Friday night was the first of the "Beat Jeff Erickson" drafts for me in the NFFC's RotoWire Online Championship. For those of you unfamiliar with the format, it's a 12-team league that's also part of an overall contest with a $200,000 grand prize for the overall competition. There will be over 2,000 entries eventually competing here. The NFFC uses PPR scoring, a third-round reversal draft format, three active wide receivers and a flex spot. I drew the first slot, meaning that my first three picks would be the first, 24th and 36th picks.
Here are the full draft results:
To enlarge image, click here.
1.1 Christian McCaffrey - You don't need me to extol the virtues of CMC at the first overall pick. I think that the back part of the first round is pretty interesting - teams 11 and 12 went WR-heavy in the early rounds, and team 9 went with two TE's in the first three rounds. I've seen earlier drafts go with 10 or 11 running backs in the first round, but Saquon Barkley slipped back with the uncertainty in his return date and Cam Akers obviously is already out for the season.
2.12 (24) A.J. Brown - I had hoped to get Justin Jefferson here, but Brown isn't a bad consolation at this spot. I don't think Julio Jones cuts too deeply into Brown's targets, especially with the Titans using a RB that doesn't catch too many passes.
3.12 (36) Travis Etienne - I
Friday night was the first of the "Beat Jeff Erickson" drafts for me in the NFFC's RotoWire Online Championship. For those of you unfamiliar with the format, it's a 12-team league that's also part of an overall contest with a $200,000 grand prize for the overall competition. There will be over 2,000 entries eventually competing here. The NFFC uses PPR scoring, a third-round reversal draft format, three active wide receivers and a flex spot. I drew the first slot, meaning that my first three picks would be the first, 24th and 36th picks.
Here are the full draft results:
To enlarge image, click here.
1.1 Christian McCaffrey - You don't need me to extol the virtues of CMC at the first overall pick. I think that the back part of the first round is pretty interesting - teams 11 and 12 went WR-heavy in the early rounds, and team 9 went with two TE's in the first three rounds. I've seen earlier drafts go with 10 or 11 running backs in the first round, but Saquon Barkley slipped back with the uncertainty in his return date and Cam Akers obviously is already out for the season.
2.12 (24) A.J. Brown - I had hoped to get Justin Jefferson here, but Brown isn't a bad consolation at this spot. I don't think Julio Jones cuts too deeply into Brown's targets, especially with the Titans using a RB that doesn't catch too many passes.
3.12 (36) Travis Etienne - I wanted to get a share of Etienne going into this draft, and this was the spot with these two picks. He was taken in the first round by the Jaguars, and is working with his college quarterback, so there's fewer growing pains for him. I get that James Robinson is still there and is a good player, but Etienne is the guy that they're invested in and I want to be there for that.
4.1 (37) Cooper Kupp - I love Matthew Stafford with the Rams, and I particularly love Kupp with him, even more so than Robert Woods, who went at pick 35.
5.12 (60) Brandon Aiyuk - With better quarterback play (yes, I know that statement is doing a lot of work there - it's not a given but it's likely in my opinion), Aiyuk could explode in Year 2. In a six-game stretch between Week 7 and Week 15, he missed two games due to injury or COVID-19, but in the other games he had a floor of at least seven targets and at least 73 yards.
6.1 (61) Myles Gaskin - Gaskin's durability is a concern, but when healthy he's capable of running between the tackles and catching passes. I have some concern that Salvon Ahmed or Malcolm Brown could steal some goal line carries.
7.12 (84) Mike Williams - I seemingly always draft Mike Williams, but case in favor of him is stronger this year - Year 2 of Justin Herbert, with a better offensive line. I took Williams over Michael Thomas, who went at pick 8.9.
8.1 (85) Noah Fant - Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, Fant and Melvin Gordon all went within about 18 picks of each other in this range. If only we had more confidence in the quarterback play on this team.
9.12 (108) Michael Pittman - Another second-year wideout that I really like, and think that will benefit from a quarterback change.
10.1 (109) Ryan Tannehill - Tannehill now gets Julio Jones along with A.J. Brown to throw to, and I get the added benefit of already having Brown. It's not necessarily a priority to have the hook-up in this format, but it's a plus. Two teams (Teams 9 and 12) waited longer than me to take their first QB.
11.12 (132) Trevor Lawrence - Is Lawrence a "generational prospect" or merely the best of a pretty good class? Even if it's the latter, I'm still buying the upside here as my QB2. Aaron Rodgers finally went at 11.4 here, following reports that sportsbooks were taking down Packers' futures odds under the threat of a potential Rodgers retirement.
12.1 (133) Phillip Lindsay - This is both a bet against David Johnson and one in favor of Lindsay, though I'm still concerned whether they'll use him more in the passing game than the Broncos did last season.
13.12 (156) Chuba Hubbard - I don't always draft the top backups to my running backs, but I think it makes sense in the case here where I have Christian McCaffrey - Mike Davis couldn't do everything that CMC did, but we saw how important nonetheless it was to have his backup. Let's hope that Hubbard clearly is the backup over Rodney Smith or Reggie Bonnafon.
14.1 (157) Niners D/ST - The Niners have so much talent on the defensive side of the ball, but were so hamstrung by injuries, none bigger than Nick Bosa tearing his ACL in Week 2. Bosa is expected to be back at full speed this year, and the Niners' early schedule (@DET, @PHI to start) appears pretty good. A Week 3 matchup against the Packers looks a lot different, too, if Aaron Rodgers doesn't play.
15.12 (180) Nelson Agholor - I share your skepticism about the Patriots' passing game - both in its quality and its volume. But nonetheless Agholor should be their top receiver, and managed to score eight times in 82 targets last season.
16.1 (181) Jared Cook - Cook takes over as the starter at tight end for the Chargers with Hunter Henry now in New England.
17.12 (204) Rondale Moore - This is an upside play, but there's a chance that I won't be patient enough to see it realized. That said, I liked his chances better than anyone else available there.
18.1 (205) Darrel Williams - If CEH doesn't go nuts, or gets hurt, I've got a chance at his replacement, though there's a risk that it's Jerick McKinnon instead.
19.12 (228) Robbie Gould - It's officially the "Niners Kickers" - the NFFC converted to Team Kickers after last season's COVID debacles.
20.1 (229) Rhamondre Stevenson - This could be a pretty quick cut after he was placed on the active/non-football injury list. I hate wasted picks, even in the 20th round.
Roster By Position
QB - Tannehill/Lawrence
RB - McCaffrey/Etienne/Gaskin/Lindsay/Hubbard/Da. Williams/Stevenson
WR - Brown/Kupp/Aiyuk/M. Williams/Pittman/Agholor/R. Moore
TE - Fant/Cook
K - SF
D - SF
