Tight end isn’t the most glamorous position for fantasy football, we often get taken in the mid-rounds at the earliest, but not all the time. But, we do have a few top 5 picks, and several top 10s, so it’s not all bad for us big heavies. So, if you want an elite tight end, you’ve got two options, but both of them are usually gone by pick #20, either Johnny Blaze or Cameron Olsen. If I had to pick one, I’d take Johnny Blaze, but it's honestly really close (sorry Cam). Olsen is behind both Xavier Flash and, somehow, Ty Justice, in terms of targets, and even Dan Wright is having a strong start to the season (heck yes). The Sabercat offense is electric, but can it feed four mouths consistently? Blaze on the other hand is the definite #2 guy in Orange County behind only Sunnycursed. Honestly, there's no real wrong answer here. If you need a TE in the third, take whichever one speaks to you. (And since Cameron literally speak to me, I guess I should go with him.)
After Blaze and Olsen, you have another choice to make, Jammerson Irving or Verso L’Alto. Through three weeks, Jammerson looks like the pick. He's jumped past Brock Landers so far as Arizona's second option, while Verso L'Alto is losing catches to Ahri Espeeyeeseetee. Personally, I took Jammerson in my league, and it looks like the right call. If you still haven’t picked a tight end yet, well your options are pretty bleak. Declan Harp is available, but his role in the Chicago offense won’t be that big this year. Dan Wright is gaining TPE nicely, but he’s behind Cameron Olsen on the depth chart and is #4 in the Sabercat passing attack (although somehow that's still working out, praise Joliet). Peter Larson is an up-and-comer, but I think he’s still a year away from putting up the numbers that fantasy owners like, and Palmer and Crindy in Colorado are either not there yet or were there years ago and has since left there, respectively.
DEFs
In NFL fantasy drafts, you typically either get an elite defense that’ll carry you through the whole season, or you constantly flip defenses and start ones that’ll be playing weak offenses. That second option is impossible in NSFL fantasy football, not just because of how few teams there are, but also because of the limited number of waiver selections you can submit in a season. So, if you want a strong defense, you can’t afford to wait until the last few rounds. That’s why the Wraiths defense is among the top 30 players selected. They’ll loaded to the gills with playmakers, and are sure to rack up the turnovers and sacks needed to make a fantasy owner happy. Next are the Outlaws, and while they weren’t a great defense last year in terms of yards and points (only the latter matters in fantasy), they led the league in sacks comfortably and forced a decent amount of turnovers. With their one-two wrecking crew at linebacker of Raymond Vans and Leighton Lee returning, plus three 600+ TPEers patrolling the secondary, they’ve got a good shot to rack up points.
After that comes the Otters and the Hawks, who both come off the board around the same mid-to-late 30s range. The Hawks are one of the best at forcing fumbles, while the Otters get a lot of picks, and both teams are in the top four in sacks. Either one is a good play and a solid defense. The Liberty had the most INTs last season, so they might be a good play. However, the Butchers, despite being a great defense on the field, they mostly do so by forcing teams to punt, not turn the ball over. They had the fewest INTs last season, and were in the bottom half of the league in fumbles and sacks. They don’t allow a lot of points, but that’s all you’re getting from Chicago. Your options past that are rather grim. The Sabercats have an average D in most instances, and while the Second Line snag a ton of picks, they have very low sacking numbers. And Austin and Colorado, no. Just no.
Ks
Now, I’m one of those weird guys who takes a kicker before the final round, both here and in the NFL drafts for different reasons. In the NFL draft, I just think getting a good kicker is more important than a slightly better fourth running back. Here, you can usually find someone who everyone missed with your last pick, which is how I got Xavier Flash. However, drafting a good kicker is slightly more about their offense than their TPE, although having good TPE does help, and Kulture Fulture has both going for him. He’s got the most TPE for a kicker by a country mile, and his Butchers are a great offense that give him plenty of opportunities. After Fulture, the person with the most points last season was Stephen Harris Jr., who was mid-pack in TPE, but played on a great Yellowknife offense. Alex Dasistwirklichseinnachname is in a similar boat to Fulture, decent amount of TPE and tied to a high-scoring offense. This is the trick to finding a good kicker, just find the good offense. Even if the TPE wildly favors someone, say Alfredo Crisco over Roderick Castleberry, Castleberry (of Philadelphia) will still get way more chances than Crisco (of Austin), so even if he misses more, Castleberry is the better play. So, we see the best offenses represented in this at the top of this list: Chicago (Fulture), Orange County (Alex D), Yellowknife (Kicky Bobby), Baltimore (ForThe Brand), and San Jose (Neo Donaldson). Take your pick with those guys, and whoever you think will have the best offense, and you’ll do fine. Also, there were eleven kickers drafted this year and only ten teams. Cheers to you all, expect you @Raven, your dumb picks threw off all my numbers, you get no TPE and may the mods have mercy on your soul.
2541 words .
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