It wasn’t that long ago ODB, AP, Todd Gurley, DeAndre Hopkins, Dez
Bryant, and Rob Gronkowski were all sure-fire or borderline first round draft
picks. Reason #474 that a fantasy draft’s
relevance diminishes continually from the moment after the final selection to championship
week’s final snap. We can’t afford to be
passive. Value pops up every week. In September and even into October, there’s generally
more than enough time to re-make our team.
In my one league I compete against a lot of established fantasy
football writers. They know what they’re
doing and are quick to pounce whenever important or even minimally important news
hits. Aside from barely missing on my uber-target
Jerick McKinnon with my 137th pick (he went at #134), I felt great
about my roster at the time. Now, five
weeks later, it’s clear it was pretty bad.
My first two picks in this 14-team league were Todd Gurley (21st best
fantasy RB thru Week 4) and Amari Cooper (#27 WR). T.Y. Hilton (#10 WR) and Ben Roethlisberger
(#2 QB) followed. My next picks were
pure disaster: Jeremy Langford, Zach Ertz, Ameer Abdullah, Devin Funchess, and
Tajae Sharpe.
Should I go on?
After taking Derek Carr in round 10, I unleashed fury on the league in
the form of Dion Lewis, Benny Cunningham, Rob Kelley, and Charles Johnson.
My trusty sidekick, Josh Lambo, closed things out.
If you’re keeping score at home, most of my draft picks are unstartable
today. I scored big with two top 4 QBs,
a top 6 kicker, and a top 10 WR.
Otherwise, this roster is a collection of serious underperformers mixed
with injured should-have-beens.
I hesitate to share all of this with you. “Why am I reading this guy’s posts? He clearly sucks.”
Based solely on my draft performance, I’d have to agree with you. But I’m fourth in my league in points scored
and tied for first with a 3-1 record.
Drafts are crapshoots. As noted
at the outset, a lot of people flopped with their first rounders and many of us
took chances on players who haven’t produced.
The question after draft day is, “Now that you have your team, how are
you going to improve it?”
The day after the draft I shifted Dion Lewis to my IR spot and added
Kenneth Dixon. After Week 1 I ditched
Charles Johnson, Rob Kelley, and Benny Cunningham for Dennis Pitta, Nelson
Agholor, and Eddie Royal. That same week
I traded T.Y. Hilton and Jeremy Langford for Jarvis Landry and Jeremy
Hill. That swap was the difference
between me winning (instead of losing) in Weeks 3.
But I wasn’t done, because I’m never satisfied with my team. After some more roster tweaks through free
agency, I traded Tajae Sharpe and Derek Carr for Phillip Dorsett and Dak
Prescott before Week 4. Carr was a
redundant overperforming QB, while Dorsett gave me a competent flex starter I
didn’t have, and also gave me a Week 4 victory I wouldn’t have had without the
trade.
Another week, another series of free agent moves, along with trading
Amari Cooper and Kenneth Dixon for Kelvin Benjamin, Golden Tate, and Derrick
Henry. While the trade might not work
out for me, I had the luxury of buying low on Tate and Henry in the hope that
one of them becomes a fantasy playoff starter.
Heading into Week 5, my starting lineup remains strong and my bench is
stocked with high-upside handcuff RBs (Henry, Devontae Booker, and Paul
Perkins). My rotten draft is a distant
memory.
It’s never too late to get better.
After today’s games and each day that follows, find the value and
pounce.