For the record, I wrote the second set of reviews last night. Obviously your backfield looks slightly better now, but Belichick being Belichick Lewis probably won’t get another carry until Week 7.
My backfield isn’t too bad. I just need one of several guys to pan out. Murray is probably borderline RB1. I think this is the year someone finally figures Spiller out. People have been saying Sankey has his shit together this year - but who knows. But the Titans traded for West, and Cobb is out for most of the year, so between the two of them I’ll have Tennessee’s running game. And David Johnson has potential if Ellington gets hurt.
On top of that, Dion Lewis is a lottery ticket.
I basically just need to get two decent starting options out of all that, because if the Bradford hype is real, I will dominate everywhere else.
The problem is that all that only adds up to one decent starting option, at least for most of the season. Last reviews:
I am terrified of Beckham, but he obviously showed something last year. I’m also not very confident about Forsett. Or Ellington. Or Jeffery staying healthy. After that, this team looks to have a good, solid core of backups. That’s not particularly promising. Grade: C+.
This is a great draft. I am not sure about D-Jax with Cousins playing QB, and I am very unsure about Agholor (again, Chip Kelly could be stupid, Bradford could be bad or injured). I’m also not 100% sold on Teddy Bridgewater, but you paired him perfectly with a guy who can start every game for you if necessary… cheaply. You not only stole Eifert from me but compounded that by taking Brian Quick. I think Eifert was kind of a luxury pick given that you were taking Julius Thomas later with a keeper, but oh well. I like Blount as a third running back an awful lot. Grade: A-.
Thanks for the write up.
Luck was an interesting choice. I debated it internally quite a bit. No keeper in round 2 is really huge “value” so the question was: if Luck were on the board for me in that slot would i pick him. Looking at how the draft played out, and how I expected it to play, the answer is clearly yes. It was close to where I expected him to land, so all keeping him did was protect me against someone else grabbing the top QB early. Since Rogers went before my pick in round 2, I figure this preserved my personal bet for top scoring fantasy player this year. I’m happy with that. Once I decided I would go top QB, I knew RB would be sacrificed. So my strategy:
[ul]
[li]Top QB[/li][li]1 stud RB to keep position from complete disaster[/li][li]Stud TE - best position to secure competetive advantage after QB since it only requires 1 pick[/li][li]Strong WR[/li][li]DEF & K cuz you have to[/li][/ul]
I was actually considering grabbing Gronk in round 1. I was really on the fence because no RB before round 3 scares me in this league (absent strong keeper) but I was saved from that decision. I love Anderson this year, and since I don;t expect to ever play 3 backs Anderson + a warm body keeps me in the game @ RB. I like Duke Johnson by default in CLE, since I hate Crowell and they dumped West. McFadden is absurd, but actually looked good in preseason so who knows. Might get me a situational start or 2, and is injury insurance. CJ has potential in a jumbled backfield on a good offense. I would have loved to get Martin, Foster, or Bernard but they each went just a few slots before I had them targeted. The rest of the “tier 2” backs availble after me in Round 4 are players/situations I hate (Jennings, Yeldon, Crowell). If either CJ or McFalldown actually an out I will be ecstatic. But I expect Duke and Anderson to carry me most of the season.
With Gronk gone - I have Olsen as me clear #2 TE. He was already a safe bet for 110 targets in the year, and is now the most reliable red zone target, too. With Julius Thomas (injured) and Graham both going to new (and less fantasy prolific) offenses Olsen was and easy choice. I really like Olsen this yer. Especially since I don’t like Thomas, Graham, or Kelcie to approach what they scored last year.
WR will be the real test, for sure. Not taking my first until round 4 meant no stud. But WR production is DEEP in recent year, and I don’t expect that to change. My top 3 are clear #1 targets for their QB, #1 on each teams depth chart. But also each getting passe from a 2nd year QB. How much you like them really depends on how much you believe Carr, Bortles, and Bridgewater are going to make big strides in year 2. I believe strongly in one and enough in the other 2 that I think 1 am going to get reliable WR2 production from 2 of them. And I expect to be okay with the 3rd in flex most weeks.
Cruz & Harvin are all risk/reward. But if Cruz actually gets healthy his reward will be huge. Harvin is anybodies guess this year, but he has the talent to exploit the kind of stress a running QB can place on a defense. White is pure keeper play, but really the only one I made. Malcolm Floyd is terribly undervalued and I am not sure why. Keenan Allen goes in round 3 because he gets the targets. But this isn’t a PPR league. Floyd had more yards and TD last year on 30 fewer targets. I;'m very happy to get him in Round 13 as a WR safety net,
I don’t love my draft, but I like it quite a bit. The key to my year will not be my WR, though, it will be whether Luck & Olsen give me the advantage I expect at 2 positions.
Not much talking in this league 
My keeper situation might be pretty sweet next year. You never know with NE running backs, but if Dion Lewis keeps this up, he’ll be the steal of the draft in the as a 14th round keeper next year. I’ll get to keep Latavius Murray again in the 12th. Hard to say for the third. DeAndre Hopkins is probably worth keeping in the third. I’m hoping Devante Parker has keeper potential by the end of the year. And depending on how the Arizona run game shakes out, David Johnson has potential as a 7th rounder.
CJ Spiller is finally starting to be productive, but it was really just off one big play. If he plays up to his potential this year, my team will be hard to beat.
I’m willing to move someone for a good defense. Maybe a RB or WR for a package DEF-RB/WR back, or just maybe Marvin Jones or Bishop Sankey straight up.
If we trade for a player in this league, we inherit their keeper rights, right?
Losing by .87 sucks. Heading into MNF, I only needed 5ish from Rawls. I thought he was virtually guaranteed to get at least 6 by virute of pure volume, whereas Doug Baldwin could easily just not catch anything. So painful watching my point total creep slowly closer to a win, but never quite getting there.
You get whatever keeper rights the prior owner had. So if you trade for someone who’s been dropped or who was picked up off waivers, he doesn’t become keepable for you. But if he was drafted and rostered throughout the season, you can keep him. Trading for Marshawn Lynch (with Hamlet) right as he became Beast Mode basically won me this league two years in a row.
Fuck it, I’m going Josh McCown.
Edit: Actually, maybe that’s a bad idea. He’s been getting crazy volume (49 and 41 pass attempts last 2 weeks) and decent fantasy points, and Baltimore can’t defend the pass, but I’m worried Pettine will try to save his ass by inserting Johnny mid-game if they’re losing by a decent bit, which could backfire on me.
Edit 2: On second thought, Alex Smith has a higher chance of finishing his game.
You’re welcome.
FML.
Can you believe I won a game with Mike Vick at QB?
-3 for a turnover is just fucking brutal.
I had the option to keep Devonta Freeman in the 4th this year. Imagine how ridiculous my team would be. But no one would’ve made that keep, I think - he didn’t do much last year when given the chance and they drafted Coleman to replace him.
I finally put up a big score that my team should’ve been capable of all along. Ottoman Empire is still undefeated, which is just lucky. He has the lowest points scored against him by far. The race for the playoffs in this league is always pretty brutal, 4/14 is a tough cut.
So Arian Foster is on IR. He can be kept in the third round next season, but I don’t think I can afford to carry him on my roster for the rest of the year. Does anyone want to trade for him (and his keeper rights?) He’s going cheap.
I do believe I will be keeping DeAndre Hopkins in the 3rd, Latavius Murray in the 12th, and Dion Lewis in the 14th.
I have Doug Martin, Devonta Freeman, DeMarco Murray, and now DeAngelo Williams. That’s one more RB than I need, looking to trade one of them for a good WR. Probably not Freeman, you know?
Take a look at my roster and tell me what you want for Martin.
I want you to have another WR on your roster? That is, I’d trade him for Cobb, but don’t you need him?
If the San Diego defense can keep it up and not go down too much, combined with Lambo as my kicker I’d actually have a pretty good comeback win on a week where everyone is on byes. Against a playoff competitor no less. That would take some of the sting off losing Dion Lewis this week.