NFL: Steak League Draft

NFL: Steak League Draft

This article is part of our NFL Observations series.

We had our annual RotoWire Steak League auction today -- a 14-team, half-PPR, IDP league. The stakes are modest ($20 buy-in), but the side bet can be steep -- $500 worth of steak dinner if you finish last among your group of seven or eight. 

Here are the results:

Schoenke$Martinez$Siegrist$Doria$
Tyreek Hill$44Travis Kelce$39Melvin Gordon$8Alvin Kamara$51
J.J. Watt$1Joe Mixon$32DJ Chark$15Kyler Murray$18
Calvin Ridley$44Davante Adams$48CeeDee Lamb$32DeAndre Hopkins$38
Eric Kendricks$1Chris Carson$32Trey Sermon$22Mark Andrews$16
Justin Herbert$13Ryan Tannehill$7Darren Waller$27Jeremy Chinn$2
Miles Sanders$31Brandin Cooks$15DK Metcalf$48Adam Thielen$25
Chase Edmonds$17JuJu Smith-Schuster$10Dak Prescott$13Damien Harris$12
Justin Fields$2Darnell Mooney$5Jessie Bates$2Kareem Hunt$15
Noah Fant$10Graham Gano$1DeForest Buckner$1Laviska Shenault$7
Michael Carter$16Jaylen Waddle$3Matt Gay$1William Fuller$5
Mike Williams$10Jerome Baker$1Michael Thomas$3Alexander Mattison$2
Robbie Gould$1Aaron Donald$1Kenyan Drake$3Greg Zuerlein$1
Landon Collins$1Marquez Callaway$2Mecole Hardman$15Patrick Queen$1
Tony Jones$2Justin Simmons$1Micah Parsons$1Danielle Hunter$1
Tevin Coleman$3Darrel Williams$1Tony Pollard$6Baker Mayfield$1
Jalen Reagor$2Justin Jackson$1Matt Ryan$1T.Y. Hilton$3
Rondale Moore$2Randall Cobb$1James White$2Latavius Murray$2
        
Liss$Erickson$Schuler$Ilk$
Jonathan Taylor$52Budda Baker$4Patrick Mahomes$24Christian McCaffrey$57
Najee Harris$42Nick Chubb$49Harrison Butker$2Justin Jefferson$41
Nick Bosa$3Kyle Pitts$14Logan Thomas$9D'Andre Swift$33
Devin White$3Lamar Jackson$17Antonio Gibson$42Myles Gaskin$19
Jabrill Peppers$1Keenan Allen$26James Robinson$35Tee Higgins$22
Amari Cooper$23Ja'Marr Chase$14Clyde Edwards-Helaire$32Chase Claypool$12
Tyler Bass$2Sam Hubbard$1Darius Leonard$4Jaylon Smith$1
Chris Godwin$31Diontae Johnson$26Myles Garrett$3John Johnson$1
Odell Beckham$18Javonte Williams$27Antonio Brown$17Mason Crosby$1
Rob Gronkowski$5Courtland Sutton$9Devin Singletary$7Joe Burrow$2
Matthew Stafford$9Roquan Smith$1Jordan Poyer$2DeMarcus Lawrence$1
Jamaal Williams$6Phillip Lindsay$3Kenny Golladay$12Giovani Bernard$2
Donovan Peoples-Jones$1Daniel Carlson$1Dallas Goedert$3Mike Gesicki$2
Rhamondre Stevenson$1Rashaad Penny$3Michael Pittman$4Jakobi Meyers$2
Gabriel Davis$1Kenneth Gainwell$3Tre'Quan Smith$1Carlos Hyde$2
Sterling Shepard$1Salvon Ahmed$1Tyrell Williams$1Travis Etienne$1
Zach Ertz$1Qadree Ollison$1Cole Beasley$2Amari Rodgers$1
        
Thornbury$Ross$Hochberg$Jenstad$
Dalvin Cook$57Saquon Barkley$47Austin Ekeler$41Ezekiel Elliott$48
Russell Wilson$15Younghoe Koo$2Logan Ryan$2Chase Young$4
Allen Robinson$39Jerry Jeudy$25Stefon Diggs$44Fred Warner$2
T.J. Watt$3J.K. Dobbins$37Blake Martinez$3Cooper Kupp$28
A.J. Brown$42Brian Burns$3Josh Jacobs$32Kevin Byard$2
Mike Davis$23Derwin James$3Tyler Lockett$26DJ Moore$29
Bobby Wagner$3Zach Cunningham$2Jason Sanders$1Trey Lance$5
Marvin Jones$4Raheem Mostert$16Robby Anderson$16Brandon Aiyuk$20
Nyheim Hines$1Robert Woods$28Deebo Samuel$15Tom Brady$8
Harrison Smith$1Aaron Rodgers$12Von Miller$1Irv Smith$8
Russell Gage$2Robert Tonyan$4Zack Moss$8Tyler Boyd$10
Nelson Agholor$2DeVonta Smith$9Malcolm Brown$1Rodrigo Blankenship$1
Terrace Marshall$2Corey Davis$5Kirk Cousins$1James Conner$7
J.D. McKissic$2Devontae Booker$1Tyler Higbee$4AJ Dillon$15
Parris Campbell$2Henry Ruggs$3Jameis Winston$1Gus Edwards$6
Anthony Firkser$1Darrynton Evans$1Damien Williams$3Elijah Moore$2
Jason Myers$1Larry Rountree$2Bryan Edwards$1Xavier Jones$5
        
Bartel$Crites$    
Aaron Jones$42Justin Tucker$3    
T.J. Hockenson$15Derrick Henry$50    
Joey Bosa$3Josh Allen$20    
David Montgomery$34George Kittle$25    
Jamal Adams$2Terry McLaurin$43    
Julio Jones$26Darrell Henderson$29    
Jalen Hurts$7Leonard Fournette$7    
Mike Evans$27Vonn Bell$1    
Ryan Succop$2Harold Landry$1    
Michael Gallup$6Van Jefferson$2    
Ronald Jones$12Jayon Brown$1    
Curtis Samuel$4Jarvis Landry$6    
David Johnson$3Jonnu Smith$1    
Devin Bush$1Marquise Brown$8    
Chuba Hubbard$6Ryan Fitzpatrick$1    
Trevor Lawrence$2Mark Ingram$1    
DeVante Parker$5Christian Kirk$1    

My auction went almost as well as could be expected -- until I made a grave error, a total mental lapse in the end game. The team is still okay, but it should have had so much more depth for almost no cost. 

I started by going to the mat for Jonathan Taylor, and I got Najee Harris at a good price while doing some enforcement. Then I was patient. I pushed DK Metcalf up to $47, but let him go at $48, A.J. Brown to $41 before letting him go at $42, and Terry McLaurin to $42 before letting him go at $43. I already had two of my top-12 guys, and I had no problem shopping in the Amari Cooper ($23), Chris Godwin ($31) and Odell Beckham ($18) tier. 

The key was to go cheap at QB and TE and save money to pick my spots in the end game. When Matthew Stafford came up I went to $7 and said to myself, "If it goes to $8, I'm out." It went to eight, and I had one stray thought, "What if Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars are a mess early on?" (My other remaining QB target was Lawrence.) So I smashed $9, and it stuck, leaving me with $11 for my flex and entire six-man bench. 

Meanwhile -- and this was predictable -- Lawrence went for $2, Kirk Cousins and Matt Ryan $1. With that extra $7, I would have bought Jaylen Waddle ($4) and at least one more decent RB or WR. 

Not the end of the world, but just a split-second loss of discipline. Hopefully, my starters stay healthy, as it would be a real shame to have to buy these nutless monkeys steak. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Liss
Chris Liss was RotoWire's Managing Editor and Host of RotoWire Fantasy Sports Today on Sirius XM radio from 2001-2022.
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