I had my second NFFC draft of the season Monday night, a 12-team online-championship with a $200K top prize. It's full PPR, 3-WR and a FLEX with 10 man benches. Quarterbacks get six points per passing TD and a point every 20 yards passing. Full rules are here. I drew the second pick.
Here are the results:
1.2 Christian McCaffrey - I was really hoping to get Saquon Barkley here because I don't love taking a 200-carry back with the No. 2 overall pick. But he broke the NFL record for receptions, and you almost never see him on the injury report. He's more floor than ceiling IMO though, given his TD and rushing workload limitations.
2.11 Mike Evans - Todd Gurley was still on the board, but I wasn't feeling it. Antonio Brown went one pick before me, so Evans was my clear choice. I don't love that he's dealing with an injury right now, but apparently it's minor.
3.11 Chris Godwin - Why not stack the Bucs receivers? There's no real No. 3, and they don't throw much to their backs, either. Plus, if anything happens to either, the other would see a massive workload.
4.2 Marlon Mack - A real man would have taken O.J. Howard here because it was unlikely he was coming back. But I took a chance on a solid player in what should be a good offense if Andrew Luck doesn't miss a good chunk of the year.
5.11 Tyler Boyd - A rock solid PPR option, should see a ton of work with A.J. Green out and plenty even after he returns.
6.2 Darrell Henderson - If I wasn't feeling Gurley, this was the logical pick, and I didn't think he'd come back to me in an overall contest.
7.11 Duke Johnson - It was him or Sterling Shepard, and I guessed Shepard would be more likely to come back. I was wrong. Johnson's floor is a 50-catch PPR back, but his ceiling is taking the job from Lamar Miller outright.
8.2 Dante Pettis - With Shepard gone, I went with the 49ers' ostensible No. 1 WR, a second-year player taken in last year's second round. Maybe he loses out on the role, but for now he's still the favorite.
9.11 Devin Singletary - I don't think LeSean McCoy has much left, and Singletary could be the team's starter before long.
10.2 John Brown - Two Bills in a row, but Brown should be the team's top wideout, and he's always been good when healthy.
11.11 Mark Andrews - I didn't have a QB or a TE yet, and Andrews was by far the highest remaining TE on my board. Few TEs show as much promise in their rookie seasons, and he's got a chance to be Lamar Jackson's top target.
12.2 Alexander Mattison - I knew this was a gamble. I wanted to get Jameis Winston to complete the Tampa stack, but all but three teams had QBs and a few had two QBs. Winston, however, was the top QB on the board by ADP, and I figured he was no more than 50 percent likely to get back to me. So why did I do it? There were several QBs still on the board I liked as much as Winston, and Mattison looks like the clear backup/change-of-pace behind a fragile starter on a team that wants to run a lot. In retrospect, I probably should have taken Winston, but at the time I decided to gamble he'd get back to me.
13.11 Justin Tucker - I was the idiot who reached for the first kicker. The next one didn't go until three rounds later, but Tucker is the exception to the kicker rules. The reason you wait until the last round to take a kicker is they're so unpredictable. But the greatest kicker of all time is as predictable as NFL players come, and in a league where you get a tenth of a point per yard of field-goal distance, he's a small difference maker. Part of why he's so consistent is the Ravens know he's the GOAT, so they attempt a ton of long field goals.
14.2 Mitchell Trubisky - I finally got my QB, and I'm happy enough with him. Trubisky is much better in fantasy than in real life because he's an excellent scrambler, and he plays in an innovative scheme. Think Jared Goff with Russell Wilson's rushing skills. That's Trubisky's upside over a full year.
15.11 Greg Olsen - I needed a second TE, and Olsen fits the bill. He's an injury risk, but TEs age well, and the Panthers are not deep with pass catchers beyond D.J. Moore, Curtis Samuel and McCaffrey.
16.2 Rams Defense - Give me the Wade Phillips defense with Aaron Donald attached to a team playing with leads most of the time.
17.11 Eagles Defense - They get the Redskins at home Week 1.
18.2 Tom Brady - I actually have Derek Carr ahead of him on my cheat sheet, but Josh Gordon's arrival swayed me.
19.11 Jerick McKinnon - Maybe he's too injured to contribute, but he hasn't even been ruled out for Week 1 yet, and Tevin Coleman and Matt Breida are hardly cemented into their roles.
20. Marqise Lee - Another player coming back from a serious injury, Lee was cleared to practice this week. Remember he was the team's top wideout in 2017, and he's only ever played with Blake Bortles.
Roster By Position
QB Mitchell Trubisky
RB Christian McCaffrey/Marlon Mack
WR Mike Evans/Chris Godwin/Tyler Boyd
TE Mark Andrews
FLEX Dante Pettis
K Justin Tucker
D Rams
Bench: Darrell Henderson/Duke Johnson/Devin Singletary/John Brown/Alexander Mattison/Greg Olsen/Eagles Defense/Tom Brady/Jerick McKinnon/Marqise Lee