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DFS Crossover Challenge

Today we did the full season draft portion of the DFS Crossover Challenge, the brainchild of Kevin Adams, the DFS Analyst for FantasyGuru.com. The idea was to assemble seven season-long industry experts and seven DFS experts and put them in a hybrid league that combines both games. There's a prize ($2,000) for winning the season-long league playoffs, a prize for having the most total points in season long ($1,000) and a grand prize ($5,000) for having the most crossover points, i.e., season-long total points plus weekly points accumulated through 14 weeks of playing on Draft Kings. We're also putting in $50 each weekly for the Draft Kings contests, and whoever wins each DFS week will keep that money.

Today's draft was a 14-team PPR league with 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 FLX, 1 TE, 1 D and seven bench spots. The scoring was mostly basic PPR except passing TDs were worth six points. Here are the results:

RDMike ClayTommy GPeter JenningsChris Liss
1Antonio BrownLe'Veon BellAdrian PetersonDez Bryant
2LeSean McCoyAlshon JefferyJordan MatthewsBrandin Cooks
3Emmanuel SandersDeAndre HopkinsJimmy GrahamKeenan Allen
4Carlos HydeAllen RobinsonVincent JacksonTodd Gurley
5Drew BreesChris IvoryNelson AgholorSammy Watkins
6Jason WittenTre MasonRashad JenningsJoique Bell
7Anquan BoldinPierre GarconShane VereenBishop Sankey
8Duke JohnsonEli ManningRyan TannehillMatt Ryan
9DeVante ParkerMarkus WheatonTeddy BridgewaterRonnie Hillman
10Jonas GrayAntonio GatesCody LatimerCharles Sims
11Andre WilliamsTyler EifertJerick McKinnonKnile Davis
12Jordan ReedReggie WayneDolphins D/STDwayne Bowe
13Malcom FloydTexans D/STLorenzo TaliaferroVernon Davis
14Percy HarvinBilal PowellGreg JenningsJosh Huff
15Karlos WilliamsJeremy LangfordCole BeasleyPanthers D/ST
16Chiefs D/STMohamed SanuJustin HunterTerrelle Pryor
RDBack/PrinceJohn PaulsenJennings/BalesJohn Hansen
1Eddie LacyDemaryius ThomasJamaal CharlesJulio Jones
2Aaron RodgersLamar MillerMatt ForteJustin Forsett
3Mark IngramFrank GoreAmari CooperJarvis Landry
4Brandon MarshallGreg OlsenAndre JohnsonLatavius Murray
5Mike WallaceDeSean JacksonJoseph RandleC.J. Spiller
6Martellus BennettGiovani BernardSteve SmithT.J. Yeldon
7Kendall WrightRussell WilsonTom BradyMarques Colston
8Isaiah CrowellStevie JohnsonTorrey SmithRoddy White
9David CobbBreshad PerrimanVictor CruzMatthew Stafford
10Tyler LockettDelanie WalkerBrandon LaFell*Kyle Rudolph
11Michael CrabtreePhillip DorsettDarren SprolesJulius Thomas*
12Zach ZennerSeahawks D/STLarry DonnellBills D/ST
13Dwayne AllenDoug BaldwinJoe FlaccoKenny Britt
14Jaelen StrongKevin White*Terrance WestMarcus Mariota
15James StarksCarson PalmerLadarius GreenLance Dunbar
16Bengals D/STBrandon BoldenCardinals D/STEric Ebron
RDKevin AdamsKitchen/LoughranSmizzle/Levitan
1Odell BeckhamMarshawn LynchRob Gronkowski
2T.Y. HiltonMike EvansDeMarco Murray
3Andre EllingtonAmeer AbdullahDavante Adams
4Julian EdelmanJeremy MaclinJonathan Stewart
5Alfred MorrisEric DeckerMelvin Gordon
6Tevin ColemanRyan MathewsLarry Fitzgerald
7Jordan CameronDarren McFaddenDevin Funchess
8Ben RoethlisbergerSam BradfordBrian Quick
9Terrance WilliamsZach ErtzRueben Randle
10Roy HeluJeff JanisCam Newton
11Javorius AllenKhiry RobinsonReggie Bush
12Damien WilliamsDonte MoncriefPhilip Rivers
13Corey BrownJameis WinstonRichard Rodgers
14Chris PolkPatriots D/STBroncos D/ST
15Vikings D/STJosh HillJarius Wright
16Theo RiddickJay AjayiChris Conley
RDBrad EvansDrew DinkmeyerJeff Mans
1Andrew LuckC.J. AndersonCalvin Johnson
2A.J. GreenJeremy HillRandall Cobb
3Golden TateTravis KelceArian Foster*
4Doug MartinCharles JohnsonAlfred Blue
5John BrownMartavis BryantLeGarrette Blount
6Danny WoodheadPeyton ManningDevonta Freeman
7Eddie RoyalDavid JohnsonBrandon Coleman
8Matt JonesMichael FloydTony Romo
9Denard RobinsonMarvin JonesDeAngelo Williams
10Allen HurnsDorial Green-BeckhamOwen Daniels
11Daniel HerronKenny StillsKamar Aiken
12Leonard HankersonTy MontgomeryMarquess Wilson
13Cecil ShortsCameron Artis-PayneRams D/ST
14Austin Seferian-JenkinsJets D/STJames White
15Tyrod TaylorBranden OliverCharles Clay
16Packers D/STColin KaepernickDevin Smith

I picked fourth and honestly didn't know who I was going to take. Had Le'Veon Bell or Antonio Brown fallen to me, it would have been an easy call, but once they were off the board - as I expected them to be - I was hoping Adrian Peterson would go next. While I wanted to draft him in a league after reading this, I didn't want to start a 3-WR PPR draft with a running back who wasn't a great pass catcher. Still, he would have been hard to pass up. Once he was gone, I knew I was taking a receiver, but which one? There are four I consider roughly equal: Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas, Julio Jones and Odell Beckham. I took Bryant because along with Rob Gronkowski, he's the best touchdown scorer in the league, and his volume might increase with DeMarco Murray now in Philly. But you could make a strong case for any of the four.

Round 2 it was a toss-up between Brandin Cooks, Alshon Jeffery and Jordan Matthews. I went Cooks because I decided I'd be more upset if I took one of the others and missed out on him than the other way around. All three should be monsters in PPR. Jeffery would probably have been the pick were he not nursing a calf injury. Of course, after I took Cooks Matthews and Jeffery were the next two picks. It wasn't a soft room.

Round 3 was my worst pick of the draft. Coming around the turn, I wanted either Emmanuel Sanders or DeAndre Hopkins, but both were taken a couple picks before me. There were still plenty of serviceable backs left, and my plan was to get Todd Gurley and/or Arian Foster in Rounds 4 and 5 and cobble together whatever I could for three weeks before having a monster team for three quarters of the season. So I preferred a third receiver, and the top two on my board were Keenan Allen and Davante Adams. I nearly took Adams, but it felt "reachy" early in Round 3 (I was happy to reach for him late in Round 3 in the Yahoo Friends and Family Draft), but this was pushing it, given Adams is only getting his chance because he's next in line, i.e., he might or might not be any good. It's entirely possible he doesn't play well early on, and Aaron Rodgers grows to trust Ty Montgomery, Jeff Janis or tight end Richard Rodgers instead. So I took Keenan Allen who has performed at a high level already and should be the top target in San Diego. Still, that pick felt a bit "safe" which is code for "cowardly and not safe after all." Adams went seven picks later to Smizzle/Levitan.

While Jeff Mans killed my Foster plan by taking him with the last pick in Round 3, I was able to get Gurley in Round 4 and Sammy Watkins (my best pick) in Round 5.  After all, Amari Cooper went in Round 3, and it's unlikely Tyrod Taylor will do worse than Derek Carr (5.5 YPA, 32nd) did last year. I was especially happy to start a 3 WR/FLEX PPR draft with four clear No. 1 receivers and a back.

Of course, I needed to have some backs to plug in early on while waiting for Gurley, so I took Joique Bell and Bishop Sankey at the next turn. Everyone was playing chicken on quarterback, so it was safe to wait another orbit. In Round 8, the QBs were thinning out, and my timing was good as I got Matt Ryan right before Ryan Tannehill and Eli Manning went, i.e., had I waited until Round 9, I might have missed out on a second tier QB.

Even though I had some marginal starting backs to tide me over until Gurley gets up to speed, it was still a weakness, so I stocked up on high upside PPR backups: Ronnie Hillman, Charles Sims and Knile Davis. I took a couple receivers late (Dwayne Bowe - didn't realize he might get cut, but maybe that would be a good thing - Josh Huff and my favorite super sleeper Terrelle Pryor - think Calvin Johnson-level athlete who could throw a couple trick-play TDs.)

I drafted my only tight end, Vernon Davis, in the 13th round. Davis seems to be mis-priced by the industry based on one bad, injury-riddled season. He's been a top-five tight end for most of his career, he's free of Jim Harbaugh with whom he didn't always see eye-to-eye, and top tight ends generally age well, e.g., Antonio Gates, Jason Witten, Tony Gonzalez, Shannon Sharpe, etc.

Overall, I'm pleased with the draft. My only mild regret is taking Allen over Adams, but that was pretty much a coin flip. I just don't like that I chose the "safer" option. When in doubt, make the aggressive pick.

We'll see what happens on the DFS side. While I'm up to speed on baseball after playing and blogging about it all year, I haven't done more than dabbled in DFS football. It seems pretty obvious, but maybe I'll find out how much I don't know over the next few weeks.