He Hate Me Keeper League 2022 - Year 20

The Game Room
81

Post for Baltimore Weirdos

Subject: Draft Grade

OK, I’ll write this up here and trust that somebody cross posts it to the SDMB thread. I’m not going to do all 14 teams, but I will do mine. What I Did With My Summer Vacation Fantasy Football League by Lil’ Weirddave Keepers: I elected to keep 2 players, Rashod Bateman, who would count as my 7th round pick, and Damien Harris, in the 12th. Bateman is the #1 WR in Baltimore, which is kind of like being the best surfer in Arizona, but he’s going to pick up a lot of Brown’s receptions from last year, and the Ravens aren’t going to be quite as run oriented as you think. Solid value for R7 though it bit me in the ass a bit during the draft. Harris is the #1 RB in NE, and while NE is a crap shoot for RB, a #1 RB in the 12th is a no brainier. Round 1. I’d like to thank Omni for saving me from agonizing over McCaffrey. It’s not the skill, the guy’s a stud, it’s the injury possibility. With him off the boards Ekeler was simple to choose. Round 2. With Harris in my pocket, I might have gone for WR here, but the ones I wanted came off the board in a flurry just before I selected, and Conner is a solid pick. I’m generally old school, and with 3 #1 RB I felt good. Round 3. This pick would have been Mark Andrews if he was available, but 4th & 19 took him a half dozen picks earlier. I had Courtland Sutton in my queue, but he went the selection before. DJ Moore was a fine substitute. Wilson’s a better QB than Mayfield, but I think Mayfield has a lot to prove and Moore will be the beneficiary of that. I’m fine with Moore. Round 4. Would have taken Lamar, even if I don’t generally draft QB this early, but he was long gone. Robinson’s a bit of a reach, but somebody’s got to catch the ball when Kupp is double teamed, right? At this point in the draft I have 2 #1s and a #2 on a high powered passing offense for WR. Can live with that. Round 5. There are 4 or 5 TE that can really make a difference at the position, then there’s a lot of mushy middle that’s week to week. I wanted one of those top 5 TE, and Waller was the only one left. I might have taken Waller in round 4, but I realized as my time was winding down that Beef and Omni already had their TE position filled, so I grabbed Robinson figuring Waller would be here. He was. Round 6. Hey, look, another #1 WR is still on the boards. OK, Brissett is going to be the QB for 11 games, and he’s not the best passer in the game, but he’s far from the worst and, again, someone has to catch the passes in Cleveland. Cooper is solid value here. Round 7. Now I was going to get my QB. The first tier was gone, but there were a bunch of solid second tier guys. I had Dak selected, but I would have been fine with Rogers or Stafford. Oops, the pick here is already Bateman. Round 8. Matt Ryan is a solid QB. Yes, he’s older, but I think he’ll thrive in the Indianapolis offense. I gave serious consideration to Cousins, but decided to go with the Matt Ryan Redemption Tour. Round 9. Landry is a solid #2 WR in New Orleans. Yoink. Round 10. Need to shore up the RB room, but now we’re picking between backups. Nobody wants to root for injuries, but #2 Rbs are a crap shoot. If the starter goes down, you may hit the lottery. If not, well, hopefully they can get you 6-10 points on a bye week. Perine is capable. Round 11. Golladay. Wait, there’s still a #1 WR out there? Yes, it’s the Giants. And yes, Jones is a mess. But hey, a #1 WR in round 11? Yes, please. Round 12. Harris. We covered that above. Round 13. Hayden Hurst has had a snakebitten career. He was drafted 2 rounds ahead of Mark Andrews by the best drafting team in the NFL, and Andrews promptly exploded. He drifted to Atlanta…who then drafted Kyle Pitts. Now he’s in Cincinnati, and with opponents focusing on Chase, Higgins and Boyd, I think he’s in for a resurgence. What else can you ask from a back up TE? Might even be keeper potential here. Round 14. Need a backup QB, and Mac Jones had a pretty good year last year. If he builds on that, this could be a great keeper. Hell, the Yahoo AI seems to think I should start him over Ryan. We’ll see. Rounds 15 and 16. Defense and kicker, one each. Check. Average value here because I avoided the mini runs on those positions earlier. Grades by position: QB: C Could be a B if Ryan thrives, we talked about that. RB: A 3 #1 RB are about as good as you can do in a 14 team league. WR B+ I have a good chance of relying on players drafted later than in those drafted in the first few rounds, but it’s a nice group looking for someone to break out. TE A if Waller does what everyone thinks he will, B- if I wind up relying on Hurst. K & D C Middle of the road for both of them. And that’s how I grade my draft. Thoughts?

82

Better version of dave’s post:

What I Did With My Summer Vacation Fantasy Football League by Lil’ Weirddave

Keepers: I elected to keep 2 players, Rashod Bateman, who would count as my 7th round pick, and Damien Harris, in the 12th. Bateman is the #1 WR in Baltimore, which is kind of like being the best surfer in Arizona, but he’s going to pick up a lot of Brown’s receptions from last year, and the Ravens aren’t going to be quite as run oriented as you think. Solid value for R7 though it bit me in the ass a bit during the draft. Harris is the #1 RB in NE, and while NE is a crap shoot for RB, a #1 RB in the 12th is a no brainier.

Round 1. I’d like to thank Omni for saving me from agonizing over McCaffrey. It’s not the skill, the guy’s a stud, it’s the injury possibility. With him off the boards Ekeler was simple to choose.

Round 2. With Harris in my pocket, I might have gone for WR here, but the ones I wanted came off the board in a flurry just before I selected, and Conner is a solid pick. I’m generally old school, and with 3 #1 RB I felt good.

Round 3. This pick would have been Mark Andrews if he was available, but 4th & 19 took him a half dozen picks earlier. I had Courtland Sutton in my queue, but he went the selection before. DJ Moore was a fine substitute. Wilson’s a better QB than Mayfield, but I think Mayfield has a lot to prove and Moore will be the beneficiary of that. I’m fine with Moore.

Round 4. Would have taken Lamar, even if I don’t generally draft QB this early, but he was long gone. Robinson’s a bit of a reach, but somebody’s got to catch the ball when Kupp is double teamed, right? At this point in the draft I have 2 #1s and a #2 on a high powered passing offense for WR. Can live with that.

Round 5. There are 4 or 5 TE that can really make a difference at the position, then there’s a lot of mushy middle that’s week to week. I wanted one of those top 5 TE, and Waller was the only one left. I might have taken Waller in round 4, but I realized as my time was winding down that Beef and Omni already had their TE position filled, so I grabbed Robinson figuring Waller would be here. He was.

Round 6. Hey, look, another #1 WR is still on the boards. OK, Brissett is going to be the QB for 11 games, and he’s not the best passer in the game, but he’s far from the worst and, again, someone has to catch the passes in Cleveland. Cooper is solid value here.

Round 7. Now I was going to get my QB. The first tier was gone, but there were a bunch of solid second tier guys. I had Dak selected, but I would have been fine with Rogers or Stafford. Oops, the pick here is already Bateman.

Round 8. Matt Ryan is a solid QB. Yes, he’s older, but I think he’ll thrive in the Indianapolis offense. I gave serious consideration to Cousins, but decided to go with the Matt Ryan Redemption Tour.

Round 9. Landry is a solid #2 WR in New Orleans. Yoink.

Round 10. Need to shore up the RB room, but now we’re picking between backups. Nobody wants to root for injuries, but #2 Rbs are a crap shoot. If the starter goes down, you may hit the lottery. If not, well, hopefully they can get you 6-10 points on a bye week. Perine is capable.

Round 11. Golladay. Wait, there’s still a #1 WR out there? Yes, it’s the Giants. And yes, Jones is a mess. But hey, a #1 WR in round 11? Yes, please.

Round 12. Harris. We covered that above.

Round 13. Hayden Hurst has had a snakebitten career. He was drafted 2 rounds ahead of Mark Andrews by the best drafting team in the NFL, and Andrews promptly exploded. He drifted to Atlanta…who then drafted Kyle Pitts. Now he’s in Cincinnati, and with opponents focusing on Chase, Higgins and Boyd, I think he’s in for a resurgence. What else can you ask from a back up TE? Might even be keeper potential here.

Round 14. Need a backup QB, and Mac Jones had a pretty good year last year. If he builds on that, this could be a great keeper. Hell, the Yahoo AI seems to think I should start him over Ryan. We’ll see.

Rounds 15 and 16. Defense and kicker, one each. Check. Average value here because I avoided the mini runs on those positions earlier.

Grades by position:

QB: C Could be a B if Ryan thrives, we talked about that.

RB: A 3 #1 RB are about as good as you can do in a 14 team league.

WR B+ I have a good chance of relying on players drafted later than in those drafted in the first few rounds, but it’s a nice group looking for someone to break out.

TE A if Waller does what everyone thinks he will, B- if I wind up relying on Hurst.

K & D C Middle of the road for both of them.

And that’s how I grade my draft. Thoughts?

83

From my draft review from last year: “ A championship is within reach if everything clicks.” What do you know, almost everything clicked and Big Mack Attack is our 2021 He Hate Me Champion. Congrats and very well done.

I was planning on getting outside a bit today, enjoy the cooling weather and maybe get a few errands run.

Instead of that, I’ll do a draft review.

Last year, I graded everyone’s draft on a rock band scale, and the year before, a movie scale. This year, it’s … books. Hope you all enjoy it, and take it in the lighthearted manner in which it is intended.

Let’s get it on:

Exploding Pancakes

Best Pick: Saying Jonathon Taylor with #1 would be too chalky, so I’ll give Beef credit for doing a great job putting together an OK WR crew without using one until the 5th Round. Personally, I’m not on board with the Kyler Murray/Marquise Brown reunion tour, but that stack could do great. It was more getting solid value and balancing floors and ceilings. Brown, Robert Woods, and Christian Kirk all are (on paper) the #1s on their teams and were great value when taken.

Worst pick: Hate the Dallas D in the 12th, but I think taking Pitts and Murray at the ¾ turn will prove costly. I love Pitts this year, but Murray/Brown would concern me. Opportunity costs may be a huge issue.

Overall: Yahoo loved this draft enough to call it the best of all and give it an A+. And, although it pains me to say it, it does look good at the starting positions. I do think the issues at WR will cap this teams ability to win it all, but the playoffs are certainly in contention. I’m not a fan of the keepers either.

Book: The Satanic Verses. All the critics and experts say its amazing and not to be missed, but it simply isn’t my cup of tea. I can appreciate that it’s very good, but, personally, I think it’s overrated.

Omnipotents

Best Pick: I love the late round picks and their keeper value. Tyrion Davis Price has a chance, and Garrett Wilson should be good this year, and maybe great next. Add in target monster Kmet, and that could be a killer lineup next year.

Worst Pick: Boy oh Boy are you all in on Christian McCaffrey. Your RB crew after him is sparse, with the best likely being in a time share on a bad team. I think Walker before Hunt was a mistake and Cook was pretty early too. But in a 14 team league, you swing for the fences!

Overall: Stay Healthy!!! I like the starters on this team, but I think Julio Jones is all but done, Fields is mediocre, and Toney may never see the field for more than 30 minutes at a time. You’ll definitely be in it, but I think a trade or a waiver wire move will be necessary if anything happens to this team. I do really like the WR crew though.

Book: The Hunger Games Triology. Starts out fantastic and intriguing, if a bit derivative. But it goes in to the tank later as they go on.

Baltimore Weirdos

Best Pick: I loved a lot of the value in these picks. DJ Moore in the 3rd was good, Waller in the 5th was outstanding, and Hurst in the 13th was good. Well done.

Worst Pick: I’m taking a guess here, but I’m thinking the Cooper pick in the 6th (which was a good value pick) was made before you remembered you kept a WR in the 7th. While it was a good value pick, it cost you a shot at a much higher tier of QB than Matt Ryan.

Overall: A very solid team, with a very high floor. I would have liked more upside in the later picks (Landry/Perine/Golladay/Jones do absolutely nothing for me). A playoff run is possible, but I don’t see the high octane outside of Ekeler, that would make anyone fear you.

Book: Grapes of Wrath. A very good, very well respected book that everyone should read, but lacks the excitement or adventure to really grab a reader and make them excited to continue reading.

Hermits

Best Pick: Love, Love, Love the Joshua Palmer pick in the 13th. A guy who can both maybe help this year, and turn into a heavy producer next that late is great. I also liked Lawrence in the 9th. And, might I add: Fuck you for making both those picks. Those were MINE!!!

Worst Pick: Keeping Chase Claypool in the 3rd was costly, you missed out on a lot of talent (Terry McLaurin, Eli Mitchell, George Kittle).

Overall: Just not feeling it. I think Derrick Henry, DK Metcalf, Chase Claypool, Edwards Helaire, Theilan, and Matt Stafford could all fall into irrelevance this year. They’re overrated and old.

Book: Ulysses by James Joyce. Most overrated book of all time. Any critic who has it in their top 10 is not worth listening to.

Frosty’s Post Mahomes

Best Pick: Tyreek in the 22nd was phenomenal value (although I expect a dropoff this year), as were Goedert, Rodgers, and Renfow. Great work in those early middle rounds.

Worst Pick: Olave in the 8th was early, and I like Cook, Mixon, and Kamara better than Najee this year.

Overall: Boy, I like this team. If Penny does what he did to finish last year, the dropoff for Hill is small, and Doubs or Amon Ra take steps forward (Amon Ra won’t. His scoring late last year was because he was the only guy out there, kinda like Darnell Mooney), this team could be magic. I like it.

Book: The Stand. One of my favorite books, it has a lot of interesting people and a lot of excitement. Good Job.

84

Chicago Cardinals

Best Pick: I really liked Rondale Moore in the 12th. He could get a ton of targets. And Parris Campbell in the 15th was well worth a flyer.

Worst Pick: Cee Dee Lamb as the WR#1? Have you seen him play? Have you seen Justin Jefferson, Stefon Diggs, or Davante Adams? I also think Hockenson is overrated and Gibson is hanging by a thread in Washington.

Overall: Not a fan, and, I think, not objectively good either. Your top 2 Rbs are all but done as even #1s on their own team, and there’s not much behind them I like at all. While the starting spots were filled, I don’t expect much out of this team. Sorry.

Book: 50 Shades of Grey. An objectively bad book that I tried and gave up on after 2 paragraphs. Ugh.

Disgruntled Goats

Best Pick: You know how you build a list of guys you want to draft, but you want to get them at their ADP or below? That’s who this team drafted. I kept waiting for guys like Burrow, Lazard, Herbert, Irv Smith, Tyler Boyd, and Evan Engram to be available when I drafted, but they all went waaaaaay higher than I wanted. But grab the guys you like, I guess. Pittman was a great keeper.

Worst pick: I’m not sure doubling up on Qbs in the 4th and 5th round is wise (unless you can finagle a trade, which I try to do every goddamn year in this league and never, ever get a decent or fair response.) I also think you wasted your last 3 picks.

Overall: As I said, I like a lot of these players. I think there’s a definite chance for the playoffs. A time share (which I envision) in the Bears’ backfield will be costly, but, week to week, it should be a very competitive team. A spark waiver wire or trade could be huge for this team.

Book: First Edition Catcher in the Rye. I enjoyed it a ton, but spending massive amounts of capital to get it is a problem.

Battle Bastards

Best pick: Getting Dalvin at 8 was great for you, keeping Deebo also. Well done.

Worst pick: A lack of big upside players. Don’t get me wrong, I like Gordon, D.Smith, Gesicki, Knox, Tannehill, and Marvin Jones Jr., but you need someone on your roster to just explode to make it past the first round of the playoffs. I think your upside is capped.

Overall: Every draft pick was a solid choice. You have a solid, competitive team that will put up 100 points a week. I just don’t see you being capable of putting up 130 when you really need to. Still, pretty damn good, if a bit old.

Book: Great Gatsby. A good book that I very much enjoy reading. Once. But I won’t ever read it again, and it doesn’t excite me at all. Still, it’s good.

4th and Nineteen

Best Pick: Fuck. You. FFFFFUUUUUUCCCCCKKKK YYYYOOOOOOUUUUUU!!!

Worst Pick: Every goddamn pick you made, you enormous pile of dog dung. From stealing Justin Jefferson at #9 and Mahomes at 37 to grabbing Drake London in the 7th and Wentz in the 14th. You RUINED MY FUCKING DRAFT YOU HALF WITTED PIECE OF HUMAN EXCREMENT.

Overall: My God I hate you.

Book: Anything by William Faulkner. I hate that motherfucker.

Moridwon

Best Pick: I think getting Godwin in the 6th was great value, and I’m hoping Brian Robinson gets healthy to make that a good pick too.

Worst Pick: Putting so much on the shoulders of Trey Lance and Zach Ertz. Both have huge variance this year and waiting so long to grab backups in case something goes wrong could tank this season by week 4.

Overall: Yahoo hates it. They have me finishing last in record and last in points, something I haven’t done in my 28 years playing fantasy football. And I completely understand why. I have a ton of risk and, to me at least, a ton of upside. If I hit on even just one or two, I could be OK. But so much is riding on the legs of Trey Lance. No risk-it, no biscuit.

Book: All the imaginary ones I’ve written in my head. They’re all works of genius that don’t really exist.

85

Nine Inch Neils

Best Pick: Jameson Williams in the 15th could be special. I also liked the Dak Prescott pick, good value.

Worst Pick: I think Dalton Schultz’s talent is so much lower than his ADP; he was just an opportunity guy last year. And I don’t get the Chase Edmonds love.

Overall: A very nice team. Saquon is, of course, a bit of a risk, but you ameliorated that by drafting other Rbs. I also like the balance between solid floor guys like Evans, Henderson Jr., Myers, and high upside guys. Good job.

Book: Animal Farm. A very good book that many, including myself, enjoy.

Spiritus Mundane

Best Pick: Michael Gallup in the 14th round. Best pick of the draft. By far.

Worst Pick: Pierce at 40, Hall at 45. I know the Rbs were slim pickens around there after you went WR/WR in rounds 1 and 2, but both were reaches. I get that Pierce is a nominal starter (Hall isn’t even that yet), but I just don’t see his talent. I would have preferred Penny, CEH, Singletary, or even Jacobs and Gibson for floors, over doubling down on 2 rookie Rbs. Also, keeping Zach Wilson. Oof.

Overall: That RB position is going to be a problem, that, maybe, those stellar Wrs can overcome, but it will be tough. A couple breaks (Zeke Elliot going down or James Robinson being completely healthy quickly) could make a huge difference.

Book: Books 7-12 of the Wheel of Time. Slow moving and dull at times, they were pretty good. But in bad need of an editor.

Caracosa Yellow Kings

Best Pick: Gainwell in the 9th was pretty good value as was Daniel Jones in the 15th. Worth a flyer.

Worst Pick: Kittle was early given the QB and health issues. I’m not a fan of grabbing a QB and TE at 3rd/4th turn because you missed out on a bunch of #2 Wrs and Rbs. Pick one or the other. And Hopkins is gone for 6 games and now has Kyler Murray’s bestest friend in the whole wide world to compete with.

Overall: Far be it for me to judge the team that finished 2nd place last year. You grabbed the guys you wanted, even if it was too early for me, and still ended up with a very competitive team. Should compete every week.

Book: Harry Potter series. I liked this team when I first glanced at it, and it’s overall pretty good. But after some time and reflection, I’m worried it’s not as good as I thought it was. Still good though.

Big Mack Attack CHAMPION

Best Pick: Hard to do better keepers than Herbert and Chase. Volume king Mooney was great value and I like Nyheim Hines this year. Some nice keeper value too.

Worst Pick: Kelce at 15. Having Chase and Herbert makes it less of a problem, but I’m worried your RB position is going to be subpar all season.

Overall: Congrats on the win last year. And for putting together a pretty solid team this year. 4 rookie Wrs is a gutsy call, and I don’t see it paying off this year. I like the starters fine, it’s the depth I’d be worried about.

Book: Gone Girl. While it wasn’t in my usual wheelhouse, I thought it was very good and interesting. Until the ending. Then it sucked. One bad thing ruined the whole book.

There you go people! Enjoy and let me know what you think. Except you, Wilson. You’re still on my list.

86

Brave move there, Hamlet, insulting the commissioner :slight_smile:

::off to adjust Hamlet’s roster by dropping Kamara and adding Josh Gordon::

87

What a bunch of ass that I’m projected to score 130 points which is a huge score in this league but I’m only 50/50 win because I’m up against the other top scorer by far.

88

Well to make you feel better, you and Bort wound up second and third in scoring because Mahomes and Jefferson exploded for me in the late games.

(I’m sure it doesn’t make you feel better, but it sure made me feel better)

89

Crazy start to the season where it looks like on 5 teams are going to beat their projections and score more than 100.

90

Only four teams beat their projections, and they played each other.

Ah, the fantasy gods are fickle…

91

I always enjoy a sloppy opening weekend for football.

Losing a starting RB and having my QB put up 4th string RB numbers sucked, but I think one of my other leagues has that beat.

The Colts cut Blankenship after he helped me creep over 100 for a win last week. I was hoping to use him on autopilot for the season only plugging someone in for the BYE but now I have to go Kicker hunting. Love it!

92

Does this league allow future draft pick trading? I was kicking around a couple trade ideas, but I didn’t know if future draft picks could be included.

93

Yes, it’s allowed.

94

Njoku had a big breakout game and is going to be good this year and I’ve got Pitts. I’d be willing to package something like Dobbins or Hunt + Njoku for a very good WR.

95

Oof that was a tough loss to take.

Up around 20 going into Monday Night against @Omniscient , I still have Cam Akers he has the Niners defense. Yahoo had me at 99% to win…

Cam puts up 1.50 and SF puts up 27 and I lose by five.

96

Lol…I wasn’t even watching the game. I had given up on it and didn’t even get to enjoy the comeback.

97

The Dak Prescott/Dalton Schultz stack has not worked out quite as I’d hoped. I am officially tanking for next year, which means Saquon and Mike Evans are available for trade.

98

Wow, close win for me over Beef. Normally, Mahomes throwing 4 TDs would be enough for anyone to win, but when they all go to Kelce…

99

You have me mixed up with Wilson (Fourth and Nineteen). I’m exploding pancakes.

100

Disgruntled Goats is 6th in points, but is 0-5. That’s gotta be a record. Meanwhile, Frosty, Dave and Hamlet are 11, 12 and 13 in points, and are all 3-2.