So another fantasy football season is just about in the books. We always like to look back and do a “self-audit” to see which strategies paid off and which ones did not.
Here’s where we were right
- The year of the WR. With the exception of Christian McCaffrey (who will once again be the unquestioned #1 overall pick in drafts next year), the RB pool was a mess. High level guys like Derrick Henry, Tony Pollard, Bijan Robinson and Saquon Barkley delivered some good weeks but absolutely disappeared in others. The traditional thinking of the “safe RB pick” is gone. The safer picks are wide receivers in the top rounds.
- Keenan Allen. We loved Keenan at his 3rd/4th round value and scooped him up whenever we could. As the current WR3 in PPR leagues, he has rewarded that faith.
- Late rounders that paid off: Nico Collins, Raheem Mostert, Rachaad White, David Montgomery and Zay Flowers made it on to several of our rosters and they returned great value all year.
- Avoid the DST/K trap. It’s become fashionable to draft the top kicker and defense earlier and earlier in drafts but they just aren’t predictable. Case in point, who predicted Brandon Aubrey to be the top kicker this year? Justin Tucker is currently K5 and he was the unanimous first kicker taken. Likewise, the San Francisco and Jets defenses were usually taken top 3 and they currently sit outside the top 5.
Here’s where we were wrong
- Drafting a stud QB. While Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts have provided a positional advantage most weeks, QBs like Prescott, Purdy and Stroud came out of nowhere to provide top-end value at a much cheaper price.
- Darren Waller. Not entirely our fault. When a guy pops up with a hamstring injury literally the first week, you know there’s a high chance it’s going to be a lost season. You can also throw the entire Giants offense into this one. We liked Daniel Jones for his running ability in 4 PaTD leagues and often stacked him with Waller. Sorry.
- We were too low on CeeDee Lamb and AJ Brown and too high on DaVonte Smith, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. While the latter trio wasn’t horrible, QB injuries contributed to an overall “meh” year for those guys. Hopefully, next year brings better things as they are still immensely talented. That being said, CeeDee and AJ should probably be late 1st round picks next year if not early 2nd.